East Stroudsburg University - Stroud Yearbook (East Stroudsburg, PA)

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Teachers would have to attend summer schools to get the necessary training but summer schools are too expensive for the average teacher; so Chautauqua summer institute is the answer.n A Chautauqua composed of lectures in psychology, methods, and all branches of subjects taught in school was opened July 5', 1897. Instructors of great reputation such as G. Stanley Hall and Byron King were engaged. The Chautauqua lasted for only two years. Basketball was played at East Stroudsburg for the first time, at a field meet held in the Wayne gymnasium, February 25, 1897. According to the reporter who witnessed the exhibition, lllt re, sembles football only it is less rough and is played with the hands instead of the feet. The captain of one of the teams broke a bone in his cheek during the game. New regulations announced by the administrar ' tion were: DORMITORY LIFE Each occupant will be held responsible for the condition of his or her room and any damage done to the furniture. No nails, screws, tacks, etc. shall be driven into the walls, doors, windows, furniture, etc. No contrivance shall be attached to locks, 0r transoms for the purpose of opening them. Climbing into the rooms over tran' soms breaks the locks and doors, and is prohibited. No gentleman not connected with the school will be permitted to meet, walk, or ride with a student of the opposite sex except in cases of necessity and by per mission. Pressing botanical specimens under bed

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Street now is. The building which cost $10,000 was started late in 1895 and dedicated on May 15, 1896. Now known as Wayne gymnasium, it was then the largest gymnasium in the state. There was provision made for a pool and bowling alley in the basement. The building contained a playing floor, reception room, parlor, office, and an apartment for the physical education instruo tor. The yearbook oihce now occupies one of these rooms. All students were required to take a physical examination at least once a year and to take two hours of exercise or its equivalent each week. Regulation gym suits for men cost from three to five dollars; womenTS outfits cost less than three dollars if made in the sewing department. A football team, a tennis association, a baseball club, and other athletic sports were organized with Professor Brasefield as coach. According to the annual statement released in May, 1896, the school was highly prosperous. There were one hundred and nineteen graduates in the Class of 1896. In the fall term of 1896 a special department of manual training was formed, and in the same year C. A. Houghton was added to the faculty as physical director. In an article appearing in the Stroudsburg Daily Times several reasons were given why students should attend the State Normal School at East Stroudsburg. Among them were: Homelike Treatment of Pupils; Home Comforts. We are the first and only school in the State to furnish its students room with Brussels carpets, good springs and mattresses on all beds. 2. We were the first school to introduce and the only one that systematically maintains a Department of Sewing, Dressmaking, and Fancy Needlework without additional cost to pupils. 3. Our Rates Are Reasonable. Not as cheap as some schools where they make up the difference in poor boarding and lack of home comforts. 4. We have new buildings which are always kept neat and clean. Indeed it is one of the features which always calls for com; ment from a stranger when he enters. The buildings are heated with steam and lighted with gas? It might be interesting to note that George Kunkle was nearly overcome by gas while resting in his room. He was saved by one of the members of the faculty who happened to pass the room. The total expense for the fall term of fourteen weeks was $5 6.00. The rates for the second term of twelve weeks were $48.00, or a cost of $4.00 per week which included board, furnished room, heat and light, washing, tuition, etc. According to Dr. Bible, 1 Teaching has made rapid progress and more is expected of teachers

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posts breaks the rails and headboards and is therefore, also prohibited? Flower pressing was quite an industry. Every student, as part of his work in botany, was re quired to gather, press, mount and completely describe fifty plants. Some of the herbariums so filled can still be found, with specimens well preserved and as little faded as the owners meme ory, with its ugolden haze of student days? The discipline of those gay nineties was that of a kindly, cordial, but welleordered family. Each boarding student was assigned to a table at whose head sat a teacher and perhaps a 11Mrs. Teacher. Husky young men from farm and mine rejoiced to find beefsteak for breakfast. The spirit was 11homeyf' The resulting friendships were often regarded as among the most valuable acquir sitions the students carried away. The seven dclock evening bell brought silence as profound as that which follows taps, a silence which lasted till ten, when a second bell signaled blights out? Those three hours were employed in uninterrupted study, with every student in his room and with no visiting except by special per mission. Nor was the hall teacher a mere police; man, as so often represented, but more often a warm friend. Sunday quiet hours were really quiet, with not a sound to be heard anywhere in the building and with no student out in the halls. A deeply religious spirit pervaded the instith tion. The Sunday evening Bible Class taught by Dr. E. L. Kemp, both before and after he became principal of the Normal School, is recalled by the 21 graduates of those days with a feeling of rev, erence. The father of Benjamin Kipp, our electrician, was the night watchman for many years. About 6:15 or 6:30 in the morning he started up and down the halls of the dormitories ringing a large bell as the first call or reveille. Breakfast was at 7:00 with classes beginning at 8:15 and contine uing until 4:20. The periods were forty minutes long, and there was a Chapel every day from 1:00 to 1 :20. Saturday classes were unknown, although other Classes met five times a week. The campus publication of this time was the Normal Echoes. It was edited and published by the senior class five times a year and sold at fifteen cents per copy. The magazine contained adverr tisements from local merchants; the Normal Hill Livery Stable advertised special rates to students. Interest in football increased. Professor H. R. Higley, coach of the football team, frequently entered the game himself when the opposition became too strong. Very probably there was nothing in the football ethics of those times that made it improper for a coach to play as a member of his team. Homer R. Higley, one of the instructors, is still widely revered as one of the ablest and most devoted teachers who have ever distinguished our faculty. Either because of his abilities as a coach or as a teacher of higher mathematics, Professor Higley received a raise from $800 to $850. Louise Hochleitner, instructor in French, German and sewing, was raised from $300 to $400. Although