Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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ca) SOMANHIS EVENTS 1s ended. A nurse’s true characteristics come to light after the novelty and excitement of hospital life have worn away. There is no other profession that trains a girl so well for her probable future as a homekeeper and mother. She learns household management, dietetics, sanitation and care of children; but above all, her social horizon is broadened, and she learns responsibility. From the beginning she is en- gaged in living problems, vital human affairs, and she cannot but profit by her experience. The girl who enrolls in the army of Florence Nightingale first finds herself, but in so doing, creates a place of real service in the world, and becomes a source of uplift in the community in which she lives. ELIZABETH CHENEY BAYNE, ’20. RK OR THE EARLY HISTORY OF MANCHESTER Manchester is one of the four towns whose territory at one time be- longed to the town of Hartford. The section extending eastward from the Connecticut River to the neighborhood of the present Hillstown Road in Manchester was known as the Three-mile Lots. From this point east to the Bolton Hills stretched a broad belt of woodland known as the Commons, and forming part of the hunting grounds of Joshua, Chief of the Western Niantic Indians. In 1673, Joshua sold to Major Talcott of Hartford a strip of this Common land extending from the Three-mile Lots five miles east to what is now the Bolton town line. This land became the property of the town of Hartford and was used at first as hunting grounds, but was in- tended for division later into individual holdings for the encouragement of settlement to the eastward, Later the large township of Hartford was divided into the townships of Hartford and East Hartford. The more populated section of the eastern township near the river, was usually referred to as East Hartford, whiie the eastern and less settled territory, which now forms the town of Man- chester, was called East Hartford Five Miles. By this time settlement had begun within the limits of the five mile lots, the first settlers apparently having established their farms at the western edge of the town, in what is now the Sixth School District. Later the settlers in this section adopted the name of Orford Parish. In 1745 the first school in town was established, which was located in the present sixth district. By 1772 Orford Parish had grown sufficiently in size to warrant the establishment of a separate church. A petition was forwarded to the legislature, and in spite of opposition from East Hartford permission was granted for the incorporation of the Eccelesistical Society of Orford Parish. The second paper mill in Connecticut was built in Manchester on the Hockanum River, and the “Connecticut Courant” printed the news of the battle of Lexington on paper supplied by that mill. Manchester Green was the business center of the town in its early days. The opening of the Middle Turnpike in 1794 between Boston and New York added to its importance. Two stages passed through here each day, one go- ing to Boston and one to New York. At that time the only stores in the town were at Manchester Green, and here the people from the country round came to do their shopping. Near the Green was located the Pitkin Glass Factory, built in 1783 by Rich- ard Pitkin. The chief products of the factory were large demijolins and

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26 SOMANHIS EVENTS their own officers from among the convicts. These officers have complete authority over their fellows. They are even allowed to go out in the yards with no guards other than these. The men are enthusiastic about it, and from time to time they have suggestions for improvement which are almost always adopted. The plan has been so successful that other prisons are imitating it. There is a very real danger of spoiling it, however, because the privileges are granted without giving the responsibility to the prisoners. A clever English-woman once said to Mr. Osborne, “As near as I can make it out, the present system aims to produce “good prisoners” while you aim to produce “good citizens.” If a man commits a crime he should, of course, be punished. But the imprisonment, the loss of liberty is in itself the greatest punishment that can be meted out to man. During the time of imprisonment, we should en- deavor to teach him that his ideas of life have been warped, twisted; we should educate him until he sees the value of “going straight.” And let us not forget these famous words of Shakespeare: “The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.” A WOMAN’S CONFESSION. The day of the débutante is over. The modern girl leaves school cr college, not with the intention of becoming a social parasite, but with an inspiration to commence her career, to serve the community to wihch she owes her education. She wants something hard to do, something worth doing, that can only be done by skillful manipulation of the keen-edged tools known as education. The pain of effort cannot surprise people who have already done one kind of work. There are hundreds of positions now open to girls for public or personal service, but few that so happily combine the two as the recently developed profession of nursing. Florence Nightingale, during the Crimean War, awakened the civilized world to a realization of its great need, and, since then, the heroic army of nurses has built up the profession on her principles. The theory that the nursing instinct is so inherent in women that they do as well without training, is false. The fact that doctors invariably pre- fer the registered trained nurse to the hired attendant shows the value of those three years or more of severe training. In that time the earnest work- ers come through, and the sentimentalists are weeded out before the course

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28 SOMANHIS EVENTS bottles of a thick greenish glass. The ruins of this factory, which was closed in 1830 form a most picturesque reminder of olden days. Manchester Green was famous for its wagon factories. Benjamin Ly- man, living in the house now occupied by Mr. Arthur Cook, manufactured wagons in the shop east of the house, Farther down the turnpike road stood , the Bliss Wagon shops, and on East Center street were the Cone Wagon Shops. The first post office in the town was built in 1808 at Manchester Green. [n 1812 Orford Parish wished to be separated from East Hartford and become a separate township, but it was not until 1823 that the town was incorporated under the name of Manchester. In 1836 the first Cheney silk mill was built and in 1854 the present com- pany was incorporated. The center of business and population had now moved from Manches- ter Green, and other parts of the town were developing rapidly. The post office at Manchester was established in 1850 and that at South Manches- ter in 1851. In the same year the railroad passing through Manchester was opened, and the stage coach lines were discontinued. The growth of the town since that date has been very rapid and its history in later years is familiar to all. HANNAH JENSEN, ’20. K K XK WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD Much of the work of this country, as well as of other countries in the world, is in the hands of women and girls. The vocations in which they are engaged are many and diverse.. Probably the greatest number are clerks and saleswomen; stenographers, typists, and bookeepers make up a large percentage of the total. It is only in very recent times that much thought has been given to the vocational training of girls. Many an energetic young woman has failed to achieve success in her work because her choice of a vocation was an un- wise one. A girl should know a good deal about human nature, as well as many facts in regard to the work upon which she wishes to enter. The occupation of a stenographer is in many respects one of the most attractive open to girls, and for that reason many seek to become such who are not adapted to the work. Let the would-be stenographer ask herself in all seriousness whether or not she has the necessary qualifications for the position in question. If the answer is in the negative, she should seek some other field of usefulness. There is a commercial course in our high school, as well as in most of the high schools of today, and shorthand can be taken up at the same time that the student is obtaining a general education. Beware of the schooi which promises a practical knowledge of the subject in a short time—six weeks or three months. The number of profitable occupations which can be learned in six weeks is certainly very limited, and the kind of stenogra- phy which can be put to practical use in a business office can not be learned in that time. One of the advantages of the study of shorthand is the number of possibilities open to the proficient stenographer. We hear a great deal nowadays about the position of private secretary. Such a posi- tion is generally filled by the advancement of some stenographer in the of- fice who has shown unusual ability in her work, and above all—who can