Philadelphia Normal School - Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Philadelphia Normal School ihininrg Histories are as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a soul. -Carlyle. History is the philosophy of past events which interpret the present. Since We cannot, in writing such a chronicle, record every event in our school career, we shall feel satisfied if our brief account will furnish texts for your reflections. ' If you have awakened from a pleasant day dream to hard, cold actuali- ties, you have some idea of the feelings experienced by a high school senior with a very much inflated opinion of himself and an occasional flutter of the heart on his first plunge into the assembly, and the matter of fact class rooms of Normal School. I think the boys received the most severe ducking, for they were led to the drawing room on that never-to-be-forgotten day, the eighth of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-one. Here was the psychology of first impressions demonstrated, for although other classes held more charm' for us, the memorable Four Hundred Four was the most often visited in our entire school career. - Soon we came to know each other. The poor 'forphansn in the corner of the assembly room were lifted from the shelf of necessary evils and made an essential part of the school. As soon as we had time to become acquainted, we were herded in the assembly room to be received by the upper classmen, after which we had our first party. In Normal School there is a party for everything. I Every trade has a language of its own. Such pedagogical phrases as No s chosis without neurosisf, nice tall headsf' and wot that down were P Y J drilled on during the first term. As the days grew shorter our working hours grew longer. Our week days were filled with reading juvenile poetry, delving into the mysteries of consciousness, studying inflections and Writing lesson plans, while on Sundays, our interest in biology. caused us to gather weeds and fruits. Here, I think, we learned our first great lesson, that there is nothing truly valuable that can be purchased without pain and labor? Of course, there are less valuable things that have to be bought at the same price, and teaching is no exception. 6

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Class of func 1923 51111111121 uf Glnmmrnrvmvni The sun is up! The ship will soon- set sail, VVith cargo richer far than- Cathay's gold. Its ballast, patience, ,gainst th' approaching gale, Protects the knowledge stored within its hold. Its purpose is some foreign land to reach, To leave its cargo there, and doing so Enrich it all the more. So, each to each Will give, and wealth in both will grow. i Not poor its destination is, n-or mean, For ships like these the whole round world may roam, And, having left its burden- on some green, lllay with rejoicing wend its journey home. VVould God our ships may sail a quiet sea, Successful, happy, may their journey be. FREDERICK C. GRLTBER

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Class of func 1923 VV e left behind the painted buoy That tosses at the harbor's mouth, And madly danced our hearts with joy As fast we fleeted to the South. VVe were advanced juniors. Think of it, never more to be called udetest- able freshmen? Wle were not only advanced in name, but in thought and deed. VVe were becoming 'cSupermen.,' Wle were happy, and found happiness at every turn, for he who carries happiness himself will meet with joy the whole world round. The gay little birds whom we visited on rainy days sang us a joyous welcome, as did the spring who ushered out the snow. The ipteras, opteras and all the other bugs would have been ungrateful wretches if they were not sincerely flattered by the attentive scrutiny given to their corpses in the 'fblug roomf, However, the person who was most affected by our sincere attentions was that formal old gentleman, ulllr. Colvin. Poor fellow, he hasnlt many friends. And then there were our hikes, our athletics, our field day, the swimming, the community sings, and the Glee Club play. Normal School awoke with the spring. The little doubts which assailed us as to our practice teaching were counter-balanced by the call of the sea, the mountains and the green fields. VVhen we left for our summer vacation, we were happy. If all the years were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work? After the sporting summer season had ended, we found ourselves back at school ready for the last long mile. VVe organized our class for graduation, selected our pins, and elected the following oficersz President . . . . . . .... LAVENIA SKEGGS T Vice-President . . . . .AMY SMALLEY Secretary . . . ......... EVA DAVIS Treasurer .. .... FRANK VANDERSLICE The sections which continued their academic work vied with each other in developing the largest number of those who could slumber peacefully during class without offending the susceptible feelings of the teacher. During this period our interest in art manifested itself by our frequent inroads and long 7