Twenty Questions
 Test Your Knowledge of
Wheaton Lore of Now and Yore

Here is your opportunity to demonstrate your recall of well known and frankly obscure Wheaton facts and fictions. There is one correct answer for each question. Top winners will have their names posted on the World Wide Web for all to see.

Thanks to archives staff Zephorene Stickney and B.J. Tramontana '66, P'97, Holcombe Austin, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus and Nancy P. Norton, Professor of History, Emerita for the questions. Members of the CWIS committee and their families are ineligible for prizes.


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Please answer each question and then click the GRADE ME button at the end to submit your answers. You'll get instant feedback on your score.


(1) How many times does the chapel bell ring at Honors Convocation?

Once for every year since 1834.
Class year of the graduating class.
Till the bellringer gets tired.
Once for each graduate.

(2) What tradition is associated with the Slype?

If you are seen walking through the light cast by the lantern, you must run barefoot across the Dimple and be caught and kissed before you reach the other side or you will never marry.
The ghost of a turn-of-the-century chemistry professor is said to wander back and forth through the Slype on foggy October nights.
Wheatones, Whims, and Gentleman Callers warm-up there before each concert.
Graduating seniors can ensure a happy life by leaving the campus after Commencement by walking through the Slype.

(3) What is the origin of the Dimple?

A sinkhole created by a 19th century compost pile.
The scar from a meteorite that landed there in 1923.
The cellar hole of a large barn.
A depression caused by the weight of the stage at commencement. The physics dept. estimates that the Dimple sinks a full inch every ten years.

(4) What is the "Cheesebox"?

A refrigerated locker in the Emerson kitchen.
The original Wheaton observatory.
A onetime gourmet shop in downtown Norton.
The Experimental Theater in Watson.

(5) What is the name of the brook that runs through Wheaton's woods?

Wading River.
Great Woods Creek.
Baylies' Brook.
Rumford River.

(6) What are "Quadrats"?

Differential algebraic equations.
Popular sites on the world wide web.
Marked off squares in the Wheaton woods used for studying plants and small aquatic life.
Residents of Kilham, Metcalf, Chapin, Larcom.

(7) What was the name and breed of Mrs. Eliza Wheaton's dog?

Romeo, a dalmatian.
Richard, a great dane.
Hamlet, a golden retriever.
Ted, a Lhasa apso.

(8) What was the original purpose of the building currently housing the admission office and the Filene Center for Work and Learning?

Bowling alley.
Gymnasium.
Administrative offices.
Rubbish incinerator.

(9) What evidence is there on the Wheaton campus that glaciers moved through Norton?

Peacock Pond.
The depression on Upper Campus known as the Dimple.
The striated rocks on Pine St. next to Young Hall.
Frost heaves in the basement of Mary Lyon.

(10) What is the shape of the weathervane atop the Everett cupola?

peacock
rose bud and petal
shaft of wheat
elm tree

(11) What is the origin of the pillars in the temple near Peacock Pond?

Supposed to be for the chapel but turned out to be too short.
No one is really sure.
Anthropology Professor Emeritus Vic Suvius smuggled them out of the Parthenon in 1899.
From the porch of Old Metcalf Hall, Wheaton's first dormitory.

(12) What is the real name of lower campus?

Richard P. Chapman Campus.
Down Under.
The East Side.
Peacock Gardens.

(13) What is the oldest continuous student publication?

Nike
Midnight Oil
Rushlight
Wheaton Wire

(14) Who wrote the music for Wheaton's Centennial Pageant?

George Gershwin
Leroy Anderson
Cole Porter
Arthur Fiedler

(15) Where are the senior steps?

In the Balfour-Hood Atrium.
In the library stairtower.
Leading to the front door of the library.
No one knows; they have been missing for many years.

(16) What building carries a metal banner with the year 1911?

Mary Lyon.
Everett.
Knapton.
Metcalf.

(17) Where is Wheaton's satellite dish?

On the roof of Balfour-Hood.
On the roof of the Science Center.
On the roof of the Haas Athletic Center.
In geosynchronous orbit above Peacock Pond.

(18) Which building was named for a Wheaton faculty member?

Larcom
Knapton
Stanton
All of the above

(19) Which building was named for a Wheaton alumna?

Mary Lyon Hall
Haas Athletic Center
Meneely
Emerson

(20) As the basic embellishments of the Wheaton Chapel, how many wooden columns are there on the Chapel?

4
5
16
20


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mleblanc and Kim McClure '98
May14th,1996