Girls Latin School - Liber Annalis Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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,E ...... M, ...... E., Girls, Latin School ,E ...... M, ,lf ...... H, Troubles-Midyears-Beastly monsters that spoiled a week. Smiles--Play-A'Smiling Through QBeautiful production that glad- dened their heartsj. Yet once January was gone, things began to hum. S-U-P-E-R-C-E-D-E spelled one young aspirant and was rewarded with a frown, Sorry, the word is 'supersede' with an Oh dear, how could a freshman really be expected to know such a big word anyway? Evi- dently there was a way, because bigger words were given and spelled correctly by the participants in the Boston-Herald-Traveler Spelling Bee, which was a revival of the old fashioned bees of long ago. How ardently the freshmen tried, only to find that their efforts on the whole were in vain, for the only con- testant from Girls' Latin School in the final spell down was-worst of all-a sophomore. The months that followed were so busy that this defeat by the sophomores was all forgotten. 1-2-3-4, l-2 .... came from the gym, where harassed teachers were trying to get lanky arms and skinny legs to coordinate in some semblance of time and rhythm. What for? The gym meet, of course. Now the monkeys and acrobats of former years had turned into real marchers, drill- ers, and dancers, but that was not all: they were even allowed to compete in the after school regular sports of hockey, basketball, and baseball. Their first attempts, however, to rival their elders in serious competition were sadly de- feated, but the young gymnasts came up smiling, with threats for the coming year. Their threats and promises did not apply only to gym meets: for, at the end of the year as they looked over their records, they all promised their fam- ilies and threatened themselves that they would do better the next year, when they should be just wise-fools. CLASS III The sophomores began to live up to their name by pretending to be quite wise. The tom-boys of the previous year now appeared neatly combed and curled: cheeks suddenly became rosy, and pale lips began to bloom. Somehow, this undue rosiness caused lectures about the improper use of cosmetics to descend upon the innocent as well as on the guilty. Had the lecturer foreseen the effect her little sermon was to have, perhaps she would not have wasted her efforts, for the next day the very stately and dignified statue of Diana in the lower corridor displayed Cmirabile dictuj unmistakably red lips. Soon the novelty of being grown up gave way before the mysteries of ancient history and geometry, Geometry! Oh, they lamented, Why did Euclid ever bother to find out that a central angle was measured by its inter- cepted arc, or Pythagoras that the sum of the squares on the legs of a right tri- angle equaled . . . ? Euclid and his associates, however, contributed to the arts as well as to the sciences, for music, in its very development, is based on the fundamentals of mathematics. How much more this branch of math was ap- preciated by the sophomores who raised their voices to swell the chorus of the year's musical production, The Bells of Beaujolais! Who are you going to vote for? Unhuhl Oh, don't vote for her: she's in an 'A' section. Don't you know we've got to elect a 'B' girl? What did conversations like these lead to? Upon further examination it seemed that all the old rivalry between the A and B sections, which had been ly- fPage Forty-eightj

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Class of 193 7 CLASS V Experience is a wonderful teacher. We know all about life. Thus ran the motto of the new Class Five. And they proceeded to assert themselves. They looked down their brief noses at Class Six, but would not admit that they had to stand tiptoe to do it. They scorned Class Six, the ignorant babes of the school. They demanded the respect of all the upper classes, and were, perhaps, humored. They were immediately dubbed the noisiest class the school had ever known, and to this very day they retain that championship title. It shows we have spirit and originality, they boasted, and continued to defy law naively. Teachers shook their heads. What was the world coming to? That unsquelchable Class Five had very successful Christmas parties, very successful Valentine parties, and, to show their originality, a very, very suc- cessful class picnic at Provincetown. Everyone acquired a Wind-burnt red face, and no one was seasick. Then came the operetta, Lantern Hand, for which certain privileged Fifth Classmen lent their coolie-coat cotton kimonos. Candy girls appeared in these clothes on the night of the Operetta. Uppermost in the minds of the Fifth Class were the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Nogotta and Iwanta Kimono. Clwanta was the woman, of course.j To this day, the girls remember I am so kind, so very, very kind, I cannot hurt a fly-a fly! But time marches on. They were growing old, these ladies who had once worn pigtails. They were solicitous of the future. Next year they would be freshmen in high school, and so they cut off their pigtails, and curled what was left on their stylish heads. CLASS IV Now that the baby sixth-classers had grown into actual high school fresh- men, they discovered that they were not to be the only graduates of the class of '37: their ranks were swelled by a group of girls known as 4B. The 4A girls were apt to look at their new sisters scornfully down the long noses of their ex- perience, because they felt that two years in Girls' Latin School had made them veterans. This condescension, however, soon passed, and both sections shared alike in the woes and joys of freshmen. In evidence that these young students had passed from the ranks of mere children was the compulsory attendance at all assemblies. No longer were there early afternoon hours to play in! No longer were there early morning study periods in which to finish that half-prepared home lesson! But in rec- ompense there were the many really amusing entertainments which they used to miss. Many were the oh's and ah's as the Caney Creek boys Cwho will ever forget their good looks?j sang their mountain music, or as their classmates pre- sented a beautiful pageant. Yet school was not all assemblies. Oh unfortunate freshmen! For not long had they been freshmen when an epidemic broke out and spread through the class, like wildfire--an epidemic of crushes 'There were a few cool, calm, and collected young misses who were in themselves sullicient and who regarded disdainfully their weaker sisters. Still, in all fairness, they were not wholly weak. Recall what great people had a hero or heroine whose judgment they trusted and whose manners they tried to copy. Here a word must be said for the class of '34, who must have had quite magnetic personalities to have inspired such a wave of herofinej Worship. January, that month of the two-headed god, was for these school girls cer- tainly two-headed. CPage Forty-sevenj

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Class of 1937 ing dormant, was awakened and revived over the very important matter of class elections. Potential politicians and lobbyists sprang up over night, and such campaigning as was carried on was worthy of a far more important election, but these far-sighted citizens of the Democracy of Girls' Latin School were intent on securing good leaders to steer them through the perilous waters of Class II. CLASS II The phrase, The dignity of the .Iolly Juniors, had echoed through the corridors of the school for decades. The newly initiated juniors decided to put this quotation to test, and found it false. In the first place, in spite of meticu- lous research, they could not find one drooping drop of dignity extant, because they believed in being natural and enjoying life, and dignity did not seem to go with it. In the second place, the word jolly implied carefree The jun- iors gave one ghostly glance of dark-encircled eyes at their heaps of history books, and decided that, since junior and history were synonymous, the juniors were not jolly--except once in a while: at the Prom, for instance. For this, history and everything else was gaily neglected. Why on earth had they spent four and a half years in Latin School, if not for the Prom, the unfor- getable Junior Prom? The class ollicers for the junior year were Susanna Hollis, president Hazel Hartwell, vice president Margaret Keefe, secretary Mary Healy, treasurer. Together they managed capably a difficult year, involving programs and financial problems. The day for the choosing of the rings came. The girls were offered their choice of a gold .Iabberwock on either onyx or mother-of-pearl. Since black and gold were school colors, they chose the former combination. They are still very careful to wear the rings when they go out. For what reason? With the ring they are trademarked. Everyone knows they come from Girls' Latin School. Those who do not recognize it as a school ring are immediately curious. There- fore, in times of embarrassing silence, the ring saves the day and provides con- versation. Example- Person: What is that queer thing? G. L. S. G.: Guess. Person: Cattempting a microscopic scrutinyj A butterfly? G. L. S. G.: fscornfully or disappointedly according to her naturej No, a dragon! Person: Cwith increasing interestl Oh! Silence a moment. Person: ftimidlyj Is it Chinese? G. L. S. G.: No, it's the Jabberwock. Person: Cdawn breakingj Oh, your school ring! Why, I- And then the conversation is started, and proceeds smoothly. All's well that ends well. After the gym meet, all juniors, yellow and brown beribboned, took a solemn vow to win the championship in the meet in their senior year. They CPage Forty-ninel