Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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A fetter from a former J ufceni November 23, 1916 My dear Seniors Five: I have so much to write that I hardly know where to begin. I wish that I might tell it all to you rather than write it to you. I wonder if it is storming in Ambler tonight as it is here. If so you are probably, all sitting about the fire in the sitting room. This is quite the funniest place I ever struck or hope to strike in the future for some time to come. The grounds here consist of some twenty acres sloping down to the Concord river and are perfectly beautiful. There are about twelve acres in orchard lands, pear as well as apple, an asparagus bed, a patch which at some former time aspired to be a berry patch, a few battered cold frames and a wreck of a perennial flower border. You see this is the first year that the school has occupied this location and before that the place had been deserted for some time and everything had been, allowd to go to ruin. Up to the present time the orchard has kept me out of mischief. We had between six and seven hundred bushels of fruit, mostly Gravenstein, McIntosh, Ben Davis and Baldwin apples and Bose pears. It was almost impossible to find pickers at first until I finally discovered a night duty policeman over at the junction who would come during the day and pick for nine cents a bushel. For the most part the apples were small and had not been properly sprayed. I loved the work in the orchard and it was loads of fun. The last of the Baldwins went off this week and when the returns from those come in I can make up the final accounts. At present I find few idle moments on my hands. In the morning 1 teach Arithmetic, History, Reading, Writing, English and Composition and Handwork, and in the afternoon I have organized play and Horticulture. In the evening I help amuse the youngsters and in between times I correct endless reams of papers and plan out lessons. You would hardly recognize it as a day’s work for a Horticulturist, would you? There are between fifty and sixty children in the school—many of the girls almost as old as I and it is really very ludicrous indeed. I just never saw quite such abominably behaved children in my life as were the small youngsters of my fifth grade at the beginning of the year. 'They had absolutely no more idea of order and respect or obedience than so many kittens and they were extremely difficult to manage, but now that I finally have them whipped into shape they are perfectly darling and we have the nicest times together. The girls seem to enjoy the Nature Study and Gardening. Last September I asked the principal, if I might have a potting bench as equipment for my classes. She replied that she didn’t see why I could not turn over a box and use it. I was rather stunned for a moment but then I saw that it was up to me to prove myself a good enough teacher to get on without equipment. Of course I realized that a poor teacher could make a perfect mess of a lesson in a splendidly equipped labratory and vice versa, but it did seem that the request for a potting bench was not an unreasonable one—when one had the job of teaching forty small and large children the art of Horticulturing. 3

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4 WISE-ACRES VoL. hi February, 1917. No. 12 1 . »-■-=.■ i' - ■! ■ . ■ j -- ■ ■ ■ - — a 1 ■ - ■■ 1. . . ■ 1 .... Published Quarterly by the Students op the School of Horticulture for Women, Ambler, Pa. Entered at the Ambler Post Office as Second-Class Matter staff Editor-in-Chicf, Amy Woodruff Associate Editor, Marion Hardy Exchange Editor, Edith Sisc Business Manager, Katherine Cohen Associate Business Manager, Beatrice George Secretary, Ruth A. Gerhard Advertising Editor, Beatrice L. Williams Associate Advertising Editor, Isabel Marquedant One Dollar a Year Single Copy, Twenty-five Cents EDITORIAL The origin of very successful schools and colleges should interest us. The origin of Oxford and Cambridge is very obscure. They were probably the result of the uniting of very small schools. Harvard, the oldest university in the United States, was founded and started in 1638 by a small sum of money and three hundred books. It now has over four thousand students and an endowment fund of about twenty-four million dollars. Yale was at first a small denominational school near Saybrook, Connecticut. Now it is one of the most influential institutions of learning in the country. Our near neighbor, Haverford, resulted from the suspension of Haverford School for eleven years from 1845 to 1856 in order to collect an endowment. The result of this endowment was Haverford College. The success of a school does not depend upon its circumstances as much as upon its alumni, faculty and students. Although the students of many private institutions do everything from giving plays to selling peanuts for the endowment fund of their schools, this work is not as important in the actual results attained as in the spirit of helpfulness and loyalty manifested to their Alma Mater. Our fondest dreams may not reach the height of seeing our school vieing with Oxford and Yale in fame and influence, but we may entertain hopes of our school’s future success and growth on account of its value to its students. We enjoy our work and we realize that it is a new sort of work for women. We are, consequently, anxious that others interested in horticulture should have our opportunity. It goes without saying that no one will come to us who has not heard of us. We, as students and later as Alumnae, are best fitted to spread the news. However great a spirit of independence our work may inspire in us, we must, nevertheless,. admit our indebtedness to the school. Wrhen we graduate, one of the foremost of our concerns should be: are we tangible answers to the ever-resounding question—“But what does the school fit you to do?” 2

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However, despite 'such little vicissitudes, we are progressing along Horticultural lines. With the very tiniest youngsters I have taken up Birds—their nests, young, etc., and wasps and such every day things of interest. We are busy at present with preparations for a birds7 Christmas Tree. The older children had a busy time selecting their bulbs from the catalogue and we had lessons on the uses of the catalogue, potting, labelling and storing and care of bulbs etc. We managed to pot up several hundred bulbs—(despite the lack of a bench) and we are growing some in water and some in pebbles. The oldest group has just begun work on the window boxes which I trust will be a success. We have also had a good deal of field work with the trees and birds. The primary teacher broke down and left about three weeks ago and since then I have had to take several of her classes so it has been pretty strenuous. There are five other teachers but we seldom see much of each other. Unfortunately matters are so arranged that we never have our free times together. We get together occasionally long enough to repeat from the depths of our hearts: I wish I was a rock A sitting on a hill A doin’ nothing all day long But just a sitting still. I wouldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t eat, I wouldn’t even wash; I’d just sit still a thousand years And rest! myself, by Gosh! which expresses our sentiments most of the time. But I’ve decided that one has to swallow a jolly good lot for the sake ol Experience—and anyway no one can ever, ever look at me and say: “You know you have never had any Experience.” The location of the place is perfectly beautiful and the children are adorable but I get pretty homesick for Ambler sometimes. I; think of you so, so often. Every Thursday I think: “This is Trees and Shrubs day at Ambler.” And then Friday is Botany. So, even though I have not written, I have thought of you ever and ever so often. Oh! how I wish I might be with you all tonight! In reading over this epistle I don’t know whether you can make any sense out of it or not. There are bushels of exam papers waiting to be corrected so I mustn’t write any more tonight. Everybody, write to me when you can, please. Good-night, with ever and ever so much love for the seniors and the rest at Ambler, 4 Lovingly, LOUISE