Columbus School for Girls - Topknot Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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COLUMBUS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS COMMENCEMENT IN 1899 ANY years ago in 1899, there was great excitement in a certain house on East Town Street, for the first class of the Columbus School for Girls was about to be graduated. The two members of the senior class, Bernice Davis, and Eleanor Kurtz, had heard and read so much about sweet girl graduates and the thrills and pleasures of graduation that for months beforehand they thought of nothing but whether they should have a real commencement. At roll call they secretly whispered together and sometimes forgot, for that second in which they were being called to reality from rosy dreams, their quotations from Milton, the Bible, and Shakespeare. Let the little children say Jesus wept. It was up to them, as members of the first class to say, But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophelg and Ziba and Gipsa were over the Nethinims, pronouncing the words ever so correctly. The iirst considerations were the accessoriesg a class pin, school colors, and an annual. The pins were in the form of a three leaf clover. Yellow and white were chosen as the school colors because daisies would be so plentiful at commencement time. The making of an annual would be a harder task. A red-headed girl who wore the most gorgeous hair ribbons in the School was chosen editor-in-chief. A first copy was made, and those who wished a book badly enough made copies for themselves! Probably it would have been without a name had not someone asked the red-haired editor why she was working so hard, and received the reply: To get some more jokes from under this old top-knot. Thence, the name Top-Knot was derived and adopted, and someone made a white cover with Top-Knot written on in gold letters. Commencement week finally came. There were an ivy planting and an ivy oration, a class breakfast, and a dance. To this dance came all those pupils who were old enough to come-eleven in all. At the gradu- ation exercises, Bishop Oldham of the Methodist church spoke. The School was very much amused to see the blushes of their two young head- mistresses when the speaker said that, though they now had their hair up and their dresses down, he remembered them but a short time before when they had their hair down and their dresses up. Just then there came the sound of a band approaching nearer and nearer. The two graduates stirred uneasily. The younger girls cast longing looks at the 2

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TOP-KNOT AND SCROLL , PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENT PUBLICATION BOARD COLUMBUS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, COLUMBUS, OHIO EIIITOR-INeCI-IIEF ALICE sEvERsoN, 28 BUSINESS .lIA.VAGER HERMINE SUMMER, 28 ASSISTANT LITERARY EDITORS I:ARn.xRA MILLER, '30 ELIZABETH ALKIRE, 28 LIXTHERINE STONE. MARGEIIY KINDER, '28 GRACE POSTON, '30 VIRGINIA sToNE. 28 EI.oIsE HAVEMAN, 28 PATRICIA STEWART, '28 GICNEVIICVE XVINANS, 29 ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGERS NIARY JANE HUIHIARD, '30 MARY Ross, '29 TOP-KNOTS OLD AND NEW HERE is something fascinating in working on the TOP-KNOT when there is so much that has gone before to admire and teach. Even the very name, Top-Knot, is as old as the School. The first volume of the TOP-KNOT, made by the first class graduated, was done in manuscript. In 1901 the TOP-KNOT was first published in book form. The editor- in-chief was Lucy Stedman Kelton. This volume contained, among other things, the school cheer, Tra, La, La, La, We are the girls, The jaunty girls, The Girls of C. S. G! the school colors, yellow and white, the school flower, the daisyg and a picture of the basket ball team. The same type of annual appeared until 1910. From 1910 to 1917, a paper-bound magazine appeared three times a year. From February, 1917 to 1922, there was no TOP-KNOT, perhaps because of the high price of paper during the war. From 1922 through 1926, the TOP-KNOT appeared in various forms. In 1927, there was only a newspaper and a Scroll, the work of the Scrollers, the literary club of the School. This year the Scrollers have taken over the school publications. There have been three Scrolls, besides this TOP-KNOT. We, who are leaving the staff, wish the next year's stati' the best of luck. 1

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TOP-KNOT, 1928 door. That was just what they feared. A famous Duke was in the city and the public school children were giving him a parade. Down Town street they came, past the school house. Never a child left the room. The two breathed more easily and prepared to deliver their addresses: one was on The American Colonization Policy , and the other on Col- loquialisms in the English Language. The two graduates had worked so hard that it would have been rather a shame if no one had been there to hear! At last the diplomas were given out, and the first commencement of Columbus School for Girls was over. ALICE SEVERSON, '28 ODE TO A CERTAIN TIME OF YEAR I don't know why I feel so blue, There's plenty of work I ought to do, I tumble and toss at night on my bed And get up each morning with aching heady I think sometimes I'm getting the Hug The calendar says- Exams are due! Each teacher wears an important air, A smile or a joke is very rareg They all think we're a terrible lot, Whatever we learned we all forgot 9 When we study again it seems quite new, And here it is time- Exams are duel We hope to pass but we fear we won'tg When we want a date our families don't, But what's the use to worry or cry? We'll do our best 5 and bye and bye We'll find we passed-and not a few Say, It's not so bad when- Exams are due! ELIZABETH MILES, '28 3