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About The Rimrock Echo (Billings, Mont.) 1930-1943 | View This Issue
The Rimrock Echo (Billings, Mont.), 11 March 1938, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheRimrockEcho/1938-03-11/ed-1/seq-2/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
Page Two THE RIMROCK ECHO Friday, March 11, 1938 THE RIMROCK ECHO Published by EASTERN MONTANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL at Billings, Montana Editor-in-chief Delight Bruce Managing Editor Gladys Torgrimson Sports Editor Victor Thompson Humor John Olson and Betty Bullette Circulation Eleanor Prchal and Bob Kehoe Student News Vernie Malvern Faculty Adviser Mary J. Meek EDITORIALS They Don't Speak Our Language We speak the same language, supposedly, as our Brit- ish friends \across the pond,\ but they have some very queer phrases which we cannot understand, any more than they can savvy an overdose of good old American slang. Just suppose that you are taking a motor trip with a Brit- isher. You store your luggage in a \boat\ instead of a rear compartment. He sits on the right hand side of his auto to drive, and endeavors to keep his flivver on the left hand side of the road instead of the right as we do in America. Then if he has motor trouble, friend Britisher lifts up the \bonnet\ (never the hood) to fix the \sparking\ plugs. His tool is not a monkey wrench but a \spanner.\ Then when four o'clock comes and you are miles from a town and no tea, he drives like mad to get to a Tea Shoppe. Enroute he loses control of the auto and is smashed by a \lorry\ instead of a truck, wrecks a wing (fender to you), flies headlong, not through the wind shield but the \wind screen.\ It all sounds very silly, doesn't it, but then it is whispered that they have definite ideas about the way we slaughter the English language too. On Soft-Soaping Teachers You may call it \soft-soaping\ or you may call it \apple- polishing,\ but whatever monicker you may give it the principle remains the same. Some students take pride in using their \winning smiles\ or \personality-plus\ tactics on teachers to get coveted A's or B's they are too lazy to work for. What is more, they take pride in boasting of their system. It is possible for one to like his teachers and let them know by showing respect and cooperating with them. But a sharp distinction can be drawn between sincerity and hypocrisy. \It's nice work if you can get it\ for the moment, but a year from now, as a teacher, you will be wishing you had studied at the right time because you can't \soft-soap\ your pupils. Decorating the School We have a clever little way of applying our instruction in interior decoration. We can never pass a dark corner or a bare spot without skillfully dropping the wrapper from a Baby Ruth, a Hershey, a Planter's Peanut, or a Red Sail to brighten the spot. We save the stairs from drabness by dribbling these wrappers from the first landing to the third. Our passion for decorating the school is limited only by our spare cash. The Question of War Thoughts on war clipped at random from various mag- azines and newspapers: The world must abandon its goose-step if it wants to avoid its swan-song. When there are no war profits there will be fewer prophets of war. Only the Hohenzollerns and the cooties are sorry the World war is over. It isn't that we mind feeding those nations, we just wish they'd stop fighting between meals. It's war that knocks the \1\ out of glory. The greatest honor the nation could bestow upon the \unknown here\ would be to live for the things for which he died. Marking Time The chronic disease of calendar watching has attacked the students. In halls, in classrooms, and on the steps we hear the refrain, \In three more months and ten more days we'll be - - - .\ Calendars become dog-eared through much thumbing; every day that passes has an X marked through it. Books grow dusty ; pens grow rusty ; pencils go un- sharpened. Spring brings a new life to the students—a life that lies beyond the school. Far pastures look greener than those near by. Days spent between academic walls are wasted. Classes are skipped ; students begin taking their vacations in advance. Students afflicted with calendar watching forget that the best way to make time pass swiftly is to fill the hours with work. Those who go to college and never get out are called professors. There are more dishonest bankers in the penitentiaries than there are \public enemies.\ STAFF SEES RURAL PAPERS The journalism class recently ex- amined the collection of rural and village school papers, which Miss Meek has been collecting over a period of years. Papers of this type are being regularly made by pupils and teachers of many small rural schools. The most common types of papers examined were mimeographed, hec- tographed and handwritten. The handwritten papers consisted of large sheets of folded brown wrap- ping paper upon which handwritten news articles, stories and even good examples of art and written class- room work appeared. Only two or three copies of these papers are pub- lished at one time, and these are circulated from family to family until everyone in the community has had a chance to read all of the local and school goings on. The teachers write that such a paper motivates many types of school work and serves as a bond between the school and the home. T. B. Tests Are Completed The results of the T. B. tests, which were given at the normal school on February 16, show that of the 201 students who took the test, only 22 reacted positively. A reac- tion of this sort does not necessarily mean that the individual has the disease in an active form. X-ray p i c t u r es determine whether the germs are active or inactive. It was expected that these X-rays of the chests of all students in question could be secured at a greatly re- duced rate, as was done in the public schools, but the local medical asso- ciation decided not to include stu- dents from the Poly or E. M. S. N. S. in this cut rate, since the majority of them are not residents of Billings. However, \forewarned is fore- armed\ and the students who re- acted positively are now in a position to guard against the further inroads of the germs by proper treatment. Nearly Half Fail in Second Spelling Test Of the 43 persons who took the spelling test in February, 19 received failing grades by missing more than 30 words. The lowest score was 69 words missed. Two students missed 60, and six others missed more than half. The other ten ranged from 50 to 33 words misspelled. These fail- ures are almost inexplainable be- cause the 100 words used in the test had been chosen from a list of 527 words, which was made available to the students two weeks in advance. Thirty-two of the 43 people who took this test had failed in a pre- vious one in English II. Out of the 100 words, Mrs. Cleo Weppler, taking the test for the first time, missed only three words. Surely the ability to spell words in the written vocabulary is to be expected of a teacher. REJOINS COMMUNITY CONCERT The student council of the E. M. S. N. S. has contracted with the local sponsors of the community concert association for 100 tickets at $2 each which will be resold to the individ- ual students. Since last fall sufficient interest has been shown in the concerts to indicate that block buying of tickets by the school and reselling them to the students of the first year class would be feasible. The school will take orders in May for tickets from students who are expecting to attend E. M. S. N. S. next year. Note of Appreciation For the first time in my ex- perience as adviser for the Echo, the staff has taken the initiative in putting out the paper. Gladys Torgrimson, as managing editor, with some experience last quar- ter, assumed the responsibility for assignments and keeping the staff on the job. She also took charge of the laboratory periods, leaving me free to check and OK copy. All the staff members have been prompt and faithful in fol- lowing up assignments. They are a good staff. I hope you will think it a good paper. MARY J. MEEK. Service Clubs Dinner Served At E.M.S.N.S. On the evening of February 2 about 40 students of E. M. S. N. S., assisted by members of the faculty, served a dinner in the gym to about 275 members of the three service clubs of Billings, the Kiwanis, the Rotary and the Lions clubs. The students who helped with this work earned their evening meal, but were given no opportunity to listen in on the interesting program which re- sembled the famous Washington gridiron dinner. Industry and cooperation did reap its reward however. Besides a good meal, each student was given a ticket to the Fox theatre to be used at any time except Sunday and Wednesday night. School Luncheons Evolved By Trial-Error Method Our school luncheons, as we know them today, were initiated in 1927, the first year of the school, because the set-up of the curriculum placed more than one-third of the students in the Billings schools at all times, thus making it impossible to sched- ule an hour for assemblies. One day in the fall of the first year, while walking to the Commer- cial club to attend a Rotary meeting, it occurred to Dr. McMullen that the entire school might be organized into a service club which would meet once each week for a luncheon. This idea was adopted and for the first few years a luncheon was held in the Commercial club every Wednesday. Students paid 35 cents for their meal. When the depression came the luncheons were discon- tinued because not many students had enough money to attend. Not long after the school took the Y. M. C. A. building as headquarters in 1931 Mr. Hawkes suggested that the luncheons be revived and held in the gymnasium there with some group responsible for the arrange- ments for food and program. The problem of organization was turned over to Mr. Stuber, and through trial and error he and other faculty members attained the present sys- tem of monthly luncheons. The kitchen work was a great problem in the old \Y\ building, for all food had to be prep,ared for serv- ing' in a narrow corridor leading to the gym, with not even a sink for convenience. The hungry horde of students was diverted from that cor- ridor and sent down into the gym by way of a steep spiral stairway from the balcony. Compared with that congested set-up, our present commodious kitchen with two stoves, a large sink, and several large tables for food seems like a perfect set-up for the work, though a home eco- nomics expert might rate it a low C. Under our present plan certain members of the faculty act as advis- ers for the various student commit- tees. Mr. Stuber has charge of the ordering and transportation of the food; Mr. Bjorgum is in charge of the erection of the tables and place- ment of chairs; Miss Roberts directs the decorating committee; Miss Ste- venson the setting of the tables and the serving; Miss Meek the prepara- tion of the food; Miss Dewey the clean-up. Mr. Abbott or Mr. Bjor- gum sees that the tables are taken down and the chairs are stowed away. The division of the first year class that is observing serves the luncheon and the sponsoring group provides the program. The menu committee from the sponsoring group works with Mr. Stuber in deciding what is to be served. The food is prepared in one of the bakeries or by Miss Clark of the Commercial Club Catering com- pany. It is brought to the school on trucks and delivered to the room where it is to be prepared for serv- ing. This set-up limits the kinds of foods which can be served, but ever since the plan was put into effect an appetizing and hearty meal has al- ways been served. Food that they don't cook them- selves must taste good to the stu- dents if we may judge from the appetites shown at the luncheons. The usual order for a luncheon is: eight pounds of coffee; six quarts of cream; 60-70 dozen rolls; one and one-half sacks of potatoes; 50 - 75 pounds of meat; three cases of canned vegetables; a dessert and relishes. The average lunchecin costs Piano Lessons Taught By Group Method Miss Nourse has been able to handle 50 students in piano lessons this quarter by using an interesting scheme for the beginners. There are several classes with seven and eight members in each class. Miss Nourse places piano keyboards on the desks of five of the students. These key- boards consist of four octaves of black and white movable silent notes. There are two real pianos in the room, and while two students at the real pianos play the lesson, the rest of the class play the silent key- boards. After the piece is played the students rotate from keyboard to pianos. Thus the students get their fingers into the playing mood by the time it is their turn to play on the piano. This method provides the challenge of competition and makes it possible to handle many more students in beginning work. Library Figures Compiled The annual statistical report made by the library shows that since the beginning of the school there have been 9902 books accessioned and 993 withdrawn from circulation. The li- brary now has 8909 books in use and 1842 duplicate copies with a total of 7067 titles. Many students fail to understand that duplicate copies of much used books are available in the library. During the fiscal year of 1937, 280 books have been added to the li- brary; 224 of the new books were purchased, while the remaining 36 were acquired by gift. Eleven books were withdrawn during the year, either from being lost or worn out. New Encyclopedia Purchased The library has purchased a new Encyclopaedia Britannica to replace the old set that had become worn and out of date. The new encyclopaedia consists of the usual 24 volumes, with the bind- ing and print very much the same as in the old set. The publishing company states that this is the last edition until 1949. Each year a sup- plementary volume will be added to the present edition to bring it up to date in the various fields of discov- ery and research. NEW COURSES FOR SPRING FEATURE OUTDOOR WORK Several new courses are to be offered in the spring if there are ten or more students who desire them. A class in Boy Scouting is assured. This course, which is open to all second year men, will be of- fered as a three credit course and will be divided into three units. Mr. Roskie, Boy Scout executive, will present the theory and ritual, while Mr. Bjorgum and Mr. Hoheisel will have charge of the demonstration of activities. Mr. Ridgely will give two or three lessons in \fly tying\ of artificial bait for trout fishing, and Dr. McMullen will present at least one lecture. If an instructor can be secured a one credit course in Girl Scouting will be given to second year girls who desire it. Announcement of the plans will be made at the beginning of the term. If there is a sufficient demand for it, Dr. McMullen will have a class in physics. Those second year students who have not completed their required English courses may sign for a four credit elective in American litera- ture with Mr. Abbott at the third and fourth periods on Tuesday and Thursday. A new one or two credit course in \fly-tying\ of artificial bait for trout will be offered by Mr. Ridgely, in a two-hour class session once a week. The cost of material for the course will be about one dollar. SCHOOL GETS PRESS NOTICE Miss Emily Tarbell, president of class room teachers section of the N. E. A., who visited the schools in Billings last November, made com- plimentary reference to our \beau- tiful new auditorium\ and to the excellent professional spirit which is engendered by our student local N. E. A. in the current number of The Class Room Teacher, a monthly news sheet published by N. E. A. about $130, and is paid for from the student activity fund.
