Brattleboro Union High School - Colonel Yearbook (Brattleboro, VT)

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Fijis where he is now teaching the natives the value of education. John Perkins is a member of Congress and has lately been debating strongly on the negative side of the question of wheth- er women should be admitted to the pres- ident's cabinet. ' A Florence Clark has for a number of years been conducting a series of girls' camps in the United States, on much the same plan as the old Green Mountain Camp. Her chief associate is Mary Butterfield who is employed for the purpose of im- personating historical characters for the campers in order that they may better appreciate the value of history. Mabel Tombs, Nina Wood, and Marion Davenport are attendants on Fairs and other holiday celebrations, Mabel running a Whip, Nina managing a ferris wheel, and Marion conducting a merry-go-round. They seemed to be doing a fine business when I saw them, drawing the crowds as liowers draw bees. It has been certainly aggravating in my wanderings over the world to see and hear my classmates without being able to talk over old times with them. But now, having seen or heard of them all, I will travel on through Europe and Asia, wishing the best of luck still to everyone in the class of '22. -FRANK O'BR1EN. GILIMPSES OF OLD BRATTLE- BOROUGH Clvy Orationj People will not look forward to poster- ity who never look backward to their an- cestors. Thus Edmund Burke speaks of cherishing a love for the past. In pursu- ing our many school activities we are in- clined to forget about the factors that have made possible our schools and homes. We must occasionally pause and think of the struggles of the town forefathers. It is particularly appropriate that we in Brat- tleboro should do this, for Brattleboro is indeed rich in associations and traditions. Many kinds of historical records illumi- nate the past for us. It is not only through historical facts, but through glimpses of the social life of the community, of the schools, of the cemeteries, and of the var- ious literary and artistic associations that we may reanimate the past life of a town. A glance at the social life of Brattleboro reveals many facts of interest. The first settlers were primarily home-makers with little time for the amenities of life, later on, by 1803, when the village of Brattle- boro contained but ten houses, a literary society was formed. At the meetings mem- bers contributed original prose and poetry, though a few were admitted, as the records say, some for their fortune, some for their beauty, and some for other entertain- ing qualities. illibe tal CLASS SONG. CTune: Ah S0 Pure from Martha D Happy are we, singing joyously, Memories sweet, joys complete fill our hearts today. Parting time is here, friendships ever dear In our thoughts with lingering fondness stay. But our world lies ahead and the pathway we must tread As reluctant we stand gazing toward the unknown land. Crowded there in despair, vainly groping for the light, Burdened souls seek the goals we have dreamed in days so bright, In days so bright. Happy are we, singing joyouslyg Memories sweet, joys complete hearts today. Parting time is here, friendships ever dear In our thoughts will fondly stay. - Forth we go now ever striving Ever working comradely. iWe shall learn the joy of service Live and love to make men free. Ah, clearly now our way we see. Happy are we, singing joyously, Memories sweet, joys complete fill our hearts today. Parting time is here. Banish doubt and fear. Ah, clear before us lies our way. HELEN A. WooDwoRTH. From 1845 until l870, when the famous water-cures were located here, the Golden Age of Brattlebords social life came into being. The water-cures were conducted by two German doctors, Dr. Wesselhoeft and Dr. Grau-men of great culture, who hadbbeen educated at German universities of note. It is not difficult to picture in our imaginations what a day at the water- cure might have been. The patient's rou- tine began at four o'clock in the morning, when he was awakened for the water-cure treatment. This consisted first of wrap- ping the patient in heavy woolen blankets until he perspired freely, then of an immer- sion into a cold bath. The day was spent largely out of doors, drinking the sparkling spring water, walking, and driving. The patients may have walked along Whetstone Brook where, at that time, there were no buildings to mar its beauty, he may have read in one of the quiet summer-houses that bordered the Aqueduct Path running along the bank below Western Avenue, or mayhap he drove to the Bliss Farm, where trout dinners were served. There were also longer trips, climbs up Wantastiquet and neighboring hills. General I. W. Phelps, who achieved fame in the Mexi- can War, describes one of these trips in a queer little verse commencing, 17 as Four happy souls set out at three, To climb the stceps of Vtfickopee, The sun was bright, the day was fair, And so were all the ladies there! The day often ended with a Hydropathic Ball, to which people came from many miles around. The brilliantly lighted halls echoed with mirth and festivity. There were ladies in their many-colored hoop skirts, which bobbed up and down, the men in their tight-fitting vests and swallow tail coats, and the fiddlers playing their merriest tunes, while the company danced the Sir Roger de Coverly or the Polonaise. ' The most cultured society gathered at Brattleboro. Among the names which still remain famous are those of Julia Ward Howe, Henry W. Longfellow and his brother Samuelg Doctor Kane, the Arctic rer, for whom the Kane Pine is named, Fanny Fern, who wrote for New York papers for many years, James Rus- sell Lowell, Helen Hunt Jackson, William Dean Howells, and Generals McClellan and Sherman. . K The Civil War, together with the decline in popularity of the water-cure treatment, brought the Water-Cure to a close. This period in our history has had untold influence upon the town. In the association with men and women of the world Brat- tleboro absorbed the atmosphere of their ideas and culture. Brattleboro advanced educationally as well as socially, and soon after the Civil VVar became the seat of two first class schools, Burnside Military Academy for boys, and Glenwood Ladies' Seminary. The latter was located in West Brattleboro where the present school building is. The building as it stands was the Glenwood chapel, while on either side were dormito- ries-East and West Halls, around the love- ly old fashioned garden a deep hedge 'shel- tered the ladies from all intruders. Among the list of studies are several names un- familiar to Brattleboro High School stu- dents, for example, logic, mental philoso- phy, and moral science. There was a de- lightful feeling of intimacy within the classesg atgtheir weekly meetings, the stu- dents read together Dickens, Scott, or an- other author of note. One also learns much about old Brattle- boro from- reading the epitaphs in our grave-yards, notably on Meeting House Hill. We come to see what virtues men of an older day venerated and the qualities held in esteem as comely and of good re- port: 1 Calm were her passions, constant was her mind To her neighbors friendly, to her con- sort kind. It is amusing, too, to note the sort of anti- climax at the end! Another such epitaph appears on the gravestone of Iohn Arms, one of the first settlers of the town:

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2 THE ORCHESTRA CAST AND CHORUS OF THE MIKADO'

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18 ' No more his lib'ral hand shall help the poor, Relieve distress and scatter joy no more. Nearly all of the epitaphs show the deep- ly religious nature of these early settlers as Well as their calm acceptance of death: Death is a debt to nature due, Which I have paid and so must you. A strong evidence of the religious train- ing of children is shown on the grave of a seven-year-old child, who is said to have sung, the day before his death, these lines: Hark from the tombs a doleful sound My ears attend the cry, 'Ye living youths come view the ground VVhere you must shortly lie. ' Even in death the people's thoughts turned to the living and nearly all of the stones bear admonitions to those left behind, such as: Reader, behold as you pass by As you are living, so was Ig , As I am now' so you must be Prepare for death and follow me. Then there is the literary history of the town. Milton said that the two most im- portant sorts of people in the state are those who make the social existence.,of' the citizens just and holy and those who make it splendid and beautiful. Brattle- boro has been fortunate in having both types of men. The dawn of intellectual life and interest in Brattleboro came with the arrival here of Royal! Tyler. Born in Boston amid the stirring scenes of the Stamp Act agitation, Tyler entered Har- vard at the age of fifteen and was gradu- ated in 1776, when his country was at the beginning of its great struggle for free- dom. The story is told that onerday Ty- ler and one of his companions were at- tempting, from a second story window, to catch one of a litter of pigs in the yard below by' means of a baited hook and line. While they were engaged in this fascin- ating experiment President Langdon ap- proached and beneath the window removed his hat to wipe his forehead. At this min- ute the boys in the window quickly snatched up the line to avoid being seen, but alas, With it came the Wig of the vener- able gentleman! For this luckless pig-fishing experiment Tyler and his companion were rusticated for several weeks. After some years in Boston, Tyler came to Guilford, Vermont, Where he practised law for ten years, and then to Brattleboro, where he spent the rest of his life. Tyler will be remembered chiefly as the author of The Contrast, the first Amer- ican drama ever produced, The Contrast is a caricature of rustic simplicity and ur- bane affeetations. In one instance the country Jonathan visits a performance of School for Scandal. He expects to see a hocus-pocus man of some sort and upon being interrogated about the man and his tricks, he answers, Why, I vow, as I 1115132 tal was looking out for him, they lifted up a great green cloth, and let us look right into the next neighbor's house! Though The Contrast has not endured as a dra- matic masterpiece, it had three far-reach- ing results-it broke down the prejudices against the stage, stimulated other authors to write, and constituted the first attempt to portray a typically American character. Royal! Tyler wrote essays and novels, which were very popular at the time, but it is as the Father of the American Dra- ma that we shall remember him. In recent years Brattleboro has been as- sociated with one of the great names of modern literature-Rudyard Kipling. Kip- ling first became acquainted with Vermont upon a visit to his wife's grandparents, the Balestiers, in Dummerston. He liked the state so much that land was bought for a home a few miles north of Brattleboro. He called the house Naulahka, after the 'fa- mous jewel of one of his novels. The home was indeed a jewel amongest the loveliest of settings-the green hills of Vermont! His home life was filled with quiet and charm, and in the four years that he lived here, Kipling came to appreciate to the ut- most the Vermont hills and dales, the quiet people, and the beauties of New England life. ht Naulahka Kipling wrote some of his best known books, Captains Couifage- ousf' The jungle Book, the short stories entitled The Day's VVork, and poems in 'tThe Seven Seas. I often wonder if this great man ever thinks of Brattleboro, and if his love for the Vermont hills will ever bid him return. Though of no great literary significance, a great deal of interest! was at one time centered about T. P. James, a tramp print- er, who came to 'Brattleboro in the seven- ties. He asserted that he was the spirit penn of Charles Dickens and published the completed story of Edwin Drood, which Dickens left unhnished at his death. The book created widespread interest and was read by many. The mystery of The Mys- tery of Edwin Droodll has never been solved. There are some who maintained that James was actually in spiritual com- munication with Dickens, while others con- sidered him an imposter. Brattleboro has also attained a degree of artistic fame. On a New Year's Eve in 1856 on the spot where the fountain now standg 'two' men iliagored in the bitter cold fashioning an image from snow. One moulded the snow, while the other rendered it plastic by warming it in a neighboring shop. The result was the beautiful snow image and the young sculptor was Larkin Mead. This snow angel was admired not only by the townspeople, but by people from all the countrysideg and was the be- ginning of Larkin Mead's career as a sculp- tor. After the Civil War Mead went to Italy, where he achieved noteworthy fame, a11d died in 1910. Though long away from his native soil, Mead's thoughts turned many times to his childhood home. Another who has achieved fame in the artistic world is William Morris Hunt, who was born in Brattleboro in 1824. He said that he learned his first lesson in art by making a patchwork quilt at Miss Tyler's school. For many years Hunt devoted him- self to sculpture and drawing, but it was not until he saw a painting of Coutnre's that he turned himself to painting, which was to make him famous. Among his fam- ous works are The Return of the Prodi- gal Son, The Flight of Night, and many portraits. At the time of their first exhi- bition most of his paintings were strongly condemned, in fact one New York critic said of one of his paintings, It is decidedly the worst specimen of art in the exhibition, with the exception, perhaps, of a small painting by a Mrs. XM? VVhen he died in 1879, Hunt was buried in Brattleboro in accordance with his own wishes. I have tried to relate a few of the most interesting traditions and associations that endear Brattleboro to us. There are count- less others, but these are enough to suggest the interest that surrounds Brattleboro. We are the inheritors of these traditions-we must cherish and enrich them. If any one of us achieve 1-H1116 in the literary or busi- ness world, he must remember that it is partly due to the education and iniiuence of Brattleboro. Wherever Fate may lead us, if it be to the remotest corner of the earth, let us never forget these beautiful guardian mountains and the traditions of the town which has nourished our youth. In the words of Kipling, God gave all men all earth to love, But since our hearts are small, Ordained for each one spot should prove Beloved over all. -Howard C. Rice. lust will Anil Elraiamvnt WE, the Senior Class of the Brattleboro High School of Brattleboro in the County of Windham and the State of Vermont, approaching the end of our high school career, and, being of sound CFD mind and memory, do make, publish, and declare this our last VVILL AND TESTAMENT, in manner following-that is to say: FIRST. Vile desire that all our just debts and the charges of our commencement be paid by our executors hereinafter named and ap- pointed, after the manner provided for by law. . SECOND. NVe give, devise, and bequeath the resi- due of all our estate, real, and imaginary, Cafter payment of the charges aforesaidj in the following manner: