Lyndon State College - Northern Lights Yearbook (Lyndonville, VT)

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THE VERLYN 19 and forth. What a relief it was to hoard the elevated on Second Avenue, and get away from the smell of fish, food, and people. They say variety is the spice of life. If it is so then we had plenty for we ate at automats and Beer Parlors at all hours; attended operas and Burlesque shows; Church on Easter morn and movies at night; Museum of Natural History and Zoolog- ical Gardens; Coney Island and Wall Street. As for the glamour and magnitude of Radio City coupled with the dizzy heights of the towering skyscrapers — I leave that to your imagination, too! H. K. NEW YORK The Ethical-Culture School The most absolutely progressive system used in any New York school is found in the Ethical-Culture Center. The chil- dren come from the better classes: mostly Jewish population who can afford a high tuition. Their 1. Os. range from one hundred ten to two hundred and over. The children may obtain a complete course through high school preparatory to college. Xo teacher has over fifteen pupils in a class. This allows for complete freedom, the key note of the school. The course of study is centered around pupil interest. Each child is allowed to choose what he wishes to do, guided by the teacher. Discussions are carried on by the students themselves with the ideal teacher wholly in the back- ground. The enthusiasts of this system sincerely feel that their graduates can compare creditably with those from other types of schools and that their pupils are better fitted to cope with present day and future problems of society. E. S. M. A. NEW HAMPSHIRE Mystery of Room X The railway station, built in Swiss chalet style, stood directly before us. Feeling the need of changing to heavier

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18 THE VERLYN REMINISCENCES OF THE TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY Xo sooner said than done, ‘‘Liz” must have a name, “by gum . So the girls all argued back and forth until they agreed on “Pediculosis”. Nothing seemed to halt her, not even the red lights nor one way streets. One thing did stop her though ; that was Ruth’s scream. It all happened just opposite Whittier Hall where the girls were to stay for the week. It seems now, just a bad dream, for all are home safe and sound. Talk about your city drivers; Miss Drew had them all beaten for speed. It was the attempt to keep her in sight that caused “Pediculosis’’ not to heed the red lights. Riding on the elevators didn’t make our hair stand on end, but oh boy! what it did do to our stomachs. Then again, what must the natives have thought to see some of the girls run up the escalators? I can still see Lois at the automat trying to get a glass of milk. And the expression on Myrtle’s face as she worked the dial telephone, 1 leave to your imagination. The mad scramble in the subway stations as the throngs tried to shove their way on and off the trains is still a nightmare. Once we thought Ruth was destined to stay on the train forever. Before she could get off the doors started to close. Only the timely heave on the door by Whitney and the swift yank on Ruth’s coat by Crafts dragged her to safety. I have no idea of the number of times some were lost on the subways. The tales of woe are still leaking out. Just today I learned that certain parties had to hire a taxi to get back across the city after riding half the night in the wrong direction in the subway. It was a mystery to me how most of the girls had blistered heels, but possibly it can be laid to new shoes and the sight-see- ing walk through the slums on the East Side. Picture if you can, streets lined with push cards laden with fish, fruit, vege- tables, clothes, old iron, and what not; sidewalks cluttered up by a sordid mass of humanity in the last stages of existence; all talking and cursing to the top of their lungs as they barter back

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20 THE VERLYN blouses, powdering our noses, and doing other little things that ladies “en route” do, we labored to extricate ourselves from the car. Crouching in half-back tackle position, we tried to raise our chilled, numbed feet high enough to avoid the baggage. A camel going through the needle's eye had nothing on 11s, hut finally we were firmly planted or. the ground. Yow for the rest room! But where in this weather beaten chalet was the entrance? Xot a soul in sight to ask! We divided and circled the building only to bump noses again at the starting point. In desperation we opened doors: R. R. Freight Depot, U. S. Post Office, Bell Telephone, Western Union. We ended up on the stairs to a private dwelling with no Room X in view. Here it dawned on us that the inn across the street was, after all, a public building whose keeper was, doubtless, behind the curtains giggling at our antics. In a body we charged it. Before we left the inn one of our party announced that she was going to run this mystery to earth. She'd never seen a railway station without a waiting room to say nothing of Room X's. She asked the innkeeper point blank and found out that we should have passed over Federal territory to our goal. Room X was incorporated with the Post Office. Well, well! On to the Big City where rooms is rooms and mysteries are bigger! E. S. RHODE ISLAND GLIMPSES Three hundred years ago Roger Williams led his band of non-conformists to these shores. Today the school children of Rhode Island are preparing for Tercentenary Pageants, learn- ing Indian chants, making posters and carefully stitching state flags of white, blue and gold. In observance of this event, Rhode Island Garden Clubs, at the annual Flower Show in the Rhode Island Auditorium, haye laid out an early village, complete from the water wheel to a tiny cemetery, hidden among the shrubs.