Eastern High School - Echo Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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THE EASTERN ECHO 37 of the articles. A new article was even added! To make the representation from each school equal, the president suggested that each of the four staffs should have six members. Eastern had six girls on the art staff, and the other schools consented to increase their number. After each school had chosen a representative for the Entertainment Committee, the meeting adjourned. -++!4E++- S. P. Q. R. T LAST the day had come! For weeks excitement over the coming circus had y been running high in my Latin class, 1113 - - - so it was with great expectation that I hurried down to the gym. When l arrived, the room was so crowded that I couldn't find an empty stool or even a place to put one. l finally squeezed in on one of the benches and sat waiting. Soon I heard a murmur that the circus was going to begin, and, sure enough, it did. Two heralds appeared at the door, and raising their tin horns bedecked with red, blew out a great and fearful blast. Then the heralds led a long procession, singing .SAYING Virumque Cano, down the steps leading into the gym. First came the chorus girls, all dressed in white, and fol- lowing them was the Pontifex Maximus. l-le wais draped in a flowing white sheet, and made quite an impressive figure. Next in line were twelve girls carrying the faces, who, l as- sured myself with great satisfaction, were the lictors, and following them were the officers, dressed in their togas, and the quaestors. Be- hind them came the best of all-the Roman maidens and the Vestal Virgins. l had not thought before that there were so many girls at Eastern. The maidens wore costumes of pastel shades, and the Vestal Virgins, white flowing veils and garments. Next in the pro- cession was a group of girls, clad in short, yellow costumes trimmed with bands and belts of brass, and wearing flowing crepe paper streamers on both sides of their heads. l couldn't guess who they Were. Then came three girls dressed in red, brown, and green costumes. l nudged the girl next to me and asked her what they were supposed to be. She said that she thought they looked like charioteers, and l agreed with her. The next group was a mixture: a girl in whiteg a boy also in white and with a dangerous looking dagger at his side, two girls in dark blue, one of whom carried a large silver discg and a girl in gray. Oh, l forgot, there were sol- diers, too, in the procession. As l have said before, all were singing Arma Virumque Cano, a most weird, im- pressive chant. I get shivers up and down my back whenever l hear it. On the other side of the gymnasium, on the platform, there was a raised stand with two chairs upon it and with stools grouped around it. The proces- sion ascended the platform, and the consuls, with great dignity, seated themselves in the two chairs. They had box-seats for that per- formance! lVlr. Flowers was seated near me, 'all crowded up on a little stool from the lunch- room. Then the circus began! The Pontifex Max- imus very solemnly made an offering to the gods while the semi-chorus sang softly. The altar attracted my attention. l wondered how in the world the Latin Department got hold of real marble? But after the sacrifice I dis- covered my mistake. Several girls removed the altar, and in doing so, disclosed the inside of a wooden box! I-low easily l had been deceived! As soon as the floor had been cleared, a girl popped up from behind a screen and announced that the next event would be a chariot race. I-low in the world -but my amazement was cut short by the appearance of three substantial-looking pasteboard char- iots, drawn by twelve horses! Now l knew what the girls in yellow were-they were horses! The three charioteers with difficulty restrained their prancing steeds until the sig- nal to begin, the dropping of a handkerchief, had been given. Then they were off! The brown led, then the red gained. 'Round and 'round the gym the horses dashed. I nearly slipped off the bench in my excite- ment. Finally, the green charioteer began to gain, and passing the others, reached the goal first. After the excitement had quieted down, the girl from behind the screen announced the next feature-a discus throwing contest. The horses, having removed their manes, were the contestants. They hurled their discuses with such force that the girls behind the stallbars seemed in danger of losing their lives. A foot race followed. The winners in both of these events proclaimed their victory by raising their arms high in the air and bowing to the spectators. I wasn't prepared for the next event: in truth, I didn't know that such things ever happened at a circus. A semi-chorus sang La Seranatan by Tosti. After such excite- ment as l had been experiencing, this lovely song came as a pleasant change. The next event was a gladiatorial combat.

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36 THE EASTERN ECHO Eleanor Weber Helen l'laver Marguerite Schmidt Margaret Evering Camilla Boone Miss Armstrong, Director of Choruses and Orchestra Piano Lent by Williams Piano Company -++2iE++- Gift to the Lanier Club The father of Amelia Birkenstock, l924, gave to the Lanier Club for the Christmas tree 3 dozen colored electric bulbs. The club is grateful to Mr. Birkenstock for helping to cre- ate the Christmas spirit at Eastern. 4033+4- LE CERCLE FRANCAIS T the meeting of l..e Cercle Francais on Thursday, November 22, we were en- tertained by several vocal selections by lish. We were glad to have with us two of our for- mer members, Dorothy Schroeder and Joseph- ine Collimore, who are now attending Goucher. They told us, in French, that their French work at Goucher is just a continuation of the work they did here, with some differences, such as the amount of discussion in class in the foreign language. After the talks by the Ctoucher girls, a vo- cabulary contest was held, in which almost all the members participated. Hannah Stark was still standing after the rest of us had taken our seats, so sh-e was awarded the prize, Le Tour de la France. . The president, Olga Plawin, appointed Elsie Bieretz to act as chairman of the committee to select an appropriate pin for the club. The pm will probably be a fleur-de-lis in the club colors, blue and silver. Evelyn Shaeffer in French and in Eng- .Q,+gg++. THE ASSOCIATED ART STAFFS OF PUBLICATIONS BOUT the middle of November, the art editor of the Eastern Echo received a letter from the art editors of The Ori- ole, inviting our entire art staff to be present at a meeting to be held at City College on November 20 for the purpose of discussing the improving of art work in the magazines of Baltimore high schools. Of course, all the artists were interested. Promptly, therefore, at the close of school on November 20, accompanied by Miss Slater, they departed for City College. There they met representatives from Westward Ho, Poly Life, and The Oriole. From the very first it was decided that the organization was to be strictly a business oneg so officers were elected. The first casting of votes resulted in two ties, and after these had been eliminated, the results were as follows: president, Mr. Serbe, Baltimore City Collegeg vice president, Miss Cox, Eastern High School, recording secretary, Mr. Clickner, Baltimore Polytechnic lnstituteg corresponding secretary, Mr. Patterson, Baltimore City Collegeg treas- urer, Mr. Stevenson, Baltimore Polytechnic ln- stitute. The name of the organization was discussed, but no definite conclusion was reached. The president then appointed a committee, which was to formulate a constitution and to submit it to the organization at the next meeting to be held at the Eastern High School. Those on the committee were Miss Miller and Miss Bentz from Western, Miss Cox and Miss Grahe from Eastern, and Mr, Clickner from Poly. The second meeting was held at the Eastern December 6. At 3 o'clock on that afternoon, several members of the Echo art staff were waiting at the Broadway door, prepared to serve as a reception committee to the guests from the other high schools. By 3:15 almost everybooy had arrived and was sitting in the drawing room, gazing at the walls which were decorated with samples of Eastern's art. At 3:20 the president, Mr. Serbe, called the meet- ing to order. I-le then asked Miss Slater to present Mr. Ctontrum, who was to speak to us. By way of introduction Miss Slater spoke of the necessity of any art organization's knowing the Copyright Law. lVlr. Gontrum explained the law clearly. l'le said that if the word copyright is written on a magazine or a book, no article within may be copied under penalty of the law. When we learned that since our Echo is not copyrighted, any person may take one of our best stories or drawings, change the name, pass it off as his own, and get away with it, we sat up and took notice. As the secretary was absent, Miss Miller, art editor of Westward l'lo, read the minutes. Then came the real business of the. day! The constitution as formulated by the committee was read, and then each section was taken up separately and accepted or rejected. The name of the organization is the Associated Art Staffs of Baltimore l-ligh School Publications. The purpose is to improve art work of high school publications' and to impress upon the citizens of Baltimore the importance of art as it is carried on in the high schools. Most of the first part of the constitution went unchallenged, but finally everybody got inter- ested and there was a pretty lively discussion

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38 THE EASTERN ECHO Two soldiers with huge wooden swords and large shields took their place in the center of the gym. After many queer maneuvers, the real fight began. They dashed together, and with their swords struck fiercely at each other's shields. They thrust and clashed un- til one drove his sword through the body of the other, and the conquered gladiator fell to the floor. The victor, placing his foot on the body of the vanquished and holding up his sword, turned to the spectators, questioning their desire. I waited breathlesslyl Cries of interfice! ninterliceln rang from the plat- form, and thumbs were turned relentlessly downward. The victor, interpretating these signs, killed the victim, and the poor, dead gladiator was removed from the floor. But imagine my feelings when the dead perform- er carefully adjusted his hat as he was being carried out. A sketch, 'iPyramus and Thisbef' came next. That was about the funniest thing that I had ever seen in my life. The prologue gave a brief outline of the story in a delightfully humorous way, and then the real action be- gan. Wall, the girl in grey, was placed in the center of the floor. Then Pyramus, still car- rying his dangerous-looking dagger, and This- be appeared. The meeting and conversation of the lovers proved very amusing to the girls. In the second scene a wooden tomb-stone was placed in the center of the floor with a mul- berry tree behind it, and the girl carrying the big silver disc took her place near the tomb as the moon. There was a real lion who growled most ferociously, but who must have been a little blind, since he couldn't tell the difference between the moon and the veil of Thisbe. In the final scene, Pyramus killed himself in a most dramatic manner. After stabbing himself three times, he sat down upon the floor, carefully arranged his gar- ments, lay flat on his back, and placed the dagger on his dead body. Thisbe's death was quite as melodramatic. The roar of laughter must have awakened some response in the dead bodies, for they positively shook. The crowning of the victors was then an- nounced. The winners of all the events knelt before the consuls and were crowned with laurel wreaths. After this ceremony, we all arose and began to sing Adeste Fidelisf' We were utterly unprepaired for what fol- lowed. When we reached the chorus, all the actors in the circus on the opposite platform held up branches of greens and waved them gnltime to the music. The effect was Wonder- u . THE MATH CLUB F members of the school who have been - wondering about the origin of geometry ggxgfe had attended the November meeting of MMT the Math Club, they would have been considerably enlightened. Some of the mem- bers of Miss Edith Thompson's geometry classes of last year, read us their papers upon Geom- etry among the Ancients and in Art. All of the papers were interesting. Elizabeth Mahool, in her paper, spoke of the various ways in which people of ancient times used geometry. For instance, the Egyptians used it to survey, and the Hindus used it in studying the stars. Ruth Bateman and Lucille Haven both wrote upon the topic, Life and Works of Pytha- goras. From their papers we learned a great deal about the man whose Pythagorean The- orem we know so well. He was time founder of the belief in the transmigration of soulsg and those who followed him feared to molest a cat lest it should shelter the soul of a departed friend or relative. All the little triangles and semi-circles, which worry those of us who are studying geometry, played an important part in Gothic architec- ture. Agnes Delawder's theme on Gothic Architecture and Geometric Figures, plainly showed the real value of geometry in art. The Gothic architecture which we have hitherto ac- cepted so calmly will be more deeply appre- ciated now that we know the hard work and painstaking figuring which were necessary for its existence. Agnes Delawd'er's theme won the prize, a gold pin, which was presented by Mists Edith Thompson. -++2iE++- ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION HE second meeting of the Athletic As- sociation was held on Tuesday, Novem- ber l9. At this meeting the question of X pin and letter awards was discussed. It was decided that if a girl made a school team she should receive a large E on a shield. If she should make more than one team, she should have a small letter in addition to the E put on the shield. Thus, if a girl made the basket ball, hockey, and volley ball school teams, she would receive a shield upon which would be a large E and a small B, I-I, and V. After the Christmas holidays the Association is going to have a party for those who have gone out regularly for hockey or volley ball practice or who have made either team, for the Athletic Council, and for the girls who have so kindly played for the gym classes. K 4 Q'Q'Q Afsfsf 'c