Castleton State College - Castletone Yearbook (Castleton, VT)

Page 83 text:

January “What did you get for Christmas” greetings were soon snowed deeply under papers and exams. We scurried around, snatching opportunities to go sliding, skiing, or skating, even tobogganing, glad that the super cold snap that had cracked pipes in the Foyer had passed and we wouldn’t be freezing our fingers. Clothes collected in laundry bags or on the lines downstairs, and parents received hints that perhaps marks weren’t quite what they should be, but—we also wrote home about the genial Welshmen who sang for us their many old-country songs, and of their soloist who gave us a cockney number and a gruesome bedtime story. . . The N. Y. A. and state helpers had plenty to do to keep up with everything, sho veling snow or coal, typing for the faculty, or seeing to it that we had sufficient vitamins and minerals set before us. February The Castleton Conference, our own really professional conference, came and went with the usual seating and serving complications that attend all our larger gatherings, and then—the long-awaited Winter Carnival. What cared we if the snow had melted and the skating were impossible? We got roller skates and skated in the gym, played volley ball, treasure hunted, and had a good time anyway, watching the proud king and queen walk down the avenue between their attendants to sit on the great ice throne, receive the reverence of their subjects, and delegate their favors and rewards. Again that night they ruled, presiding over the Sophomore Hop from a massive throne, descending to lead in the dancing. That was all during the reading spree when those interesting books circulated, with the reminder “read page 72,” since a few Juniors had been discovering books all this first semester in American Novel Class. March Again the Commuters rose to prominence by staging a feature show of stars and varieties which brought forth the talents of our soap box orators, chorus girls, laundrymen and ice peddlars. They all then celebrated their birthdays together with us at a banquet on the anniversary of the new school, with a pro¬ gram dramatizing all the important events of the past twenty years and fore¬ casting an illustrious future . . . We again turned toward the cultural and listened to the Middlebury Orchestra and Vermont State Symphony, appreciating all the instructions and information drilled into us in music classes . . . When our delegates went to the New York Convention later some of them again made use of that knowledge. That was a memorable trip for the four boys who were chosen to represent our four classes. The girls were generous that time! April Suddenly the Sophomores began to expound teaching practices and find out how little they knew when they had to face their first group of pupils. “Pro¬ fessional” was scarcely an adequate adjective for a description of all their tired glory of being teachers “in the field” . . . The Juniors and Seniors began to spruce up, for superintendents were popping in at odd times. There were shoes polished, hair combed with discrimination, smiles flashing—they just must be presentable! . . . Again a conference called us to Rutland where we mingled with the teaching crowd, examined text books, listened to discussions, and, if we were good, were privileged to hear Commander MacMillan lecture on Greenland, illustrating seventy-nine

Page 82 text:

Juniors went student teaching in the midst of the complications of rural school vacations and unusual transportation facilities. The Seniors were old hands and didn’t seem to be so much noticed when they went out, but the Juniors—from the publicity they received we thought there never was a more creditable group. November Do you recall when we elected representatives to the Boston conference? It’s too bad more of us couldn’t have gone because the reports indicated that there was a good time had by all, both in business and out. But we all partici¬ pated one way or another in the Home Coming Day program soon after and were quite amazed at how our graduate friends had stepped up in our esteem because of their professional status—and because of their pay checks! Many of them wanted to know about our clubs. We told them how we were hoping to have a more efficient system to make them more worthwhile. By that time everyone was participating in at least two organizations besides the Student Cooperative, Men’s Union and Commuters’ x ssociation. The Philip’s House girls had made an improved set-up by establishing their house on a more strictly cooperative basis, the Leavenworth Hall group had an energetic council working on their problems, and the Crow’s Nest, that veritable nest of practical jokes, was con¬ templating organizing. What a group, that Commuters’ group! When you go into their room, you’re apt to see any type of entertainment or activity going on among books, lunch boxes, card tables, and couches. One day they gave a food sale up in the Home Economics’ room that quite rivaled the Birdseye foodsales in quality, quantity, and even prices. Once, after a basketball game they put on an old fashioned party with square dances and a few old fashioned girls . . . We were serious too, on occasion. Professor Heinrichs came over from Middlebury and graphically presented European relationships and their far-reaching effects on us. . . . We thought, too, of others around us, for at Thanksgiving time we sent out baskets to many town families before sitting down to our own pleasant banquet where a program showed Thanksgiving customs at different times and in different coun¬ tries. (The costumes were most original.) December The biggest events, naturally, were the Christmas festivities which included carol singing (with refreshments!), a banquet in a candle-lit hall, a Yule log cere¬ mony, and a play the Dramatic xY ' t class developed and produced to show how our Christian philosophy continues to enrich life. This last was climaxed by an impressive Nativity scene. Private parties followed where pajamas and bath robes, sofa pillows and curlers were prominent among piles of colored paper and string (refreshments were exceptional, being more than the usual good night snack that so seriously upsets the weight chart) . . . The Men’s Union gave a dance without help from the other 81.4% of the school, the Freshmen elected officers, High School seniors visited us . . . Then we all went out for an evening! We tra¬ velled to Rutland in two big buses and a few private cars to hear Bruna Castagna, Metropolitan opera singer . . . Soon we heard our home town church bells ring for their own Christmas celebrations as we then had scattered to our homes, from Derby Line to Hartford, and from Niagara, New York, to Claremont, New Hamp¬ shire. seventy-eight

Page 84 text:

with unusually beautiful pictures. He put a hole in our magnificent conception of the “Children of the Cold’’ and enabled us to see how they really lived . . .Then one day Dr. Florence Hale, from Maine, painted a verbal picture of the challenges of rural teaching. How hard we wish that the salary in town schools were not quite so tempting . . . One evening we gathered to see and hear Shakespeare’s women as portrayed by a Little Theatre actress, Mary Hutchinson. Portia as the lawyer, Lady Macbeth with her bloody hands, Rosalind capering in the woods, Juliet softly and teasingly saying good night, and the mighty Cleopatra in all her graceful beauty came to life before us. May Mother’s Day drew near and passed as we found ourselves host to a strik¬ ingly different personality. Dr. Ting Su, of Indiana and China, a most intelligent Oriental student. He lived with us for a week, sharing our life, unconcernedly telling us of his folkways and manners, smiling at our curious superstitions, cook¬ ing chop suey in Dr. Woodruff’s little kitchen, and demonstrating the use of chop sticks at a student table . . . Not long before we had had a fascinating young Eng¬ lish sailor here to talk with us. He was able to attend our Freshman dance (the most ambitious starbedecked event of any dance committee up to that time). Mr. Jewiss is an officer, had been at the evacuation ot Havre, his home in London had had a “direct hit,’’ once he was bombed and rescued at sea, but still we found him amazingly cheerful, as Dr. Ting Su was. We wished both could have been here for our May festival to see our Queen and join in our play. Dr. Su did attend one of the Breakfast Club picnics and found us as informal as could be, even in early morning hours seeing the sweepers around in the halls wearing work dresses and with bandannas on their curls . . . Tryouts were being conducted for the big play of the year, “Pride and Prejudice,” which quite outdid “Maniken and Mini- ken” . . .But again, speaking of programs, this was a year of interesting ones in¬ deed. We heard about Mexico and saw a shrunken human head, dishes and clothing which Jimmie Moore brought with him. At one time we saw on the screen the most delightful and valuable pictures of birds and flowers of the north and west. And during chapels we saw in pictures the story of erosion and its effects, safety programs, fire and accident prevention, the workings of the telephone system and historical events. There were book displays, exhibitions of Japanese prints and Hilda Belcher portraits, illustrated art methods, and examples of Freshman and Sophomore accomplishments that would rival any compared with them. One lecture by Alice Schalek, European Journalist, imprisoned for a week by the Gestapo, proved humanly interesting. June As we look back we realize that Dr. Woodruff has really been an important part of our school since she spoke to us officially in chapel early in the year. She has been our guest at banquets or entertainments, and at her home on call for all her friends and acquaintances. As we walk through Friendship Garden we always think how it was she whom we have to thank for our beautiful grounds, including our great estate, Glenbrook . . . Our campus has bloomed with violets, dandelions, and lilacs in turn, and the Sophomores have found at least seventy-five wild flowers for science. The Freshmen have learned how to count calories, the Juniors to give oral reports, and the Seniors to write learned papers. Each of the classes have visited other institutions including Barstow school, the Yergennes Reform- eighty