Northeast High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Those who took French found for their instructor a short, loud speaking, wildly gesticulating little fellow, who wore neckties nearly as loud as Fluck's socks, and who talked in bunches. VVhen explaining a lesson his arms fly around in a most reckless fashion, endangering the life and limb of all within reach. Wfhen in full blast he closely resembles a cross between a Dutch wind mill and a steam carrousel. So the year slipped away, even as sand which we grasp, and ever as we grasp slips through our fingers, and is gone. Almost before we had gotten well settled down to work the Christmas holidays arrived. Then, be- fore we were aware of it, the long summer vacation was upon us. Two .long delicious months of rest, and then work again. E Wfhen we returned in the fall, we had not aged materially since our parting in the spring, it's true, but maybe we didn't feel a whole lot older and graver. No longer Freshmen, we would swagger around with a fine air of importance and proprietorship, taking revenge on the poor, inoffensive little freshies for all the indignities which had been heaped upon our heads the year before. Our class had dwindled during the summer, and we missed many familiar faces. But if the class had decreased. the staff of in- structors had been augmented. lVe found a man on our Faculty, Mr. Chorlton, a graduate of Northeast. It will give you some idea of Mr. Chorltonls habitual frame of mind when T tell you that on one memorable day a bulletin appeared bearing this startling intelligence: A A GREAT cA'rAsTRoPHE!! On March 4 Mr. Chorlton was observed to smile! Q. E. D. This year, in the shops, we took up blacksmithing and pattern making. Wfe had gathered from books that the smith is a mighty, brawny man, but upon entering the dominions of Mr. Rozel QRosellej we looked in vain for any one that would fulfil those conditions. Wfe found out that 0111' smith was a tiny wiry little gink, whose manner and expression were at times really almost human. Yes, Blacksmithing. But don't be alarmed, we were not required to shoe horses. Our most strenuous labors were given to acquiring proficiency in playing the anvil chorus. This is accomplished by a body of performers all pounding in unison upon a steel anvil with a hammer. The back door of the shop opened out into a 16 0 J' 1 f if HW ' ,E Wi FTW all 'fd ft 114' ' R-j ,ilu . . fs - lxzygvuaff ' ' W, ,ill 'i1,i iI'1i , ' 'fi Q, .7 1 f' --V - .1-. ' I - -- . . , r .. xr., W. ,i . . QQ -rpg 'SQQXQ Q U nf. 1--'11F1f r-. . liz, '- ' if ' ,,.!llb W' ' life- 'A r .-1 il., i f i,.Z:' ' 'if'a!.,y 'tfiriw L ,l T . .--me ', 'tr '- I tr' vase: rf:- .avfnlf h 'NR-,Qi I ,Q 6, pf' Ii ill fsfsif' u It f P' N vii! 4 .5 fp my ifyw . ' 1:1-.',g.',5-lpn, 3 fl-1'V f IE 'iw J, ' .'.' '. , ' ,- S A X l .4,4,,4 - -,. ,fb ff' .-4 sf' f -V' zzgseicf. f f- .1 if 543'-5 i'. -if 1' 5 5236 ,ic--:r 'lf-.sf .i.! Q' .Vg ,1,.h,.g . I .L-', ,.-A .- 1 I' ,sf , r ' F , rl 1 luffn 'i..l':h W -1399 If 11, I, VM ilk a 1 . I li' lin lg rig F-1,1 1 - 4' I' ' 1' f .f Eu ..v.,.. 4--r ' , THE BLACKSMITH

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noddles, while he was relating to us the adventures of Mulvaney. Dickie'i is also , , ,f 'tri m the self-constituted leader of our Orchestra-enough said. There is yet another gentleman whom we would fain touch lightly upon, namely, our English Professor. You have all, doubtless, seen pictures of the old Mediaeval monks, fat, slick, contented, hands folded over well-rounded belly and gif face wreathed in smiles, his whole personage speaking eloquently of indolence and good living. Wlell, that's Lemuel. Always jolly, ever ready to listen to a joke and crack a staler one in return, he is indeed a winner. Chaff is his forte. ff a fellow had his head cut off, Lem would chaff him because now he couldn't eat so much ice cream. Merely as a side issue he also gave us essays to write. Generally, he told us to read a certain book, the Dictionary, Encyclopaedia or other heavier litera- t f ture, and then bring in a Iooo-page essay upon it. lt was not long before we began to suspect that our dear Dr. based his marks upon quantity. .lt was even rumored that he weighed the products of our labor, the heaviest receiving the highest mark. To ascertain the truth of this statement, a certain s wise duck took a quire of foolseap paper and inserted a drop of paste between every two sheets, put the ,fmlv 5, 'f U iH3, title and his name on the front and turned the dummy - DR. VVHITAKER in as his essay. Sure enough, when the papers were . returned this individual had received .a D.,' VVhen we first entered the school we were given our choice of studying Ger- r,. , ', man or French. Cf course, before making any definite decision we consulted our friends in the upper classes, and got their advice. One and all they told us 4 l to take French. Said they, German is undoubtedly the best language to know, 'J but, well, we've been there, and if you want to know anything at all about the l-li I-lf' language, take French ! So accordingly the majority of us selected German. Did tif ' we learn much German? Wfell, really, now-anyway, we had lots of fun. The l7O0l' Dr. is so very tall that when he stands upon his platform he looks right over our heads, and those near him are totally lost to view. Savoy. 15 J' ., 'T' H E FRENCH MA N

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little back street, and we found it far more interesting to indulge in a game of ball than to work, and Mr. Roselle made a capital umpire. His favorite expression is: Heat this to a cherry red and draw it out six inches. Billy Gumphert and pattern making. The former suggests a dictionary, the latter trouble. Billy is highly cultivated, believes in the broader life, home study, and is a great student. Every night he devours several pages of the dictionary, and the next day we have the beneht of his enlarged vocabulary. It is always possible to tell just how far Billy has read by the character of the big words he uses. One week they will all commence with, say, E, and the next he will begin with the F's. The only trouble is that he don't digest them very well, and when he attempts to unload them on us in the morning they are accompanied by a shower bath. Billy also has a weakness for military drill. Wfhen about to dismiss a class, he will assemble us in a col- umn, and then in sonorous accents issue the command, Attention, mark time, forward, march! The leader of the line usually shouted Charge l and we accordingly left the room on the double quick. In the drawing rooms we were assisted by Profs. Heyl and Pfeil, the former a quiet, inolfensive gentleman. with a voice like wild honey dripping from a forest oak, and the other a big, sleepy, lazy hulk, whose principal ambition in life is to see how many plugs of tobacco he can dispose of in a day. And they all eventually end up behind the radiator at the side of his desk. He would go to sleep in his chair, and we, meanwhile, amused our- selves in various ways. Some took a walk around the square. Raymond Moore, Bruce Murphy and W'alter Miller matched pennies, and in one way or another we managed to eke out an existence. If he happened to be particularly wakeful, Keinath, who served his country so nobly during the coal strike, was sent up to talk to him upon military affairs, and all went smoothly as before. X All during our Freshman year we had had occasional glimpses of the Physical Laboratory. Through the half open door we would peer with awe and wonder into the gloomy region presided over by Dr. George Freeze- out Stradling. Now for the Hrst time we were admitted, and after being in a little while we could not understand for the life of us what had made it so fascinating before. The man who guided our scientific researches was a peculiar, not to say comical, specimen of humanity. He was exceedingly fond of his ease, for whenever about to near a recitation he would sit down in a creaky old revolving office chair. cross his hands in front of him, and settle back with an involuntary sigh of relief, lf instead of following science he had studied finance he would have been without a peer. He is always on the lookout for a chance to turn an honest penny. ln one of our experiments it was necessary to use small, delicate glass bottles which the Dr. informed us cost 33.40, and if we broke one we 17