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

Page 20 text:

f Mary louise Barigbt Announced by all the clamor of the gong Arrives the fire-drill, and, tumbling out of bed, The inmates don their coats and shoes and things, And tread the corridors with hurrying feet, To reach the hall below. And then, Like France's great army in the days of old, They all march back to bed again. AN you not see how interesting a life the author of these lines must have led? And is it surprising that her writings are so charming when she spent so much of her time amid such thrilling experiences? i A little less than a hundred years ago, Mary Louise Baright was born in the old Dutch town of Poughkeepsie-on-the-Hudson. She was the youngest of a family of six, and her parents were poor but respectable Quaker farmers who knew how to read and Write. Their daughter, as is shown by the above quotation, must have inherited much of their ability in this line. Her education was well planned out, but the vicissitudes of life caused some of the well laid schemes to gang a-gley, but she did manage to go to the public schools of her home town, Boston University, Curry's School of Expression and Chicago University. She began her teaching in a little country school not far from her home, but has since Wan- dered far afield and done her work in such places as: a private school, Nashville, Tennesseeg The State Normal School, Westcliester, Pennsylvania, The University of Oregon, The State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On April l, 1902 Cwas there anything signifi- cant in that date?J she came to N. A. N. S. And here she is. She loves her work, she loves her friends, and she loves her country, her message to her pupils is: Let us then be up and doing, Never mind how hard we're smoteg Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to vote. 1-L

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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

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warp Qngelina Pearson ORN in Lawrence, Mass., January 19, after the Civil War, of parents possessing neither poverty nor riches. Next to the youngest of five children, having an even number of brothers and sisters. Graduated from the Reading High Schoolg Abbot Academy, Andoverg the State Normal Art School, Bostong and the Glens Fall, N. Y., Summer School of Methods. Supplementary Art courses taken with Dr. Ross, Harvard University, Henry Hunt Clark, Providence School of Designg Alfonse Mucha, Colarossi Academie, Paris, and Frank Alvah Parsons, New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. Taught as a grade teacher three years in Reading and Southbridge, Mass. Supervised drawing five years in groups of towns about Boston. Member of The Eastern Art Teachers' Association, The American Federation of Arts, The International Congress for the Development of Drawing and Art Teaching. Favorite avocation:-Equal Suffrage. N ote:-Came to North Adams when the Normal School was opened on the hill known as Sugar Loaf, Feb. 1, 1897. In winter the hill was a favorite toboggan slide and in summer a post for the discharge of Fourth of July fireworks. It is Miss Pearson's earnest wish that her pupils in the N. A. N. S. see to it that her pedagogic efforts in their behalf do not go up flame and come down stick, after the manner of the sky rocket. 15