Barnard School for Boys - Bric Yearbook (Fieldston, NY)

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was appropriated by the boys as the home of their student activities. As we look back upon them now, the boys during the first year of the school, numbering some forty odd. seem to have been a pretty husky lot. They were deeply interested in the school, and, in consultation with their masters. made beginnings which have since grown to be traditions with us. They published the first number of the Bric Cfrom Bric a Bracl, at the end of the first year of the school, and, in refer- ring to it, we find that they must have used their improvised club house to its fullest capacity. The following is a list of their organizations as they are men- tioned in the first Bric: The Barnard School Corps is a military company, consisting of the students of the school. The drill days are Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week.- Its object is to furnish a knowledge of military tactics, and to teach prompt obedience to commands. 'fThe Literary Society is composed of juniors and Sophomores. Its meetings, held on the first and third Mondays of each month, are short business meetings, followed by literary exercises. The latter consist of debates, declamations, and essays, given by members appointed by the Chair. , The Secret Society, Alpha Omega Chi, is a mysterious organization, formed for the purpose of investigation into matters of darkness, gloom and bloodf' The T. A. B. S. is a secret society for' the younger students: it is a corrup- tion of T.-U.-B.-S. The principal object is amusement for the children. The Cat Club, otherwise Feline Society, is an organization, consisting of wealthy and infiuential members of Barnard, to prevent nocturnal backyard con- certsf' The Glee Club is for the purpose of cultivating vocal harmony in the school and discontent among the neighbors. 'lThe Athletic Association is an active, well developed body that can run, jump, pull tug of war, and play base ball and foot ball with the leading associa- tions, etc., of the city. The VValking Club is a body of athletic young gentlemen whose chief object is to promcte pedestrianism in the school, making it a point to take a long stroll through the suburbs on pleasant Saturdays. VVe see by this list of student organizations that the beginnings of the school were evolved from fertile minds. The boys of '86 builded well. Their military organization grew in course of time to be a small regiment, ofhcered entirely by themselves. Qn occasions, the Field and Staff were mounted, and the school had its own drum and hte corps, led by its own dandy drum major. There were also a signal corps and a Gattling gun battery. In the eighties and nineties, it seemed to be the proper thing for the New York schools to include in their curriculum a military drill, and, at the end of the drill season, usually at Easter time, they would give their various exhibition drills on different nights in the armories of the city. f Barnard never suffered by compari-

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A RETROSPECT' The Barnard School was founded in the Fall of 1886 at II7 and 119 West 125th Street, New York City. A score of years is seemingly' a small span in the life of an institution. One can realize, however, how long such a period is by noting the changes that have taken place in the immediate surroundings of the school. Harlem in I886'was nothing more than a country town, almost wholly disconnected from New York proper. One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street, now one of the busiest thoroughfares of our great metropolis, resembled then a country lane, shaded by beautiful, wide-spreading trees, and lined on both sides by stately detached homes with spacious lawns. A bob-tail horse car made regular half- hourly trips on this street, and, when fortunate enough to make connections with it. one had the pleasure of ringing up his own fare. The elevated railroads had but recently pushed their way northward, and these, by traversing the intervening goat pastures, brought Harlem in touch with the busy city below. All that residential part of the city on the W'est side between Iroth Street and 59th Street, was made up of vacant lots with the exception of a few fine residences on 72d Street. In Harlem, also, between 120th Street and Central Park there was open country, and here at 114th Street was located the old polo grounds where national base ball and college football games were played. These grounds at times our school teams used for practice in their sports. Above I2Otl1 Street running well to the North was our territory. The Barnard boys looked upon it as such, and the people of Harlem looked with peculiar favor upon the school as its local institution. This section of the city hitherto had not had the good fortune of numbering among its local institutions, a preparatory school for boys. The needs of the com- munity had been brought to the attention of two young men who had just gradu- ated from Columbia College, then located in the lower part of the city, and by them the school was founded. One of these two was the present headmaster, Mr. Hazen, and the other was john Wlesley French, a fine fellow of marked ability, who remained with the school for four years, then 'entered the law, and finally died in Porto Rico in the service of his country. i In seeking a name for the school, it occurred to the founders that the name of the venerable president of their :Xlma Mater would he a fitting choice, and, in a personal interview with him, Dr. Barnard willingly and generously consented to its use. lt might be interesting to note that llarnard College took its name in mem- ory of the same eminent educator. but not until his death. The first home of the school was one of the line old residences on 125th Street. ln addition to the residence which formed the main hall of the school, there were two other buildings on the premises, a carriage house and a barn. The carriage house was quickly changed by the head masters into a gymnasium, and the barn

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son. Gn great occasions when the military forces of New York and vicinity would turn out for public parade, there would usually be a division of military schools. On such occasions, the Barnard boys marched down Fiftl1 Avenue or up Riverside Drive in their natty grey uniforms amid the plaudits of their friends. Our school has a United States flag which was presentedto its militaryhorganiza- tion for the fine appearance it made in the Columbian Parade of 1892. Military drill seems to have gone out of school life now in this busy city of ours, and the last drill given by the school took place shortly after the return of Captains Hazen and Lyon., our headmasters, from the Spanish Wfar. It was held in the Eighth Regiment Armory, and it represented a complete day in camp. To make the scene more realistic, the various companies pitched their tents upon the armory floor, and camp nres were built in opposite ends of the armory around which the boys sang their camp songs. The drill, as was always the case on such occasions, ended with a sham battle, amid the deafening roar of musketry and Gat- tling guns, followed, of course, by the removal of the wounded by the school hos- pital corps. VVe also note in this first number of the Brie that the school had athletic teams in the various branches of sport. They were not champions. To be champions was not the primary idea of Barnardians. They played for the amount of sport they could get out of the play. At the same time they played their hardest, and opposing teams found a foe worthy of their steel. Imbued thus with the true spirit of sportsmen, it was not many years before tl1e school teams rounded into cham- pionship form. In the interim they won a banner now and then in various sports. The first banner ever given to the school was won by our junior tug of war team in the I. S. A. A. meet of 1888. From 1890 to 1897 many triumphs in athletics came to the Barnard boys, and in 1892 two cl1ampionships in track and base ball. When one recalls the line school boy athletes that attended the preparatory schools of New York in those days, he will realize what those championships meant in the way of prowess and strength. In looking over the names of the teams, we find those of the boys who had attended Barnard from the tirst year. It is also inter- esting to know what the members of these teams have accomplished in their differ- ent walks of life. ' Syd. Syme is now a judge in Westcliestei' County, New Yorkg Ad. Kelley, who afterwards became tl1e famous half-back at Princeton, has become prominent in politics and business interests in West Virginia, Gif. Beals is now an artist of note, Percy Simpson and Gene. Gilroy are practicing law with great success, Billy Rogers, Chris. Feigenspan, Bobby Moore, Edgar Simpson, Henry Blair, Bob. Monks, Harry Fellows, Horace Burns, Wfill. Stickney and Allen Black are pros- perous business men, Hans Vom Baur and Arthur Smith are successful engineers, while 'VValton Wfilson is a dentist with a lucrative practice. Out of,this large number only one is missing. Carl Mayne, who died a short time after leaving the school. He was one of the noblest little juniors that ever wore a Barnard suit.