Lasell College - Lamp Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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room. The tempting menu, the five colored waiters in starched, lily-white coats, who anticipated every wish, were a novelty as well as a luxury, after six months of boarding school life. They were up bright and early the next morning to start their tour of sightseeing which lasted throughout the four days of their stay. In the summer, there were Lasell-guided trips to Europe. The tales the girls brought back could, no doubt,iconstitute another and just as humorous Our Hearts Were Young and Gay edition. Before women were given the right to vote in national elec- tions, there was a time-honored custom at Lasell to hold a make- believe election. The girls cast their votes a day in advance of their more tardy brothers. The Gym was arranged like a poll with booths for secret ballots, poll protectors, and ballot boxes. It troubled them not at all that they could not materially in- fluence the election and they entered their dainty blue silk booths and cast their votes as if a nation's fate hung on their decision of a candidate. All the afternoon, girls could be heard cheering the various candidates, and heated discussions arose as to who was the better man of the two. In the evening, after the votes were counted, there was ice cream and cake to celebrate the victor. At the end of the year, Lasell held an auction day, somewhat similar to our Faculty Bazaar, with the difference that the pur- pose for raising money was not a Building Fund but some needy person or a charitable work in Boston. At this sale the con- tents of the lost drawer were auctioned off. The lost draw- er l What was that? Well, it was the drawer in which stray handkerchiefs, gloves, rubbers, pencils, all things lost by the girls were kept, and there they remained until the owners re- deemed them. These articles were given to the highest bidder. There was another auction held sometime during the year, but at this sale only papers and magazines from the library read- ing room were auctioned off. At this particular auction, the Seniors, who seemed to have realized that their school days were gradually diminishing, bringing them nearer household duties, bid the highest for such magazines and books as The Good Housekeeper and The Heathen Woman's Friend. These auc- tions were always a great success, and the girls usually made tremendous sums of money: some years, in fact, they were lucky enough to put together as much as seventy-five dollars. In 1893, Lasell was given a booth at the Chicago World's Fair in the Women's Building. The Lasell Seminary received this honor as a recognition of its fine work in the educational field. Lasell was a pioneer, being one of the first schools to offer such courses as cooking, millinery, Military Drill, and housekeeping. Lasell's room at the Fair looked dainty and home-like with light-blue draperies. Over the entrance were the words, Lasell Seminary for Young Women, Auburndale, Massachusetts . ...Z .4 C -fx' 'l .lax 1 r p .I 32 K l VV r l 2 1 0 I L lx WX L alt, t ,. Z v ,Qi ...NYM Q ' lv fi X. N Y. Page five

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X Q... I 54.1 ,iii i A-'iff X S' x I fi X i s if ' ,rf ll mu S -T-will V J Page four Fifth Regiment, M. V. M. These companies of martial-looking young women could be seen drilling on the front lawn, looking very trim in their uniforms of blue serge with Norfolk jackets with leather belts, and knots of white ribbon at their throats. Atop their pompadours they wore regulation blue caps with LSB in silver monogram on the front. In those days of strict social etiquette, when young ladies were kept close to the home, there were no proms, no weekends, no dates, but by no means was there a lack of fun. For leisure amusements, the girls organized two secret so- cieties, the S. D. Society and the Lasellia Club. These two clubs were great rivals. They held regular meetings, maintaining al- ways the strict procedures of formal assemblies. The ceremon- ies of initiation were always very solemn. There were secret oaths, codes and meetings. These groups were entirely social and strictly non-academic, but it was eventually necessary to abolish them. Not all the girls were invited to join and this made for hurt feelings. However, the absence of these clubs was not felt too strongly. There were numerous other activities to pass away any leisure hours. There was a Canoe Club which was open to any student who could pass a swimming test. The girls would meet on the shores of the Charles River, dressed in white and with straw bonnets atop their up-do hair. At the close of the season, there would be a race, and the winners received sweaters with the letter L . There was also a society of singers, the Orphean Club, which held weekly rehearsals and an annual concert. There were Saturday evening frolics when the girls and fac- ulty gathered in the gymnasium for games and entertainment. The Dramatic Club gave presentations, there was singing, and sometimes a few brave couples would do a polka or gavot to the delight of their audience. The excitement of today's Lasellites on the eve of the depar- ture for Bermuda or the White Mountains is comparable to that of our elder sisters of the 1890's as they packed their carpet bags in preparation for their Washington trip. Then there were no excursions to Bermuda nor skiing in the White Mountains but any girl, who possibly could, went on the annual visit to our Capitol. The girls would start off for the Auburndale station, umbrellas unfurled, their skirts dragging in the mud. They were in a hurry, as Lasell girls usually are. They traveled from Boston to Washington on a steamer. Some of them, as the journey on water progressed, felt a little queer and as the queerness continued till they reached Washington, it rather dampened their spirits. But once their feet were safely back on terra firma their excitement soared again and they set out for their hotel where there were apartments reserved for the Lasell party. The girls dined in a little, private dining-

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,T .1 C99 rf? lil' rl Q :fs I is iw pp H Iii ,f sg! lf' ,Q u Pagaaix l In 1896, Mrs. Blanche Crosby Martin came to Lasell to teach a reading course which at that time was required of all students. Mrs. Martin was one of Lasell's most charming personalities. She was a large, hearty woman, very queenly in appearance, with a booming laugh. The purpose of her course was to give the girls greater reading ease. Her course included such studies as articulation, cultivation of the speaking voice, gesture, and phil- osophy of expression. But Mrs. Martin's greatest concern was that girls gain self-confidence and poise. At the beginning of each class period she would have her pupils sit forward in their chairs and say, I am rich and young and handsome. I am rich and young and handsome. Then each girl would walk down the aisle by herself and say in a pleasant manner, I am tall and beautiful. I am tall and beautiful. They would repeat the phrases over and over so that eventually they did feel young and handsome, tall and beautiful, and they would hold themselves in just that way. With the passing of the years, Lasell saw its girls come and go. Every class shed tears at their graduation, not believing that their college years were over. But later on these old grads were able to relive somewhat their college days through their daughters. They followed the growth and progress of Lasell eagerly, happy that their Alma Mater was becoming always larger, always more important. The college grounds, which when the school was first built covered six acres, grew to more than thirty. A number of resi- dential homes, near the Seminary building, were remodeled to accommodate Lasellites. In these old homes had lived the lead- ing citizens of Boston. Now each became the dwelling place for a dozen merry girls whose laughter transformed these digni- fied, austere residences into gay, laughing places. Other things have changed, too. The once shiny black carriages driven by erect, precise young men come to call on their ladies, are now the sleak convertibles of tall, lanky youths come to take their girls dancing. Lasell has grown and grown. It has added to its Campus Winslow Hall, the Infirmary, the Barn, Casino, the Labs, and the Nellie Plummer Library. Last year we laid the corner stone to our New Dormitory. We watched old Woodland Hall be- ing torn down, piece by piece, and now there is nothing left of its huge, gabled roof and sloping floors but what lives on in our memories. Lasell through all these years has helped young women dis- cover themselves, has guided them toward high ideals and has given them the tools for making a success of their lives. And now Lasell has come to celebrate its One Hundredth Birthday Party.