Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1984 Volume 22 Number 2, Pages 77–78

Notes and Comments

• More Mnemonic Devices
• New Club Officers Elected
• Conestoga's Golf Team Museum Recognized
• Easttown to Celebrate July Fourth

Page 77

More Mnemonic Devices

After reading the article in the January issue on Memory aids, Lynn Garrett, of the administration of the T-E School District, reported that she had learned the sequence of the planets in our solar system by the phrase MANY VERY EAGER MEN JUMP SIDEWAYS UNTIL NATURE PONDERS, the initial letters representing Mercury : Venus : Earth : Mars : Jupiter : Saturn : Uranus : Pluto, respectively. (She obviously went to school after we did: Pluto had yet to be discovered when we studied the solar system!)

Similarly, Barry Yocum, Director of Curriculum, reminded us of CHOP KIN'S CaFe - M(ighty) g(ood)? Na(h)! to remember, by their chemical symbols, the various elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, potassium, iodine, nitrogen, sulfur, calcium, iron, magnesium, and sodium) in a living organism.

And in their The Annotated Mother Goose, Ceil and Bill Baring-Gould include a slightly different version of THIRTY DAYS. It goes:

"Thirty days hath September
April, June and November,
All the rest have thirty-one
Except February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year."

Page 78

They also noted several other memory aids, including a half score to learn the alphabet. Perhaps more useful is one to remember the royal houses of England: NO PLAN LIKE YOURS TO STUDY HISTORY WISELY. In this case, the initial letters stand for Norman : Plantagenet : Lancaster : York : Tudor : Stuart : Hanover : Windsor.

New Club Officers Elected

At the annual business meeting of the Club held in January, officers for the next two years were elected, as listed on the first page of this issue of the Quarterly,

A special "thank you" is extended to Eva Noll, the past president, and to Mildred Erdman, who served for so many years as the Club's treasurer, for their efforts in our behalf.

Conestoga's Golf Team, Esherick Museum Recognized

The outstanding record of Conestoga High School's boys' golf team was given national recognition this spring in Golf Digest. After the magazine had noted that a girl's team at a high school in Ohio had won 44 straight matches, the athletic director at Conestoga, Gerry Gasser, called its attention to Conestoga's record of 82 consecutive victories in league play and "still counting", its last league loss having been in 1972, The record was reported in the March issue of the publication, with the challenge, "Can anybody beat it?"

Also receiving national attention, in the March-April issue of Americana magazine, is the Wharton Esherick Museum on Diamond Rock Hill. The article by Janet Wilson is entitled "Man of Wood", and is illustrated with pictures of examples of Esherick's sculptures, together with several views of the studio-museum,

Easttown to Celebrate July Fourth

It will be like an "old-fashioned" Independence Day - but without the speeches - in Berwyn this July 4th, according to plans announced by the Easttown Township supervisors. Features of the late afternoon and evening celebration will include games and pony rides and a two-hour concert by the Chester County Concert Band. There will also be a fireworks display by the Garden State Fireworks Company, twice first place winners in international fireworks competitions at Monte Carlo, The festivities will be held on the field in back of the old Berwyn School on First avenue.