Boston Latin School - Liber Actorum Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Aurum, Aura, Ara. [8 1

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Excn-pts from “ Hiupya phia Aa r l varkia” 1892: Shortly after birth, when shown an ant-hill, the subject mani- fested linguistic precocity by re])lying to his mother’s (piestion in perfect German as he aliirmed his desire for food by shouting, “Ja! Ja! Ja!” Five days later, he ama .ed the household by shifting to Russian as he said clearly “Da.! . . . Da!’’ 1899: On a visit to Germany, his philological information was greatly increased as he learned to distinguish between Pilseim- and Mini- chner: to digest PinnpevHickeJ . VL( ' iie)-i chinfz(‘J, and Haseii pfeft ' e)-; and to pronounce Koiist(nu)i()poIif(niisrhrirl() 0 (hpHackpf( ' ifn-(irs( ' U- schaft. 1900: During the next nine years, although learning at first to play the violin under the tutelage of Emmanuel Fiedler (father of the famous Arthur), he drove seven consecutive teachers and his neighbors to near-madness as he proved that fiddling was not his forte. 1906-1915: Like the normal American boy, preferring sports to phi- lology and music, he concentrated on football, basketball, and baseball. In fact, if at the time he were asked which he preferred — a varsity letter or a Phi P eta Kappa key, he would have an- swered by dashing for the nearest gymnasium, diamond, or grid- iron. 1916-1957 : During the next forty-one years, he taught in five preparatory schools, a very difficult foreign language — English. He was, in addition, an athletic coach ; a camp director ; an adviser to clubs, publications, and many individuals as puzzled and perplexed as he ; a lecturer ; a reader of college entrance examinations ; a hus- band, a father, and a grandfather. At St. Paul Academy, he was suspected of being the mysterious Duke of Duluth ; and up to the time he began his checkered career at Latin School, he was known as the “Duke” to hundreds of schoolboys. Later he became the “Chief” to thousands of campers and counselors at three summer camps. Finally, at B.L.S., his greatest honor came when the in- ternational society which he had founded, the A.O.A., crowned him the Wise Old Aardvark. [FJxif, lanfihing.] Philip Mat-son, B.S., M.Ed., IF.O.A. English H.S., ’10 Boston Latin School, ’57 [ 7 ]

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PRAECEPTORES [ 9 ]