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

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JTH E 19Z3 S ERP E NT I N E came ahout tlial when Miss Helen Kaniuliar steppeil oul of the English De- partment to take up Y. V. C. A. v(ii-k in New ' oi-k City. .Miss ] IeCarthy stepped into the Xormal School and has liecn hen- ever since. When in 191!) Miss Elvira Y. Speaknian was incapacitated by illness. Dr. Philips asked Miss McCarthy to take upon herself the responsibilities of the Dean of Women. During her busy years of teaching, ] Iiss McCarthy never ceased to be a student. Incidentally, she has ac(|uired a tiiste for taking degrees. During the school year of litl5-l!)16 she betook herself to the Cidversity of Michigan, where she took her A.H. That hut whetted her appetite, so l)y dint of sunutier schools and much nndiiight electricity, she wrote her thesis, ' Some Uses of Religious Material in the Poetry of the Eighteen-Xineties and in 1921 was granted her M.A. from the University of Chicago ; it would not seem rash to surmise that she cast her ambitious eye on a not too distant Ph.D. These are the higlier institutions of learning which have ministered to jMiss McCarthy ' s .scholastic needs: University of Missouri, Cohnnbia University, University of Geneva. Switzerland. University of Penn.sylvaiua, University of Michigan, Univei ' sity of Chicago. liut she has received her broadest develop- ment from her constant devotion to standard and current litei ' ature. She is a wide and ai)i)i ' eciative reader of most l)Ooks. new and old. worth the reading. In these years full of exacting work as teacher and student. J Ii.ss McCarthy has frequently found time to slip across the continent to Oklahoma for that is where my nephew. Kobert Raymond lives with some other members of his family. Now Jliss McCarthy, for coui ' fesy ' s sake calls Oklahoma iier home, but really, her home is that snug. warm, little office where she sets in motion, or Ph Page Nine

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[the 19Z3 SERPENTINeI Kappii school. ' 1) r;ill to Grace DietricK McCartKy, A.M. DEAN OF WOMEN West Chester State Normal ScKool ' r v:is ill tlir littli ' lowii (if CmIvctI in tlir I.oih ' Star State, not so many ycar.s » k that (iracc Dictricli iMc( ' artliy first -ast an ap- |iraisiiig- eye on this world an l its proliii ' ins. ' i-yy early in life she I ' scorted her I ' aniily to New Yovk City, wliei ' e she spent a happy cliildhood and be aii selionl. lint thi ' call (if the West wa.s strong. The iiiother from Illinois and tlic father, who had heen one of (icncral Alliert Sidney .lohnstim ' s 1 rusted officers, soon took IhiMr tliriT littli ' daiifi ' hters and made a iii ' W and more perma- nent home in Cartha ' e, Misso ii ' i. ' ollnfi■ (irace went tlirough the usual jiublic school ex])eriences and later took a yeai ' at the University of Jlissoui ' i. it was here she was I ' lected to the ppa Gamma Sorority. Then she lief jiii her teachiiiK in the pulilic ( ' arthage. !■■ these years Miss .McCarthy experienced all of the gootl times that lot of a youni; ' and happ. - ji ' ii ' l. especiall. - in the West. Moreover, she had a few extra thrown in. She traveled, more or less, in this country and in Europe. spent mouths with her unele. (ieneial Will. E. Dougherty. at various military i)Osts. see- ing arm.v life at its hi ' ightest and hest. About this time she contracted her story- writing hal)it which she has never since (piite given over. One da.v in 1910. return- ing to the I ' nited States after a rather extended trip abroad, she was meditating in her deck chair. She thought to herself: ' Why do I return at once to my Mis- souri home-land ' ' . I might enjoy a new world in the old East. ' So. stepping off the good ship Haverfonl on to Philadelphia soil, she sought a teacher clearing house: Certainlv. said the friend- l.v agent, go right out to the West Chester State Normal School where, at this mo- ment, the.v want an Engli.sh teacher and she did. So it I ' lit f F. ' ujlil

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THE 1QZ3 SERPENTINeI foiitidciit of a fair niicl sympatlu ' tie lK ' ai-iii} i (■([Ual coiitideiKa ' , that Miss McCarthy is iicvt ' i |i i1s III! ' Id ' jiUi ' s oil the |)(i cr which taUrs llic West ( ' hcster State Normal Scliool iiiciTily oil its way. On occasion, a pang may pierce a guilty heart on receiving tlie official slip signed G.l). McC. liiit guilty and innocent alike i ' eei Xo. 10. And we can say, with ipiite so happy as when she lias secured some new condition by means of which one or all of her varied flock arc made more comforlable, more happy or hetfcr behaved. We need onls ' to mention the .est with which Mi.s.s McCarthy goes into all good works. Whether the ])roject is social lietterment in the school, the Red Cross, the Near East Relief, the Needle Work (luild or the I ' elief of some ob- scure and needy famil.v or school, she throws into it. the weight of her soul and then something worth while is sure to happen. This lad.v of manifold interests, has found time to write and j)ublisli a number of stories an l articles. She has l)roken into print many times; in the Popular Educator, Primary Educator. St. Nicholas, School and Society and Ed- ucational Reviews. Her Spelling Test, published in School and Society, is re- garded as an authority. She has had put into book form her ' Plays from the Wonder Hook and collaborated with her sister in a very successful Teachers ' Guide, much valued by grade teachers in tin- West. For several years she was the faculty editor of the temporaril - defunct school magazine, The Auuilet. Some of Miss ] IcCartliy ' s most pi ' onounced tastes are. her enjo.vnient of small children, boys preferred, her love of dogs, her penchant for strong coffee and for mushrooms, her preference for the Atlantic IFonthly and her attach- ment to hei ' church. Miss l rc( ' ai ' thy is Si ' cret;n-v of the Pennsylvania Association of Deans of Women. Perhaps the fact of her election to that office, when the Deans or- ganized about three years aso. suggests one of IVfiss McCarthy ' s leading charac- teristics. Slie does not hesitate to take the initiative in matters that interest her and is (|uite as active in carrvine them through. The combination of a soul which appreciates hiffh spiritual values of life, plus a mind which takes ac- count, in a practie;d fashion, of the actual hannenings in this bad old world, pro- duces a result which makes for rare serviceableness. The Class of 192.3 will long remember IVIiss jrcr ' arthy for a variety of rea- sons. They feel her hand in the new and delightful improvements in living conditions: in the much priced lobbv. in the long-hoped-for students ' laundry; in the actTial accomplishment of the earnestlv desired student government ex- iv ' viment and in tbe broadei-ed s or e of soeial life in p-eneral. T believe it is not foo much to affirm that the Seniors will some dav look back and place an even higher valuation than thev iiow do. on the firm, sensible, appreciative ffuidanee. hv means of which our Dean of Women is striving to give such shape to these new forces, that thev will bring to our school-life, permanent better- ment, rather than ultimate disaster. The judgment which led Dr. Philins fo ;elect JHss McCarthy for our Dean of Woni( n and the confidence which the Ti ' ustees and Dr. Smith feel in her stewardship, tosrether with tbp esteem and appereiation which members of the faeultv and students aliV» feel for tbis a ' coKinlished woman, makes it nuite fittinjr that the Cla.ss of 19?3 sii- nld b sto - the honor of being the Presiding Genius of the Class Book, on their coimselor and friend Grace Dietrich Mc- Carthy. Cora E. Everett. Page Ten