Weekly Messenger - 1916 November 4

              THE WEEKLY ESSENGER
Devoted to the Interests of the Student Body, Washington State Normal School
Vol. XVI. BELLINGHAM, WASH., SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1916 No. 5
I S . WILLIAMS B I G S SENIORS CAST
US THE SUNNY SOUTH DIGNITY TO WINDS
Wednesday morning the student
audience was delighted by a visit from
Mrs. John Roy Williams, the popular
instructor of the Northside High
School.
Mrs. Williams gave a charming ac­count
of the "Old South" life from her
own experiences in her ancestral
home.
Her imitation of the negro dialect
was excellent and was accompanied by
elever glimpses into negro character
and hahits.
Mrs. Williams closed with a strong
plea for a fuller understanding of the
negro situation in the south. She
spoke as follows:
The men and women who under­stand
the negro and condone his weak­nesses,
are dead or moved away.
The northern promoter does not
find "him an economic success, hence
he Imports the cheap European labor,
and the south is burdened with an idle,
unskilled, hungry negro population
that must live.
No wonder the Memphis Alliance
petitioned Congress to prohibit further
importation of foreign labor into the
southern states.
"The problem is gigantic,—why in­crease
it with foreign immigraton?
"You can not measure a negro by a
white man's standard, until he has had
an equal number of centuries of civili­zation
behind him to give him the
broad foundation of progress and
world culture in his racial traits."
UNIORS HAVE
A E
Group I of the Junior class held a
nasquerade party last Friday night,
f this affair is typical of those to
ome, the other five groups should be
mxiously awaiting their turns. There
vas plenty of room for play, amuse-nent
in various forms, and lots to eat.
leven o'clock found the crowd reluct-mt
to disperse.
At a meeting of Juniors Tuesday
norning, the election of officers for
he semester was completed by the
ihoice of Miss Ruth Blanchard for
rice president.
AN EDENS HALL HINT.
No girl can successfully masticate
udge and nurse a case of disappointed
ove at the same time.
Saturday night saw the Seniors frol­icking
together for the first time this
year. Ghosts of all possible varieties,
yamma yammas in profusion, gypsies,
Indian maids, cow-girls, and coons
were in evidence, mingling with such
illustrious characters as Uncle Sam,
Martha Washington and Lady Rebecca.
Ghoulish mutterings and out-cries
greeted new comers as the class as­sembled.
The auditorium stage was artistic in
its decorations of green and yellow,—
the colors by which the upper class­men
swear. The short program of
music by Mrs. Colby, Mr. Mount, Mrs.
Merriman, and Miss Myers, with a
reading by Miss Bernice Welch, was
delightful.
At its close the crowd was dis­patched
to the gyms. Both gyms were
beautiful in autumn dress, with shaded
lights and streamers of green and yel­low.
The inclement weather forced
the entire crowd into the big gym,
which made the work of the entertain­ment
committee doubly hard, but did
not spoil the fun.
A new feature, the suit-case race,
nearly convulsed the crowd, and prov­ed
so hilarious that it was repeated.
The first race was won by Mrs. Kirk-man
and Mr. Troth, who argue that
their supcess was due to matrimonial
prowess, and that working in double
harness produces increased efficiency.
Miss Pilz and Mr. Pingrey came out
best in the second race, with little time
to spare.
After more games, the merry-mak­ers
adjourned to the cafeteria. Spright­ly
yamma yammas served cider, ap­ples
and pie,—two kinds. Songs with
ukulele accompaniment were appre­ciated,
"Normal Days" being an espe­cial
hit. Eight girls, gowned in yel­low,
danced charmingly, and made
their audience feel quite like "Broad­way."
Some of the attractive gowns shown
during the evening were a dashing
decollete in black and yellow, worn
by Mr. Potter, and an elegant creation
of red calico, which was most becom­ing
to the southern lady. (By the
way, who was that?) Mr. Bever was
charming in a domino of somber hue,
and Miss Baker was positively awe-inspiring
in a sheet and pillow-case.
Mr. Tom Scarseth, The Messenger's
worthy financier, was no small part of
the evening's entertainment; as Sam­bo
he is certainly "gregarious."
E.A. A
Bellingham Normal was well repre­sented
at the 30th annual convention
of the W. E. A. at Spokane last week.
Miss Baxter, Miss Brown, Miss Nor­ton,
Dr. Nash, Mr. Cave and Dr. Kirk-patrick
attended some of the sessions
and brought home interesting reports.
About 2,000 teachers were in at­tendance.
The principal speaker was
Dr. Chas. F. Akid, of New York City,
who lectured on "America and the
World State," "A Cheerful View of
Life," and "The Moral Equivalent of
War." Other important lecturers were
Dr. Chas. Rugh, of California, and M.
P. Shawkey, of West Virginia.
Enjoyable social affairs and a trip
to our sister* school, Cheney, took up
the hours not given to actual work.
While on this trip Dr. Nash met Mr.
Dumas, the "apple king" of Dayton.
Mr. Dumas magnificently volunteered
to contribute $1,000 to the Students'
Loan Fund of the Bellingham Normal.
This is a matter of great rejoicing
among the student body.
Elmer E. Cave, of the B. S. N. S.
faculty, was honored by his election to
the presidency of the W. E. A. for this
year.
Dr. Nash also attended, while in
Spokane, a special session of the State
Board of Education.
In a meeting of the Educational
Council of the W. E. A., matters of
importance relating to eighth grade
examinations and changes in the
course of study for Normals were dis­cussed.
Miss Almina George, former­ly
of B. S. N. S., gave a report on "Re­quirements
for Higher Standards for
Elementary and Secondary Teachers."
Pres. Showalter, of Cheney Normal,
was elected president of the council
for the ensuing year.
Prof. Hulse, by proxy, made a valu­able
report on "The Standardization
of Rural Schools in Washington."
This report will be printed in The
Messenger next week.
While on the return trip, Dr. Nash
met in Kittitas, Messrs. A. D. Foster
and Harlow, who are doing splendid
work in an industrial high school
there. These young men will be well
remembered by many Normal stu­dents.
Mrs. Thompson, former secre­tary
in the president's office, was also
met with on the journey and sent
greetings to Bellingham.
Centralia, Wash.
Oct. 25, 1916.
Dear Dr. Nash, Instructors and Stu­dents
:
We, former students of the Belling­ham
State Normal, now teachers in
Lewis County, assembled in institute
in Centralia, send to you our best
wishes for a happy and profitable year.
Respectfully,
(Signed) Martha Tiffany, Lutha Fulk,
Miss O'Laughlin, Ada Astels,
Frances Riggs, Leota McGlaughlin,
Emma Visti, Edith Weltse, Marie
Castator, Reuthella Chaplin, Helen
Brown, Frederick Klaus, Jason Nev-ins,
Henry Ashman, Paul Beaufort,
Leone Baker, Stella Lowry, Ethel
Townsend, H. E. Rogers, J. E. Huley,
Thomas Allison, Happy Williams,
Vasilla Gebaroff, Dora Fatland, Vio­let
Ward, Mary Docherty, Angy
Pierce, Lola Lee Smith, Allie Jor­dan,
Ida. Keto, Fred Craske, Kenny
Lewis, Nellie Doolittle, Robert Yod-er,
Lee Cordz, Gurnette Robinson,
Olive Haley, Vera Clayton, Mabel
McFadden, May Meighen, Alma Jen­sen,
Isabelle Taylor, Malissa Howe,
A. N. Baxter.
A LETTER
Miss Keeler (in assigning schools to
be visited by the Observation Class):
"Yes, a Normal young man, Mr.
Schwartz, is principal of that school!"
Dr. Frank Deerwester, writing from
Fitchburg, Mass., tells interesting de­tails
of the school work there. The
7th and 8th grade pupils are organized
into a "Junior High School," and those
electing commercial courses do much
of the clerical work of the school.
Practice teaching is done by Seniors
only, each Senior teaching full time
one-third of a year.
We quote two paragraphs which
have a personal interest:
"I was pleased to read of the vic­tory
over Everett. The Normal must
have a fine team this season. I hope
to see one of the 'big' games this year.
I saw two of the big league baseball
games and was properly 'thrilled.'
"Schools here are more or less dis­turbed
over the infantile paralysis epi­demic.
There have been over 500
cases reported to the State Board of
Health this season. It seems scarcely
at all improved by the cold weather.
At Smith College, students are now
forbidden to leave town or receive out
of town visitors."