Northrop Collegiate School - Tatler Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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The 1924 TATLER OUR OUTLINE OF HISTORY History, as all Northrop girls know, begins With written records. As early as 1914 A. D., one eminent archaeologist claims, the Northrop Class of 1924 had entered history, for a TATLER of that year was found to include a list of the members of the primary department of Graham Hall in which several of our present class were named. There is little else known of this period for the reason that, according to historians, there was little proficiency in writing among the members of this ancient nation. There is no record of any development in the arts, in science, or in literature. But that was to come later, in that glorious and renowned period when the class of 1924 was mistress not of a mere world, but of Northrop School. The years passed, however tso to speakl. We progressed in literature, particularly in poetry, although we have no great epics. I should like to quote from two poems which well illustrate, I think, the state of civilization Which we had reached. The first, liFlowers and Sunshine, by that Sappho of the Primary Department, Miss Caroline Crosby, contains the following two lines, which are like those of no other poet the world has ever known: uNext comes the glowing honeysuckle, With its blossoms as bright as a buckle. 91 The second lyric, also on the subject of flowers, displays the quality of artful simplicity, as these lines show: uMy daisies too are yellow, I gave one to a fellow. The beginnings of the drama are found in our lifth year in a morality play entitled uPandora's Box, in which we impersonated various diseases. As it is not known who won the chariot race that closed the program, we cannot reckon that our first Olympiad. Our varied interests also included the writing of prose. One delightfully instructive article entitled iiA Visit to a Sawmill twhere the young author, Jane King, seems to have let nothing escape hery, appeared in the TATLER. The sixth year was one of the busiest in the life of the class. The sixth form history class presented HCoriolanus, and His Desertion of His Fellowmen. Coriolanus himself was portrayed by Grace Velie, his mother by Caroline Crosby, and the Chief of the Barbarians by Jane King. The French class, not to be outdone, offered Le Petit Chaperon Rouge. tWhat bright little girl knows what that meansD We all joined the Girl Scouts, forming the Ane- mone Troup. We entered the riding contest too, of which Lucy Winton car- ried off first place in the pony class. If a prize had been offered for the largest Page 13

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The. 1924 TATLER W. LUCY WINTON ELEANOR HAYES WHITING If to her share some female errors fall, A cheek where grows? Look on her face and youhll forget them More than the mornlng rose. 311. MARGARET STEVENSON WILLIAMS Our Peggy is a young thing, just entered in her teens, Fair as the day, and sweet as May, Fair as the day and always gay. Page 12

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The 1924 TATLER amount of knitting done for the soldiers, Louise Belden, or possibly Marjory Pomeroy, would have carried it 0E. The seventh form stands out in the memory of all concerned as the most bird-y and picnic-y of our history. We Were all members of the Audubon Society. We would bring our lunches, and take walks whose destination was too near the building to offer any great amount of exercise, or even an over- whelmingly fine view of the birds. We thought it quite as profitable to sit in the grass and eat while we waited for the birds to fly by, as to take the pains to go in search of the birds. However it must not be supposed that we didn't learn anything about our llllying friends, for we really learned much. We kept lists of great length, telling what kinds of birds we had seen and the date on which we had seen them. In this case it was the reverse of the proverb, for each girl sought to be early enough to get the first bird. The eighth year was, I am sure, the height of our career, since we never before nor afterward succeeded in being quite so tyrannical. The hobby of our class was the llstrike. It seemed almost as though we must have spent our week-ends planning these rebellious uprisings. This is the way they arose most of the time. Lucy would come tearing into the room in the morning before Mrs. Ruud had come upon the scene of action; she would be all out of breath; she would slam her books down on the desk, and shriek, NGirls, I'm so mad that I could just die! Do you realize that we aren't babies any longer? There is absolutely no sense. in this forcing us to take fancy dancing lessons! Who is going to get any good out of it anyway? We cer- tainly arenit going to be dancing our way through our examinations. Girls, welve just got to stick together and strike! I I I And as was inevitably the case, we struck. However, in spite of the fact that we were universally detested, towards the end of the year the rest of the school was forced to take an interest in us, when we performed in a patriotic play called uThe Declaration of Indepen- dence, for which Miss Radford had long been coaching us. We were all very much thrilled over this because we had real costumes and scenery! The main characters were: Louise Belden as Thomas Jefferson, Jane King as Paul Revere, ' Jinks Decker as Benjamin Franklin, and Berenice Adamson as Samuel Adams. However, Emma Poehler, as Captain Parker, although that part does not seem very important, deserves about four times as much credit as all the rest put together. First of all, she took the part of a thousand British soldiers, beside that of her regular character. One could easily hear the galloping of a whole regiment when she beat her hands upon her knees with a very convincing thump- ing. The next thing she did, which was much easier, but nevertheless decidedly Page 14