Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-02
TF YOU chance to be "mute, i

technic evening high school.
Naturally one thinks of high school
students as a set Of curled 1arlaGc,
the girls sparkling and giggling, and
the boys yelling 'rah-rah' at intervals,
Not so, those of the Polytechnic even
ing school! 1t is the flower of the
youthful day-workers, of virile Ameri-
can youth, with its huge dreams and
ambitions, the strong g-charactered
young men and women of business,
who, bright of eye, firm of step elbows
you on the stairways and flashes past
you in the corridors on its eager way
to the evening high school classes.
Bright they are and wholesomely
cheerful but the girls do not giggle
and the boys do not say 'rah-rah. y
They are too busy and too much in
earnest.
Yet / think that great mass of the
public does not know that in Its midst
is most valuable educational plant
one Of the best equipped polytechnic
schools in the country-all of the ap-
pliances of any department of which
are at its disposal, on any evening In
the week that it cares to come and
take work with the teachers who are
the same brilliant. thoroughly trained
instructors who preside at the Poly
technic during the day.
Grown from Small Beginnings
From the mere tentative beginning
of a few years ago the evening high
school has grown to be an institution.
At first the school was somewhat of a
fad; then, some of its members finding
the course of study at the dancing
school more interesting than Chaucer's s
poems, and comic opera stars more
fascinating than all the glories OF the
armament, the attendance dropped
off. But. after the wedding process,
the school came into her own, and now
Los Angeles is in the foremost ranks
of cities in regard to her evening
high school, San Franciscos being
smaller, and only those of Chicago,
Baltimore and New York larger.
Mr.. Robert Thompson, who, by the
by, was Stanford's star football player.
the youthful and able vice principal Of
the evening high school, states that the
total enrolment is about 800; that the
commercial, Spanish and electrical
courses are most popular, and millinery
is, for some obscure feminine reason.
more popular than either cookery or
dressmaking.
If one imagines that, on a visit to
the Polytechnic evening school. he will
view toy notwithstanding machines
that won't run. and glued-together
turning lathes made by some fancifui
genius with more imagination than
working knowledge, he will find him
self amazingly mistaken.
"There is not a better equipped
woodshop anywhere" declared the en-
thusiastic Mr.. Hatherell, instructor,
who, a strong and picturesque figure In
blue flannels and leather apron, stood
amidst flying belts and whirring ma
chinery. and pointed out the meaning
Of 1t all the other evening.
Woodwork Shop First Class
"It is precisely the equipment of a
! first-class woodworking shop anywhere.
except that the machinery is lighter.
| The boys are not allowed to use the
Joiner because it is dangerous TO han
die; the teacher does that work. Also
dangerous to have about. where there
are boys for whose nerves no sort Of
whirring machinery has any terrors.
"Pupils may bring their ownmaterial
on heavier work here, and then own
the product of their labors. One boy
made a diningroom table which took
a model at the Seattle exposition. The
same boy was offered $40 for a fine
davenport which he built.
| "a boy may make things and sell
them; but he must first show ability
in his joinery work, before he is al
lowed to take up heavier construction,
says Mr. Hatherell. THAT boy over
| IneTe, pointing out E'bh-lOOhiiitS
blonde youth. works in flower store
daytlmes. He is making a dozen din
| ing room chairs. Another or our
young men is making a chair for Mr..
Francis, and has an order for desk
from a teacher, for both of which he
will be paid"
in the Iron Shops
Across I'm the iron shops Mr.. Rilliet,
| the brilliant inventor, airship expert
and practical machinist, greeted us
with demoeratically soiled hands and a
cheerily democratic smile.
"Most of our boys here" he said,
"are carrying on their days work TO
greater things. Some OF them work in
! foundries, at the lower kinds of en-
| ployment, and want to know the
| science and higher art of the machin-
cry they work with. One youth Is
blacksmith with the Santa Fe; the
machinery which he sees all about him
in the shops has evoked his interest,
and he comes here to study 1t, that he
may fit himself for work in the higher
mechanics. There are twenty or thirty
boys enrolled in this class, but we
could accommodate more, and gladly
would do So"
The iron shop makes much of the
apparatus for the wood shop and vice
versa.
| 1t is with a sense or awe regarding
the gentle art of dressmaking that
one views Miss Kingery's realm, where
that charming and efficient young
woman has made your head fairly
swim with her technical talk of "sys-
| TENS" and the mathematics of dress
making. Fancy a love Of a teagown
reduced to its mathematical terms!
Millinery Work Practical
Nevertheless, the work is thorough
ly practical here, as elsewhere. Pu-
pills draft their own patterns, not ac-
| cording to a chart, but in accordance
with a flexible system, warranted to
| furnish patterns to fit anybody from
Gibson girl to a hunchback, which
was recommended by one of the lead
ing tailors of the city. Many students
come for the purpose of learning to
draft patterns according to this sys-
tenn, the sewing teacher at the In
dian school having been a pupil of the
Polytechnic Evening school, and it is
reported that she has been very sue
cessful in imparting her knowledge to
the semi-tamed Pocahontases and
j Minnehahas in her charge.
The big, bright sewing room is fitted
up with drafting tables and sewing
machines and blackboard where you
do mysterious sums involving under
arm" seams and "overskirt angles"
over in the corner a freckled little
girl in pigtails sewed away on a
Christmas bag, and a Madonna faced
young woman from one OF the depart
ment stores glanced shyly up from
Beside her, unwearied after long
J,O,,rs hahind q counter her cheakS