This little story started out as a history of the first building at St. Olaf. There were difficulties, however, in confining it to the one building, so it turned out to be a sort of fragmentary, loosely knit history of the school along the life line of Ladies’ Hall, with emphasis on incidents of various kinds.
Admittedly, it is written from the standpoint of the women, who were in the unique position of being a decided minority in an institution whose supporters to a considerable extent favored a school for men only.
The account makes no claim to being exhaustive for the period covered. The hope is to give present day students a glimpse of what life at St. Olaf was like in earlier days.
Material has been gathered here and there, from school and community publications, from conversation with old timers. Especially have members of the Mohn and Felland families been generously helpful. Mr. Hegland has been an interested supporter and counselor. The title is the suggestion of Mr. Ray Mohn.
The compiler is Alumna Sexta, who lived in the old Ladies’ Hall two years as a student and two years as preceptress.
As It Was In The Beginning
Chapters:
Epigraph
To Be Read First, Please
The Big Woods
On the Banks of the Cannon
Up to Manitou Heights
The Hall in the Woods
From Dawn to Dusk
A New Tree Grows on Manitou
In and Out Among the Trees
Boughs and Branches
The Woods Recede