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

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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

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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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-,E ...... 5, ,M ...... 5, Girls, Latin School ...... be ,ld ...... ...E had never won it. Now they would do it or die in the attempt. After all, they were an ambitious crew. A mere champion noise-making title was not enough to satisfy them. The biennial play of 1936 was The Brontesf' given for the first time in Latin School history in the hall of the Public Latin School. The use of this hall marked a great event in the life of the Girls' Latin School, for it is a beau- tiful hall with very line acoustics. The end of the year was drawing near. College boards! The terror inspiring sevenths held in preparation for those about to go to the guillotine were themselves really worse than the guillotine CC. E. E. BJ, for those emerg- ing found that their heads were still on their shoulders, and their senior year had arrived. CLASS I In September of 1936 again a throng of girls filed into that low red brick building in the Fenway. Yet there was a difference: this year the heroines of my story, instead of wee, pig-tailed tots, were the tallest girls, those with an air of familiarity toward their surroundings. They were now seniors. Seniors! They had reached that state Where there were no privileges for students from which they were barred. This new mantle, however, settled comfortably over their shoulders, and by the time the first assembly, from which Class I marched first in a body, was over, the cloak fitted as if it had always belonged to them. The class officers this year were very businesslike young ladies, who di- rected class meetings, proms, and parties in the most eilicient manner. The list includes Norma Norlund, president Patience Sanderson, vice president Hazel Hartwell, secretary Katharyn Nagle, treasurer. Possum, quia posse videntur, shouted the ardent enthusiasts of the fall hockey season, to cheer their classmates on. After this event Cwhich, by the way, they wonb worried Virgil teachers began to smile and say that perhaps all hope of teaching Class I to use their classical Latin was not lost. Yet not all the senior subjects were progressing as well. In the chemistry laboratory perplexed pupils tried to master formulas and valences and such mysteries as the electronic theory. Experiments popped, and test tubes broke, and still these mad chemists worked on to produce nitrogen where only oxygen wanted to be produced. January brought with it the young aviator, Ben Baker, and his flight into South America. In Riding Down the Sky, the gayest operetta imaginable, the songbird of Icd had the leading role, while the president and the villain, to say nothing of the beautiful ladies, were all members of Class I. 'AChin up a little higher. Now, smile. That's right. Now a serious one. No, those were not stage directions, they were merely mutterings of Purdy's photographer, trying to make raving beauties out of all the Girls' Lat- inites. And strange as it may seem, the photographer did make everyone look pretty and caused remarks like this to be heard, Oh, look at Betty's picture. Why I never knew she was that good looking! Well, be that as it may. fPage Fiftyj