Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-15

one on the second, one on the first
moor. But Miss Leedy was not full
high school teacher as she also heard
grammar school recitations.
In the same building, now nearly a
half century old, were crowded. as
stated in a previous article. speci-
men of every grade from grammar to
subprimary. into which the schools of
that day were fantastically divided.
So dilapidated had the old Lancas-
terian then become that a mischief
loving youth, by planting his feet
firmly against the foot of his desk and
gently agitating his lower limbs in a
measured movement similar to the
step of marching troops, could shake
the whole building; and, the longer
the movement was kept up the more
violently would the floors heave and
rock as In miniature earthquake, un-
til 1t seemed to those who were unfor-
tunate enough to be in the first floor
rooms as If the whole building was
about to be preclpitated upon them.
A year later when, as Mr.. Foose's
first assistant, l became the presiding
genius of this room, 1t was no unusual
occurrence to have a wild-eyed urchin
suddenly appear at the door with the
announcement. Some one is shaking
the floor and teacher says will you
please stop it?"
l remember one demure and pen
sive lad, who subsequently rose to
high position at the Dauphin county
bar. who was an expert at the game
the while his eyes were fastened so
intently on his textbook in geometry
that it would seem impossible that
thoughts of reviltry had ever entered
his Uranium. But there were others
From time to time the wise and
reverend fathers of the School Board
would assemble at the building to in
vestigate the phenomena and order
braces and stays put in somewhere,
but 1t never did much good. That old
Lanasterian flooring, with one live
wire kid on the operating line, had
spirit rappings beaten to a standstill
There will be men in Harrisburg on
the shady side of fifty that will smile
out real loud when they read this be-
lated tribute to their youthful achieve
ments.
The Girls High School of 1874
So much for the Boys High School
The girls of the city taking a high
school course were housed in a por-
tion of the small building in West
State street which was smaller then
than now, for 1t had not then received
the addition which was made to 1t
few years later. In the same small
bullding were also schools OF both the
intermediate and grammar grades
The girls of the high school occupied
three rooms, none of them as large as
the lone room appropriated to the
boys. The three teachers of these
rooms were Miss Maria f. Gill. the
principal, and her assistants Misses
Eliza A. Bishop and Virginia F. Sam
pie. There was also a recitation room,
the teacher of which heard recitations
from both the grammar and high
schools.
We find, then, that in 1874 the en-
tire high schol pupilage of Harrisburg
was housed in four meagerly equipped
rooms, with a faculty of six teachers,
counting the two recitation room
teachers. who gave but part of their
time to high school work as one.
You all know the two magnificent
high school buildings your city has
to-day with their many ample and
admirably equipped rooms; and yet
one of them is so crowded that making
provision for it's pupils has become
one of the burning school questions of
the near future. In those two high
schools forty-two teachers were en-
ployed last year as against the six
recorded in the directory of forty
years ago.