Franklin School - Franklinite Yearbook (New York City, NY)

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4 Ma.: - IJ egg! 4:?A 1 I A Message to the Students of Franlelin on 'c e Qccasion of the chool Diamond. Jubilee K K' X- UNDERSTAND THAT THE FRANKLIN SCHOOL is the direct successor of the Dr. Julius Sachs Collegiate Institute from which I graduated in 1895. During the 10 years I attended the school it was situated at 38 West 59th Street. The Principal, Dr. Julius Sachs, was a great educator of the old school of teaching. The discipline was quite rigid but there was a fine spirit de corps and I think that most of the graduates did well at college, since they had an ex- cellent grounding. Life was much more simple in those days than at present. There were no automobiles, no radios, no movies, no subways, no airplanes and very few tele- phonesg but in spite of this and in the face of somewhat rigid discipline, we boys had an awfully good time. Our main rivals were the Public School at West 54th Street and the De La Salle Institute, a Catholic School situated on 59th Street near what is now the Barbizon Plaza Hotel. There was great rivalry between the three schools. Most of us had lunch at school and after lunch during the winter months when there was snow on the ground, the boys of each school made a dash for the summer house on the WVest Drive over Central Park. A great battle always ensued. The team that had reached the summer house first defended their citadel: the others charged up the hill in an effort to wrest it from them. I am afraid that occasionally a stray stone found its way into a snowball, but while there were a great many bruises, I do not recall any serious casualties. The leader of the snowball fights-and in fact of all sports-was a boy by the name of August Valladier. He was somewhat older than the rest of us and we younger boys looked up to him as a great hero. He was very attractive, cou- rageous and bold. Unfortunately, I lost track -of him shortly after leaving school and I have no idea what became of him. One of the very vivid recollections of my school days was the great blizzard of l888. It snowed steadily for three full days and nights, and it was extremely cold with an unusually high wind. As a result, the snow drifted in some places up to I0 or 12 feet. As I have said, there were no subways or automobiles in those days and people had to depend for transportation on horse-drawn vehicles or a few cable cars. We were dismissed from school the afternoon of the first day. Thereafter, school was in recess for three or four days, but those of us kids who were permitted to go on the streets did have a wonderful time. I recall too that the storm brought many tragedies and worries. A great many people were frozen or became so exhausted that they died or suffered severe injuries. I recall the EIGHT 4 KK6

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'I HE FRAN KLIN ITE Board of Editors LEWIS COLE LEONARD ULLMANN Business Managers Managers-in-Chief DAVID ROSEN RALPH MALLIN Associate Managers STAFF IRVING CJRUBNIAN THOMAS MOHR DONALD LEVIN PERRY NEUSCHATZ 3255-P S

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'A -... a g 5S lm r:r':Z'g worry that we had concerning my father. He left the house for his office downtown as usual on the first morning of the storm. There was no means of his getting back because virtually all transportation had ceased. Finally he managed to charter a milk wagon which brought him home at three or four o'clock the fol- lowing morning. Meantime, such telephone service as we had had ceased so that we did not know what had become of him until he appeared, none the worse for his experience! ' We had a football team which held its own reasonably well with other private schools. I was particularly proud of our track team of which I was a member and manager. In 1895 we held an inter-scholastic track meet at the Old Williams Bridge Oval. My speciality was the mile walk and I was fortunate enough to win the gold medal, largely I believe because all my good competitors were ruled out for running. Even through I was a very mediocre athlete, I was mighty proud and still am of that gold medal. The training of our track team was done on the grounds of the old Pastime Athletic Club which was situated near the East River where the New York Hospital now stands. We had a baseball team but it never amounted to much. Virtually all of our practice and games were held on vacant sand lots which in those days were very numerous on Fifth Avenue between 59th Street and Harlem. Vie had some very good teachers. The Assistant Principal was Mr. Charles VV. Harrington, who taught mathematics and science. He died about 30 years ago but I believe his widow, who must be very close to 100, is still living. Our French teacher was Monsieur Porret, who was very popular. He always had a ready joke and was a kindly, gentle, sympathetic man. Our German teacher, Herr Preuss, was a typical Prussian and was very strict with the boys. We were always very much amused at him because when he had his luncheon at his desk, we knew he always managed to slip a goodly portion of schnapps ' in his milk. He thought he was fooling us but he didn't get away with any more than a teacher would today with the boys of your school under similiar circumstances. Mr. Weiberzahl, who taught history, was also very strict. The most popular teacher was a man by the name of Frank E. Erwin. He was a graduate of Williams College and was resp-onsible for my going to Williams. My father had wanted me to become an 'engineer, and by some miracle which I still cannot explain, I passed my examinations for the Columbia School of Mines. Mr. Erwin, however, was not satisfied at the prospect of my becoming an engineer, and he went to my father to tal-k the matter over with him. He told my father that he was spoiling what might be a reasonably good business man and instead would make me a very poor engineer. My father fortunately listened to him and as a result I entered Williams in l895. 99?-? Nme