North Shore Country Day School - Mirror Yearbook (Winnetka, IL)

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TOY SHOP The policy of the Toy Shop this year was to make something out of nothing. Since the student government treasury was low, and the prices of materials up, we had to work on a very economical basis. Still, we felt that we ' d like to make the 1941 Toy Shop a greater success than ever before with car- loads of beautiful, clever, and interesting toys for the poor children of Chicago in time for Christmas. Because of this conflict be- tween hope and wherewithal, a plea was made for old, worn-out toys, bedraggled dolls and stuffed animals, scrap books, and even little thumb tack boxes and covers to glass jars. The students responded splen- didly to the plea, and soon the work was well under way. In the toy factories of the lower, middle, and upper schools, the task of turning into actuality the ingenious ideas that had been thought up in the Art Department was be- gun. The shop equipment was taxed to the utmost every afternoon as boats, animals, mechanical men and all sorts of contraptions rolled off the assembly line. The old, dis- carded toys, gathered in the basement hall of Dunlap, were laboriously repaired, painted, and generally rejuvenated into sparkling, shiny gifts. Other committees, meanwhile, were work- ing every afternoon on other jobs produc- ing and repairing games, scrap books, stuffed animals, books and dolls. The fancy paint- ing of some of the toys was done in the Art Department along with the deft production of miniature furniture from small boxes and odds and ends. A special committee of stu- dents made the annual cpiest for canned goods, and each student brought at least three cans. Each high school class had one evening for the parents to come and help. These eve- nings and the Christmas Toy Shop Party itself brought the activity to a glorious Looking back on the 1941 Toy Shop, the whole school can feel proud of the results. All in all, our toys and games were sent to seven different Chicago Charitable Organiza- tions, and each toy was greatly appreciated. 19

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THE PARENTS ARE APPARENT One of the nicest things about North Shore, and one of the things which sets it above other schools, is the way the parents take part in everything that goes on. Not content with being onlookers of school life, they play an active and important role in it. Everyone knows that mothers work on the lunchline, but few people realize what a job it is to keep track of who serves on what day and to get substitutes when some- one cannot come on a certain day. The members of the office committee ad- dress and fill envelopes. They work at the switchboard, take messages and keep the attendance lists. Some of the mothers put in hours of pa- tient work on the library and the Art Li- brary. One parent is editor of the Notes, and another has charge of subscriptions for the skating rink. The task of decorating Leicester was undertaken by parents, and the faculty teas, one every month, are given by mothers of the different grades. At Christmas time, the fathers pound nails and paint chairs for toy shop, and the moth- ers sew doll clothes and make scrapbooks. One of the most important parent com- mittees is the Costume Committee. For weeks before the opera the members of this committee worked out color combinations, designed sarongs, sewed stripes on the mounties ' trousers, and made ruffles for the bridesmaids ' costumes. The finished prod- ucts were as beautiful as any you ' d see on the Broadway stage. The cannibals ' outfits were true masterpieces. During the opera the mothers helped can- nibals on with their wigs, pinned on bustles and helped in hundreds of other ways. You get so used to seeing the parents around North Shore that you may take them for granted, and forget that in most other schools they are completely separated from most events. When you stop to think about it, though, you realize that without parent participation North Shore would be lacking a part of that famous spirit you hear about so much. 18

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MIRROR Hey, come on out and play baseball! Sorry, I have to work on the MIRROR. You ' re working on that MIRROR morn- ing, noon and night. Don ' t you ever get done? Sure, but we ' re trying to make this the best MIRROR the school ' s ever had. Aw, they say that every year. Yeah, but this year we really are making it better. Come on in and look at our dummy. That ' ll give you an idea of why we think it will be better. O. K. Seeing as how you won ' t come out, I might as well come in. Here, take a look. First, see how we ' ve changed the order. The classes are in the middle instead of the first. And have we ever got fancy plans for the cover ! Sounds good. What ' s the story on those individual portraits that were taken this winter? That ' s one of our new features. We ' re having separate photographs of all the kids in the high school including the four pairs of twins in the Junior class. That ' s not all we ' ve added, either. We ' ve put in some new subjects such as Morning Ex. and Parent Activities. We ' ve enlarged the opera section in the book, too, seeing as how the opera is just about the most important event of the year. In fact, the whole book ' s bigger. Listen, you don ' t have to sell it to me. I ' ve already bought mine. That reminds me. I haven ' t told you about the business staff. They are just as important as the editorial staff. Have you ever tried to balance a budget? Yeah, but — Then you can appreciate what a terrific job the Business Manager has. And there ' s the advertising staff. Without ads the budget would never balance. I know one job you missed, the guy who gets up in Morning Ex. and says, ' The MIRROR will be on sale in the lunchroom today. ' Oh, the circulation manager. He ' s got a big job too, and so has the MIRROR artist. Well, I ' ve got to be going now. So long. Thanks for the preview of the MIRROR. The book really looks swell. Thanks. See you tomorrow. Now where was I in that article? 20