Evening star., 1951-06-01
BY George Kennedy

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exercises this weekend. Between ses-
sions Of handing out diplomas. lunch-
cor is scheduled at the Sulgrave Club
tomorrow. at which the remarkable
woman who founded the school will be
heard.
Mrs. Jessie Moon Holton, who is 85,
has been confined to her bed for three
years with d heart condition. But she
has made a recording for the occasion
and her old graduates. many OF them
mothers OF pupils. viii hear the clear :
incisive voice Of their old genius tutelary.
She is going to tell them how she
opened the school with Carolyn Arms as
a tutoring establishment in a private
house on Hillyer place and awaited the
arrival of pupils.
IT was at the open window" she says,
"and saw Victoria with coachman
and footman passing. heard lady and
her daughter inquiring for Holton-Arms
School. Carolyn rushed TO me and said.
Don't you dare call out the window.
''This is Holton- -Arms!"' Eventually they
found us. It was Mrs. Thomas F. Walsh
and her daughter Evalyn, who as Mrs.
Mclean, became famous for her parties.
We have never had the name Holton-
Arms on the outside of school building"
The Holton-Arms School is a row Of
houses Of varied architecture on the
north side of s street just west Of Con-
necticut avenue which runs around the
corner Of Phelps place. Across Phelps
place is the only conventional school
building Of the institution, the new gym
nasium. There are e~410 pupils, IS of
them boarders.
If Jessie Moon was not born teacher,
she soon made herself one. She used
to play school teacher as q child Of four
when the one book she had read was
primer. She would stand In an oalcove
Of an old farm house IN the Mohawk
Valley in Central New York. where cider
in kegs was turning into vinegar, and
teach her imaginary pupils. At 18-in
the 1880s-she was an assistant in
high school in Herkimer.
She inherited the Puritan drive to
teach and she was on the liberal side
Of the great schism that had split New
England Puritanism three generations
before. She is Unitarian.
Her father, Clinton A. Moon, taught
for time In one of the academies that
were the predecessors Of the American
high school. He ran for judge in Herki-
mer County and was defeated because
he wanted education in the county'S
high schools improved 50 they would
prepare students for college.
The mother and aunt Of her husband,
Frederick A. Holton, were associates Of
Susan B. Anthony in the early suffrage
~ III e1H
a student and he an instructor Of science
at Cornell. Before they married her
father had a little talk with the groom
to-be. Her father said that If they
were to be happy, his daughter would
have to have something Of career Of
her own.
She came to Washington when her
husband accepted an appointment in the
Patent ONCE. He later went with
patent firm.
To start school with Carolyn Arms
was a simple matter. Miss Arms could
teach English and Latin. Mrs. Holton
could teach mathematics and science
and, as for modern languages, they
could hire a foreigner" which they did.
Miss Arms withdrew because Of Ill health
in 1911.
When she started, Mrs. Holton's ideal
was 80 pupils. She soon had 100 and
her family said her ideal was the num-
ber she could get. She intended to keep
it day school until in 1906 she was
almost forced to take boarders. Maj.
Gen. Harry Foote Hodges wife wanted
to accompany her husband to Panama
where he was to help Goethals build the
canal. She also wanted to leave her two
daughters In the school. Mrs. Holton
kept them.
About this time her husband came
home with story he heard at board
meeting. It was that strange sort Of
woman was building some kind Of school
in s street; that every summer her build
er and his men would start by tearing
down much Of what they had built the
summer before.
"This I think" Mrs. Holton will say in
her recorded talk, sis the story Of the
physical development Of Holton-Arms
which now occupies IA city lots and
over an acre for the sports unit"
1t must sound strange to her when she
hears her school is appreciated for its
old-fashioned virtues. Among private
academies for young ladies. hers was an
early one in the recognition that young
women can do as well in mathematics
and the sciences as young men. It was
one of the first to introduce a class in
tipping. And it was never under the rule
Of the duenna. Mrs. Holton was always
believer in natural and unstrained
mingling Of young women and young
men. The Holton-Arms School young
lady boarder can go out unchaperoned
with young gentleman Of weekend
evening. tShe has to be back before
midnight.)
Mrs. Holton is aware it is problem.
"It's not easy" she says, ito keep girls
socially happy and not interrupt
their studies. A girl Il believe boys
are more reserved) spends several days
preparing for q weekend and then the
next week she must confide in her
friends what he said"
She is glad that private schools can
now prepare their girls for college in
stead Of debutante season. She is
delighted that most fathers Of her girls