Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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genuine love of the language. And Goethe, whom I had always called Go-eeth, became for me a living poet, along with Schiller and Heine. It is probable that my visit to Weimar and to the grave of Heine in Montmarte Cemetery in Paris resulted from the many inspiring talks of Mr. Iohn Keller. Mr. Frank Childs, the principal, seemed to take a personal interest in each one of us. While he was principal, a few of us acted a play called It Never Rains but It Pours. The play may be found in an old Godeyis Lady's Book. Dear Mr. Childs was so anxious that we should articulate properly. After his death, Mr. Horace Morgan was our principal. He made English literature, from Chaucer to Ruskin and Tennyson, a study of vital interest. We had a school paper edited by boys and girls chosen by the school. I had the honor to edit it once. The paper was called Our Own and was the result of many days of begging and nagging. The editor Wrote some witticisms and endeavored to make it entertaining: as I look over it now, I find its very flatness most amusing. We had many dramatic readings. Our stars were Fred Crunden and Frank Cook. We gave a curious play called The Great Republic Grand National Allegory and Tableaux, written and revised for M. Hager's Entertainments by Captain W. Miller. ln this play, the Southern states seceded. I was given the part of North Carolina because I had a gift for yelling through my nose. When I threw down my Union Flag and joined the seceding states, I roared at the Union crowd, What will you do for tar and turpentine? One of our serious studies was mathematics, taught by Miss Helen Shafer, who after- wards became President of Wellesley College. We had to attend strictly to the business of learning algebra and geometry: some ambitious girls took trigonometry, but I was too sweetly feminine to bother with that. I remember a time when Miss Shafer sent a boy to the black- board: this boy drew the geometric figure and carefully used the same letters that were in the book. With my good memory I could learn the position of each letter and therefore explain the problem: if he had changed the letters, I should have been lost. A young and pretty blonde, Miss Bigelow, who later married Mr. Trask, gave us drawing lessons. She showed us how to copy real flowers in water colors and also how to copy other pictures with crayons. After many days, I finished a black and white copy of a hillside, a horse and wagon, and a man who was supposed to be walking. I used my spending money to pay for a frame, and one afternoon I carried my work of art home with me saying to my father, Pa, here is a picture that I made for you. Where shall I hang it? He looked at it carefully and said, Hang it in the closet. This was tragedy. My mother was shocked. The longer that I have lived, however, the more certain I am that the closet was the place for it. The study that gave me the most pleasure was The History of Art, taught by Miss Mary E. Beedy, She had a great love of art, and illustrated her teaching with many pictures. We went from Egypt, 4000 B. C., through Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, Italy of the Renaissance, and down to modern times. It was a joyl I can even now see Miss Beedy's long forelinger tracing the outlines of an Apollo or a Bacchus with equal ' 7 ' ,,,g,i,tQ,, if 'W impartiality. After I graduated, ' J 2' , , SCX A' - I she invited me to give talks to 5 . Qgnllll Mukhi gfhnn, . xl , Q the Art Class in h er room. X , . gikouti Tw 11111111 L ,Q Sometimes she would invite a Q S E' 1 .sw MW .- .5 if ' - -Jw 50q:U, ' I number of us girls to her room 'li'utw55 ' Q L aws- WQYESQW 10145 in the south side of the city, ' ' ' 'I l ' A where we could revel in a corn- fggzasxs is T0 smrsHrxzW, JQZMMQ ,Ea gnation oaths G10r5'fhafgv0S fini HIAIIXAAIXII 1116111424 7122 ,Q6k1z!2rlf Xvggefigoilglentt 631551 tag Cfgtgn fzzzz 'C'YQZf1.1nrnQffaf1, Qrahuatrb with full guitars af 2 Qfymm !ll!'HllA!l!f:1 A, fd d4JW1 JldHf07lJ ZfCd1Z4 pf ll2!C3Z1rkf4:ggza1.Q dZZn4YQZ2ff M , 0 If M71-41 A 1 gn Qutimnug Mlnnnf, 496 153.-...QA-ff: amlcekmfay 142 5 f I f and cakes. It was the personal touch that made us happy. Later on we took Shakes- peare with Mr. Iohn Kimball and mental and moral philos- ophy fro m Mr. Denton Snider. One of our most distin- guished instructors W a s Mr. Thomas Davidson fr o m Scot- ,'2'a.mna mu law AIJINMO ae! 1669 fund an! War! I6 Qfwuaizlzbwa .sm , Q J, 477, 'ffl MZJWD '5'f0 '3 Z 'f E land. He ranked as one of the g 1 Znal W' ' ' K 2 awww., A twelve greatest scholars ofthe A! 1'1 seem: - fvuvhfn- .reacts ww - e 'omg

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In his valedictory speech Charles Nagel held forth on an ideal which - he was later to exemplify in his own life to the admiration of many thou- - .' sands o Central alumni. The years have touched him lightly and his generous heart has endeared him to all St Louzsans Next I wish to introduce to the radio audience a woman who might well person: y True Womanhood a woman who devoted her li e a ter . :-Qi, F . . ' 5 if . . I I '. . ' . ig, graduation from. Central to .educating young Americans. May I intro- g duce Miss Virginia Stevenson, formerly a teacher at Mary Institute, and - one of the alumni of whom Central is proudest. She will tell of her high- school days. Miss Stevenson: THE Senior Class of the Central High School of St. Louis. in 1870, chose for its motto, when it graduated, the well-known line forsan olim juvabit meminisse et haec lper- haps, hereafter, we shall delight to remember these thingsl. As I graduated with this class of 1870, even though I entered earlier, I considered its motto as expressing my sentiments, too. Entering the Central High School in September, 1864, I lost part of two years, from '67 to '69, but returned in September, 1869, and graduated with the class of 1870. During 1867 and 1868 my father's regiment in the Regular Army was stationed in Wyoming to guard the Union Pacific Railroad tthen in process of constructionl from the Indians. Living in tents until the forts were built was a delightful experience. A return to St. Louis and the Central High School was doubly interesting. Having chased the antelope over the plains, I was keenly interested in chasing German verbs to their lairs and English writers to their dens. In Iune, 1870, our class assembled in what was then called Verandah Hall, on 4th Street between Washington Avenue and Lucas Avenue. Why we did not use the hall of the Central High School on Olive and 15th I do not remember, unless it was the fact that Verandah Hall was larger. We girls wore voluminous white dresses with blue sashes. A spray of white flowers, artificial, decorated our heads. Our hair was arranged in two horns, one on each side of the middle parting. The back hair was plaited and brought up to meet the horns that were carefully shaped over what we called rats. For each of us the great moment of the occasion was the reading of the long and prosy essays with which we afflicted our admiring parents. There were probably twelve or fourteen of these efforts. The boys delivered their lucubrations as spontaneous orations. We girls read ours from papers tied with ribbons. My subject was The Use of Art in Perfecting Characterng in it, I proved to my own satisfac- tion, if not to that of the perspiring audience, that the study of art was all that was necessary to develop a perfect character. One girl excited my admiration by using in her essay the ex- pression, aeons beyond in the great hereafter. There was some meat in a phrase like that. After receiving our diplomas, we went home to a midday dinner. . Ah! how my small brother and sister admired me! As I was asked by the yearbook staff to give my recollections of the Central High School, I shall now mention my first impression of the dear old school. As I approached the building, I saw a long line of boys led by a beautifully developed man. I believe that his name was Hammersley. The boys, with their chests unnaturally puffed out, were learning to walk in proper style. My next memory is of the great examination for entrance to this enchanting place. Our teacher at the Eliot School at the corner of 15th and Pine had warned us that we must not turn our heads or roll our eyes around for fear that we might be accused of cheating. But she need not have worried, for no girl who ever came under the influence of Miss Kate I. Wilson would ever condescend to cheat. I was thirteen years of age and fairly crammed with geography, history, grammar, arith- metic, both kinds, particularly that brain-twister called mental arithmetic that prepared us so nicely to carpet floors, build canals, dig wells, and shingle houses-all with a certain or un- certain number of men. . I often found myself with one-quarter of a man on my hands. But all this developed the brain-maybe! After passing our examinations, we were summoned some days later to the large hall on the third floor of the Central High School to hear our per cents. As I chose German instead of Latin, I went into the German class conducted by Mr. Iohn Keller. He was a man of high ideals and infinite patience: he made me love to hear and speak the German tongue. As I had an excellent memory, I learned the German words that translated long English sentences without taking the trouble to fit the English word exactly to its German equivalent. This cold-blooded slaughter of lovely German sentences gave place in time to a Page Twenty-seven

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Thomas Davidson with one of his favorite pupils, 19th Century. It was my good fortune to study Greek history and the Greek language with him. As for science, we had very little of that, although our botany work was good. There was no laboratory, on account of lack of funds. I remember that once, Mr. Richard Hays, a finely educated man, put something into a pipe and the result was a horrible . odor-probably sulphur. That was the ex- tent of my laboratory experience. Our elocution was criticized by Mr. Iohn Felix Hunicke. Martling, who insisted that I should bite my words off! The word bite suggests luncheons. Our luncheon was generally a flat slab of bread and meat with an apple or an orange. A girl in funds might run out to the front gate and buy a sandwich, or if she knew a boy, she might ask him to get the sandwich. But our mental pabulum was much more abundant than ordinary food. Probably, after the walk home at 2:30 P.M., the good snack from the home larder was quite sufficient for our needs. There were other teachers in dear old Central, but I have forgotten them. I can truly say this: there may have been a finer corps of teachers in the country, but I doubt it. These noble, generous, serious-minded men and women gave us something that is difficult to define. There was a steady onward urge that led us to do our best when seeking that intangible, elusive thing called Culture. So well were we drilled that we longed to attack new and interesting problems. A short time after I graduated in 1870, I went down to the Central High and informed Mr. Horace Morgan that I desired a position as teacher in the school. He gave me a quizzical look, wrinkled his nose, and said, I think, Virginia, it would be better for you to teach some- where else at first and come to me later. after a little experience. Later, I gained the experi- ence under Miss Sarah Bacon, Mrs. Dunham, of the Laclede School, Mr. Gilfillan, of the Lincoln School, and Mr. Davidson of the Polytechnic, on Chestnut and Seventh. A chance to substitute in old Central High restored my self-esteem, and forty-two happy years of teaching in Mary Institute made me ever conscious of this vision: a Greek runner with a lighted torch in his hand who seemed to say what my Central High School teachers had often said of the Torch of Civilization, Let us pass it on! m e 'E t eefkllfl Polytechnic School Building, Seventh and Chestnut. Page Twenty-nine