From "Out of Bounds"
Since there was no appropriate story from Out of Bounds on our Minim subject matter, we've included a nostalgic reminicience from one described only as "An Old Minim." It's from the Bulletin of the University of Notre Dame, St. Edward's Hall. July,1920 These little fellows live within the shadow of University. It is their constant privilege to see and to hear the famous men who come to visit Notre Dame. A man of great literary talent, once a minim, writes thus of St. Edward Hall: The Minims' School -St. Edward Hall- is almost as old as the University, and in its own way altogether as famous. Here the small boys live -- grammar course students you would call them, --under the gentle care of the Sisters. These boys have a princely building all to themselves where they sleep in bright, cheery dormitories: eat wholesome food in clean, well-appointed dining rooms; give time to their lessons in a large study hall, splendid in pictures and beautiful statues, with the exquisite St. Edward park on one side and a great stretch of campus reaching to the lake on the other; where they pray in a chapel dim and silent, rich in marble and brass and carved wood and delicate paintings, and where the Presence is always. St. Edward Hall is a school by itself. It is in but not of the University. The boys share all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of the big school. For instance, they are permitted to see the football and baseball and track games; they are entertained by the humorists, the musicians, the moving picture shows in Washington Hall, when the programs seem suitable to their age; but-think of it!-they never have to hear the lectures on the Orient or on the spelling of Shakespeare's name. They have High Mass in their own chapel, celebrated by their own chaplain, and sung by their own choir, with a sermon suited to their young miuds. It is joyous to hear the Minims sing the Sunday Mass, their soft well-trained voices uniting in a single stream of song. They are taught by the Sisters, and you may be sure they learn. It is not an uncommon occurrence when these boys enter the preparatory school of the university to find that they are considerably in advance of the class in which they are placed. They are well-grounded and thorough, for the Minims' School has no faddists, no mere theorists, no experimenters with the child's mind.
Physically these lads might be set up as examples to the youth of the country. What the boy-scout movement and the public playground system are trying to do for the delicate, the timid., the backward child at the present time, St. Edward Hall has been doing for these boys from all over the country during three-fourths of a century. It is a joy to see them on the campus, in the recreation room, in the pool, on the baseball or football field! Ruddy-faced lads they are; stout-limbed and broad-backed, full of young animal health; hungry when meal time comes, and so tired when they get into their white beds at eight o'clock that their sleep is full of gentle breathing and quiet dreams. They have long walks through the country when the summer is abroad, and often drive a close bargain with a farmer for fresh milk or ripe fruit; they have an outing to St. Joseph's farm every year where they mingle with the growing things who are growing so themselves! Before the June vacation, when St. Edward Park is in flower, and when there is bee- murmur on the campus, they go for their annual picnic, and then there is laughter in among the trees while joyous boys wade in the "State ditch," Happy, happy days when Minims go picnicinig, from early morning till the last dish of ice cream is eaten and the horses' heads are turned homeward! The evening hours are always filled with a variety of joys for the lads -whose home is St. Edward Hall for a year or more. The quieter, more studiously inclined, seek the reading room where good books are always in the library shelves. Then there is the game-room where every newest device in amusement is found., from playing baseball with yourself to counting off celebrated sayings of great authors. In the gymnasium basketball, running, jumping, club-swinging and various activities on the horizontal and parallel bars keep those whose physical energies demand an outlet busy till bed-time. Drill-life is not neglected. Every minim is raised to be a soldier-no matter how his mamma wants him raised. That is, he must wear khaki, shoulder a small rifle, must respond, to "attention," "rightface," "march," just as they do in military schools. The minim's life is not all soldier life to be sure. He gets just enough of it to know what it is, to learn therefrom important lessons in neatness, self-control, alertness and obedience. What else is there in this great, complex, busy life of a Notre Dame minim that has not yet been mentioned? Many things, no doubt; for there is so much to be remembered.. The personal attention they receive, the lessons in politeness, and correct behavior they are given; the solicitude so wisely bestowed; when they are ailing; the dash of variety every day; the hundred little attentions that are bestowed without nervous fussiness; the spirit of cheer and comradeship that everywhere prevails- one could write of all this, only then our little sketch would pass beyond its limits. We all grow old apace and become pensive and reminiscent. Age is less lonesome when we look back to a youth of fair fields and June skies. The minim who is yet to grow will have a store of memories fresh and tender of quiet helpfulness, patience and sympathy from the Sisters who teach him in the classroom, from the Brothers who are with him at play. God grant it may be given unto many to be minims, for the memories of minim days are permanently sweet. AN OLD MINIM.
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