Bell Township High School - Bee Tee Vie Yearbook (Salina, PA)

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Preface As dew to the blossom, and bud to the bee, as the scent to the rose, are these memories to me. -Welby. This might well express the sentiment of any member of our graduating class. The four years which are spent in high school might seem almost futile to a graduating senior if his only remembrance of high school were his diploma, With this thought in mind the members of the staff have tried to present in this fifth volume of the Bee Tee Vie, a true and accurate picture of Bell Town- ship High School life. We have incorporated in this publication a brief history of the Bell Township Schools, a detail- ed history of the senior class and also each individual senior, a history of each under class and its progress, an account of the organizations and their develop- ments, the activities of this par- ticular school year, biographical sketches of each faculty member, and some interesting and amus- ing incidents in our school life. In past years each Bee Tee Vie staff has tried to add some- thing new to their own parti- cular annual. This year the members of the staff have tried to do this by making some radical changes in the layout of the book. We have combined the write- ups of the various organizations, activities, and individuals in a continuous account written in a journalistic style and have used the pictures as illustrations. In order to carry this idea further, the book is bound with a stiff-back cover in regulation book size. Since the theme for the senior class night is Youth Marches On, we have used small sketches and chapter headings to conform with that idea. The toy soldier in each sketch ex- emplifles the general idea of that particular chapter. The staff members wish to acknowledge with gratitude the kindness of Miss Alice Fennell in permitting us to use material compiled by her father, the late Doctor W. L. Fennellg the aid of underclassmen in furnishing information concerning their class activities, the assistance of Doctor T. N. Murphy with his candid camerag and the cooper- ation of faculty members and students. The Staff

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Introduction In 1800 when the settlers began to feel safe from Indian raids, they decided to build schools and churches. In some parts of Westmoreland County one building served both pur- poses. The parents of this com- munity, who desired their child- ren to have an English education, agreed to construct a school buildingl on the Yockey farm about a mile south of where Perrysville now is. This building was built on the same plan as most of the early settlers' houses, which were us- ually built of split logs and had shed roofs and ground Hoors. These girls and boys of more than a decade ago sat upon puncheon2 seats with their backs against the wall and wrote at rough board desks which were fitted against the wall. Openings which served as windows were covered with greased paper to admit some light and yet keep out the rain and snow. A fire- place at one end of the room was frequently large enough to admit a back log3 five or six feet long. The school sessions started at daylight in the morning and lasted until dark, 'making it necessary for the pupils to study at home by firelight or the dim light of a fat lamp or tallow candle. The first school house4 was probably the only one in the bounds of Bell Township until 1824, when the law provided for the election of three school directors with authority to lay out the township in school dis- tricts. Before Bell Township was separated from Washington, school houses were built at Shaffersf Perrysville, Bell Point, Dutch Flat, and Duffieldsf In 1853 a school house was erected near Alcorns' Cross Roads, and in 1887 one in Salina. All of these early buildings were log ones heated with coal stoves. Later buildings were constructed of hewn logs, had comb roofs of clapboards or shingles, and rough oaken board floors. They were heated by wood burning stoves, which were later replaced by eggshaped coal stoves. Those students who wished to write sat on an oak board bench at a wide chestnut board desk, which extended around three sides of the room. At these the pupils laboriously copied the copy which the teacher gave them. Since the larger boys and girls were the only ones who took writing, the smaller ones sat on a bench, using the fronts of the writers desks for back rests and having no desks for themselves' 1 The building was on the plot which is now the St. james Cemetery, but neither the cemetery nor church were there then. . Punclfeonisplit logs, . Back log-a large log placed at the back of the fire place, against which the fire was laid. . Black ink was made from logwood or maple, red ink from poke berries. 2 3 21. On the Yockey farm, where the St. james Church stands. 6 . Public Works Administration-a system of allotting government funds for the construction of public buildings,