Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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THE TOWER LIGHT had not had the background and education that she had, she would not have been able to make the best of her situation. Instead of giving up she has maintained the same respectability in her home that she has always had. If there are not new clothes, the old ones are mended, if there are no delicacies on the table the meal is served properly, if there is no money for trips and vacations, her children are spending their leisure time profitably at home. She has maintained her fine standards of living. Another woman has no children, but her husband, who was a banker, failed. Her home is still well kept and though her house dress has taken the place of the street dress she is still the proud, well-kept woman. These are a few instances of strong character but they are very few in comparison to the number of people who have given up. The teacher's job is to look out for those who come from parents who have given up and don't care. They have lost the standards of living and it is only in the classroom they will learn to re-establish these standards. The teachers have to build up an environment as they have never before had to build one. They have the opportunity to make or break a new generation. The children have been exposed to utter discontent, lack of initiative, shiftlessness, low standards of living, and most pathetic of all, resignedness to this state. What will you do? The teacher has always had an influence upon the characters of her children. It has always been her job to add to the cultural training which the children have received at home. Now the teacher must rebuild characters that will be reflected in the lives of a nation and such as will teach its people to go on and strive for the best. E. LASSELL RITTENHOUSE, 1931. O 7.0 A Nurse Quiet and sweet as a mountain grove of tall redwood You sit beside me. Cool hands, hands of peace and healing Work with me. That which was chaos is order. - That which was noisy is still. V The soul of me feels soothed. Infinite gift of God- Woman-and hands of healing! MARGUEMTE SIMMONS. 7

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I THE TOWER LIGHT , A New Job for the Teachers HE teacher of today faces one of the greatest problems that has ever been put before any professional person. Characters not only have to be built but also, to be rebuilt. In the past five years the world has faced one of the crises of an era. The living status of every family has been affected. Without realizing it, everyone has undergone some sort of change. Families who afforded the luxuries of life are now struggling for a bare existence. Families who managed to be proud, if poor, are now groveling at the doors of the charities. Girls and boys and young men and women who had aspirations toward a career no longer care what happens to them. They are content to roam the streets and take what is given them. The ambition of some of the younger generation has been quenched. All of this has been a terrific test of character and many strong people have -weakened. This condition has been reflected in the growing generation. They no longer have the attitude that when they are in high school they will decide what they want to be. They will go to school as long as their parents can afford to send them and then they will see if they can find a job and if they can't they will loaf like they have seen their older sisters and brothers and fathers do. This outlook is ruinous to the healthy growth of a rising generation. So first the teacher's job is to help these young ones to build up a desire that will spur them to go on and design a career for themselves. The child has to realize his importance in this man's world and feel that there is a part that he can play and a chance for him to use his initiative. The homes of today are a turmoil. Because of constant worry and misery, parents have forgotten to build an environment for their children and cultural values have been forgotten. In the past few months I have had the opportunity to make contacts with about fifteen hundred homes. The mother says, I am at the point where I don't care. It is as much as I can do to feed and clothe my children. Nerves on edge and crazy with worry, parents have forgotten that despite the economic situation the children are still growing and their habits are still forming. They have forgotten the courtesies and niceties of life. Children are listening only to harshness and complaint against the futility of life. What pathetic surroundings! In some few instances the parents have enough cultural back- ground and character to stand against this present situation and make the best of it. I met a woman who was a college graduate and whose husband had experienced great financial reverses. She feels that if she 6

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THE TOWER LIGHT uo Vadis p TEMPORA! O mores! fSurely the use of some classic remark is indicated to start things going. We all might have said, It's . an ill wind that blows nobody good, but that would be too poignantly reminiscentlj What we're driving at is that Time, the Great Healer, has gone and perpetrated a dirty trick on us. Y'see, for years the inmates of Normal School have been looking forward to the time when the dear little children in the campus school would have a fine building all their own and thereby allow us to expand our cramped muscles and, inci- dentally, move into the empty rooms. And now those dreams have become a grand reality. THE Towian LIGHT oiiices Qplural for dignity, we have only onelj were moved to more spacious quarters, the alleged book shop now has more space in which to sell a large and most de- licious assortment of books , even the men's room was transferred to a place three times the size of the old one. And thereby hangs a sad, sad tale! How can we adequately describe our feelings as, for the first time this year, we conidently opened that little door to the right of the auditorium, only to recoil at the terrible sight Within? Woe unto us! The men's room was no more! Ah, 'tis true that earnest students in the reference room next door will no longer be forced to listen as impromptu male quartets rend Sweet Adeline and other barroom ballads. But what matters that, when weighed in the scale against all the misery wrought? The sign MEN'S ROOM was still outside the door, leering at us in hideous mockery. But where were the articles of furniture which we had come to know so well? Where were our precious lockers? And the waste can which received the debris thrown by the more accurate members of the men's force? Where Was the blackboard which carried notices of men's meetings and results of tip- tap-toe games? Such speculations as these ran through our minds as, panic stricken, some of us gazed at the remains of that once glorious room. Then through a sentimental haze which magnifies so intensely in retrospect we began to recount scenes of the past two years. For was this not the room which, more than any other, had been a silent listener to all our confidences, our loves and grudges, our hopes and fears and regrets? Was this not the room into which we fled as freshmen, harassed by stern instructors and fto our complex-ridden minds, haughty seniors? Thus our maudlin ravingsi- 8