Philadelphia High School for Girls - Milestone Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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and something to go with the tea, and Mrs. Geisler said, O yes', each cup has a slice of lemon floating on the top. . . But what shall I say of the English department? 4 There is one thing that I must say- our teacher educated us by trusting us. English is largely a culture studyf' and it has developed in us a taste for good reading, which I question whether we had before. But it had its humorous side, too-some of us used to use our heads as preserving jars for Burns' poems. Once after we had an interesting lesson on Sir Walter Scott, our teacher, as usual, said that she was ready to answer questions, whereupon Mary rose and asked in her innocent way, Miss B, had Sir Walter Scott any sons? - But where are your tears for the girl that recites? . Reciting on this platform was the greatest ordeal of the whole year! Girls, will you ever forget the dreadful moment just before your name was called? How on earth did you bow and smile to Mr. Birdsall, and then stand so composedlyC?D before that sea of a thousand faces, while your heart was pounding within you as if it would burst. - 1 In the Physics department we were introduced into the mysteries of mechanics, heat, light, electricity and magnetism, and so thorough is our knowledge in these things that if all the mechanics were sent away to the planet Mars in a flying machine, we-A7-could run the world without them. But there were other things that we learned in Physics- namely, that all sounds are musical and that wee, round, Huffymice could just live on Nabisco wafers. ' , In the Chemistry department we also learned many wonderful things. Here we found it necessary to adopt an entirely new language which consistedwholly of letters and num- bers, water, for instance, received the new name of H2 O, salt was called Na Cl, and iron was merely Fe. So, when we went .home we asked for a drink of I-I2 O, and at supper-table we said Kindly pass the Na Cl, and we told our fathers that Mr. Birdsall was a worthy gentleman, with an Fe will. The following are four lines of our favorite song- ' m 13 I

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'04 Gf all the studies of the junior year, I think History was the most interesting., We again learned that Betsy Ross made the first American flag, and that George Washington never told a lie. The lesson did not merely consist of question and answer-but many heated arguments arose, during which both teacher and scholars forgot the lesson, and all felt that we were actually striking for the cause of liberty! .- We ended this happy year by having a little class-day on the banks of the Wissahickon. Miss Harjes and Miss Evans accompanied us, and we had a most delightful day together. After ,luncheon we seated ourselves on a cool rock by the water and had our class-day exer- cises. When these were over, we went for a walk, and had our photographs taken on the little bridge that spans the river. By this time it had grown late, so we bade each other a fond farewell and returned to our homes. A We entered at last upon the Senior year, and it is needless to say that we had now become young ladies. The great, final, earnest, struggle now began-but with all our seriousness, we have enjoyed this year better than, any former one. We adopted a different method toward our teachers-and instead of having good times at their expense, we had good times that they could enjoy with us, and I think it made us happier. i All the studies had their interesting points :-The passionate German love-stories always had a .great fascination for us. ' They have left with us the impressive picture of a broad expanse of water with a white lily floating serenely on the dark surface, and a passionate youth striving in vain toipluck the white blossom-- Youth beware of false affection, 'Tis apainful recollection, when it loses its attraction, youth, beware of false affection! The mathematics department was quite attractive, too, for here we learned a good deal more than mathematics. Our teacher was full of wit and humor, and she gave us many and many a hearty laugh. One day we had an interesting discussion about a cup of tea .12

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T he, moonlight on the H2 O, The bench beneath the trees, The Fe arms that clasped you so. ' While gently blew the breeze. ' p Mrs. C. taughtnus music and jokes. When she would give us back our test papers she would always say, Girls, count up your marks, for, you know, I just hate arithmetic, and I am always making mistakes. But, strange to say, when we did iin3lmistakes,they always happened to be in favor of the girl, instead of to her disadvantage, and you know that kind of error is really not half so bad as the other kind. ' But the drawing room was always the haven of rest and recreation: here the young Augustus was murdered in his prime with that worst weapon-the lead pencil, the face of the beautiful Venus was sadly mutilated, and the venerable Zeus was made to smile! And so we worked and played-not without occasional remonstrances from Miss Hubbs-but these remonstrances we always took as if they had been sugar plums. ' So, you see, our last year was an exceedingly delightful one. Our dance was given on the iirst of December, and it was a great success. Butwho ever knew of joyunmixed with sorrow? Our happiness was destined to be blighted. About Christmas time the well-known separation took place, and half of our beloved friends departed from us to the Normal School. But our class is a united body, held together by bonds of love, and it would take more than mere temporal separation to divide the friendship that has grown up among us. What have we to say of our teachers and our school, now that we are to leave them both? We say both this-we love all our teachers, and we sincerely thank themfor their labor and their kindness. They have tried to make our school life happy, both by their kind interest 14A A ,M M J gpm., g I Q 3 I 14-0-All ffvf -- - ,J-naps, , uc