Philadelphia Conservatory of Music - Variations Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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OU, You are The one person in The world from whom you can never geT away. Day or nighT, awake or asleep, well or sick, in youTh or in old age, so long as you live, you can never escape for even a second from yourself. Now, if you had To pick ouT some one person wiTh whom you were To spend The resT of your life, woudn'T you be mosT careful in your choice? Wouldn'T you wanT ThaT person To wear well? To have The sferling qualifies of a fine characfer? To possess a keen inTellecT, a well- sTored mind, and a lively inTeresT in everyfhing under God's Heaven? Of course you would! For you know ThaT life wiTh such a person would be sTimulaTing. Since you musT bear your own company all your life, wouldn'T iT be an infelligenf move To make yourself as inferesfing a person as pos- sible? Now To be such a person requires deferminafion only. You musT be genuinely inTeresTed in persons and Things. Awaken in your youTh To The possibilifies of your surroundings. Firsf, Take an inTeresT in NaTure. Walk ouT in The counTry, Through fields and woods, during all seasons of The year. Observe and Think. In Spring waTch The miracle of budding Trees and of unfolding flowers: lisfen To The song of The reTurning birds: and savor The smell of The damp rich earTh. ln Summer follow The inTense acTiviTy of all growing Things of all The creeping, crawling, leaping, flying denizens of field and foresT. In AuTumn noTe The calm, mellow mood of NaTure who, having accom- plished her appoinTed work, resTs conTenTedly for a liTTle space before her long winfer sleep. How like The cycle of our human life wiTh ifs birTh, maTuriTy, old age, and Thaf long sleep we call DeaTh! Second, Take an inTeresT in humaniTy. The ouTward manifesfafions- appearance, speech, acfions-reveal The menTal, moral, educafional, and social background. Unconsciously Through These oufward marks every individual labels himself for all The world To read. lnTerpreT These signs correcfly, and you can iudge more accurafely. For much of your happiness and success in life hinges upon your abilify To size up indi- viduals and handle Them accordingly.

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This worfhy was a Lillipuf wifh illusions of grandeur. He had a sfriking resemblance fo some of fhe picfures one sees in Darwin's Origin of Species. His iudgmenf on whefher a refugee should or should nof gef a pass was errafic and irrafional, and fhe poor people lined up auf- side his office quaked in agonies of suspense and apprehension. Being so small himself he disliked big men and rare was fhe occasion when a husky fellow gof his pass fo fhe cify. More fhan fhaf, whenever a big man enfered his sancfum, Goya used fo scramble up on a chair from which heighf he proceeded fo slap fhe man and scream in a sorf of ecsfafic frenzy, See, now I am as big as you, as big as you, I fell youl Such cases wifh variafions were numerous. You should have been wifh us fhere on VJ Day. All fhe feelings in people fhaf were penf up and repressed for so long were given venf and fhe cify was one hurling mass of gay and mofley crowds who iosfled, shoufed, laughed and cried all af fhe same fime. Chinese, as you may know, are very parfial fo firecrackers and on fhose days every minufe was puncfuafed wifh one. When fhe G. l.'s and fhe sailors arrived, we fhink fhaf no ofher cify was more hospifable fhan Shanghai. Almosf all fhe barbershops and beaufy parlors were furned info bars and drinking saloons overnighf in order fo accommodafe fhe fhirsfy heroes. H' is of no imporfance lor is if?l fhaf fhe owners of same made some very sizeable profifs as fhe American currency changed sides and fhaf a few soldiers and sailors died of poisoning as a resulf of drinking vodka fhaf was mixed largely wifh mefhyl-achohol. Such was Shanghai. If fime would allow fhere are many more pi- quanf fales of fhaf cify fhaf could be fold, buf fhere is a cerfain harmony homework fhaf has fo be done for Miss Grube . . . Alas! ROSE SCHIFFMAN and MARK TUKACHINSKY

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Third, fake an inferesl in fhe various aris. Archilecfure-ihere never were so many beautiful buildings and slrucfures in 'rhe world as io-day: painiing, sculpfure, music lihaf goes wifhoui saying as il' is your professionl, poeiry, which fhrough fhe beaufy of ifs rhyfhm and sound musi' inevifably appeal +o a highly sensifized person. Lasl, gef info fhe habif of reading. Read anyihing lhal' appeals 'lo you so long as il' is fine and worlhwhile. Bul' above all, read 'rhe classics, and you will grea'I'ly increase your knowledge of life, of human beings, and of whal makes ihem l'ick. Follow +l1ese suggeslions consisfenlly, and one day you will find yourself possessed of a weal+h of knowledge and unders+anding. You will find lhal' you have insured your being inferesling +o yourself- inleresfing noi only in youih when you are surrounded by a hosl of relaiives and friends, buf also inferesling fo yourself in old age when you musl' increasingly depend upon your own resourcefulness for com- pany. For, remember, you are fhe one person in ihe world from whom you can never gel' away. MRS. GRETCHEN AMRHEIN I was born in the year of good old '29, And was said to have been quite a child. The nurse said my hands were just simply divineg Now-that statement is driving me wild .' For the years flew away just as fast as could be. And my hands were my pride all the time. Soon I learned how to count from small one up to three. And I learned how to sing and say rhyme. Then-one day my dear Ma heard a tale about Bach, And she thought him a wonderful mang So she put all her furs and her rings into hock, And then started to work on her plan. Well-the very next day my hands went into use, And they haven't stopped working since then, For I practice all day and I worry all nightg Something tells me I'm nearing the end .7 So to all of you people with hands rough and red, This poem I do dedicate. ,lust be thankful to goodness you're not nearly dead Like me-with piano my fate. Gilda Leshem