West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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CLASS NINETEEN FIFTEEN at the great laboratory. His students are enthusiastic in praise of his power as a field teacher of bird study. With a devotion unusual to students of nature. Dr. Ehinger shares most con- stantly his splendid knowledge of birds with any one who cares to know about tlieni. For years a gToup of bird students have met at his home at fretpient inter- vals through the winter, and in the spring ha e gone out day after day in the search of birds under his fostering supervision. No such effecti e work in behalf of bird study has e er been done in West Chester before, and there is every promise tliat this activity will continue. Meanwhile other towns hearing of the success of this work, have called Dr. Ehinger to give them the sug gestion which shall start them in similar work. The patient i)ersistence with which the Doctor wrings its message from the printed page is one of his most striking characteristics. His shelves are loaded with books of many kinds. Page after page is marked with his careful pencil. A book he has once read he can quickly review. This adds double value to a collection already great in itself. While in Chicago he married Miss Ella M. Long, of Quincy, III., an enthusiastic lo er of nature and successful worker in art. The tastes of this pair have run abso- lutely parallel with a rare unanimity in a married couple. They have been partners in their life work as well as in life itself.

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THE SERPENTINE mind was always more strongly drawn to health than to disease. It always seemed to him so much better to keep the body well than to cure it when sick. This convic- tion, joined to his great fondness for athletics, made him determine to train for the work of a Director of Physical Education. Going with his wife to Brooklyn, N. Y., they both entered the School of Physi- cal Education. There he acquired the clear understanding of physical training which has marked his administration of tb.at department of our school. In 1890, the Trustees of the West Chester State Normal School determined to build the present Gymnasium. They decided at once to equip it and direct it in a manner entirely superior to that found in any other Normal School in the State, if not in the country. In looking about for a director they fell at once into the happy combinatiion of Doctor and Mrs. Ehinger, into whose hands they unreservedly placed the task of building up a department which should maintain a standard unquestiona- bly high. How thoroughly their trust was carried out every student of West Ches- ter Normal knows. No other school of its size within the boundaries of the East- ern States has so efficient a course so thoroughly laid down and so carefully fol- lowed out as that of our Normal School. The entire credit of this effective work must be laid at the door of Dr. Ehinger and his helpful wife. The Trustees have always provided the means, but these minds have directed and controlled the work. Our annual open Track and Field Meet at West Chester is looked upon by those from outside who participate in it, as one of the great events of the year. It has always been the policy of this department to think far more of building up the gen- eral health of the whole student body than of developing a few highly trained ath- letes at the expense of the great mass of students who need the training most. The work done here by Dr. Ehinger has gained wide recognition. For years he has held positions in the National Physical Education Association, having been for some time a member of the National Council. Along with all this busy work the haliit of watching nature, which the Doctor learned while driving in the carriage with his father, the physician, has never been given up. Year by year Dr. Ehinger has grown more and more fond of outdoor life. Each year he has come to know nature ' s secrets more intimately. The trees, the flowers, the ferns, insects, spiders, all catch the Doctor ' s eye and yield him their secrets. But the voices of the birds speak to him with a clearness and an insistence that will not be neglected, and to the birds his heart has gone out as to no other crea- tures outside of his fellowmen. Secrets of nests and of food, of haunt and habit unfold themselves year b} ' year in response to his patient quest. Literature on the subject surrounds him in his well-stored library. The result is that Dr. Ehinger has come to be the most accomplished bird student in this neighborhood. . few years ago he determined to do some studying during the summer at Cold Spring Harbor. This seaside laboratory gathers together a group of aml)itious students and gives them the best of outdoor instruction. It did not take the managers of this body long to find that the man who came to study ought to remain as a teacher. Since that time the Doctor has been one of the instructors of the department of bird study

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THE SERPENTINE Snapshots of Dr. Ehinger