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

Page 22 text:

the British Empire, where Miss Barber was assisting. Good food and great fun! Thanksgiving was a pleasant day here. Several went to Church. Dickie's sister, Miss Dickerman, visited us again this year. We were threatened with stewed prunes, hash, and rice pudding for dinner, but Miss Barber rose nobly to the occasion and we had a wonderful meal. Compost Pile It was almost- too bad to correct the linotyper's error in setting up our last issue. He headed one article—“My Homemade Road. Assistance to the cross-word-puzzlists:— Obsoctuous—found in floriculture notes. Invigorations—Mr. Kaiser's famous “Fla. to Va., “fol. and hab., “inconspic., etc. Miss B. is sure that “An Australian bird in three letters, is not a “kangaroo. New Varieties which might be termed Horticultural:— Yellow Prince—calendulas. Asparagus spenduli. Asa—the family name of the maples. This item should really go in the “Book Review, but we had no others to mention there. Mr. Kaiser assures us that an excellent book to study is the one called “Our Native Orchids, by Charles Dana Gibson. Another Floriculture note — “Harvesting of Horehound. Lick leaves in summer only lightly. Miss B. wants Carbona for her aquarium. (It isn't far wrong, either, for Mrs. Wacker was able to give her Cabomba with little puzzling.) Extracts from old Wise-Acres:— “How to tell the flowers from the weeds: Pull them up by the roots. If they are flowers that will be the last of 'em; if weeds, only the beginning. “In the following incident is brought out rather forcibly the extreme idea of balance and symmetry once dominant in gardeners. Lord Selkirk walking on his terrace, in his garden in St. Mary’s Isle, which had a summer house at either end, found in one of these a boy imprisoned for stealing apples, and in the other, a son of his gardener, about the same age, looking out with a doleful countenance. Meeting the father, Lord Selkirk 20

Page 21 text:

others equally intelligent caused much mirth, and the evening was a most enjoyable one. Mr. Kaiser “put over” another of his trips on the School— rather, not on nor even at the School, but way over beyond Media, on October 6. We tramped through Painter’s Arboretum, and the woods beyond, but didn’t manage to reach Indian Rock. It was a rather warm day, too, so enthusiasm waned rapidly after the first hour. But from all accounts of the Pen Bryn trip last June, we judge that that was not to be mentioned the same day, even. We are sure that Judy would have scorned our weariness after Painter’s Arboretum! At least there was no corduroy road! Our action on October 10 brought in about $50, the expenditure which has yet to be decided upon. Pedi made an ardent auctioneer. Six of us had a delightful trip to the Luray Caverns over the week-end of October 11-13. The country was gorgeous, and “Maggie Buick Hebden” went like a bird all the way. The Caverns were well worth the 576 miles of road there and back. Another member was added to our student body in October —Irene Rogers, from East Lyme, Connecticut. The more, the merrier, in any community, and it applies most accurately when one considers Irene. The 30th was a busy day. Miss Seemann took her two classes to Dreer’s Nursery at Riverton, in the afternoon, and Mrs. Dikeman had all of us over at her house for a Hallowe’en party in the evening. We went in the most mysterious and outlandish costumes, and the masks were the best of all. Me-phistophiles was there, and a colored mammy—who proved to be “J. J. Allen”—not the real one, but the one already met by the 1923 students—and Mrs. “Allen.” The evening was spent playing games—and eating, and everyone had a most delightful time. Tom Hall spent two week-ends here during November, and Pet went in one week-end, and Trip for the two days after Thanksgiving, to stay with Tom and help her a little. Coolidge should feel that he has the School back of him. He was elected by an overwhelming majority at the School polls. School Gardening “lectures” have gone off pretty well. We don’t know how many startling scientific facts Miss Seemann was able to glean from them. On November 18 Miss Carter took us all down to the Ambler Opera House as her guests, to see Norma Talmadge in “Secrets,” a charming picture. After our return we were regaled with nice hot cocoa and crackers. An illustrated lecture by Mr. George Dawson on the 20th attracted many of us to Philadelphia. Many lovely slides of villas and gardens, some of which Mr. Stevenson has been telling us about in Landscape class, rewarded us. Part of the group went and had supper at the Bazaar of the Daughters of 19

Page 23 text:

expressed his sorrow, supposing the boys were accomplices. “Na, na, my lord,” said the gardener. “Ma laddie's nae a thief, but I just put him there for the symmetry.” “You can tell a Senior, but you cannot tell her much in safety.” Miss Seemann’s favorite song, entitled, “Weeds,” runs as follows: “ How you gonta keep 'em down on the farm, After they’ve gone to seed? How you gonta keep ’em from doing harm, Floating around, And cumb’ring the ground? How you gonta keep ’em out of the feed? That’s the mystery! You’ll have to use the cultivator, rake and plow, Or turn the pasture over to the sheep and cow. That’s the way to keep ’em down on the farm, So they can’t go to seed.” 21