Marietta High School - Orian Yearbook (Marietta, OH)

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iiiernllertinnz By One of the Older Graduates of Marietta High School I remember as though it were yesterday, that bright September morning in 1859, when thirty of us youngsters, proud and joyous, came for the first time to the old high school. The building of brick was well set back from the street, perhaps fifty feet, and consisted of five rooms. It even then seemed in a decrepit condition. I remember a hole in the ceiling of the assembly room which was made by the foot of some adventurous boy or girl on some kind of a marauding expedition in the garret. Two persons satin each seat and the light com- ing from the front altogether, those who sat in the back of the room studied almost in twilight. In 1859 the Rev. Mr. Gould, a retired Methodist minister, was the principal of the high school with two assistants. Miss Warren was from Boston and was fully aware of the fact. She evidently thought that she was coming as a missionary among a half-civilized people! She was a good tepcher but I really believe she learned as much as we did! A Miss Anna Temple was the other assistant, a remarkable teacher of mathematics, who guided us safely through Loomis' Algebra and all the difficulties of geometry, even across the Pons Asinorum. Later we had Dr. Russell Brownell as principal of the high school. He was a brilliant young fellow with energy and ambition beyond his strength. He managed the high school, being for one year at least the only teacher, took the second honor in his class in Marietta College, rang the college bell, and studied medicine all at the same time. It is not surprising that Dr. Brownell died very soon after graduation. His dust rests in far-off Egypt, whither he went in search of health and where he died, alone, separated from his family and from the girl he loved by thousands of miles, A dear little lady, a young widow, taught us for awhile, Mrs. William Nye. She was quite deaf. I remember on one occasion she asked a girl to give a brief account of Queen Eliza.- beth's reign and the reply which she gave, quite unheard by the teacher, was a brilliant ac- count of last night's party. Professor Rossiter, later beloved professor of mathematics in Marietta College, was the principal when we graduated in 1863. In the meantime the Civil War had come upon us and nearly every boy in the high school Cwe numbered forty at one timel had gone to serve his country. Our freshman class of thirty had shrunk to seven, all girls. Our graduating exer- cises were held in the assembly room of the old building, in the afternoon, a few proud parents attending. It rained violently all day and there were no taxis in 1863. The valedictorian trusted to her fieetness of foot to get her to the closing ceremonies, but as she rushed through the blinding storm, she fell down in the mud and was obliged to deliver her paper in a white dress which was plentifully splattered. Not long ago I saw a copy of what was probably the great grandfather of the present Original It was called The Rosebud, and contained among other articles, all written by hand,a take-off on the modern novel of that day entitled l'Beulah Belinda or The Beauti- ful Bride of the Bloody Butcher. Mr. C. K. Wells, superintendent of Marietta Schools from 1881 to 1886, conferred a great benefit on the schools when about forty years ago he called ameeting of the graduates at the old high school building, who formed that most successful body, The Marietta High School Alumni Association. Miss Elizabeth Anderson was elected as its first president. For some years previous the classes had not seemed to care for diplomas, and many had dropped out only six or eight weeks before commencement. This strange condition of affairs changed completely after the Alumni Association was formed. The first meetings, very small ones, were held in the Assembly room of the old high school building, and the banquets were on the order of picnic suppers. As the number in- creased we moved to the pit of the Auditorium, then to Pfaff's dining room, later for several years to the college gvmnasium, and now the Armory is just about the right size. May we all meet before very long in a fine banqueting hall in our magnificent new high school building on Cisler's Hill. -Miss Maria K. Woodbridge '63. iid gi, s 4. . Mg. w vt