I’ve been a long-time enjoyer of history, and working in the archives lets me see anew the storied halls of IHS straight from the students who have come before us. They allow us to experience the world as they did, through their minds and ideas that survive long after they have graduated. Please, above all else, enjoy!
Note: Opinions expressed in the following excerpts do not necessarily reflect the current views of The Tattler or its Editorial Board.
March 1918
The Girls They Leave Behind Them
“The supreme test of the Nation has come. We must all speak, act, and serve together.” A dozen times a day here in Ithaca High School our eyes wander over these words, then wander away—and we think no more of it. Perhaps we idly wonder why they were put there, or where they came from, or perhaps we don’t wonder at all. But we should. And we should do more than wonder—we should know. For in all history few words have held a greater meaning.
It was a splendid and noble thing in 1775 for the American people to stand up and say “America shall be free” and again in 1861 “The slaves of America shall be free”. They were stirring words and because the American people stood behind them, heart and soul, that freedom was won—and lasted. Today it is still the cry of freedom, but not of America alone; it is of the whole world. “The world shall be free!” And we, the American people, are the ones to bring that freedom. To bleeding and starving France and Belgium across the sea we must send our best, our bravest, our strongest. If need be we will send our all—and gladly. We are ready to sacrifice our last man, our last drop of blood, our everything—except for our honor.
But the work of the nation must go on. Our little children must be fed and clothed, our fields must be tilled and sowed and harvested, our commerce must be kept up, our factories continued, and the great spirit of our nation kept alive. And who is to do it? It is we, the girls, who remain behind. It is upon us who cannot go that the burden will fall. We must meet it, and meet it gloriously. Just as the women of France and Belgium and England are doing today, so we must prepare to do tomorrow, and because we are Americans we must do it well. As one by one our soldiers sail away, we “women folks” must take up their unfinished work at home, and taking it, must see it through, willingly, seriously, splendidly. It is our part and a part so real, so vital, that we can hardly realize it.
We girls in high school are young now and perhaps we say, “Why should we have to think of such things? They are for older women”. But no attitude could be more fatal. It is not the older women that the nation will look to, they already have their work and are doing it; it is we, who are girls now but shall be women tomorrow, we are the ones who must stand forth when the need shall come. And just as the soldiers, by long months in the training camps, must train themselves for the struggle across seas, so must we now, by equally long months of training, prepare ourselves for our great task later on.
Let us then, girls of Ithaca High School, meet the matter face to face. Let us go at our school work each day with a little more determination, a little more seriousness. Let us feel that we are working now, not simply towards graduation, not simply because we’re “s’posed to” or “have to” or “got to”, but because we want to; because in so doing we are getting ready for a bigger work that is not far off. Uncle Sam trusts us, girls, you and me and every one of us; he asks us to “speak, act, and serve together”. Shall we fail him?
The Co-education College versus the Woman’s College
As the young girl nears the end of her high school career, the question naturally arises, “Where next?” and if she be fortunate enough to be able to go to college, the next question is “Shall it be a woman’s college or a co-educational college?” That is, in which place will the coming four years of her life be spent to the greatest advantage to herself and be of the greatest value to her? The question is a much-debated one and one which must be looked upon from many angles. For this issue, Ms Apgar, a graduate of Cornell, and Miss Davison, a graduate of Wellesley College, have been kind enough to write up their “views” upon the subject,—views which should be doubly important, coming, as they do, from two, each of whom has “chosen”—and for a reason.
Why I Chose the Co-Educational College
There is a very common point of view which considers study, and the good to be gained therefrom, as the smallest part of the advantages of a college education. Associations, friendships, social advantages, athletic training—all are appraised as of greater value than study itself, by young people who, in consequence of this attitude, pride themselves on their breadth of outlook. This viewpoint seems to us to be totally lacking in a sense of true perspective. For certainly, the original aim of our colleges and universities was—adn, I take it, their primary function still is—to supply the mind of youth with such courses of study as can train it to most effectual self-expression and most efficient service to the world. And if any young woman finds that college has done little for her in this, either the college has failed in its duty—or she has herself failed to grasp what its mission is.
I do not deny the importance of other phases of college life, but I do assume the primary importance of study. Now the co-educational college, it should be remembered, offers the women who attend exactly the same opportunities and the same instruction which it gives its men students. The day has gone by when the woman physician or lawyer, architect, farmer, or engineer was an isolated phenomenon—the object of curiosity or of scorn. And for the many young women who are suited by their natural abilities for such professions, the co-educational college gives an opportunity which no women’s college at present can give. Certainly at no time in the world’s history has there been such a demand for women trained in many different ways—a demand which will increase.
In its general courses in arts and sciences, too, the co-educational college can assert its superiority, for the already mentioned reason that the women students receive the same instruction as the men. Because of this very fact, this instruction cannot fail to be, in general, along broader and deeper lines than in the girls’ college. We need women today whose education has been along such lines, who are ready to take in the world a place very different from that accorded them some fifty years ago.
Not denying, then, that there are other things in a college education besides study, and that in some (though by no means all) of these, the women’s colleges have the advantage—for nothing, even in educational systems, is perfect—but considering its advantages of study as the matter of primary importance in the selection of a college, I choose the co-educational college.
C.S. Apgar.
Why I Chose a Non-co-educational College
Comparison between co-education and non-co-education is perhaps unfair when the person who makes the comparison has directly seen only one side of the situation. My three years in Ithaca have, however, tempered my former convictions in favor of women’s colleges to the exclusion of co-educational institutions.
A large co-educational university is beyond dispute a wonderful stimulus to a young person’s intellect and breadth of outlook. It has been traditional that great teachers should give their lives to the development and training of men’s minds. Yet the facility of a women’s college of the present recognized major group is no longer narrow in itself, as it sometimes was in the earlier days of co-education. In these later years men and women of keen minds have joined the faculties of women’s colleges and are giving the girls in their classes excellent discipline. Moreover, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in the vicinity of New York City and Philadelpia, there has been arranged an exchange system of professors and instructors between co-educational universities and women’s colleges. This system affords to students in these women’s colleges a share in the instruction of the greatest teachers somewhat comparable to that given by the exchange professorships between American and foreign universities.
The foremost women’s colleges in this country represent, I think, a quality of training in the majority of their courses which the larger institutions gives in a smaller percentage of courses. This belief is founded upon comparisons made by women of both exceptional and average mental ability who have received training in both types of institution. Among these with whom I have talked the consensus of opinion is that the women’s colleges in general require closer, more detailed work; that the teachers there are less easily satisfied and make stricter insistence upon a task’s being thoroughly done; that there are relatively fewer “snap” courses there than in a university. While such emphasis upon details is by no means worthy as an end in itself, it is of inestimable importance in character building. It tends to make organization qualities of second nature. Since right habit-formation is education, this aspect of the training given in women’s colleges should not be overlooked by girls who are making plans for attending college.
However much stress a person place upon any one education system, the emphasis avails nothing unless the individual student is closely considered. The individual’s own needs are the determining factor in choosing the type of college. One thing, nevertheless, is always true: wherever a girl may go for her education she will find innumerable opportunities to learn if she looks for them. A good institution is of no use unless it has willing students with which to work.
Janet E. Davison.
March 1893
March
The stormy March is come at last,
With wind, and cloud, and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast,
That through the snowy valley flies
Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild, stormy month! in praise of thee;
Yet through thy winds are loud and bleak.
Thou art a welcome month to me.
The year’s departing beauty hides
Of wintry storms the sullen threat;
But in thy sternest frown abides
A look of kindly promise yet.
Thou bring’st the hope of those calm skies,
And that soft time of sunny showers,
When the wide bloom, on earth that lies,
Seems of a brighter world than ours.
W. C. Bryant.
December 1898
American War Ballads.
The war songs and ballads of a country are a reflection of the times which produced them, and they influence the character and the destiny of the people.
Many of our war ballads have a true poetic value, but there are many more which have little or no value as poetry yet they have won a place in the hearts of the people. Examples of such poems are Three Hundred Thousand More, The Constitution and the Guerriere, and many rude songs of the Revolution. These poems make a strong claim to our favor although lacking in poetic value and violating many rules of poetry. They are poems, which, making no appeal to the head, rouse the heart of patriotism.
In the South during the Civil War, almost all of the men took part in the war, consequently their poets were likewise their soldiers; but this is not often the case. The men who are able to write the songs that the soldiers love, who make heroic deeds immortal in verse, and who can touch the hearts of a people do not usually possess the qualities which make the soldier. It has been said that the patriotism and courage of the Greeks owed more to Homer than to the warrior whose deeds he chronicled, and Paul Revere did far less for his country by what was only a commonplace horseback ride than Longfellow did long afterwards by telling of that ride in quite other than commonplace poetry. So in our wars the most and best of our poems were written by men who took no part in the fighting.
The ballad Lovewell’s Fight written in 1728 has no interest for us as far as poetry is concerned, but it has an interest in that it is the earliest American War Ballad known to us as having been dear to the people who sang or recited it. Another early war ballad is The Song of Braddock’s Men, written about the time of the Fort DuQuesne expedition in 1755.
Among the war ballads of the Revolution are Thomas Paine’s Liberty Tree, Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride, John Pierpont’s Warren’s Address, Bryant’s Song of Marion’s Men, and Francis M. Finch’s Nathan Hale. In commemoration of Paul Jones’s deeds, there are two poems The Yankee Men of War and Paul Jones’s Victory. One very popular poem called The Dance was published soon after the surrender of Cornwallis which tells with a great deal of humor about the chase between Cornwallis and General Greene.
Foremost among the poems inspired by the War of 1812, is Francis Scott Key’s Star Spangled Banner. Three naval engagements are recalled by the three poems The Wasp’s Frolic, The Constitution and the Guerriere, and Perry’s Victory.
Two battles of the Mexican War have been immortalized in poetry by Hoffman’s Monterey and Albert Pike’s Buena Vista.
Our Civil War called forth numerous war ballads. Among the best known are Whittier’s Barbara Fritchie, Bryant’s Our Country’s Call, Randall’s My Maryland, Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic, two of Henry Brownell’s The River Fight and The Bay Fight, F. B. Kead’s Sheridan’s Ride, and Francis Finch’s The Blue and the Grey.
Among the earliest of the Civil War Ballads, is Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Brother Jonathan’s Lament for Sister Caroline, which was written in December, 1860, when South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Secession. Edmund Clarence Stedman has written many poems upon events of the Civil War. One of his entitled The Twelfth of April has a particular interest as it was the first poem written after the actual outbreak of the Civil War. Edna Dean Proctor has contributed one very beautiful poem The Stripes and the Stars to the collections of war ballads.
Three songs Glory Hallelujah or John Brown’s Body, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, and The Battle Cry of Freedom had a strong hold upon the soldiers during the Civil War and were sung with enthusiasm. These three songs may also be classed among those which have no value as poetry; but the influence they had upon the minds and hearts of the soldiers cannot be estimated, and the men who wrote them rendered as great a service to their country as the men, who were encouraged by the patriotism of their words.
Adelphia.