Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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THE GOLDEN - ROD I lampton Institute In response to a request we have received an article from Miss Corinne Hayward, a former editor of the Golden Rod. Miss Hayward is now located at the Hampton Institute, Hampton Va. Her article gives a brief idea of the work being done in the South at the present time for the education of the Negroes and the Indians of our country. Miss Hayward as private secretary to the principal of the school has ample opportunity to become well acquainted with her subject.—[Ed.] It is a difficult problem to know what to tell you about Hampton in the space allotted to me for there are many things that must of necessity be left unsaid which might prove far more interesting to the readers of The Golden Rod than these few facts which I will endeavor to set before you. The school is pleasantly located on an inlet of Hampton Roads, Virginia, about three miles from Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe. The grounds contain over 88 acres and there are about 60 buildings, besides Shellbank’s Farm, from four to six miles away, where there are 600 acres with all the buildings necessary to a well equipped farm, and dormitories for the boys and girls who remain there with a few teachers. There are enrolled here over 700 negro and 100 Indian students whose ages vary from 15 to upwards of 20 years, besides 500 colored children from the neighborhood who attend the Whittier school of primary and low grammar grades. Hamp- ton's young people are instructed in academic studies and also in practical work at the Trade School, where courses in 15 different trades are given, students being allowed, as far so possible, to select those which are most congenial to their tastes. The girls are taught cooking, sewing, laundering and all practical household work. Much stress is laid upon agriculture for both boys and girls, the girls having gardens where they are taught the propagation of various plants, while the boys have the larger work about the farm where they see put into practice the principles learned in the class room. There is also a course in dairying. I cannot begin to tell you how intensely inter- esting it is to go through the Trade School and watch the boys at their work. In the carpenter shop you may find them making chairs, tables and other articles of furniture, or perhaps a house is being built or repaired somewhere on the grounds and they will be busy constructing doors, window- frames, etc. In another department they may be found at work upon harnesses or shoes. Thus it is in all the departments. The first year boys will be found, of course, occupied with the elementary exercises, while the second or third-year students have the finer woik to do, and if they are carpen. ters or masons or tinsmiths, they may be out at work upon a house or some building which it may be deemed necessary to build or repair. The advantages which Hampton is endeavoring to give these, our red and black brothers and sis- ters, are too numerous to mention; as a prominent man has said : “ If I paid §10,000 a year for it, I could not possibly give my own small boy any- where in or about New York city the advantages that the negro child freely enjoys at Hampton In- stitute.” . The school is wholly supported by gifts. It re- ceives its share from the government fund which is annually distributed among the agricultural and mechanical schools of the country and the board of the Indian students is also paid by the govern- ment, but the colored students pay their own board ($10 a month) and the academic and industrial tuition of both races ($70 and $30 per year for each student) is contributed by friends of the school. Over -$80,000 has to be raised each year and meetings are held in many of the North- ern cities and resorts, both winter and summer, in order to lighten this burden. Numbers of people contribute regularly, however, and some give year- ly scholarships. To each of the latter a student is assigned who writes to his or her benefactor, as the case may be, at least once a year and oftener if the latter wishes to keep up a more brisk corres- pondence. These letters generally prove so inter- esting that the “donors” ask that the same students be assigned throughout all the years they attend the school. This period varies with the intelligence of the pupil and the courses taken. A boy completes his trade in three years, during which time he attends night school. Numbers of the boys and girls work during the day and are credited with a certain amount, for work done, at the treasurer’s office. Many students pay for their board and personal expenses in this way, obtaining no help from home. Sometimes a stu- dent attends night school throughout his entire stay at the school, but naturally this takes longer than if he went into day school during the latter part of his course, which is ordinarily from four to six years in length. Every day, except Monday, which is the school holiday, the bugle sounds at ten minutes after

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TilE GOLDEN - ROD “J6 Special Deliver ? ” He looked about with anxious eyes, To where the teacher stood, For teachers are most wond’rous wise ; That well he understood. Each pupil o’er his book was bent, He glanced up at the time, Five minutes now already spent— How quick the flight of time ! Again he scans the teacher’s face Then glances ’cross the aisle, ’Tis just about three feet of space, He sees the master’s smile. He wonders if the teacher knew, Or has he understood ? His face assumes an ashen hue. Oh ! if he only could Just toss that note to Harry James Who sits across the aisle. Why must he take so many pains His teacher to beguile ? Ah, ha ! a thought springs in his mind And now his terror’s fled. He does not wait a chance to find To pass that note ahead. But turning up his trouser leg About an inch or two He tucks it in so well that not A corner is in view. His foot creeps slowly ’cross the aisle, A moment of suspense ! And Harry’s shoestring then unties In innocent pretence. He stoops to the offending knot And grasps the note instead. The master innocent of the plot, Sedately walks ahead. And if there’s any boy who now “ Revealed ” his secret sees, Upon my knees I’ll humbly beg Sincere apologies. M. E. L. “ And still his tongue ran on : The more they tried to stop it The faster did it go, Until for common men there was no show.” C. C—11—ns, ’05. “ It is better to be little than not at all.” Craig, ’05. Quaint Epitaphs of Quaint Quinces Beneath this stone in a shady nook S—r—1 sits with a downward look. You can’t get him away, For he’ll sit there all day, Reading forever a Woll’ston “Brown” book. B—y—n beneath this stone so gray, Lies enshrouded to this day. Still he is talking With tongue ne’er balking, While friends wish he’d gone t’other way. Here lies the body of poor Miss W— s— Whose life was wholly devoid of rest. Sometimes ’twas ’04, ’05 us’lly more Who kept her thinking which she liked best. Here lies a young fellow named W-------n, Who ne’er came to school with his vest on. lie created a sensation And won the admiration Of the girl with the turkey-red waist on. Here lies the residue of pretty Miss II----. Before St. Peter would undo the latch He asked, “ Who is there ? ” She said “ Don’t dis-pair, But kindly just give me the loan of a match.” When Miss R-------lived she had a wonderful Lee, And gained through him the highest degree, For she was the lass Of the ‘05 class, Who graduated with an “ LL. D.” j v “ While chasing ads. I’ve worn out all my shoes, ’Till naught is left of me except the blues.” J—n k—ns, ’05. j In History II,—“To whom did Henry the Seventh marry his son Arthur ? ” S-----, confidently, “To Ferdinand and Isa- bella.” jt w The following acted as officials at the girls’ games. Mr. and Mrs. Harper, Mr. and Mrs. Howlett, Miss Souther, our faithful girls’ manager, Miss Guild, Mr. Merry and Mr. Thompson. This meet showed that the Quincy High School girls made the most of their opportunities, limited though they are in the accommodations for athletics, and the vigor and pleasure which were evident in their sport proved them worthy of better things.

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TilE GOLDEN - ROD twelve, the band begins to play and after a few moments in military drill the boys march into the students’ dining room where grace is sung by all the students before sitting down to their dinner. The drill is very helpful for there is a marked difference in the walk and carriage of the boys after a few months of this discipline. At night, directly after supper, prayers are held in the chapel to which all the students are ex- pected to go. On Sunday the Episcopal and Cath- olic students attend church in Hampton and Old Point, while the others have Sunday School from ten to eleven. The battalion forms for inspection at ten minutes after eleven and at half after that hour marches into church where services are held for all. Dinner is at one o’clock, after which the Indian students have their Christian Endeavor meeting and some of the senior and postgraduate boys and girls go “ missionarying” with a few teachers to some of the cabins in the vicinity, to the poorhouse, and to two small chapels where Sunday School services are held. At home in the girls’dormitories “ quiet hour” is observed from 2.30 to 4 o’clock and the girls are obliged to remain in their rooms without so much as whispering. The teachers generally take advantage of this quiet time also. One of them remarked to me not long ago : “ I really don't know what I should do if it were not for the quiet Sunday afternoons. They just keep me up all the week.” Perhaps the most delightful to me is the service held Sunday evenings at half after seven. For the first half hour the students, led by the Command- ant, Major Robert R. Moton, sing their old planta- tion melodies. Imagine, if you can, eight hundred students singing with all their hearts the songs which have been handed down as sacred by their fathers, their voices rising or failing in perfect accord with the slightest movement of the hand of their leader, —and even then you cannot obtain the faintest conception of the magnetism of that song service. The visitors’ portion of the hall is always crowded with those who perhaps are staying at some of the hotels or live in the vicinity. There is so much to say about the work of Hampton that I shall not even attempt to outline it. Suffice to say that the boys and girls arc trained in practical work in order that they may go out into the communities from which they came to us or into other portions of the country where they can do efficient work for their own people. Many of them establish small schools of their own which sometimes grow as the years go by and become powerful factors in their slate and country. Some of my readers will remember the talk that Dr. Booker T. Washington gave in High School hall a few years ago. Dr. Washington is a gradu- ate of Hampton and from the inspiration which he received here conceived the idea of establishing a similar school for his people in Alabama when he was recommended by General Armstrong to take charge of a school which a citizen of that state wished to have started there. That school, founded with the idea of doing some little good fortheracein the Black Belt of the South, has grown until instead of recognizing it as the child of Hampton one would take it for a sister institu- tion. This is only one of many cases. Hampton graduates, ever since the fir t of them left the small school started just after the war by General Samuel Chapman Armstrong in an old army barracks, have been steadily increasing the number of intelligent, citizens and educators. Some of them have attended the higher institutions of learning open to them and now teach in Tuskegee or similar schools, or are in the various professions. One, who is doing good work for his people throughout the South, and for Hampton in par- ticular, is Mr. W. T. B. Williams, Harvard, ’97. In closing let me extend to you a most cordial invitation to come and see for yourselves what is being done for your brothers and sisters here in the Southland. Tlieie are always guides to show visitors about the grounds and through the in- dustrial departments of the school and you will be repaid by seeing one of the most wonderful in- stitutions in the world. Corinne Louise Hayward. IRcunion The classes of ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, and ’04 held a most enjoyable reunion on Saturday evening April 15th, in High School Hall. Socially, the affair was one of the most successful ever held. Financially, there was a slight deficit, which, how- ever, was made up without serious difficulty from the class treasuries. During the first part of the evening music and entertainment were furnished by mandolin and glee clubs from the Institute of Technology. Later dancing was in order and continued until eleven- thirty. Thanks are due to the committee and to Mr. J. Brooks Keyes for the successful manage- ment of the affair.