Barstow School - Weathercock Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 11 text:

All of us are indeed happy to welcome back THE WEATHER-COCK after an interlude of several years. Its reappearance is the result of the combined efforts of many. Especially would I commend Mrs. Cowan, the faculty adviser, and the senior members of the staff. Yearbooks, l need scarcely tell you, have a habit of being preserved and they come to be cherished as their possessors grow older. lt gives me pause to reflect that in the year 2000 most of you will still be spry and vigorous old ladies who will, while rummaging through dusty trunks in your attic, find your yearbook and possibly read these slight words. May I say that what we know of you and your potentialities now makes me very confident that Barstow and your country will have occasion to be proud of the record of contribution and responsibility which you will create during the next half century. I greet you all with affection now: I reflect with pride on what you will become. Richard H. Sears Headmaster ..7..

Page 10 text:

For guidance, care and interest Which you have shown this year . . For all the patience and the time You took to make things clear . . . For all the times you've been with us Ancl for the coming years .... For the different things you've done for us We thank you, Mr. Sears. For all the memories we have now And all the joys we knew . . . . For all these things, we dedicate Our Weather-Cock to you. 6-

Page 12 text:

Jg ggmlgge 0!gaMfowanJ.9f5 Liinuulerfi ' Sixty-seven years ago two intrepid young New Eng- landers, just graduated from Wellesley, founded a private school for girls in Kansas City. That school is flourishing today and from its inception has been considered, both in this region and in the East, one of the city's most im- portant assets. The names of these young women were Ada Brann and Mary Louise Barstow. Ot the two adventurers, Miss Brann was the leader and had a very remarkable personality. To begin with she was beautiful and fascinating. Her golden brown hair was thick and wavy. l-fer large violetfgray eyes were fringed with black lashes. The eyebrows were dark and perfectly penciled. Her skin was a creamy white, and all her features were finely molded. There was a delicate grace about her movements, which were accentuated by the clothes she woreealways of black and of some softly B.A. Wellesley flowing material made to suit her own style perfectly. Her manner was gracious yet somewhat aloof, and there hung about her an air of mystery that rendered even more enchanting the impression she made upon the upper school girls, who worshipped at her shrine. They worshipped from afar, however, for they feared her displeasure-a displeasure which found expression in the delicately barbed but terribly potent sarcasm of which she was complete mistress. She would have no foolishness. Her mind was brilliant and original, and she was a born teacher. There seemed to be no subject from mathematics to literature, including the classics, that she did not have at her fingers' ends. She brooked no interference, knew exactly what she intended to do, and there was no disturbance of any kind by any pupil in her presence. Miss Barstow in those early years was petite, alert, and active. Contrary to Miss Brann, she was tailor-made and always dressed in the current mode. Everything about her was trim and trig. Her hair, her chief beauty, was a curly ash-blond. Her face was broad, her mouth, large. ln her dark blue eyes there lurked a twinkle, which would disappear into a frown at any misconduct in the class room. As she grew older, she grew handsome. She gained much becoming weight. Her curly hair took on an added beauty as it whitened. Her face was of the type that stays full and unlined into age. Her carriage was erect, her manner urbane, and as she always dressed elegantly and appropriately, she presented a very dignified and impressive appearance. Although the strictest of disciplinarians, she had a delightful sense of humor and a natural geniality. She loved young children, and they returned her affection. She was extremely interested in the outdoor sports and games and in all the extra-curricular activities. Like Miss Brann she was a born teacher, although her field was limited to Latin and Greek. She demanded hard, accurate work. Not a point in grammar should be overlooked-not a form, not a construction. Every quality in parody should be accounted for. Yet with all this grind, she made the subjects alive and interesting. One entered into the spirit of the age and became the personal friend of the authors. Even Caesar, completely panoplied, as he is, in direct discourse, seemed real, living, a wonderful and dynamic character. Very little authentic or detailed information is now available as to why these two young women chose as a location for their school a spot regarded at that time by most citizens living east of the Appalachians as a crude, wild area, peopled largely by cowboys and Indians, Und Wl'1OllY lacking in social amenities or cultural interests. It has been said, however, that Mrs. Willard R. Douglass Q01 -3-