I have mentioned I am archiving letters to and from my father during his four years at what was then Lynchburg College. You probably don't know my father but you may have heard me talk about him: prominent Dallas attorney, a pioneer in what was then called Oil and Gas Law; a churchman in the best sense of that word, Elder in his church and teacher of the same Sunday School class for 51 years; a Trustee at TCU and supporter of education for many nieces and nephews; an upstanding and really fine man. So it may surprise you as it did to me to discover that this incredible adult was an 18-year-old twit just like most 18-year-olds.
He arrived at college on September 5, 1923 and wrote his mother. The next letter to her I have was written on the 30th in which he answers several of her questions and says the following:
"The night of Sept 24 was all that I said. The girls were at their best and the boys also. The Faculty and Trustees soon in a receiving line. The girls lined up on one side and the boys on another so it was pot luck as to who you would pair off with. My luck was to get a blank. She was a Jonah.So we went down the line shaking hands and then went into a room an orchestra was playing. I gave a fellow the high sign and he came in and told I was wanted on the telephone (which was a big lie). So I pardoned myself and left the old girl flat. Later I took a girl home who is a day student (doesn't live at school). Tell Mary (his sister) she is a queen. I hope to get a picture to bring home of her."
Like I said - an eighteen year old twit. Nice to know most of us grow out of it.
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