Fort Wayne Normal School - Annual Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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OUR YESTERDAYS 43 THE CLASS-ROOM CLOCK VVhat sorrow this Normal School clock has caused! The hands creep, the pendulum crawls, and one can count to ten between the ticks. In the embarrassing pause which fol- lows a call for a volunteer to answer some question these same ticks sound like the beats of a drum. They are so insistent that they even become entangled with one's thoughts and the worn and wearied student who is living for the end of the period must think to the rhythm of the beats. The placement of the clock only adds to this misery, for about one-half of the class must turn and twist to gain even the approximate time. First one girl and then another slips her desk forward, slides to the edge of the seat, hrmly grasps two corners of the desk in order that she may not fall, twists her neck, and casts her eyes heavenward until she can see the time. How often the hands appear to be five minutes ahead. Then the girls are scolded because they fuss and fret the last ive minutes of the period. One day to avoid this bad last five minutes, the clock was set ahead. The teacher came in, looked at the clock, looked at her watch, scowled, and said, This clock does not agree either with my watch or the other clocks. This class will be timed by my watch. Even doctoring would not make our ancient time piece more hearahle. VVhat a shock it would be to discover just once that the time by this clock coincided with that of the other clocks. How often the little story, But by the clock downstairs it is not yet time for class, is given. Only too often it is not accepted and the girls mark them- selves tardy on the chart. But after all this clock has also marked the minutes of the parties, vacant hours, and the intervals between classes, and at these times we were only too glad to have it stretch the time. And what teacher could have been more patient, more systematic, more persistent in discipline than the one who teaches us that time passes. Even though our poor clock has had no rest for many years it has always managed to keep its ticking loud and cheerful. Since it has given us pleasure and discipline as well as sorrow, let us not leave the school without an expression of the gratitude which is due. -XIARTHA STORE, Class of 122. AS OTHERS SEE US NAME. FAVORITE SAYING. CHIEF OCCUPATION. AMBITIQN. Miss Andrews ....... Coming, Helen? ..... Selecting her diet .... To make a basket. Miss Brenn... Suppose- . .......... Holding conferences..To grow shorter. Miss Cooley.. I couldn't be sure about that- . ...... Collecting data. ...... To keep healthy. Miss Erickson ....... Now let me tell you, girls- ............ Having operations....To own a Checker-Cab. Miss Hall .... . Now, young ladies-. Miss Hale .... Stop that!!! ......... Censoring pictures. ..To stay young. Miss Holland. Really, you don't - - mean it- ......... Dodge-ing .......... To demonstrate. Miss Fiedler.. No, indeed!!! ....... Correcting tablets .... To speak French fluently. Miss Long.... All right! .... ........ - Making flash sen- tences . ............ To increase eyespan. Miss Muller.. Now, isn't that fine?.Fishing for compli- ments . ............ To find her good workers. Mr. Miles .... Jazz! Bah! Miss Parry... Is that so?. .......... Missing street cars...To train students to co- operate. Miss Rinehart. ....... The fact of the mat- ter is- ........... Supporting the staff. .To make genius burn Miss Ruggles. Oh, what word do I want? . ............ Making diagrams .... To lose her Puritan con- science. Mr, Rogers... I, 2, Swing Swing! Miss Sauer... Say, you don't sup- pose- ............ Beating time ......... To abolish Jazz. Miss Teerink. Now, then- ........ Being natural ....... To get thin. Miss Snively.. Don't you know-.. . .Making footprints. ..To find a shoe with a flex- ible shank. Miss Wilber.. I've an announcement to make- ......... Hunting books. ...... To reduce everything to measurements. Miss VVilliams Off your feet! ....... Enjoying life ........ To make each festival the best. Miss Yost .... I think so too ........ Having dates ........ To reduce.

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42 OUR YESTERDAYS VVhom should I see next? Although the process was wearing, I could scarcely wait to see the other girls. VX'hat would they be doing? Suddenly everything was black before my eyesg there was a terrific roaring in my ears, my head was swimming. I screamed in terror. Everything will be all right in a minute, said Chella. You are making a change. The next people you see will be in New York. My vision was clear again, the roaring had ceased. Before my eyes Hashed the name Yelma Holt on a large 'Broadway sign. The next moment I found myself inside the theatre. On the stage was Velma swaying gracefully to and fro in a beautiful dance. This was her twenty-fifth night and the audience was mad over her, I found myself in Greenwich Village. In a studio I saw Helen Scott working at a canvass on which the outline was peculiar. tModern art, I supposedj. Her hair was hobbed and had mysteriously turned to a reddish shade that was most becoming. Who would have thought that Helen would have ended here? VVith haste that made me feverish I passed from scene to scene. I was in a fine play house. For years I had not heard any music so beautiful. Although pipe organ music is much different from piano music, there seemed something so familiar about the touch of the keys. And no wonder, for as I glanced at my program I read, Miss Henrietta Ross at the Organ. Then I recalled the old- Normal days when she used to play all the music popular and classical that she knew as we danced and sang or listened. The dream of her life had come true for she was a renowned musician. As the scene changed again I found myself in the opera. I sat enraptured with the prima donna's singing. At the end of the first song, I realized that she was none 'other than Dorothy Griffith. I sent my card back and was told that I might see her. VVhen the maid opened the door of the dressing room, the girl who greeted me was the same old Dorothy. We did not have long to talk. However she told 1ne that she was going to give this all up in a few weeks for the Doctor had waited much longer now that he wanted to. Now my vision rested for a moment in a beautiful home. In a living room I saw a woman reading to four children, I could hear Chella's voice saying, It is Grace Longs- worth. But the children? I asked. They are orphans, said Chella. Oh, the sociology lectures were not wasted. I heard a buzzing sound which gave me a peculiar thrill. Chella, seeming to know my feelings, said, This comes before you see one who is famous. In a vast assemblage of people a man was introducing a well-known woman, the International Secretary of Educa- tion. The audience was silent as the woman rose to speak. Last but not least I had seen Helen Rapp. The lines of the play which I was learning demanded attention. The force of my mental yearning had spent itself. Chella laughingly announced that my mental project was ended. -MARY EUNICE EATON. BASKET BALL The reader who has thus far perused our little volume, may wonder if we have in two long years entirely neglected to re-create our bodies as well as our minds. May we answer with an emphatic, Nay. We leave behind us no such reputation as did the class team of '15, but we carry with us memories of many a happy afternoon when we played for all there was in it, and then trudged wearily home to an evening of study. During our Junior year there were several match games, the Alumnae and the Lincoln Life being among our oppo- nents. As Seniors we were not so forunate. Our small enrollment as a first hindrance and disability of several girls as a second, left us a very limited number from which to work up a team. Therefore we contented ourselves with practice games. But help came from an unexpected source. VVhat was our surprise when after a spirited Captain Ball game in which we were the victors, the Faculty made known their intentions of organizing a basket ball team, And thus it came about that every Wednesday, and frequently on Friday, the gymnasium was the scene of a heated contest in which hand and brain went ever paired. How we did enjoy those games! Those wl'To were not among the players were often among the rooters, and we are sure that several times Mr. Mason and Mr. Clear peeped in just to see how the game was going. Rapp and Andrews made the scrappiest little centers that ever donned the middy and bloomers. Little Ruthie Whittern managed to put the ball in no matter which of the dear teachers guarded her, though she said more than once that Miss Cooley stuck like glue. Would space permit, we could go on indefinitely telling what we owe to this one and that one for her part in the game-but we'll say just this, It all goes back to the patient effort and never-ending enthusiasm of our coach, Miss Williams! ' Miss Ruggles-- I never attended a picture show until I was 25 years old. Ramona- There probably were none before that.

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44 OUR Yus'1'i:RD.xYs REMINISCENCES OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL Letls slip back to school this afternoon and take one more look around the building. NN'e can get back in time to get ready for the Commencement Exercises. Do you remem- ber how disappointed some of us were when we saw this dingy old building for the first time? But now, how we hate to leave itgthis place where we have been happy and sadg where we have laughed and wept: where we have been praised and rebuked, disappointed and overjoyed, where our teachers have seemed like alternating dragons and angels, and our tasks hard and boresoine. The lawn on the nest side recalls unending practice for the Flower Festival on our junior year. lt was very hard to make those dances correct. Near that tree is the place where we sat in the grape pop, that the Seniors poured on the grass. On the other side of the walk, we often had Composition Class, when it was too hot indoors. Oh, those mis- erable attempts at composition! Do you remember our amusement when one read: The men emptied their contents into large barrels ? Here on the front porch we always stationed a look-out for teachers when some un- approved act was being committed inside. To the oliice on the left, unwashed dishes and pans often mysteriously found their way. A note usually appeared just as mysteriously on the board, as follows: Call 'for dishes and pans in the otiicef' F. W. Then the poor student, to whom the offending utensils belonged, was compelledto put on a bold face, ap- proach Miss VVilber penitently, say: Those are my dishes, and wait for the inevitable lecture. Hush! we are approaching the library where silence forever reigns, but where Miss Willver must keep watchful vigil to make it so reign. Here most of the assemblies have been held. Here the jazz Baby was performed in our second Junior Assembly. Oh, the blissful ignorance of juniors! Here also did we wring our hands in despair and agony when the speaker for our third Assembly did not arrive and we could have no program. Now we come to the kitchen. The first sight of the place suggests the K. P. duty we performed so faithfully each day. l can still hear someone shouting, lt's your day to clean the kitchen. How quickly we learned to arrange the cupboard so that the left-over food and dirty dishes would not show. There in the pantry are the jiggly little folding tables which aided so much in spilling cocoa and soup over their mistresses and neighboring objects. We shall go up the back stairs, for they are used most frequently. Little balls of fuzz and dirt play hide-and-seek in the corners of the steps. At our left, we find the rest- room-a tiny place strewn with soiled mirldies and orphan gym shoes. In the corner we see the little brown cot, which has so amiably served students who preferred headaches to attending class. This is the room in which we hid one day when Miss Snively was more than ten minutes late for class. Do you remember the consequences? That horrid test! Our class-room could probably tell more stories about us than any other room. Here we have undergone recitations, examinations, and lectures. Here we have transacted our business, told jokes, and made vain attempts to study, when certain members refused to work for the good of the group. There on the teacher's desk by the window, Miss Wilber explained the mysteries and wonders of the brains of students who are fortunate enough to have those unusable articles. . The science room just across the hall, has been inhabited at various times by ants, hsh, snails, frogs, toads, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and their kindred. Wasn't it fun to stick pins through the beautiful moths and butterfiies, and mount them, but horrors, the cater- pillars and cabbage-worms! ln this same science-room we locked the contrary culprits who refused to join the I don't knows, and recited in Miss Ruggles' special History class. Here we are at the front stairs. On these steps we used to sit when it was too noisy to study elsewhere. But, be still! VVe are coming near the office. Tread softly, and close the door with care. , -RUTH A. WHITTERN. Miss Rugglvs- Miss Eaton, who was the Queen of France? Mary Emzice- I suppose she was the king's wife. FIu1'eizre--- Hazel lives at the Nine Mile stop on the Bluffton road. Ruth lI'.- How far is that? c'1lL'ffl1--uClJ1'lQ1'3.lS, Rapp, your test went off' like clock-work, Helen R.- VVell, it was a time-test.'l Pupil- Teacher, can anyone be punished for something he didii't do? Miss Ifiedler- Why, no, of course not. l'ztpiI- VVell, l haven't done my arithmetic.