I Want to Go Back to S. C.

The Alligator was one of the precursors to the Interlaken (later and presently titled the Interlachen), the yearbook of Southern College (now Florida Southern College). The 1912 Alligator (pp. 124-125) contains the following poem about Southern College, from when the College was in Sutherland, Florida.

My thoughts this day are of a place far away,
Full of memories so precious to me,
In a Southland grown, of days that have flown,
Of a happier used to be.
As never before I long to live o'er
All those sweet days, so happy and free,
Oh, I want to go back to S. C.

I want to go back to the school in the pines,
Which to-day sweet memory recalls.
And again I would look in each cranny and nook,
And wander amid its spacious halls
With Nita at my side, my room-mate and my pride.
I would stroll as happy as could be
On the campus, or the dock-our arms we would lock.
Oh, I want to go back to S. C.

Ah, to wander again on the campus at dusk,
Hand in hand with the girl I love;
Oh, to stand by the gate, in the dim twilight late,
Would be as a joy sent from above.
Hear the chirps in the trees and feel the fresh salt breeze;
Yes, just as it used to be.
Or to sit with the folks on the steps and tell jokes.
Oh, I want to be back in S. C.

I want to go back to the old rising bell,
Hear it ring as it used to do,
With its dreary old lay, "Come, get up right away,
Or there'll be no breakfast for you."
Then I want to lie still and just snooze for a spell,
Till the last bell rings us to be
In a hurry and a flurry, in a scamper and a scurry.
I want to be back in S. C.

I want to go back to chapel once more
And sit there in the same old seat;
The old piano hear, as it rings out so clear
In melody mellow and sweet,
And sing "Love Divine" or "I'm Wholly Thine,"
Or the familiar "More Love to Thee."
A Bible lesson hear by our President dear.
Oh, I want to go back to S. C.

I want to go back on some Monday night,
To visit dear old Erolethean Hall;
Again sit at my place with a proud, happy face,
To hear each member answer to roll call;
To hear a good debate, or by a speech relate
E. L. S. principles as they will ever be
Of victories won, of work to be done.
Oh, yes, I do want to go back to S. C.

I want to have a "trunk social"
And sit there as I used to do
In plain sight; yes, under the light,
Feeling happy thru and thru.
And I want to chat about this and that
(O happy gone-by, you can never more be)
And prattle and pout till "Connie" comes out,
And says, "Good-night, son, the time's up, you see."

I want to walk on the dock once more,
Leading out to Pig Isle, the gem!
Many scenes of a spread, where we ate till nost dead;
Those jolly days, O, I long for them!
And to plow across the serene old bay,
Off to the light-house for another beach day.
Yes, happy days those were to me,
On the beach we'd dream and walk, feast, steal away and talk.
Oh, I want to go back to S. C.

Does the mocking bird still sing by my window in the spring,
So sweetly each morn before daylight?
Does the perfumed breeze from the magnolia trees
Kiss the inmates of our corner room bright?
Do the palms rustle low as they did long ago?
Bamboos still wave by the Eucalyptus tree?
Do the co-eds still rove in the little pine grove?
Oh, I do want to go back to S. C.

Do the birds that now hop in the camphor tree top
Ever breathe a sad song for me?
Do the girls who now walk thru the halls ever talk
Of the times as they used to be?
Do they know that some day when they are far away,
That they will sigh and weep with me;
With me they will long for the days that are gone,
And they'll want to go back to S. C.?