KEENE EVENING SENTINEL
Friday, June 27, 1919
NORMAL SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
Held Thursday at School and in City Hall
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Address by Dr. S. M. Crothers and Presentation of Diplomas in Evening
Class Day Program at the School
Thursday evening, in City Hall, in the presence of many friends, the normal school in Keene graduated the largest class in its history, comprising 81 pupils. Its members now go out into the world, with the largest opportunities and with the largest average salaries, it was stated, of any class yet graduated here. The exercises comprised the invocation by Rev. E. H. Newcomb, musical selections by the normal glee club conducted by Miss Gladys Vincent, the supervisor of music, an address at once original, forceful and amusing by Dr. Samuel McChord Crothers of Cambridge, Mass., words of introduction and commendation by Director W. E. Mason who presided, the presentation of diplomas by Thomas W. Frye of the state board of education and the benediction by Rev. A. H. Reed. The selections by the glee club of twenty voices comprised “The Viking Song” by Taylor, “Santa Maria” by Faure and a “June Rhapsody” by Daniels. All were well rendered and received with applause.
The graduating class in caps and gowns, preceded by Director Mason and those who were to take part in the exercises and the faculty of the school with ladies, entered the hall from the rear, their approach being announced by a march played by Prof. C. H. C. Dudley. The class was led by its marshal, Helen Martin, ’20, and its chosen teachers, Prof. Nahum Leonard and Miss Pauline Patch. Following the graduates came the juniors in white gowns. All except the speakers of the evening, who were seated on the stage, occupied seats reserved on the floor of the hall. The decorations for the evening consisted simply of clusters of palms on either side of the stage and potted geraniums of various colors near the footlights.
Address by Dr. Crothers
Dr. Crothers took for his subject “The School of Experience” – and this proved to be at once an imaginary and a real school – the school of life. It had been taught by an ancient dame for centuries. With her the speaker, in quest of information as to her methods, sought an interview one afternoon, just as she had dismissed her brightest pupils and was busy with those who had to stay after school. The questions by the visitor, who proved to be something of a philosopher, and the answers by the ancient instructress suggested many things worthy of thought by the graduates as they enter upon their work.
The speaker said, in opening, that ordinarily we talk of the education of the individual, taking it for granted that he will find his place in society. Now this may or may not be. We have to consider not so much the individual fortune as the fortunes of mankind. We find that society and civilization such as we have known depend on its leaders or teachers. And so we ask if it is possible for the human race to learn from the past or if it is to go on forever repeating the dismal mistakes it has always made.
Noticing in this old school of experience which the interviewer had briefly described, the usual bundle of rods, he inquired if corporal punishment was still continued in this school. The ancient dame said, “Yes, but I do no punishing. I simply say to the pupils “do as you will” and they beat each other until it hurts. This is one of the first lessons for them to learn – that it hurts – and it takes a long time to teach it.” Noting various things in the school for object lessons, the interviewer asked if such was the method of teaching. The dame replied that it was, but not as one would expect. The pupils must be taught over and over again and it is only when they begin to ask why is this or that so, that real education begins. Some pupils, like the grasshopper , are constantly jumping about. They cannot get the apocryphal lesson that wisdom cometh through opportunity. They are given the object lessons just as nature made them, and then they say “I want this or that.” When told they must take all the consequences with the thing they want, they won’t believe it. But the consequences stick – and by and by they are forced to see that they have to take both together.
Asked what was the most important subject taught in her school, the dame replied, “Gumption. Some pupils look very intellectual but don’t have enough gumption to know what is the matter with themselves or with others.”
“What kind of ability do you most prize in your school?” the dame was asked. “Adaptability” was the reply. “Many pupils have ability enough. But they go out looking for a job to fit them instead of trying to fit themselves to the job that is at hand. It has been much the same since the first “homo” came to the school. He could not really be educated until he had learned to inquire how, whence and why.”
Something to eat was one of the first essentials comprehended in the old dame’s school of experience. This led to definite effort, to punctuality and to questions as to how to get it – and was a long step in education. The lively young troglodyte who first attended the school simply snatched what he wanted to eat from another. This was all right so far as the snatcher was concerned. But by and by he found that the snatchee – who was the weaker fellow to begin with – had starved under this treatment. Then it dawned on the snatcher that he must give the snatchee enough to keep him alive – and here began the science of political economy. When taught with ethics there was added the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” The pupils in the school are still working on the problem. “If you can’t get it by stealing, how can you get it?” To let someone else steal for you doesn’t always do. The problem is how to keep everyone alive where no one is stealing.
The dame was asked about the aggregate mind of the pupils of the school. This mind, it was found, was active and omnivorous, but the difficulty was to focus it on something worth while. It scatters too much. Drill on the fundamentals is still essential. Much musty language work is still required in the school. Nouns are easy. They are merely things. The active verbs – to hurt, to help, etc., - are essential. To hurt makes the pupil sit up and take notice. It is a sort of self-starter. At first the verb “it hurts” is impersonal, but when the question, who hurts, comes along, the retaliatory exercises begin – such as make up much of human history. And the lesson is finally learned that you can’t hurt another without sharing it with him.
Thus we arrive at the verb, to help – first the reflective form, “I help myself,” then the active form, “I help him.”: But we forget too often that unless this is rightly done the beneficiary never likes it or receives it in the spirit it is given. He is likely to strike back. Hence the white man’s burden and the complications of dealing rightly with the other fellow with the brown man and the black man.
And so the adverb becomes very important in the language lesson. We do a thing rightly or wrongly. It is not so much that we do a generous thing as that we do it generously. We may even disagree agreeably. Most people’s mistakes are really adverbial. Even Aristides, the just, did his stunt too monotonously. He forgot the slaves!
Asked what pupils gave her the most trouble, the dame specified the advanced thinkers. Their minds get going so rapidly they are apt to skid and finally go backwards and collide with someone. When a new idea takes possession of an unfurnished mind it has the time of its life driving about until it hits something hard. It forgets the blunders of the fathers. This mind may have been exposed to experience, but it has never caught it.
Sometimes we forget that when one tells the prohibitive “Thou shalt not” he simply goes and breaks the commandment. There must be a difference between the meaningless taboo and the age-long conditions to compel it. We must learn the difference between a mere conventionality and the result of experience.
Remarking that the method followed in the dame’s school took lots of time, and might do for Methuselah, with five or six hundred years on his hands to make mistakes, with opportunities enough to live thereafter, the interviewers inquired for “get wise quick” methods or for a painless educator.
The dame replied that it is well but difficult to expedite experience – the noun – but when it comes to the very, I, thou or you experience, it don’t always take very long. One may experience religion quickly, it is said, or may fall in love at once. And the lesson we are to glean is to learn to experience quickly. Busy days are coming for the normal school graduates. And the old dame would keep saying to them “I, thou, he, we, you, they experience – wondering if they only can learn to do it quickly enough to do them any good.
Opportunities of the Class
Principal Mason spoke of the large class graduating, its large opportunities and the positions its members may hold in the fore-front of education. The class excels its predecessors in two ways. It is the largest class and it is going to have the largest opportunities, partly because of greater salaries, a very wise provision acquired through the 1919 educational bill of New Hampshire, and partly because of the new system of supervision and of equal term courses and equipment for all the schools. He then presented the chairman of the committee that reported the bill to the legislature. Thomas W. Frye, now of the state board of education, who in turn, presented the diplomas to the graduating class, the members forming in line and marching across the stage to receive them.
In addressing the class Mr. Frye said it was the first time he had spoken in public as a member of the state board and he welcomed the opportunity given him. The state board wants all these graduates to be its cooperators and friends. It feels it has a big job to do in the state and needs the help of every teacher and superintendent. He spoke optimistically as to the success of the new education bill, of the importance of state wide supervision of the standardization provided for all the schools, of the equalization of educational opportunities under it, in which the larger towns like Keene, will have to help bear the increased expenses of the smaller towns, and of the Americanization features of the bill, so essential for the future of the state and nation and for which the aid and cooperation of all is required. A few words to the graduates to impress upon them the importance of the positions they are to fill were followed by the presentation of diplomas. After a selection by the glee club the benediction was pronounced by Rev. A. H. Reed of St. James Episcopal church.
The Class Day Exercises
The Class Day Exercises of the graduating class at Keene normal school were held in Normal hall Thursday afternoon at 4 o’clock. The seniors marched into the hall in cap and gown, led by the class marshal, Miss Helen Martin, 1920, the class teachers Miss Pauline Patch and Nahum Leonard and the class president, Miss Hazel Moore. A large number of relatives and friends were present. The exercises opened with the singing of the class song, the music being written by Miss Patch and the words by Miss Ruth Hoyt.
The class history, will and prophecy followed, each containing many hits on members of the faculty, the seniors and the juniors, which brought forth laughter and applause. The history was written in Biblical style and the will in legal terms. Each member of the junior class was mentioned in the will as well as Principal Mason, Miss Marion Hooper, the acting matron of the dormitory and Miss Patch and Mr. Leonard, the class teachers.
The farewell address, given by Miss Eva Richardson, touched upon the friendships and the preparation for future work which two years at the normal school had given the class and entrusted to the juniors the honor of the institution. The junior president, Miss Jeannette Grover, gave the response.
Two of the features of the program were the presentation of the class gift and the awarding of letters and numerals for physical fitness and athletic ability. The class gift, a check to be used for the erection of a bird bath and fountain, was presented by Miss Hazel Moore, the president. Principal Mason accepted the gift with a brief response.
This is the first year in which letters and numerals for athletics have been awarded. Miss Marion Colby, who presented them, explained that in recognition of the value of physical as well as intellectual training and ability, it had been decided to give letters to the six seniors receiving the highest number of points in athletics, and numerals to the six juniors who won like honors.
As the names of the twelve girls were announced each went forward to the stage to receive her award amidst much applause from her schoolmates. The following were the winners of these awards:
1919 – Ernestine DeBanville, Sue Benway, Mary Barnes, Gertrude Gile, Gertrude Jacques, Marion Colby.
1920 – Margaret Bishop, Isabel Robertson, Loretta Bishop, Margery Abbott, Irene Cornelius, Marvel Proctor.
After the singing of the school song the audience and the class proceeded to the southeast corner of Normal hall, where the ivy planting took place. The presentation of the trowel was made by the senior president and the acceptance by the junior president. The exercise closed with cheers for the school and members of the faculty. The following was the program of the afternoon:
Class Song
Class History Margaret Riley
Class Will Gertrude Jacques
Presentation of Class Gift Hazel Moore
Class Prophecy Elizabeth Lucier
Farewell Address Flora Richardson
Response Jeanette Grover
Song. “Our Pledge”
Ivy Exercises
Planting of Ivy by Senior Class
Presentation of the Trowel Senior President
Acceptance Junior President
Class Song
Music by Miss Patch Words by Ruth Hoyt
O, years, you have vanished like shadows,
Too soon you have glided away:
And now comes the hour of our parting,
When each must choose her way.
To thee, Alma Mater, our debts we owe
For lessons thou hast taught:
And loyal to thee we will always be,
With service our guiding thought.
O, classmates, we need no farewell; -
We bid a farewell to years past,
But not to the friendships and memories,
To them let us hold fast.
O, God, may our work and our purpose bless,
As in life’s field we go.
So give us the power to win success:
Mighty Father, Thy help bestow.
Roll of the 1919 Class
The following is the class roll of 1919, the names being arranged according to the courses taken. The class officers are: Hazel B. Moore, president; Marion C. Colby, vice-president; Gertrude V. Jacques, secretary; Vivian L. Parsons, treasurer.
Regular Two Year Course
Marion Kimball Abbott
Ruth Mary Aldrich
Katherine Bryant Atwood
Mary Rose Barnes
Helen Frances Barrett
Rose Gertrude Bean
Susie Constance Benway
Esther Lurline Boncher
Ruth Cogswell Button
* Catherine Helena Carey
Lora Frances Chamberlain
Mary Everett Chase
Gladys Isabelle Colby
Marion Cynthia Colby
Myra B. Colby
Ethel Corliss
Bertha Hazel Davis
Hazel Viola Davis
Ernestine Antoinette de Banville
Evelyn Adams Denison
Elizabeth Dudley
Emma Hartford Ellis
Marion Kate Ellis
Dora May Fisk
Rosamund Ellen Frizzell
Gertrude Gile
Marion Clarice Greenleaf
Ruth I. Grover
Roxanna Bernadine Hickey
Hazel Alice Hoyt
Gertrude Victorine Jacques
Gertrude Eleanora Janowsky
Marion Helen Jeffords
Esther Parker Jenkins
Rose Maude Jewell
Irma Olive Jones
* Catherine Mary Kearney
Olive Ida Lawrence
Amy Lawson
Hazel May Lewis
Elizabeth Catherine Lucier
Esther Mary Maloney
Gertrude May Merriam
Ruby Belle Miller
Hazel Belle Moore
Hilda Genevieve O’Connell
Anne O’Connor
Ursula P. O’Connor
Agnes Teresa O’Malley
Vivian Ladelle Parsons
Lillian Paul
Gunhild Olaug Pederson
Eleanor Helene Pepin
* Lucia Jane Plumer
Flora Elizabeth Richardson
Margaret Riley
Dorothy Moulton Robbins
Isabella Patrick Ryan
Dorris May Smith
Harriette Francis Tinker
Dorothy Ella Towle
Rebecca Greene Walker
Alma Monroe Warne
Nina Gracia Wellington
Maude Frances Wheeler
Villa Hall Wight
Marion Keyes Wilson
Lena May Wood
Junior High Course
Gertrude Morrison, ‘18
Post Graduate Course
Hazel Marguerite Elwell, ’16, drawing
Caroline Elizabeth Marston, ’18, music and drawing
Margaret McGuinness, ’18, home economics
Doris Louise Potter, ’18, drawing
Special Course
Gladys Evelyn Wiswall
Ruth I. Hilliard
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* Work incomplete on account of outside teaching, illness, etc. Diplomas will be granted at the end of summer session or upon completion of work.