Eastern High School - Echo Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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T HROUGH THE YEARS AT THE EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL i'Information, Pleaseiii iwe hesitate to say Quiz KidsW program would begin their adventures in the realm of higher learning when the schools opened in September following the one month of vacation; but this did not happen. Evidently unforeseen difficulties occurred in getting the new building completed, perhaps in finding the proper i person for its head tall speculation this, no explanations being given in the recordsi; in any case it was not until almost the end of November ifor the exact date, Wednesday, November 27th, WC again credit a Baltimore Sun article, dated November 25, 1844i that the hrst Eastern Female High School opened its doors and the first eager isurely safe speculation thisU Easternitesii passed in. It happens that we have two descriptions of this earliest home of the school, and the subject seems important enough to justify quoting from both. The brief one in the Boardis Report for 1844 simply states that the house tiis 50 feet long by 34 feet-two stories high, with convenient study and recitation rooms-bui1t in a neat and substantial manner-and the cost with its furniture, $3500? and concludes, The High School occupies the second story, the 9, Primary School the first story. The other description, from the S rm article mentioned above, adds the following interesting details: Quite a handsome brick building. . . . The building is of the same length and width as the old school house, but has been raised to two stories in height, with a commodious basement. The basement room occupies the whole size of the house, the ceiling being supported by wrought iron pillars. It is to be used, if occa- sion requires, as a recitation room, or for any other purpose con- nected with the school which the Commissioners may direct. The first story is also a large room, twelve feet in height, . . . The second story . . . is divided into three rooms, the largest for the school room, capable of accommodating one hundred and fifty scholars, the others to be used as recitation rooms; and this story is thirteen feet in height. The entrance to the High School is from Pitt Street, through a turret or wing situated at the northeast corner of the building. Three rooms on the second story of a building '50 feet by 34 feet and two stories high, the whole building costing, with its furni- ture, $3500-these details of Easternisii hrst home, apparently an entirely satisfactory one when provided, should especially be remem- bered in following, along with other aspects of its history, story of iiEasternisii dwelling-places through the years. E731 the

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THROUGH THE YEARS AT THE EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL ably tested orallyfk The following questions are typical samples: GRAMMAR 1. How many Personal Pronouns are there? Name them. 2. Name the number of Tenses in each Mood 3. What does an Active-Transitive Verb express? 4. How is a Passive Verb conjugated? GEOGRAPHY . How is Oceanica divided? . Where is Cape Gerda? . Which is the 111081: southern division of Europe? . Where is the Channel of Tartary? DEFINITIONS . What are Numbers? . What does Nought express? . What is Notation? . What is N umeration? ARITHMETIC 1. Reduce UZ of 3M of U8 of W 18 of U 3 to a simple fraction. 2. If 750 men require 22,500 rations of bread for a month, how many rations will a garrison of 1200 require? 3. If 25 men can earn $6250 in 2 years, how long Will it take 5 men to earn $11,250? 4. Divide 33.66431 by 1.01. PARSIN G Parse the underlined words in the following passagezivk To see young persons who are courted by wealth and pleasure resikt all the allurements of vice and steadily pursue virtue and knowledge, is cheering and delightful to every good mind. SPELLIN G Un iiSpeIIing,i the candidates were given 20 words to write, a number of them being proper adjectives or nouns, such as Olympic and Absalom. All words were carefully capi-talizedJ .4;th- AWNH It might be supposed that the young ladies who made the required grade on this middle-of-the-nineteenth-century type of the Report for 1851 states that the examinations were conducted Qiby the Com- mittee and the Instructors belonging to the respective school, in the presence of such members of the Board of Commissioners as please to attend? WSentences to be parsed were obviously chosen with more than one end in view. Here is another from the questions given on another day: The thoughtless man bridletb n6: his tongue; he speaketh at random, and i5 entangled in the foolishness of his own words. I 61

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THROUGH THE YEARS AT THE EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL The building stood on the northeast corner of Front and Pitt opposite the Merchants Shot Works? where the huge shot tower, built nearly twenty years before, still stands, reminding the present of a distant and different past. The first principal secured for the new school was also the only instructor, a Mr. David Ring, of whom were it not for the above- mentioned S an article we would know nothing beyond the fact that his remuneration for the double job was 5750. But thanks to this article all friends of Eastern may learn with pride that its first principal was a person known as the most competent female teacher in this city for almost a quarter of a century? There is no record of appropriate exercise? to mark this memorable beginning; a new school just ccgot going? There is one thing that we do know, also in a general way, about these earliest pupils: like all the others that were .to succeed them, they were a truly representative group, coming, as the Board intended they should, from uall classes and conditions of life? though naturally, with the private school still so strongly supported by the most influential members of the community, there was a large proportion from the families of humbler position. No record of Occupations of the Parents of Students attending Eastern Female High Schoolii exists for the first few years, but a number of such lists were appended to the reports of the Board in the early 50,5, and no doubt represent fairly enough the situation for the whole period. lAnd what an enlightening glimpse they give, too, of the occupational life of a busy mid-nineteenth-century communityD The list that follows is for 1851. Occupations of the Parents of Students of Eastern Female High School: Clergymen ..................... 3 Painters ......................... 3 Soap Factory .................1 Physicians ..................... 1 Hatters --..-------..-....----..--3 Baker -- r .1 Agents .......................... 4 Tailors -..7 Dry Goods .. ......... ..l Inspector of Liquor ...... 1 Block and Pump- Bacon Store ...................1 Speculator ...... - l 1:1VIalrterii'Pg ................. Variety ---- 1 Engineer ------..--..------------1 Tobacconist .................... 1 Feed Dealer .. ......... .......l Gardener -1 Scale Maker .................. 1 Lime Dealer ..................1 Boarding House Keeper--2 Tanner .............................1 Judge ----- .....--..l Tavern Keeper ............. 1 Bone Boiler ....................1 City Commissioner ......1 Carpenters .. ................ 17 Stove Factory ----..--..-------1 Conveyancer -----------...---..l :kThe peculiar construction of this and several other items, Stove Factory? for example, belongs to the original list and is not due to any carelessness of the copyist. . i81