DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 21

UNFOLDING YEARS 21
night at the school I did not close my eyes; I was too excited to sleep, but I had to rise at six next morning. In less than two weeks I could go to bed at nine and sleep soundly all night. 
I had also been a very small eater, had been humored and allowed to live mostly on fruit and delicacies. As a child I cannot even remember being hungry. The food at the school was no doubt wholesome and sufficient, but certainly not tempting. For a time I ate scarcely anything but no notice was taken of it. Finally nature asserted itself; I began to be hungry and soon was able to eat the plainest of food. I refused meat altogether and for many years was a strict vegetarian. 
At the time all these things were of minor consideration. It was in the life of the schoolroom that I found my greatest satisfaction. My eager mind absorbed knowledge as the thirsty ground drinks up the rain. I had been starving for the very things now offered me. We had no books from which to study; our lessons were given to us orally by the teacher. In our spare hours we got together and went over the lessons as best we could remember them. 
We had no gymnasium but at four o'clock in the afternoon we assembled in the large concert hall on the top floor of the north wing, and here under the guidance of the head lady teacher we went through various exercises, accompanied by music. First there were free gymnastics for beginners, followed later by dumb bells, rings and wands. Walking was another form of exercise and I should say the most frequent. In good weather girls might be seen with arms about each other, walking up and down the long verandas or down on the front walk. In bad weather the long halls offered opportunity for this exercise. Sometimes as many as a half dozen girls would be so lined up, tramping up and down, changing a lesson in geography or history; or it might be just two intimate friends would be seen walking together, exchanging confidences in low tones. During my school days I must have walked hundreds of miles inside and outside the dear old I. C. B.

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UNFOLDING YEARS 21 night at the school I did not close my eyes; I was too excited to sleep, but I had to rise at six next morning. In less than two weeks I could go to bed at nine and sleep soundly all night. I had also been a very small eater, had been humored and allowed to live mostly on fruit and delicacies. As a child I cannot even remember being hungry. The food at the school was no doubt wholesome and sufficient, but certainly not tempting. For a time I ate scarcely anything but no notice was taken of it. Finally nature asserted itself; I began to be hungry and soon was able to eat the plainest of food. I refused meat altogether and for many years was a strict vegetarian. At the time all these things were of minor consideration. It was in the life of the schoolroom that I found my greatest satisfaction. My eager mind absorbed knowledge as the thirsty ground drinks up the rain. I had been starving for the very things now offered me. We had no books from which to study; our lessons were given to us orally by the teacher. In our spare hours we got together and went over the lessons as best we could remember them. We had no gymnasium but at four o'clock in the afternoon we assembled in the large concert hall on the top floor of the north wing, and here under the guidance of the head lady teacher we went through various exercises, accompanied by music. First there were free gymnastics for beginners, followed later by dumb bells, rings and wands. Walking was another form of exercise and I should say the most frequent. In good weather girls might be seen with arms about each other, walking up and down the long verandas or down on the front walk. In bad weather the long halls offered opportunity for this exercise. Sometimes as many as a half dozen girls would be so lined up, tramping up and down, changing a lesson in geography or history; or it might be just two intimate friends would be seen walking together, exchanging confidences in low tones. During my school days I must have walked hundreds of miles inside and outside the dear old I. C. B.