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Show The Story of the "U*F ALL the achievements of the University, the one in which we have the most pride is the big "U" on the hill just north of the campus. To the class of 1907 belong much of the honor of planning and constructing this symbol of student loyalty to the University. On Arbor Day, in 1905, the campus was dotted with groups of busy workers. Some of these groups were digging holes, which others filled in with posts or trees; still others were grading slopes, digging trenches, or, in their eagerness, fast undoing the work of previous years.It so happened that Mr. Maddock had decided that a grassy carpet around the cinder track would not only look beautiful to the spectators, but also prove a boon to the tired feet of the champions who ran thereon. To help him in this work, Mr. Maddock, as fate would have it, chose the brainiest, most strenuous, and most voluble of the gallant Sophomores. That is how it happened that Hart, Scott, Mifflin and Meyerhoffer were seen cutting sod in the lot back of Mrs. Miller's famous "bun shop" on the morning of the 19th of April, 1905.Since the brains of typical Sophomores do not rest while their hands and feet work, it was not out of the ordinary when Scott started to cut "07" in the sod. The other three immediately went to his assistance and soon had their numerals in the grass. "But," said Hart, "before long the grass will grow in again. Isn't there some way to make the numerals permanent? Why would it not do to fill them in with lime ?" The others were about to adopt the idea, when Scott suggested putting the numerals on the hill, where everyone might see them. This started the others to thinking, and it is more than probable that this inadvertent suggestion was responsible for our now famous "U" on the hill.(163) |