Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1950-03-30

Almost Thousand people at
tended the dedication of the new
Damascus High School on Satur-
day. Among those present were DR..
George M. Boyer and few others
who are approaching eighty, who
were able to recall the first school
in Damascus. .,
DR.. Boyer describes it thus
MY school days began in one
room building that had been used
for church but was discontinued
for that purpose when new church
was built in Damascus. There were
no individual desks at that time,
altho' they were first installed but
few years later. Rough desks
were built along the walls. The
seats were sawed slabs of wood
with holes bored in them for legs.
They had no backs and / grew very
tired after sitting on one for a
time with my feet unable to touch
the floor. If it became necessary
for one near the middle to move,
all those on one end had to make
way. In spite of handicaps, some
progress was made in education.
What the teacher lacked in equip
nnent was counterbalanced to some
extent by ZEAL"
This county has some lovely
school buildings, but not any has
the gorgeous scenery which sur
rounds the new high school and
the Damascus Elementary. Like
the Syrian capital whose name it
bears, Damascus is set high on a
hill and overlooks small villages,
lush fields and distant mountains.
Set exactly on PARIS Ridge, the
Elementary School looks out on
the fields of both Frederick and
Montgomery and has an excellent
view of the distant Blue Ridge and
its foothills. The High School,
situated a little. lower, has a. good
view of Sugar Loaf Mountain, but
does not overlook the fertile Fred
erick Valley.
Just in the last ten years, fast
growing Damascus has come long
way it now has two of the most
modern school buildings, a theatre
second to none in the county, fine
recreation center, an enthusiastic
Volunteer Fire Company, a sub
division of elegant homes, modern
shops of all kinds-in fact, the
once sleepy country village now
has everything! -
Almost forgot to tell you that
DR.. Boyer composed poem for the
dedication, and Ola Lawson Bur-
dette, the first graduate of DAM
ascus High, Class. 1913, played a
song, the words and music of which
were her own composition.
rs
We spent a good part of Monday
at the National Flower Show in
Washington-there was beauty of
another kind--7to attempt to de-
scribe it is useless in this space.
Just the perfume of the show was
wonderful-the most delightful
odors were waited more than a
block in the warm breezes of Mon
day which had a high of 70 degrees.
Montgomery County was well
represented, both by those in at.
tendance and in the displays. The
first thing we saw on entering the
Armory where the show was held,
was the exhibit of A. GUIDE Sons,
Co. which we are sure thrilled the
hearts of all his neighbors in the
county. Towering hemlocks, look
ing for all the world as if they
were grown right there, formed the
background for a lovely fountain
and pool-colorful dogwood, aza-
leas of amazing size and color
dainty white Judas trees and other
spring flowers completed the pic
ture.
The J. H. Small Sons, Inc. exhibit
was complete with greenhouse.
John Burton Co. was among other
well-known county firms repre-
scented. A number of awards were
taken by local garden clubs and in