Senn High School - Forum Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Ellie 3lanitnr'a , wifes Glmina' Nurse Girl. Y first and only working experi- ence was as nurse girl for a pair of twin babies. When I began to think about taking work, I nev- er dreamed of the experiences that were to be mine. iVhen school closed a year ago last summer, I thought I should like to work at something, partly for the thrill of really earning some money, and partly for the sake of keeping out of mischief. To find a position, I diligently read the advertisements. I was soon mortified to find that I could not qualify for any of the positions I read about. I was not an experienced pastry cook, nor a marcel waverg I could not con- verse in Polish, nor retail fish. My family began to tease me. and began to address me with much deference as my dear .ruIr.rIndy, my dear ti'n.vl1lady, and even esteemed scrnbmissus! It seemed to me that the Fates had con- spired to keep me jobless, though I was willing to do even the humblest kind of work, just to be doing it, But finally, after many futile applications for the coveted work, I found this position as nurse girl to the twins. If the attractive features of the posi- tion were to be deliberated upon, I fear another in my circumstances would not have taken it, In the first place, my mis- tress was a janitor's wife, and lived in the basement of one of the large Hat buildings of Rogers Park. In the second place, the babies were only seven weeks old, and were promising vocalists. And in the third place, I was to be rewarded for my labors with the munificent sal- ary of two dollars a week! The pros- pects were indeed brilliant, and the joke tickled my family immensely. But I was determined to stick it out for only a week. So I packed and left. After I had settled my belongings in the corner of a tiny clothes closet in my temporary home, I looked about to in- vestigate things. The mother of the twins was a comfortable Swedish woman with leanings toward dressing sacks and chewing gum. Since she was always cheerful, and'alxvays considerate of me, however, I soon forgave her her haug- ing braids and heelless slippers. The father was a riddle to me. I was in his employment, and I was a ridicu- lously unimposing specimen, still he always said, Yes, ma'am, and, No, ma'am, when he had occasion to speak to me, and he said, Ma'am, earnestly. The first time I heard if, I must have opened my eyes anrl mouth in surprise. But afterwards I decided I might just as well be the little queen that he so re- ligiously made out that I was: so I ac- cepted his queer politeness with good grace. The little boy of the family, a talka- tive piece of nine years, gave me inter- esting work to do from the first moment he saw me. If his new sisters fwhom he adnredj were safely sleeping, he was sure to bring me cardboard and crayons to draw him a circus poster. My stock of circus ideas was rather limited at first, but later I fell into the habit of not- ing pictures of elephants, clowns, mon- keys, and dancing maids, so that, when Henry's old poster got rained on in the yard, I could make him a new one. I have come to the babies-those bu- bies! I can feel their little fingers on mine now in their clinging grasp, ex- pressive of their dependence on the mercy of their holder. How many times, with one little weight on each arm, Ihave sat in the deep rocker in the kitchen, singing the dear things to,sleep! QAnd their musical education was in no way slightedg I sang them everything from Italian street ditties to Saint Saens' Dead March. J Before long, I was able to distinguish between Frances and Gladys-Gladys was a few hairs more bald headed. The greatest good that I derived from my working experience was the love for little children. I had al- ways lotted them, but not in the yearning manner in which I must need love the

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Sixtee n THE FORUM tirst subjects to receive consideration at the Carnegie Institution of lVashington. They leased a ten-acre tract of land at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. On this tract is a main labora- tory, an office building, animal house. Director's residence, greenhouses, pig- eon houses, cat house and a house on Goose Island together with some minor buildings for conducting investigation on plants and animals in a state of isola- tion. The station is under the direction of Professor Davenport. This Institu- tion also owns lwenty-one additional acres within a mile of its main buildingsg tifteen miles of this are wooded, and the rest is used as an experimental gar- den, They also have a laboratory at Tus- con, Arizona, equipped for the special needs of botanical research in desert areas. The principal laboratories of the Department of Marine Biology are located at Logger Head, Kentucky, and Tortugas, Florida. The Tortugas lab- oratory is one of the best equipped trop- ical marine stations in the world. The object of these stations is to pur- sue intensive studies upon problems of the tropical ocean. They otl'er distin- guished investigators exceptional oppor- tunities to pursue those researches, for which the tropics atford peculiar advan- tages. The result is that during the past ten years, forty-nine investigators have made one hundred and eight visits to these laboratories and many discoveries in biology and geology have resulted. The Marine Biological Station at San Diego, California is as yet very small, but there are possibilities of opening this station as an educational as well as a research station. Through investigation in the case ot' those stations which do not carry on di- rectly any educational work and through the teaching of those which do conduct summer instruction courses, the teaching of natural history throughout our coun- try will be greatly improved. Alma Lorentzen. Laboratory and Tent. Houses at Friday Harbor, Puget Sound, Wash,

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lizghtee H THE FORUM twins. At times, it seemed I should crush them with the strength of my de- votion. Once I found it necessary to tackle a pan of potatoes, and scrape vig- orously at them, to keep myself from picking Frances up while she lay sleep- ing. There is another phase of my experi- ence that I must not forget. This was what I saw of democratic Chicago people through the eyes of a servant When I took the babies out in their cab, and sat on the beach watching the bath- ers and strollers, I learned a new thing, In my capacity as daughter of the house at my own home, I had always felt that all people were equal as that pillar ot' our society, the Declaration of Inde- pendence boldly states. But in my ca- pacity of working girl, and of domes- tic at that, and of a janitors' wifes' do- mestic at plus tlmt, ffor every one in the Park knew and admired the twins, but knew also that they were of plebeian originj I was made to feel that all peo- ple were no! created equal, but that those who lollecl about me were my superiors. They gazed from the tails of their lan- guidly half shut eyes at the nurse girl on the next bench, and unconsciously pictured her as living on a substratum. But in the little nurse girl's heart there was laughter at the childish conceit they displayed. Deeper still, below the laugh- ter there was pity for the narrowness of those, cut off by their position and clothes from the fullness of loving, and shut in helpless unwillingness to open up to the possibility of others being as good as they. I know I shall always treat a servant girl as a sister, for what other than that is she? Altogether, my working experience re- sulted in six real dollars, and in treas- ures of experiences which I would not trade for any amount. Esther Van Goens. IUXTRIOTISM! HE United States has recently formed a new naval reserve de- partment which is to be super- the Government itself. It is not a state organization, it is not militiag it is the UNITED STATES NAVAL RESERVE FORCE. This reserve force is divided into a number of classes, and oflices dealing with these classes have been placed in all the naval training sta- tions throughout the country. Very lit- tle information has been printed concern- ing this branch of the service, and con- sequently I will deal only with that class of which I know most, that one to which I belong, class four, coast defense. In this class, the boy who joins must be at least seventeen years of age and must have his parents' consent, unless he is over twenty-one. The government re- quires that each member of the reserve serve at least three months of the four years for which he enlists. The three months may be spent at the time most convenient to the reserve. He could spend it all at one time, in one summer if he wished, or three weeks at a time for four years or one month each year for three years, or any other way suiting the vised by member best. But three weeks is the minimum and four years is the maxi- mum that can be spent at one time. During the time that the reserve is in active service, he is paid, according to his rating, the same pay as the regular enlisted man. The ratings are from third to first class and it is not difficult for a man to work to a higher rating, than that with which he has joined, and consequently be may receive higher pay. As soon as the reserve has been at the station a few days, he is given training or instruction in the various trades and vocations necessary to naval life. Es- pecially is he trained in that trade in which he does the best work or shows the most interest. He is treated just as an enlisted n1an but with a little more deference. When the reserve has had a month's training at the station it is his privilege to ask to be sent to sea. How- ever, if he wishes, he need not be sent to sea at all, but can remain at the sta- tion if he so wishes. Those reserves or reserves to be who can play band instruments are wel- come indeed, as the band at the training station is short of about forty men. The tContinued on page 27.1