Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - Mohawk Yearbook (North Adams, MA)

Page 18 text:

Qlhert 6. Qflhtihge 'OR a long time I have heard Mother say again and again to Father, You really ought to write that sketch of your life for the Normalogue, and every time his answer has been, I know it, but I don't know what to write. Now if there is any- thing that makes me more nervous tharl cutting teeth, it is to keep hearing Mother say the same thing to Father over and over againg so, in order to stop this particular speech, I am going to sur- prise both my parents by writing a biographical sketch for Father myself. You may wonder that I know what that long word means, but let me tell you a secret. We babies know a great deal that we don't talk about, and for good and sufficient reasons we prefer to let the elders do the talking during the first year or two of our lives, while we expend our energy on more important matters, like planning out our careers. 4-1' I suppose I had better begin at the beginning, by telling who Father is. He is the person who helps Mother take care of me, and who does various things for us. In winter he tends the furnace, and in summer he mows the lawn around our house, If he happens to be at home when I am going upstairs to bed, he carries me up, and in ever so many ways he makes himself useful and entertaining to me. He was born in Boston, and that is a satisfaction, for Boston is my birthplace also, and really I think everyone ought to start from there. He graduated from Harvard in 1908. just here I must apologetically admit that I am not clear as to what that means, for the day I picked up that information from something I overheard him say to Mother, my mind was much occupied in trying to discover what made my rubber dog squeak, But we will pass on. These next items I gathered from a memorandum which he made out to hand to the editors of the Normalogue. From 1908 to 1910 he taught Elementary Science in the New Bedford ,High School. During the next two years he was principal of the Graded High School at Canaan, Connecticut, and continued to teach Elementary Science. He then came to North Adams, and began to get acquainted with the people of this Normal School, while he was super- intendent of schools in Clarksburg, Florida, Monroe, and Savoy. After a year here, he went to Blackstone, a town in the eastern part of Massachusetts, and was superintendent of schools for that town and for another called Seekonk. I first met him the summer before he left Blackstone to come to the North Adams Normal School. At that time he was taking a short course in the same Harvard to which I referred a moment ago, and which is confused in my mind with my rubber dog. Perhaps if I ever go and look up Harvard myself, I shall find there the true and scientific explanation of the dog's squeak. Perhaps it is a place where you can learn such things. At any rate, I never saw Father looking puzzled over my dog. The time he looks puzzled is when Mother says, Have you written that Normalogue sketch yet? You know you really ought to write it. But now she won't have to ask him that any more, and since most of my teeth are through, I shall be able to settle down to a quiet life, and forget my nerves. Oliver Fuller Eldridge 12

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QS- mfg! QQ T . 5, pl, N FAC ULI T -iff ff I' F .- .J:q..Q. ' H V .x . M U! e all - H DUCATION is not what is done for a person but what is done by him. Men and women have be- come great only as they have ceased to repeat the past or to reflect institutionalized thought and practices, only as they have been whole-heartedly and inces- santly self-impelled to the accom- plishment of an ideal arising from and in agreement with the fun- damental verities of human life. A great teacher of the past is useful to me only as I understand his self-activity, his devotion to his ideal, and interpret his life in terms of my every day existence. Every man, woman, and child is significant and energizing to a teacher whose motive and method are not tothe end of acquiring scholar ship but to the purpose of developing self-power in his pupils. There are so many unknown personalities about us, so many l opportunities, so many arresting traditions, so little prophetic instruction, that a teacher must betake himself to the great reformers of the past and to the great innovators of the present for enlightenment and inspiration. and to children and youth for motivating power. Happiness beyond measure is the reward possible and actual to every teacher who jour- neys with his pupils into their future. To such a teacher it is better to travel than to arrive. Prz'1zr1'pul F. F. ilfurdorlc 11

Page 19 text:

i Bop lam Smith HENEVER we of lEll7turn the pages of our Normalogue and find Mr. Sinith's picture, our faces, one and all, will relax in a smile at the remembrance of some pleasant thing that happened in one of his classes. N o matter how far we have advanced into the stage of the old maid school marm, we will forget our crabbcd, austere ways in remembrance of his good nature and humor. We leave his class with regret and hope that we may imitate to our best ability his splendid example as a teacher. Since Mr. Smith teaches history, we tremble at the thought of being his historian, feeling to begin with, that we cannot do our subject justice. By inquiry we have found that he was born in some year A. D. in Plymouth, N. Y. He himself emphasizes the fact that that docs not mean Plymouth, Mass. tHe never will take a bit of credit not due hiin.D In Plymouth he went to a district sehool. After graduating from the High School of Norwich, N. Y., he spent one year in a teachers' training class, and followed it with a post-graduate course. In a subdued tone, Mr. Smith whispers that for the next three years he taught in a district school, sometimes earning as high as eight dollars per week. He hints often of the wonderful time he had boarding in the various rural homes. There is a story about six chickens which he might tell you, if you asked him. Syracuse University opened its doors to him in 1900 and he assures us that he graduated in 190-ll He also says that, as it is ancient history, there is really no way of proving it! At Freeport, Long Island, he was assistant principal, then principal of the high school, afterward accepting a position in the Westfield, N. J., High School. Before coming to North Adams, he did post-graduate work in history and education for three years, at Columbia University. In 1912, N. A. N. S. welcomed him and has ever since been honored by his presence. Last year he was chairman of the normal school committee for the revision of the history course for the state of Massachusetts. This honor was well deserved, and his work thoroughly appreciated. Such a biography as this could be written of few. IVe are happy and fortunate to have known and to have been instructed by Mr. Smith, our teacher of Science, History and Econom- ics. 13