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(Editor’s note: Ward Baum’s recollections about Bushkill Creek and Mucker Hall in 1938 and 1940 may rekindle good memories for other alumni.)
Bushkill Creek
The winter of 1940 was a very cold one. One bright Sunday morning I and my roommates, Eddie and Lenny, decided to take a walk around a part of our campus we had never explored. This was an area behind the campus that was unbuilt at the time except for the infirmary, which we were told had three beds. It was located on Sullivan Lane, a small road that led from the rear of the campus, down a hill, past Bushkill Creek about a mile away. None of us had ever been in the infirmary because rumor had it that once you were admitted you were never seen again. That has nothing to do with this story. Sort of a “red herring.”
The three of us started walking down Sullivan Lane and soon came to Bushkill Creek, which eventually meandered, into the Delaware River. The Creek, which was about 12 feet wide, appeared to be frozen at its surface. At first we cautiously walked out onto the ice and found that the ice could easily hold our weight. This gave us courage to walk up and down the middle of the Creek. At this point an idea occurred to me. I wondered how much stress the icy surface would sustain. Eddie and Lenny watched me silently and I proceeded to kick my heel into the icy surface 3 or 4 times. Nothing happened. On the 5th kick, which was more vigorous, something did happen. The ice broke and I dropped to the bottom of the Creek.
The shock of being immersed in ice cold water was immense. It just took my breath away. There were two things that were very lucky for me that day. Bushkill Creek was only five and a half feet deep where I fell through the ice so the physical damage was only a small cut on my chin from the ice. My nose was just above the water level. I wasn’t drowning but I was paralyzed by the icy water. The second lucky happenstance was that I was with my two good and true roommates. Eddie was the heavyweight wrestler for Lafayette and Lenny was a good 6’3″ (later he was an M.P. in the Army). They climbed onto the good ice and pulled me out of the water. Shaking myself like a wet dog I assessed my situation, wet from head to toe and one mile from my dorm room. No problem. My roommates dragged and carried me a mile uphill to my room. When we got to the room they got my wet clothes off, dried me off and put me into my warm bed.
I recovered quickly and didn’t even catch cold. The cut on my chin stopped bleeding. To this day, years later, I have a small scar visible on my chin and a greater respect for the forces of nature. plus feelings of affection for Eddie and Lennie.
Where is Mucker Hall?
When I came to Lafayette in 1938 the freshmen came to school one week before our classes started. This was for Freshmen Orientation Week when we learned how to get around the campus.
We got our freshmen “Dinks”, a maroon cap which we had to wear our freshman year. If Lafayette beat Lehigh in their football game in November, we no longer had to wear our Dinks. We also got a small book showing the location of every building on campus. This was very important since it would help us in getting from one class to the next.
The Lafayette campus is situated on a large plateau above the downtown section of Easton. There is a large oval park in the middle of campus surrounded by a street and sidewalk. All of the buildings, both dorms and classes, were situated as if they were pendants on a necklace. I tell you this so that you can better understand my scribbling.
You remember the small book I referred to that each freshman received? Well when the upperclassmen came on campus after orientation week, they would by tradition ask us to point out the location of different buildings. This seemed like a silly request because there were far fewer buildings then as compared to today’s campus.
Typical question; Where’s Pardee Hall? Our answer; the big old building which overlooked the part of the oval looking toward the East. Now came the tough question; Where is Mucker Hall? We looked in our little book and could find no Mucker Hall. After some stalling we had to admit we didn’t know. The upperclassman would point in a Westerly direction and say, “There’s Mucker Hall!” We still couldn’t figure out the exact location that was pointed out to us. We should have noted that the Mucker Hall question always came between 4 and 5 pm.
The next day another upper classman would ask, “Where’s Mucker Hall?” We pointed with some reluctance towards the West. We were abruptly told we were wrong and it was pointed out that Mucker Hall was to the East. In the evening the freshmen would ponder why we were getting different answers about Mucker Hall since all the other buildings were easy to locate. At the end of the second week the answer to the puzzle began to unravel.
Mucker Hall was not a building. Mucker Hall was a retired old college professor who lived just off campus. His biggest pleasure in life was to walk the campus where he had taught so many years, and he chose between 4 and 5 pm whenever the weather was good.
Afterwards we got to know him and to talk to him, which he encouraged. He looked like a double for Mr. Chips from “Goodbye Mr. Chips”. Dressed always in a suit, vest and tie, he was a very elegant man whose attachment to Lafayette never wavered to the last day that he could walk our campus.
Looking back I can fully understand some of the feelings he had of having been a part of and making ours a great college. When I come north from my winter home in Florida I look forward each year to walking even a small part of this campus. It will always remain a part of me.