Hopedale History Ezine for September 2022

Hopedale History
September 2022
No. 407
School Superintendent’s Report, 1922

Hopedale in September  

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Twenty-five years ago – September 1997 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey, watched by over two billion people worldwide.

Scotland votes in favour of a devolved Parliament, forming the Scottish Parliament less than two years later.

While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river.

Fifty years ago – September 1972 – Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match in Reykjavík, Iceland, becoming the first American world chess champion.

Munich massacre: Eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich are murdered after eight members of the Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic Village; five guerillas and one policeman are also killed in a failed hostage rescue.

Maude, the first in a series of spin-offs from All in the Family, premieres on CBS. The television series M*A*S*H begins its run on CBS.

One-hundred years ago – September 1922 – Jimmy Dolittle began the first single-day crossing of the United States, departing at 10:03 p.m. in a modified DH-4B from Pablo Beach, Florida toward Rockwell Field in San Diego, California.

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States voted to alter the Book of Common Prayer language for wedding vows requiring the bride to agree to “obey” her husband. The decision to revise the Common Prayer treatise was approved at the meeting in Portland, Oregon by a vote of 36 to 27.

The “Straw Hat Riot” broke out in New York City after a gang of youths in Manhattan assaulted dockworkers who were still wearing straw hats after Labor Day. The tradition in the U.S. at the time had not only been to switch from straw hats to felt hats in the autumn, but to knock the hats off of the heads of people who failed to make the switch. Publicity about the incident led to copycat attacks by other gangs over the next several days.

Cleveland Indians manager Tris Speaker conducted an unusual experiment by inserting 21 minor league players into a game against the visiting Boston Red Sox. Among the players he brought in was pitcher Elmer “Doc” Hamann, who faced seven batters, none of whom were called out, giving Hamann the unusual distinction of an Earned Run Average (ERA) of infinity for his career. The Indians lost, 15 to 5

News items above are from Wikipedia. See below this text box for Hopedale clippings from 25 and 50 years ago (Milford Daily News) and 100 years ago. (Milford Gazette.)

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School Superintendent Report, 1922

While every high school should prepare pupils for college, the needs of those who are not going to college and will enter other avenues of opportunity should have equal consideration.

It is also our opinion that the advantages of high school should be open to every young person who can profit by being in the school. This policy should not lower the standards of the high school. A pupil should attain the required standard of credits before he receives a diploma from the school and none other should be granted, but a pupil who cannot attain the high standard of credits, should not be deprived of whatever training he may be able to get in the school.

This benefit should not be extended to those who wish to make high school a loafing place. Those sentiments are equally true for the children in the grades. It is a mistake to keep an over aged and over grown boy in a lower grade with smaller children simply because he is not of equal mental ability as others who are younger, if he is mentally able to get some benefit from the work of the higher grades.

The total enrollment of our high school this year is seventy-six, an increase of fifty per cent over that of three years ago. The increase in numbers made a need of more room in the building. Some alterations were made so that another small recitation room has been provided. The main room is now filled to capacity.

Since the opening of school in the fall, the entire English department has been under one instructor with special training for the work. This is a distinct advantage. The principal believes that this course, which is of vast importance, cannot be given too much attention.

The entire language department is now under the able direction of Miss Lucy Day. (Lucy was still there when I was in high school. By that time, she was the librarian in the General Draper Library.) This is the first time in the history of our school that all of the classes in foreign languages have been concentrated under one head. This gives distinct advantages for the students in many ways.

Our commercial course is now in the second year of its existence, and has proven its right to continue. In the class of 1922 are several individuals who are planning to continue their education in one or more of the commercial schools, evidently securing the incentive from knowledge and experience gained while pursuing our high school business course.

The second Interclass Tennis Tournament was successfully carried through by the school in September and October. Between thirty and forty students participated, which produced a goodly spirit of rivalry among the classes. This year’s victor is the Class of 1925, while individual honors were won by Mary C. Steams, ’23, and C. Sherman Howard, ’25.

An event which was of much concern to the high school was the resignation of Principal Arthur C. Johnson, who went to his home in Newton to a position in the large English High School there. The school is being well carried on this year under the direction of his successor, Mr. Dennett. (Ah, Winburn Dennett, another one who was still there in my high school years.)

Respectfully submitted,

Carroll H. Drown
The above is just a small part of Mr. Drown’s 12-page report, printed in the 1922 Hopedale Town Report

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