Santa Rosa High School - Echo Yearbook (Santa Rosa, CA)

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THE PORCUPINE 17 Remember, I was a High School graduate; as such I felt secure of any place of honor. The matter did prove no ordeal, yet no credit redounded to the intelligence on my part. Let me explain that the rather formal searching examinations to which a prospective teacher must sub- mit himself in our state are not a part of the program in selecting teachers in New Hampshire. The low salar- ies offered in most country districts attract few appli- cants, and the result is a comparatively low standard of qualifications. So it was that after rather apologeti- cally quizzing me as to a few rules in arithemetic and testing my ability to read an item in the newspaper, this very affable schoolman declared me in every sense quali- fied. The composure which I had felt during this preceding interview was slightly shaken when I faced the dozen or fifteen bright-eved and modern boys and girls, sitting in judgement over me as the “new teacher.” Not being a veteran in the service, I had no well formulated plan of attack, and the first day saw little organization. An in- terminable series of classes loomed up in dim perspective and I found myself spending sleepless nights over a prob- lem in which six hours should be divided into such frac- tional parts that each individual might pursue his course in a separate class in every subject in the curriculum. It was in vain that I advocated the merits of competition gained by a general class in geography or in history. No such plan had been followed by the “last teacher,” and ais for geography, it was in most cases declared to be “fin- ished” and consequently laid on the shelf. Suffice it to V . 2325335 oe N

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16 THE PORCUPINE backed seats reminded one of very prim and straight- backed girls and boys dressed in sober homespun. In its prime it had really been a “centre” of a populous neigh- borhood, and many a joyous singing school or exciting spelling match had filled it to its utmost eapacity, even crowding the queer, uncomfortablé benches built along the sides of the room. As a crowning joy to me—a na- tive Californian—was the novelty of a season among the snowy White Mountains, and that, too, in the country- side where the features lay hidden for long months under a heavy white mantle. I never wearied of the beauty of it, though when surrounded by the wide expanse of snow I was always conscious of a certain oppressive loneliness which I have never experienced elsewhere. During the winter I learned a few points about sleigh- ing which may prove valuable to another uninitiated one; such as the fact that it is the better part of wisdom to drive around a snow drift rather than through it, even though it looks soft and harmless; and that on roads covered with “glare” ice the sleigh is expected to slide around until it leads the horse. Walking through soft snow is another thing to know about, and a neat little problem in physics might be based upon t he requisite force exerted in lifting two heavily clad arctic feet a mile and a half through twelve inches of new fallen snow; as to attempting a walk on ice after a thaw and subsequent freeze, much might better be left unsaid. Before the position was assured me, there was the nec- essary preliminary of a certificate. It was with little trepidation that I interviewed the “committeeman’” who was to examine my extensive (?) scholarly attainments. Paul T. Hahman, Ph D. Jerry W. Claypoot Class of ’93 HAHMAN DRUG CO. Prescription Druggists 215 Exchange Avenue Santa Rosa, California The place to buy your Ribas n and Athletic Supporters

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18 THE PORCUPINE say that matters righted themselves in some measure and quite reasonable were the strides which some of the ambitious ones took that term. Occasionally the threat- ened monotony of the day was broken in some unex- pected fashion—this being especially true when the foui- year-old, the voungest of the flock and of an investigat ing turn of mind—tested the entire contents of an ink bottle. The whole sehool adjoirned with litth- cere mony to the neighboring spring where mueh eold water was applied, both externally and internally, with gouc result. Recess periods were looked forward to with joyful in- terest, scarcely less keen to pupils than to teacher. The neighboring hillside furnished an excellent sliding plae2 and with the girls to drag the sleds up and steer ther down hill, the fun was unadulterated for me occupying the seat of honor behind. The boys, always more ven turesome, lying prone on their long home-made coast- ors, came down with terrific speed, risking life and limb in every “coast.” Snowballing sometimes amused tthem for ai (timad, but these Yankee boys as invariably returned to their coasters for the leading sport as do their western broth ers to the inevitable baseball. The hills surrounding the school house were low and densely wooded with maple, spruce and birch; high in the distance Mt. Washington loomed, with neighboring Lafayette close by. A familiar sight to all the country round was the rocky profile of the old Man of the Moun- tain, familiar to most boys and girls in Hawthorne’s story of the Great Stone Face. Like all natural wonders, HOOPER FARMER Drugs PHYSICIANS’ PRESCRIPTIONS A SPECIALTY Phone Red 43 Successors to J. N. Hooper 611 Fourth St. et