4 ACORN The first floor will be. the main gymnasium, having a floor space of 69 by 126 feet, and provided with a combined running track and spectators' gallery girting the entire room. The gymnasium will be large enough for two basket-ball contests to be carried on at the same time. The furnishings will be complete and arrangements have been made for the installation of all the necessary apparatus. The upper floor will be used exclusively for a ballroom. The proportions and appointments of this room will make it one of the finest in the state. A polished maple hardwood floor will be laid and the unobstructed dancing space will exceed 8,800 square feet. A large reception room, where refreshments can be served, will connect with the ballroom through open portieres and a women's parlor and a men's parlor, respectively, will open off the corridor, with dressing rooms for each. The orchestra will occupy a raised alcove with special sounding board construction to assure the necessary acoustic properties. The good that will result from having such a gymnasium as the one just described cannot be over-estimated. Nothing is more conducive to pure living than a pure and healthy body, and a gymnasium is a very great assurance for purity and health. To the athletes of the school the gymnasium will furnish a suitable place in which to practice and a most attractive and popular place for the matched games with other schools. But, as far as the students are concerned, the greatest good will come to those who are not members of any of the teams the ones who usually stand on the sidelines and exercise only their lungs and vocal chords. Classes will be organized for all, and attendance may he made compulsory. Everyone will be given a physical examination to determine just which forms of exercise he or she should take, and then the right kind, in the right amount will be prescribed. School work tends to impair rather than to improve a strong physical constitution. The student should have, therefore, not only the exercise that will keep him in good physical condition, thus enabling him to do better mental work, but he should also have the bodily training that will enable him to grow up into vigorous manhood, with enough reserve energy to enable him to meet successfully the many duties that will surely come later in life. We have too many hollow-chested, round-shouldered, sallow-cheeked, ungainly young men and women. All of these are of good stock but they lack physical development and training. The gymnasium will give them the opportunity to acquire what they lack and as they develop toward physical perfection there will be a corresponding development in self-respect, self-confidence and intellectual vigor. The Weber Academy has always stood for the highest ideals in ACORN 5 mental, moral and physical education. The latter has been heretofore taught largely from the negative standpoint: "Do not use those things that injure you and are forbidden." Now a new and higher law must be added to the old: "Use your bodies and thus insure growth and avoid decay." To be efficient, to give to the world the best you have, to be a "100 per cent man," it is necessary, above all else, to have a clear head, good lungs and unimpaired digestion. Every department of the new gymnasium will be under the closest supervision, and the characteristic Weber spirit of morality and cleanliness will prevail from the plunge to the ballroom. All things detrimental will be excluded, and everything beneficial will be encouraged. The right thing for the students to do now is to rally to the support of the committee and boost for the new gym. L. E. C, '03. Is There a Santa Claus? "There's no use in talking to me, Alary," said Andrew Cole as he drew his chair nearer to the fire. "I'm not going to spend no money fer that Santa Claus stuff this year and I'm not going to allow you to, neither. It's all nonsense." His wife looked at him for a moment and then ventured to reply: "lint the children; you know that they expect something. I can't think of not having a Christmas this year. Surely we can afford it and." "Yes, we can afford it as far as that goes, but I won't have it. It's no way to celebrate our Savior's birthday. You kin jist tell 'em there ain't no Santa Claus. I've never been in favor of sech nonsense." "An' tell 'em we've lied to 'em?" demanded Mrs. Cole. "No, I-" He interrupted her. During their fifteen years of married life she had never dared to speak to him in that way. He was surprised. "I tell you," he exclaimed, "my word is law. I won't have sech nonsense goin' on in my house. So that's the end of it," and closing his lips firmly he turned to the evening paper. The little woman brushed the tears from her eyes with the corner of her gingham apron. Very gently she left the room and entered the one in which the children were sleeping. How quiet and peaceful they looked. Tears came to her eyes again as she thought of how she had kissed them good-night and told them that it would be only four more days before Santa would come. That very afternoon she had helped the two little girls write letters to the good Saint; and the