The Summer School Quarter: Best of the Four

THE SUMMER SCHOOL QUARTER BEST OF THE FOUR By Prof. H. R. Merrill IT" Summer school, although it has be- come important only in the last few years has taken its place as the most delightful quarter of the school year. In the old days, when summer school was merely a make-shift to satisfy the needs of a few struggling teachers who used the summer for the purpose of patching up their make-shift educational training, summer school was regarded as a punishment of the poor and needy rather than as an ideal opportunity for the advancing H Summer s *$ "j l Cool ^ 8 At The ■fiHfafciSF *J '•' Y ^fwjljfflg Summer School Scenes Near Brigham Young University Top: Party of B. Y. U. students climb- I ing Glacier. Second: Students " scal- ing Mt. Timp. Third: B. Y. U. band with Y in distance. Bottom: Taking the Glacier Slide. student and teacher. That day has gone. The summer quarter has now become the most desirable of all the year, and were it not for the poverty of most students, and the fact that lucrative labor is more plentiful in the summer time, the quarter which begins in June, the month of roses, and ends in August, the month of bounteous harvests,

t HE SUMMER SCHOOL QUARTER 63 7 would be more crowded than any other, especially in the inter-moun- tain region where summer is never too hot. Go to college in summer? Yes, indeed, if one is to enjoy to the fullest extent the summer, the school, and life. Fancy being in school in a college ideally situated for summer work. Such a college should be located in a good climate where the days are not too hot, and the nights are cool enough to make sleep a dream of restfulness, and waking an ecstacy of delight; where the campus is delightfully cool and shady with just enough sunlight dripping through the matted leaves of lofty trees to make the lawns a pattern of refreshing green, shot through with moving gold; where the mountains hover close enough to breathe their resinous exhalations through the open casements; where streams are adjacent and fishing is good and limpid pools invite one to strip and swim; where fruit is plentiful and out-door sports, such as hiking, boating, and golfing, are open to all. There was a time when the ideal summer school was not found in Utah. The strong faculties, the opportunities for recreation, could not be obtained here. In those days the summer student went East to the large institutions, on shores of the great lakes or in New York City; or West to the coast where educational facilities and opportunities for recreation might be had at the same place. But that necessity has passed away with the advent in Utah of summer schools of a high type. To illustrate: I met a young lady teacher, in one of my trips south this spring. She had been teaching for six and a-half months in a little town in an out-of-the-way place. She had already begun to plan her Summer school. "I intended to go to California for summer school this year, where I could study under some eminent men in education and English," said she; "where I could also combine pleasure with my work. But the other day I received an Alumni Announcer from the Brigham Young University. To my great delight I discovered that Dr. David Snedden, of Columbia, and Dr. Merritt Y. Hughes, of the University of California, are both going to be at your institution. Dr. Snedden is one of the men I wished to meet and so also is Dr. Hughes. In addition to these two great men, too, I discovered that Dr. Raymond L. Frandsen, of the University of California, one of the leaders in educational thought in America, is going to be there also. I have said to myself, 'Why, then, go to California and spend twice as much money and get no more for it? The Utah schools with their strengthened faculties and their knowledge of local prob- lems combined ought to be better for me, therefore, I am going to attend summer school in my own state.' " The young lady was right. There is no longer any necessity for teachers' going anywhere else for school, or for recreation either for that matter. Not only may the teacher study under such men as Dr. Snedden, Dr. Merritt Y. Hughes, and Dr. Frandsen, but she may elect to study under a great sociologist such as Dr. Walter R. Smith,

SCENES NEAR THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Left top: A summer school party on Utah Lake. Left below: The Education building. Right, beginning at top: Reflections in Provo river; a party boat- ing on Utah Lake; Summer sochool girls encircling the largest white balsam in the world. Bonfire Aspen Grove; Summer school Party; a parade on the campus.

THE SUMMER SCHOOL QUARTER 639 of the University of Kansas, or Bible Literature, under as capable a man as Dr. Adam S. Bennion, or history under such men as Dr. Christen Jensen or Dr. Willian J. Snow, or Physics under Dr. Carl F. Eyring, or other subjects under two scores of eminent scholars who are on the regular faculty of the Brigham Young University. In fact, she will find the opportunity to select a course as broad and excellent this coming Summer as she would during any other quarter of work, and all of her credits will be regular residence credit that will count towards degrees of whatever nature the university has to offer. "As to recreation," the young lady continued, "surely I need not leave the state of Utah to find that, especially in the summer school. I attended the Brigham Young University one summer and found out how delightful a summer, properly directed, can be. Do you know, I liked the location of the University very much. The fact that it is in the very center of one of the best residence sections of Provo has its appeal for me. I found out how fine it is to be living at the very edge of the campus. I could leave my class in the afternoon and inside of ten minutes could be at my room and in my hiking togs ready for the great out-doors. There is everything around Provo that the heart could desire in nature and places to go." Again the young lady was right. There is no finer opportunity for hiking than on Utah's mountains, and no finer place for swimming than in Utah's lakes. Although few colleges are as fortunately situated as the Brigham Young University, any college in Utah can offer some splendid out-door attractions. The young lady had heard of Director E. L. (Timpanogos) Roberts, in fact, she was more or less acquainted with the inveterate mountain " climber and his untiring and original recreational leader- ship. She knew of the Sunrise hikes, the Sunset hikes, the Moon- light hike to Maple Flat, of the Utah Lake trips in the large fishing smacks with their trailers of scows and row-boats, of the visit to Timpanogos Cave, trips to Strawberry Lake, and had read of the week- end trips that will be taken to the lodges at Aspen Grove, one of the most delightful spots in all of the Americas. Then why should she go to California or anywhere else for recreation? There is no doubt in the minds of those who have tasted the delights of a summer school, that the summer quarter is truly the best of all the year. Can you fancy eighty or a hundred animated young people assembled around a camp-fire, roasting wienies, while they listen to a radio concert from Los Angeles or Salt Lake City? Can you imagine two hundred young people on trucks bound for rugged Amer- ican Fork Canyon and its wonderful cave — places that may be reached in a little more than one hour? Can you imagine seventy-five enthusiasts of the dawn welcoming the rising sun amid flowers and the songs of birds? Can you imagine one hundred eighty hikers winding up the Maple Flat trail at three o'clock in the morning and

640 IMPROVEMENT ERA watching Dawn tip-toe over the mountain tops at four? Can you imagine two hundred singing, laughing students riding a big fishing boat over the gentle waves of Utah Lake to Geneva, an interesting pleasure resort? Then as a climax to the summer can you imagine two thousand people camped at Aspen Grove, the big bonfire blazing and the velvet sky and brilliant stars over head? If you can, you can get some idea what a summer can be like at one of the large universities of Utah. To those who love sunshine and flowers and growing things and fruiting trees, magnificent clouds and gorgeous sunsets, blue skies and friendly stars, whispering leaves, and waters and floods of mellow moonlight, long days and delightful class work, the Summer quarter undoubtedly will seem the best of all. Piovo, Utah. In the Underworld of Sorrow In the underworld of sorrow, Purposeless in their estate, There are faces in the shadow Of adversity's ill fate! Faces that betray the longings For a hopeful, better part, Faces that no smiles are winning From a loved and loving heart. Once these faces in the sunlight Smiled within a loving home! Now they're faces in the shadow Where the wayward blindly roam ; Faces that in merry childhood Were beloved in households dear, Now so lost to ev'ry virtue They are marked with shame and fear. O, I pity these sad faces — To my heart they all appeal; In their heart-sad, woeful anguish What a life they all reveal! Though these faces tell a story Of the shadows where they grope, Ev'ry face behind its wrinkles Has a yearning ray of hope! Ye who claim the pastor's calling Are these all beyond your keep? Are ye shepherds of the Master When your fold has lost its sheep? Are they only fit for scorning? Is there not one pitying cry? Shall adversity gloom o'er them Till in hopelessness they die? Payson, Utah. JOSEPH LONGKING TOWNSEND.