Norwalk High School - Reminiscentiae Yearbook (Norwalk, CT)

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It-4 5-1-aff I . I G' ' and Ella Middlebrook were conductorettes on the Cannondale trolley line, which ran from the station into the wilds of that place. Ella and Edith, I felt sure, were quite satisfied since they always had hated to walk to the station. Bill Young, I learned, had long since come into estate in England, and along with his title of Lord he wore a monocle and dropped his h's. I left the place and walked as far as the Boston store when what should reach 1ny ears but the sound of a woman's voice and I saw before me an immense crowd. Pushing my way through the crowd I recognized Emma Wells and Alma Lycett. Emma was speaking on XVoman Suffrage while Alma was enlisting those who were in favor of it. These two had taken up a worthy cause and I prayed that they might succeed and that Emma might some day be mayor of Rowayton. Some one next to me said, There's Brien McMahon over there. Hels the politician who's so famous. Why, that man'll be President before we know it. But every- body says that every once in a while he yells, 'I want order., Iid like to know what makes him do itf' Smiling to myself I thought, Brien hasn't gotten over the effect of the Senior meetings, as his habit showed. Near him stood Leo Stull taking notes of E.'s speech. Eager to find out what he was doing I asked my neighbor who told me that Leo was manager of The Hour, and that at one time he had written up the High School notes for that very same paper. 'fIt was great how some fellows advanced, added my enlightener. Having learned all I cared to, I decided I would buy some book for read- ing in my spare time. I went in and, picking up one book, I read, The Diary of a Nature Loverl'-Doroihy Wells. Oh, how well I remembered how Dot had enjoyed Nature and how her ability to write of the same had won her many good marks. Another book which attracted my attention was How I Steadily Rose in Latin'-by Donald Fairchild. What a fitting book for Donald to write, lthought. When I came out, a circus poster caught my eye. One picture showed two girls holding hands, called t'The Uriginal Siamese Twinsf' Martha Hamilton and Florence Mitchell. The next was a picture of a fat lady with this, See the Fat Lady, Weighs 320 lbs.YMargaret McMahon. The next pic- ture was a picture of a lady with hair disheveled and dress untidy, she was called Untidy Tillie, and underneath was Hilda Muth. The next showed a picture of a pretty girl, The One and Only Man-Hater, Rose Serkef' The last was the picture of two giants called the Human Titans, their stage names were Mary Weinstock and Raymond Sherwood. I couldn't help but think that each person was so well classed. , Next door to the book store was the Norwalk Boot Shop, which I entered. The salesman who came towards me was a tall, dark man and proved to be no other than Stanley XN'ilson. I remembered the time that Stanley had worked at this store and had given me size SM shoe for a size 8. He told me that Elethea W'ebb was his partner and that he considered her an advantageous tix- ture since her very small feet attracted the customers, Before I left I found that Marcia Godfrey and Judith Thompson were managing a private school which was situated in a very favorable location near a school where all the boys wore sheepskins. Marcia conducted the young ladies' department and minis- Eighty-hve

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l.-E?P1 I mms- uifilkiii I l V t l I i l .QV 1 f' l E I l 32725 . . . ' .A 1 .1 1. . . . V, in the city, and they told me, with promises of my remaining silent, that d1rect.y 4. opposite was the Bachelor Boys, Club and that many a night the 1nen1be1'5 Of L. these two clubs took part in nightly discussions which were carried on across the windows and that it was not at all uncommon to see our former classmates hang- ing out of the windows engaged in deep conversation with some bach. across the street. After bidding them good-bye I hailed a jitney to take me uptown. Upon entering I noticed a Sister seated in the corner. After taking my seat I gave her a passing glance. Wlieii we had been riding some time I heard some ' 1 .-.- 7 one say, My dear, if you would turn around, I a1n sure that you would recog- 5 nize me, and sure enough, there sat Marjorie Candee, and is it any wonder? L 'I Hadn't Marj always been sober, steadfast, and demure? She told me that her l l latest accomplishment was keeping quiet for three minutes. l VVhen I got to the Regent Theatre I asked to be let out and who should l turn around to collect the fares but Mary Beatty. In an instant my mind turned 1 I l j back to the time when Mary had writien in a character book that her ambition j f 3 was to be a jitney lady. I entered the Regent. Since the performance had just l j l begun and I had plenty of time, I noticed that there was a new curtain and l Q looking over the advertisements I saw some like this-HHere,s your chance, girls 5 --Learn to tease by mail in twenty-two lessons, by Carrie Ferretti, graduate of N. H. S. Another was- Read the Sentinel for best results-Samuel Middle-A A brook's article, 'My Adventures in Latin.' Still another was- Look Charity Bureau-Our specialty is high students who find themselves overcome by li J rlebt-Ralph Arnold, Managerf' And how very, very fitting since Ralph, in 533 an immortal speech, had once given his ideas on class charities at a Senior meeting. The vaudeville proved to be a short pantomime play with -Charlotte I Ketzinger, who as I remembered had always been a very apt actor with her 1 1 hands and eyes. The feature picture featured the now famous actress, Irenc 5 1 Sybil Gorham in Dimples. The last was a comedy with Paul Borglum in Our , 5' l i Silvermine Broncho Buster. Paul did himself justice. It re1ninded me of the i l time Paul had performed on his horse at the same place. I left the place feel- j ing that my classmates had 11ot fallen below my expectations. 5 VVhile walking down Wall Street I noticed a sign reading Matrimonial 5 1 Bureau. Simply out of curiosity I walked in. Sitting at the desk was a woman N 5 with a head of golden hair. When she looked up she proved to be no other V l than Doris Strong. She had joined with Richard Mathews in this stupendous l l adventure and was getting along fine. She confided in me that she had joined . in wedlock Anna Scofield and George Eakland. At this I was not at all sur- .LM-kj prised since these two people had whiled away many a hisfory period content to H ,- ij-fa sit and gaze at each other. Margaret Hall and Thomas Young had also been caught in the net, and such a fitting couple they were, both of a size. Wliile we I were Italking, Al Brower walked in. Doris toldime that the bureau was his f3.V0l'1lC rendez-vous, in hopes that he might receive answers to his many calls j for help for a mate. He was an active member of the committee for Prohibition f l of jazz and I found that he hated this diversion as he always had. From him I : bl learned that Ebba Anderson was mayor of Georgetown and that Edith Spooner It ' .' 5 ' . . ff .f i f Eighty-four j if ,.., L. .px WM, ,S .. , . N -4 .. -...-.------0-W'----fe --H-W-----' . p 5 -

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tered the coming out of 1nany of her girls. Stanley told me that Maylah Sco- field was running a millinery store next door and that she made all her hats and was patronized by Ella Ilorwath and Doris Loudon who had long since become happy wives and I was not sttrprised since these two had always been so agree- able and willing to make concessions, which I hold is the secret of how to be happy though married. In going out. I remarked about the loveliness of a bench and I was informed that it was made by Angelo Maruco, who had always been such a wonder at Manual Training and his business was so large that he had employed Dorothy Mctiregor. Maud Sherlock, Marguerite Pennington and Anna VValsh as secretaries. I left the store and ambled down to South Norwalk. As I passed the newly erected gymnasium I encouniered Marion King and Helen Saunders who were physical instructors, and showed me through the gymnasium. The instructors were teaching a class of girls how to shin in a lady-like manner. Then I was interested to see if there were any improvements in the school and there cer- tainly were. l noticed particularly several pencil sharpeners in each hall and there was a great variety of notices on the bulletin and they were quite differ- ent from our days. I found in the basement I.eo VVilliams, who was now a most successful fruit dealer and his success was due to the fact that the High School lunch palronized him to the extent of half a dozen bananas a day. I found that two of tny classmates were members of the faculty. Helen XNood was a his- tory teacher and when I spoke to her she informed me of a few of her own principles of teaching, the main one of which was lenient marking. The demerit sysiem had been given up and in its place a more modern system. A disciplin- arian took charge of all those students who needed reformation and Abe VVein- sock now held this position. I had no doubt he was successful for if I retnem- bered rightly he must have known the way of miscreants. Gladys Norris was an expert accountant and was in charge of the extensive business carried on at the lunch-counter. Eleanor Jenks was school nurse and took care of all the girls when they were wounded at basketball. The only thing she could 11Ot cure was at certain kind of heart disease always prevalent at the N. H. S. I noticed thai the estate across the street had been established as a place of business. At the gate was an electric sign- Beauty Parlorsf' I decided to go over to this building to see it, not because I felt that I was in need of any of their treaiment, but I had always wanted to sec if any men ever went to the various beauty shops. As I went in the door, my curiosity was satisfied. Edward -lellitf came toward me with his hair marcelled. VVhen I asked him what was his business he informed me that he was still engaged in escorting Charlotte Ketzinger home as he did of yore. Wltile we were speaking, a well-dressed girl with prety eyes came towards me. Un closer observation it proved to be Mildred Price. whose joy was unbounded at seeing me. I learned from her that she, Eudora Hyatt and Eva Russell owned the shop. Mil took charge of the eye department, and if she turned out members with their eyes looking as hers always did, I felt assured they were satished. Eudora and Eva took charge of the hair department. Eva's specialty was bobbed hair. She further en- Eighty-six