Gymnastics,
women's
Lawn Drills
The physical culture drill, which continued the annual calisthenics demonstrations held by the Ladies' College since 1888, became a staple of Mount Allison's closing ceremonies. The performances were held inside Beethoven Hall (1892-1895), on the lawn east of Owen’s Art Gallery (1896-1904), and finally on the lawn next to the recently excavated Ladies' College Park pond, known today as the Swan Pond (1905- ). The drills became known commonly as lawn drills.
Each year, the number of participants increased: 26 (1892), 50 (1895), 100 (1905), and nearly 200 (1911). All participants were dressed in white and performed their drill to piano accompaniment, often to large numbers of spectators. Clementina Pickard, who graduated from Mount Allison University in 1914, married prominent Mount Allison athlete Bill Godfrey in 1916, and who was also raised in Sackville, recalled seeing the physical culture drill as a child in 1906:
"All the girls in the Ladies' College had to take physical culture class and at closing all marched down, their long white dresses trailing in the grass, to the drill court which was down near the pond where they went through their calisthenics. In the end they would flutter their hands and that always brought "Ohs" from the crowd, who stood all over the hill."
Mount Allison Ladies' College physical culture drill, 1904
Mount Allison Ladies' College physical culture drill, ca. 1910
Mount Allison Ladies' College physical culture drill, "The 'Lawn Drill' Girls," 1918
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