70 Years Ago 

The outside world often seems rather far away in this corner of Massachusetts. Events there only occasionally remind us that we live on a large planet, with many millions of others. That greater world particularly made its presence felt during World War II, but even then, the schools reacted to it in their own particular way.

from The Northfield Star, vol. XXVII, no. 6, pp. 1,4; May 13, 1943.

“Jeep” Drive Initiated by “Pied Piper”

Friday April 30, the Seminary contributed toward the nationwide defense stamp and bond drive by holding a movie, The Pied Piper, to which the admission was a defense stamp.

In the afternoon a jeep had patrolled the campus, announcing the forthcoming show. The jeep was a duplicate of the one that is to be bought by Northfield. At a challenge from Mr. Mirtz, speaking for Hermon, before the movie Saturday night, the Seminary is now in competition with Hermon to see if it can meet the half-way mark in the price of a jeep before Hermon can produce the price of one. The time limit for producing the necessary money is set at the end of the year. Since spring vacation the total defense stamp sale, counting the proceeds of the movie, adds up to $325.50. The objective now is to reach the price of half a jeep, $450.

We never learn whether this drive met its goal. –ed.

125 Years Ago

            Happy Birthday to the Hermonite/Bridge! The paper began publishing on April 27, 1888 and has published continuously since then. Regular readers of this column will recall that the paper originally contained news of both the Northfield Seminary and the Mount Hermon School. This stopped after Northfield began its own paper in 1916. In the fall of 1969, The Bridge re-established the practice of printing news from both schools, hence the new name. Despite their relationship to the Hermonite, the Bridge editors decided to begin publishing with volumne I, number 1. When the “new” Hermonite began publishing in February of 2010, in homage to their namesake serial, their editor chose to follow the volume numbers of the older paper. Be that as it may, this week our “paper of record” no matter its name, celebrates one and a quarter centuries of journalism. Below, you can read of the first writers’ hopes for their paper.

from The Hermonite, vol. I, no.1, p. 2; April 27, 1888.

***

Our feelings on entering the journalistic field are – varied. We have long felt the need of a publication that would give to the world a correct and just representation of Mt. Hermon life; but knowing our inexperience and inability to successfully undertake such a task, we have hitherto forborne. But at last, feeling the need to be so great, we place before you “THE HERMONITE.” We have delayed thus long not only because of our inexperience, and the pressure of school duties will hardly allow of much other work, but because we realize that those into whose hands this paper will find it’s way will be persons whose knowledge and learning so far exceeds our own that we tremble at the thought of how grossly we may offend the higher sensibilities of some of our worthy readers. But greater charity should also accompany the greater learning, and we trust our readers will appreciate our position and be as lenient as possible in their criticisms. We further feel justified in saying that the life of Mt. Hermon is not easily portrayed especially to those who have heard of the same only by hearsay, and if we can simply let the character of the school appear through our columns we shall be satisfied. We hope also to make our paper more attractive by items of interest from the “Sem.”; but we cannot make ourselves liable by attempting to present to our readers a full conception of the wisdom and learning hidden in that institution. We feel assured that our many friends will give us their hearty support, for we have heard it intimated that wisdom would die if this paper should ever stop publication.

35 Years Ago

            It’s April, thought by at least one poet to be the cruelest month. That means it’s time for the 10^th annual library-sponsored poetry contest. You can look here at the April 4^th entry for rules and how to enter. Meanwhile, we look back to Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s 1978 visit.

from The Bridge, vol. IX, no.12, p. 1; April 19, 1978.

Ferlinghetti

On April 11, the Northfield Mount Hermon community was honoured by the presence of poet Lawrence Furling Monsanto, otherwise known as Lawrence Ferlinghetti of the class of 1937. His reading took place at Camp Hall, where he was eagerly awaited by students, faculty, and administrative members. President HowardJones introduced Ferlinghetti as an alumnus, poet-athlete, and writer for “The Hermonite,” the “Bridge” of his time.

The poet opened the evening’s entertainment by relating some of his experiences here at Mount Hermon. “Present students here have it easy,” he said. He told of farm work, and chapel, which everyone was required to participate in…not to mention classes six days a week, and eight-hour class days. He also said that Northfield campus seemed very distant to him, seeing as there were no busses. “That’s why I got into cross-country running,” he jokingly exclaimed. Mr. Ferlinghetti even confessed that he had been suspended for smoking – tobacco, that is.

His casual manner set the audience at ease and kept each member anxiously awaiting each new piece. Swaying to the rhythm of each poem, he told many stories, and spoke his opinions, often displaying a good sense of humor. Two of the more comical poems he read were “Don’t Let That Horse Eat That Violin,” and “Dog,” both of which are from his volume of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind.

…

What is his advice to young people? “Don’t work for anyone if you can help it, be your own boss, and in order to make it you have to have a simple life.”

At the end of his talk, applause was explosive, and Mr. Ferlinghetti received a standing ovation. Many students rushed up to hear more from this man who has been known as an inspiration to the fifties generation, and who has quickly won the hearts of many in this day.

Like Mr. Ferlinghetti, your editor made some mistakes of his own while attending this school. None larger than missing this particular reading –ed.  

130 Years Ago

            Last week, we looked back one year, this week we go to the other extreme and look back 130 years. Once again, we turn to our earliest historian, Henry Rankin, this time for his description of the first “calendar” of the Northfield Seminary.

from HAND-BOOK OF THE NORTHFIELD SEMINARY AND THE MT. HERMON SCHOOL, Chicago, Fleming H. Revell, 1889, p. 34.

April 12, 1883, arrived the first calendars of the Northfield Seminary that had been so far prepared. This first issue of the calendar contained a complete catalogue of all the pupils then attending the school; but the misuse made of such catalogues led to the omission of the names in subsequent issues. The number of pupils given was one hundred and forty-four.

Until 2009, these calendars (they quickly came to be called “catalogues”) provided core information about the school, particularly to prospective students. The rise of the internet coupled with the cost of production has caused the ubiquitous printed catalogue to become a thing of the past. The school archives has several complete runs of catalogues, but is always accepting additional early copies –ed. 

1 Year Ago

            As your editor is fond of pointing out, “history is happening all the time.” This week we look back only a year to a tongue in cheek article on the origins of the newest school periodical.

from The Hermonite, vol. LXXXV, no.9, p. 15; April 1, 2012.

Untitled and Unsigned

It is now more than two years since an irascible (and some would say irresponsible) Northfield Mount Hermon student decided not to write for The Bridge. In so doing, he joined the hundreds of other students entering our school each fall who don’t write for The Bridge. And yet he was unlike those students in that he had a mighty vision for a paper that would be not only a school newspaper, but a student newspaper as well. Did I say that he also thought he could produce a better newspaper than the one for which he decided not to write?

So it was that our intrepid founder rounded up writers, met with administrators, and even managed to strong-arm a semi-willing faculty member to serve as a de facto “advisor” to his nascent periodical; and in less time than it takes to say, “Student Life Curriculum” three times, very fast, he had managed to produce a full color newspaper which overturned all rules of journalistic integrity, offended or alienated virtually all of his initial allies, raised countless pairs of eyebrows, awakened the complacent “Bridgies” from a slumber unmatched even by Rip Van Winkle, even as it brought surreptitious smiles around the tables of both students and faculty members at Alumni Hall.

Despite those last positives on the list, and our founder’s relentless efforts to walk that fine line between hard-hitting news and outright slander and libel, and to teach us to do the same, the wheels may finally be coming off, and the train wreck everyone’s been predicting – some would also say, have been praying for – has at last come to pass. As you read on, you’ll see exactly what we mean.

Perhaps the time has come for the newspaper that has tried to tell it like it is for the past two years or so to admit one simple truth.

Even though we are an incredibly brilliant lot, it has become obvious to virtually all of our readers that we can’t handle the responsibilities associated with producing a first rate newspaper week after week, month after month.

Those who said we’d fail were, let’s face it, right.

Each passing issue has made this more and more plain.

Rather than continue the charade, we’re going to let the adults in the community show us how it’s done.

However hard we’ve tried, we know those grownups are smarter than we are.

Who knows, they might even be able to write a complete sentence or two devoid of comma splices and misspellings.

Enough!

If you think we aren’t serious, think again.

Start rereading these paragraphs, carefully, from the top, paying attention to every word  and see if you can determine what happens when you let an unqualified journalist take a seat in the editor’s chair.

Dire warnings to the contrary, The Hermonite continues to print frequently enough to be considered a periodical. And like its friendly competition in The Bridge offices, it insists on an April Fool’s Issue each year. That’s one deadline they NEVER miss.

80 Years Ago 

Even if we were to admit that debate is not a sport, it has a history here as lustrous as any of our athletic programs.

from The Hermonite, vol. XLVI, no.13, p. 1; March 18, 1933.

GOOD GOVERNMENT WINS CLUB DEBATE 

            Debating has again made its formal debut at Mount Hermon. Friday Evening, March 3, the Good Government Club successfully defended the Alumni Inter-Club Debating cup against Philomathea. The question for debate was, “Resolved, that modern advertising is detrimental to the best interests of the American public.” William Hare and Robert Eastman, of Good Government upheld the affirmative; John Greiner and Richard Rotherham of Philomathea, the negative.

            The arguments presented by each side revealed acute and sound reasoning. The speakers presented their arguments with forceful precision constantly keeping before the audience the clear-cut sub-points of their main issues, social and economic. The debate throughout was characterized by keen competitive sportsmanship and timely good humor.

The bold and italics of the word “sportsmanship” above, are courtesy of your editor. They suggest that eighty years ago, at least, debate may have been considered a sport. Today, some choose to disagree with this position. As the coach of the Northfield Mount Hermon Debate Society, I can tell you that any of our members would gladly uphold the affirmative: “Resolved: debate is a sport.”

125 Years Ago

            We’ve already welcomed the Year of the Snake, but in 1888 New Year’s came later when compared with the Julian calendar. Henry Rankin noted the event at Mount Hermon that year in his history of the schools.

from HAND-BOOK OF THE NORTHFIELD SEMINARYAND THE MT.HERMONSCHOOL, Chicago, Fleming H. Revell, 1889, p. 172.

February 21, on the evening of this day, which was the Chinese new year’s anniversary, the nine Chinese students gave a dinner to the faculty. It was a pleasant and unique occasion.

Note that the zodiac is a twelve year cycle so that celebration ushered in the Year of the Rat. To get some idea of the school in these days, there were 16 teachers and 247 students when classes began in the fall.  –ed.

120 Years Ago

            This week we note the close of one era (Washington’s Birthday concerts) and the opening of another (Washington’s Birthday oratorical contests). Intramural and interscholastic debates were a staple of winter activity into the 1960s. Today they are year-round fare. For an example, look no further than the Debate Society’s success at this week’s St. Sebastian’s tournament.

from The Hermonite, vol. VI, no.11, p. 94; March 11, 1893.

***

No student now questions the fact that the abolishment of the entertainment on Washington’s birthday, which has been formerly given each Senior Middle class, [today’s Juniors –ed.] was a wise movement on the part of the faculty. The amount of time, energy and money, which was necessarily expended in arranging and giving the concert, certainly did not warrant the continuation of the custom, when some other equally interesting, yet less taxing entertainment could be substituted for it.

The success and interest taken in the contest between the two literary societies would lead us to think that hereafter the twenty second will be given to the annual contest or debate between the two societies. At least we will hope so.

A remark which was made by one whose authority is not questioned, goes to show the class of oratory the evening produced, “it would do honor to any college.”

100 Years Ago

            In addition to learning another bit of school history, this week you also have an opportunity to learn a scrap of Latin if you have none. The phase in question may be freely translated as “New things.”

from The Hermonite, vol. XXI, no.6, p. 100; February 1913.

*** 

“Novae res” have come for the Seminary. It used to be printed in the catalog that one half hour’s exercise was required of each student daily. Teachers used to advise it as cure for headache and as first aid to mathematics. It was frequently chosen as a topic for discussion in English classes, but alas! only a few were faithful.

Now one half hour’s exercise is taken daily. Time is set aside for it; it is anticipated with pleasure, and the new exercise cards just give the final reminder to obey the old rule with new enthusiasm.

90 Years Ago

from The Hermonite, vol. XXXVI, no.6, p. 114; February, 1923.  

Tobogganing

On January 25 the Athletic Association voted to introduce competitive tobogganing as one of the winter sports, and to that end appropriated one hundred dollars. We heartily commend the efforts of those who put this thing through. The dormitories have taken hold in a spirit of work and fun, and as a result we have three slides which are – oh, judge for yourself. There is a happy outlook for those who enjoy this wholesome winter fun.

No mention of results was ever published in later issues of the newspaper and inquiring minds want to know – whatever happened to the toboggans? Perhaps they wound up at the Northfield Inn. – ed.