Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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12 THE TOWER LIGHT all ready to put up. The boys are going to do that this week in their class. , I guess I have told you about all I can about the things I have to work with. At first, I was most discouraged, for I just could not get accustomed to the backwardness of the children. The little tots nearly drove me mad, for they didn't know a word of English. Now, I am enjoying the work with the older ones. We exchange words once in a while, and I am getting quite a Spanish vocabulary. I cannot roll my r's correctly, and the children have lots of fun when I practice saying their words. They are very well-behaved, but I really prefer Americans. If I had an American class. we could really accomplish something this year. One of the state supervisors told' me that only those teachers who had been raised on the misquite meat of Arizona should teach here. I agree with him heartily, but I didn't tell him so, for I didn't know what misquite meat was, at that time. I have since learned that it is the bean that grows on the misquite tree, one of the native shrubs of Arizona. We are going to have the Southern Arizona T eachers' Institute right here in Nogales on October 14th. The teachers will have a banquet and dance across the line. Most all of the parties around here are held in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Can you guess why? Taking everything into consideration, I am enjoying my experi- ence immensely. This country is rather desolate, but everyone has a good time. The Mexicans live in little adobe huts, in a most crude fashion, but it all fits in with the colorings around. The sunsets are glorious, and I'll not even mention the moonlight nights. You must come out sometime. Your fortunate sister, SARAH. g Ei :'g.!j1 - I: . ,gui V2 Z Q.,

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One of Qur Alumnae Teaches Mexicans Nogales, Arizona, October 3, 1927. Dear M erle: Here I have been teaching in my Mexican school for a month and have never taken the time to- write you the full details of my work. I shall try to give you a full account now, but honestly, I don't know where to begin. You already know that my school is about ten miles out in the country from Nogales, and that I travel back and forth from the big city. I leave town every morning at 7:45 on the bus that goes out to gather up the high school pupils. I transfer to a Ford truck that hauls the children to my school at Calabasas. I can truthfully say haul, for we are bumped unmercifully over the ruttiest road I've ever traveled. Now, let me describe the school. There are two teachers in one large room. We have fifty Mexican children and only two Ameri- cans. I am working with the upper grades and my principal has the lower classes. Up until this year the work has been carried on de- partmentally, but we solved our problem in a way more satisfactory to us. The rural schools of Arizona have vocational work. I have charge of the homemaking classes at Calabasas. I am most enthu- siastic about it and have worked out quite an elaborate program for the year. I am afraid it is too ambitious for the abilities I have to deal with, for honestly, Merle, these youngsters are the most stupid creatures I have ever had to work with.. However, I can readjust my plans. I was just about heartbroken this week-for three of my class had left the district to go to Phoenix to pick cotton. The boys are taught Farm Mechanics. We have a gentleman to do that but the principal plans the course. The equipment in our school is almost ideal. We have the new single desks which can be arranged as you want them. There is a corner for the cooking-but horrors !-I have to use a range. We gather our wood from the desert near by, and I have the girls make the fire. They can handle it beautifully. We have our vocational work one day a week, but we really make all the subjects center around it, if we can, in order to make the children interested. We have all the maps, globes, sta- tionery, and books we need, and plenty of money to buy .whatever else we want for our classes. Of course, I don't mean we have money to waste, but there is ample allowed by the district for neces- sary things. We have a sewing machine, too. The boys have a work shop off to itself and there is a shed for the teachers' cafrs. The playground is equipped with a sliding board and the swings are 11

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Cows OI' Cars l-IERE are more things accomplished by prayer than this world dreams of, but did you ever stop and think about what can be accomplished by a cow? They supply milk for the world, but this cow in particular caused the starting of the steam locomotive on the first rails of the Baltimore and Ohio. On a certain sunny morning in September, Farmer Jim Brown turned his pretty cow out into the pasture, never dreaming what a revolution she would eventually cause. As for Bessie, she calmly chewed her cud, ate a little grass, saw a break in the fence, and walked out. Somehow the grass near the railroad tracks seemed' sweeter than any other, so there Bessie established herself. Early on the same morning the Treadmill Car started out from Baltimore City for the daily run to Ellicott Mills. The horse was established in its place, the driver took his seat, and the twelve pas- sengers climbed up the high steps to the coach. The ladies made quite a flurry about their long, trailing skirts, as ladies have done ever since they wore ,such things, but with the help of the four gentle- men present, were finally fixed comfortably. There was a waving of handkerchiefs, a calling of goodbyes, and the Treadmill Car, the latest and most efficient device for motive power, started on its long journey. As the car scraped over the streets and into the open country the passengers looked around them with a bored air, which every traveler assumes when he wishes a fellow traveler to think he is used to travel. Each one furtively eyed his next door neighbor, to try to determine his disposition and occupation. The occupation of the dozen occupants must have been varied, to judge by their dress. One meek little gray lady, with a large bli:-lc bag and a green straw reticule, could be no other than agseamstress. A thin old gentleman, wearing glasses and a topped hat, and carrying three large volumes, must have been a professor or teacher in one of the Baltimore schools. There was a Sister of Mercy, a Methodist minister, indeed, a fairly representative bunch, but the most interest- ing members of the party were a young lady and a young gentleman. A 13