Eastern High School of Commerce - Eastern Echo Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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EASTERN ECHO 20 EASTERN HICH SCHOOL OF COMMERCE GLEE CLUB Miss E. Howard-Conductor. The Glee Club HERE are now iifty-five members of the Glee Club, which was organized during the latter end of January. The following were elected to otiice: President, Gertrude Revell, 2Gg Secretary, Barbara Townsend, 336, first form representative, Klargaret l,iestner, lllg second form representative, Mildred Payneg third form representzttiye, Lorraine Lessel, 3S5. VVe meet each Monday afternoon at 5 o'cloclc for practice. We sing tonic solfa exercises, which help us to learn to sing at sightg scale and chord exercises to ah, la, oo, koo, etc.. which teach us voice production, and many rounds and songs of various kinds-French, English, lrish, Scotch, Canaef dian-in one, two and three parts. All this musical noise-making we enjoy very much. VVe have one good soloist, Audrey Dalzell ot' the Special Class, and several others of promise who will be able To take her place when she will no longer be at school. Un Friday, March ll. we had a delightful party in the gymnasium. There were 63 girls present. Refreshments were served, and then followed games and dancing. .-X most enjoyable time was had by all present. The Glee Club, although organized so recently, has been heard in public, as well as in the semi-privacy of the .Xssembly llall. -X second form quartette, consisting of Evelyn lileeton, Edna Usterdahl, tlertrude Revell and Alison VVatson sang at the Girls' Club meeting in liebruary. The great occasion, however, was the school concert on March l7th and ltith, when two groups of songs were rendered with a full chorus of 57. The tirst group consisted of lirench-Canadian folk songs, from the simple but tuneful Le petit oiseau to the long and complicated lin roulant ma bottle. which

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S ZS EASTERN ECHO . The Special Class HE Special Class, the first of its kind in Toronto, was organized when the school was first opened seven years ago, under the direction of Miss Smith, who still guides its destiniesg and yet the Special Class is still just a myth to most of the other students. When the class started, there was an enrolment of twelve, and the class- room was the hall outside the Principal's office. The following year the membership swelled to thirty-six. As a room had not yet been found for the Specials, they were compelled to sit four abreast at science tables, which stretched half-way down the hall. The blackboard was a small one on an easel and Miss Smith found it necessary to stand half-way down the class and relay to those at the back what was being said at -the board. During the fall of the second year, the only partition between this class and the new addition that was being built, was sheets of tar paper. These often proved insufficient to keep out clouds of smoke or to drown the strains of an over-enthusiastic whistler. However, by Christmas they retired to the safe abode that now shelters them and continue their work in peace Qmore or lessj. The need of this class arose from the desire of some business men for more mature students. A matriculation s-tanding is also demanded by many offices, yet students who have matriculated are not practically equipped to enter these offices, owing to their lack of training in business subjects. Hence the Special Class, whose purpose it is to provide the business men with what they need. Here matriculants and pupils with three years' suc- cessful High School training may obtain that much-needed business education for merely the cost of their books and many nights' hard labour. Whereas, the cost of a Business College Course might, in some cases, be prohibitive after four years' aca-demic training. As to the title Special, the reason for this, I imagine, is that one must have a Special amount of endurance to stand the strain of covering from two and a half to three years' commercial work in one year. Yes, that is the approximate objective of this class and the definite objective is, in Stenography-one hundred words per minute, and in Typewriting-forty words per minute. A week's work consists of ten periods each of Stenography and Book- keeping, nine periods of Typewriting, and two of Gffice Practice, in addition, Business Arithmetic, Penmanship, and Business English. There are four periods of Commercial French for those students who elect to take this subject. . It has been said that members of the Special Class, entering as they do, at the end of their secondary school training, do not catch the school spirit as do those who come direct from public school. Perhaps this is, to some extent, inevitable, but without losing any of their affection for the school where they have spen-t four of the most important years of their life, I am sure that the members of this year's class will be proud to go out into the business world as graduates of the Eastern High School of Commerce. -E. Barrett, Special.

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30 EASTERN ECHO left the singers short of breath and dry of throat, so that many trips to the drinking fountain were necessary. The second group consisted of songs of other lands, ending with a rollicking song of the sea, The Mermaid, which the chorus Qand, we hope, the audiencej enjoyed very -much. This public performance was attended with a few difficulties, such as the brevity of time for preparation, and the insecurity of standing arrangements on the platform, but we are sure these can be overcome in future. The Glee Club's services have been sought for two Literary Society meetings after Easter and we hope to sing some well-known Irish songs at the Trish meeting and some appropriate songs at the Shakespearean meeting. For the latter we have in mind From Oberon in Fairylandf' I Know a Bank VVhereon the Wild Thyme Grows, and Blow, Blow, Thou Winter' VVind. Qur activities for the year we intend to conclude with a hike or picnic in the merry month of May. Our sincere appreciation of the time and effort which Miss Howard has put at the disposal of the Glee Club can be fully shown by the co-oper- ation of everyone in making this venture a success. Our gratitude is also extended to Lorraine Lessel, our versatile pianist, who performs in so admirable a spirit. -Barbara Tawnsczzd. The School Dance XRIDAY evening, February 26th, promised to be one of the biggest and best social functions of the year, as the fifth annual dance was to be held in one of our USTATELY BALLRQO-MS, namely, the north gym. The gym was beautifully decorated with the famous s-chool colours red, gold and black. The ceiling was 'hung with Chinese lanterns and the walls were trim-med with dragons of every colour of -the rainbow. About three hufndred students, teachers and friends danced merrily to the gay music of Russ Berraca and his Royal Commodores. The gym formed a picturesque background for the dancers, clad in vivid colours and dancing joyously to the fox-trots, waltzes and novelty numbers. During an inter-mission of about half an hour, refreshments were served -in the cafeteria along with favours and n-oise-makers. - Everyone was sorry when the strains of the last waltz died away but, as usual, all good things must come to an end. --G. .McLean, SS3. Rugby Dance N December 4-th, 1932, the second annual Rugby Dance was held in honour of the boys of the rugby and soccer teams, whose splendid work ilast sea-son deserves a great deal of credit. Oley Kent's orchestra was in attendance and the music was exceptionally good. Punch was served between dances to the grateful merry-markers. There were also novelty dances which added t-o the excitement of the evening. , At 12 o'cl-ock the da-ncers trooped home, weary but happy after a very enjoyable eveni-ng. -Kay Zlfaftlzews, SSS, 203.