The Mysterious Stranger and Graeme College: Difference between pages

Port Alfred
Port Alfred
Location
	Grahamstown, South Africa
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	Virtute et Opera ; (Courage and toil)
Opened	April 1973
Staff	Headmaster: Mr Peter Reed
Enrolment	600 boys from Grade 1 - 12
Information	graeme@albanynet.co.za
Colours	Navy blue and gold
Website	http://www.gc.ecape.school.za/

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Revision as of 15:22, 12 October 2008

Graeme College is a public school in Grahamstown, South Africa. It was founded in April 1873. It is a boys only school going from Grade 1 to Grade 12.

History

Education in Grahamstown in the second half of the 19th century tended to divide the population along denominational and economic lines and, with few exceptions, was not altogether of a satisfactory standard. At a public meeting held in 1872 a resolution was moved to the effect that: "It is highly desirable to establish a high class undenominational school in Grahamstown, with a view to providing an education which is not furnished by any of the present schools." And so in April 1873, with an enrolment of 25 boarders and 45 day scholars, under the headmastership of the Rev. Robert Templeton, the Grahamstown Public School opened its doors in the Drostdy Barracks and the Drostdy House, newly vacated by the Colonial military authorities. Both these buildings have since been swallowed up in the Rhodes University campus.

The new school grew rapidly and within 10 years the enrolment had reached 200. The first candidate for the matriculation examination was entered in 1874 and the school began preparing candidates for the examinations of the University of the Cape of Good Hope.

The political troubles at the end of the nineteenth century saw the British Army wanting their buildings back and school move to new premises in Beaufort Street in 1898. It occupied this site until moving to its present campus in Somerset Heights in 1974. The site in Beaufort Street has since been renovated and taken over by Victoria Girls' High School.

Over the years the name of the school has undergone several changes. During the period in which it offered matriculation classes to young ladies it was known as Victoria High School and finally in 1938 it adopted the name, Graeme College.^[1]

School Song

Our Fathers passed thro' the Drostdy Gate
To the tiny school of a bygone day,
But the lesson they learned was of changeless date,
We learn it yet in the selfsame way;
And hither the sons of our sons shall throng
To learn their creed from the Graemians' song.

O "Courage and Toil" was the watchword then
'Tis the watchword now, and for days to come;
For courage and toil are the mark of men
On the fastest pitch, in the fiercest scrum,
At the hardest task when all goes wrong –
And this is the creed of the Graemians' song

We may wander away on the wings of hope
To distant scenes in the far off years,
But our hearts will return to the terraced slope
The gabled roofs and the winding stairs,
For time and distance but make more strong
The spirit caught from the Graemians' song.

Words : C.C. Wiles
Tune : S.J. Newns
First Sung : Speech Night 1932

References

^ School website

External links

http://www.gc.ecape.school.za/
http://ings.ds9.org.za/gallery/graeme Ingrid's Photo Gallery
http://www.martinsguesthouse.com/portalfred/graemeboys/ Martin Kruger's Old Boys Page

This South Africa school-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] School website

[1]

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+{{Infobox School
-{{For|the 1921 film|The Mysterious Stranger (film)}}
+  | name = Port Alfred
-{{For|the David Blaine book|Mysterious Stranger}}
+  | image = GRAEME_COLLEGE_BADGE_2.JPG‎
-{{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
+  | imagesize = 150px
-| name          = The Mysterious Stranger
+  | motto = Virtute et Opera <br> ''(Courage and toil)''
-| image         =
+  | opened = April [[1973]]
-| image_caption =
+  | type = [[state school|Public]] high school
-| author        = [[Mark Twain]]
+  | enrolment = 600 boys from Grade 1 - 12
-| illustrator   =
+  | staff = Headmaster: Mr Peter Reed
-| country       = [[United States]]
+  | free_label = Colours
-| language      = [[English language|English]]
-| series        =
+  | free_text = Navy blue and gold
+  | free_label2 =
-| genre         =
+  | free_text2 =
-| publisher     =
+  | location =[[Grahamstown]], [[South Africa]]
-| release_date  = [[1916 in literature|1916]], ''posthumously''
+  | information = graeme@albanynet.co.za
-| media_type    = Print
+  | website = http://www.gc.ecape.school.za/
-| preceded_by   =
-| followed_by   =
 }}
-'''''The Mysterious Stranger''''' is an [[unfinished work]] written by the [[United States of America|American]] author '''[[Mark Twain]]''' that was worked on periodically from roughly 1890 up until his death in 1910. The body of work is a serious social commentary by Twain addressing his ideas of the Moral Sense and the "damned human race".  A "complete" version was published posthumously in 1916 by Twain's biographer [[Albert Bigelow Paine]] under the name '''''The Mysterious Stranger, A Romance''''', but this version is under scrutiny concerning the extent of editing performed on Twain's manuscripts by Paine. The published version is a [[novella]].
+'''Graeme College''' is a [[state school|public school]] in [[Grahamstown]], [[South Africa]]. It was founded in April [[1873]]. It is a boys only school going from Grade 1 to Grade 12.
-Twain actually wrote multiple versions of this story, each unfinished and each involving the character of "Satan".  The first substantial version is commonly referred to as '''''The Chronicle of Young Satan''''' and tells of the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical [[Satan]], in an [[Austria]]n village in the [[Middle Ages]].  The story ends abruptly in the middle of a scene involving Satan entertaining a prince in [[India]], suggesting Twain abandoned this piece before he finished writing it.
+==History==
-The second substantial version Twain attempted to write is known as '''''Schoolhouse Hill''''' which involves the familiar characters of [[Huckleberry Finn]] and [[Tom Sawyer]] and their adventures with Satan, referred to in this version as "No. 44, New Series 864962", and is set in America.  ''Schoolhouse Hill'' is the shortest of the three versions.
+Education in Grahamstown in the second half of the [[19th century]] tended to divide the population along denominational and economic lines and, with few exceptions, was not altogether of a satisfactory standard. At a public meeting held in [[1872]] a resolution was moved to the effect that: "It is highly desirable to establish a high class undenominational school in Grahamstown, with a view to providing an education which is not furnished by any of the present schools." And so in April 1873, with an enrolment of 25 boarders and 45 day scholars, under the headmastership of the Rev. Robert Templeton, the Grahamstown Public School opened its doors in the Drostdy Barracks and the Drostdy House, newly vacated by the Colonial military authorities. Both these buildings have since been swallowed up in the [[Rhodes University]] campus.
+The new school grew rapidly and within 10 years the enrolment had reached 200. The first candidate for the matriculation examination was entered in 1874 and the school began preparing candidates for the examinations of the University of the Cape of Good Hope.
-The third version, called '''''No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger''''', returns to Medieval Austria and tells of No. 44's mysterious appearance at the door of a print shop and his use of heavenly powers to expose the futility of mankind's existence.  This version also introduces an idea Twain was toying with at the end of his life involving a duality of the "self", one being the "Waking Self" and the other being the "Dream Self".  Twain explores these ideas through the use of "Duplicates", copies of the print shop workers made by No. 44.  This version contains an actual ending, however the version is not considered as complete as Twain would have intended.
+The political troubles at the end of the nineteenth century saw the [[British Army]] wanting their buildings back and school move to new premises in Beaufort Street in 1898. It occupied this site until moving to its present campus in Somerset Heights in 1974. The site in Beaufort Street has since been renovated and taken over by Victoria Girls' High School.
-The edition published in 1916 is composed mainly of a heavily edited ''Chronicle of Young Satan'' with a slightly altered version of the ending from ''No. 44'' tacked on.  Paine, who had sole possession of Twain's unfinished work after Twain's death and kept them private, searched through Twain's manuscripts and found the proper intended ending for ''The Mysterious Stranger''.  After Paine's death in 1937, [[Bernard DeVoto]] became possessor of Twain's manuscripts and released them to the public.  Beginning in the 1960s, critics studied the original copies of the story and found that the ending Paine chose for ''The Mysterious Stranger'' referred to the characters from different versions of the story (e.g. No. 44 instead of Satan) and that the original names had been crossed out and written over in Paine's handwriting.
+Over the years the name of the school has undergone several changes. During the period in which it offered [[matriculation]] classes to young ladies it was known as Victoria High School and finally in 1938 it adopted the name, Graeme College.<ref>[http://www.gc.ecape.school.za/ School website]</ref>
-The book version that was published nonetheless maintains Twain's sharp attack on the hypocrisy of [[organized religion]] that is the subject of much of Twain's later writings. He views religion as a (questionably) "[[morality|moral]]" order to protect [[wealth]], [[Political power|power]], and [[dictatorship|oppression]].
-In 1982, The University of California Press published, as part of The Mark Twain Library Series, a scholarly edition of ''No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger''. According to the "Mark Twain Project" editors of this series, this is the definitive version of the text as close as possible to what Twain would have published had he lived to do so.
+==School Song==
-==Summary of Paine's version==
-In 1590 a few boys are living happy sheltered lives in a remote Austrian village named Eseldorf. (Esel means "donkey" or "ass" in German and can refer to a stupid or ignorant person, and "dorf" means village, so in essence it is a village of stupid people.)
-The story is narrated by one of the boys&mdash;Theodor, the village organist's son&mdash;in a [[first-person narrative]]. One day, a handsome teenage boy named Satan appears in the village.  He explains that he is an [[angel]] and the nephew of the fallen angel Satan.  Young Satan performs several [[Magic (paranormal)|magical]] feats. He claims to be able to foresee the future and informs the group of unfortunate events that will soon befall those they care about. The boys don't believe Satan's claims until one of his predictions comes true. Satan proceeds to describe further tragedies that will befall their friends. The boys beg Satan to intercede.  Satan agrees, but operates under technical definition of ''mercy''.  For instance, instead of a lingering death due to illness, Satan simply causes one of Theodor's friends to die immediately.
+Our Fathers passed thro' the Drostdy Gate</br>
-Mayhem ensues &mdash; [[witch trial]]s, [[Execution by burning|burnings]], [[hanging]]s, [[death]]s, [[mass hysteria]], and redistribution of [[wealth]]. Satan vanishes with a brief explanation:
+To the tiny school of a bygone day,</br>
+But the lesson they learned was of changeless date,</br>
+We learn it yet in the selfsame way;</br>
+And hither the sons of our sons shall throng</br>
+To learn their creed from the Graemians' song.</br>
+O "Courage and Toil" was the watchword then</br>
-<blockquote>In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!...You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks - in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.
+'Tis the watchword now, and for days to come;</br>
+For courage and toil are the mark of men</br>
+On the fastest pitch, in the fiercest scrum,</br>
+At the hardest task when all goes wrong –</br>
+And this is the creed of the Graemians' song</br>
+We may wander away on the wings of hope</br>
-It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!</blockquote>
+To distant scenes in the far off years,</br>
+But our hearts will return to the terraced slope</br>
+The gabled roofs and the winding stairs,</br>
+For time and distance but make more strong</br>
+The spirit caught from the Graemians' song.</br>
+Words : C.C. Wiles</br>
-==Characters in "The Mysterious Stranger"==
+Tune : S.J. Newns</br>
-* No. 44, New Series 864962
+First Sung : Speech Night 1932
-* August Feldner, narrator, 16 years old, printer's apprentice.
-* Satan, the angel.
-* Doangivadam, who lives in [[Austria]] during [[the Middle Ages]]. He is physically strong and very clever, and uses these abilities to help those in need.
+==References==
-==Animated adaptation==
+{{refs}}
+==External links==
-The Mysterious Stranger was adapted to a short scene in the 1985 [[claymation]] film [[The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985 film)|The Adventures of Mark Twain]], in which the children meet an angel named Satan.  He claims to be incapable of performing an evil act as he does not understand the concept of wrongdoing. Satan builds a sandcastle and has the children make clay figures which he then brings to life.  Two of the clay men bicker over ownership of a cow and Satan strikes them dead. He then creates a storm to kill the remaining people and causes an earthquake to destroy the castle, to the horror of the watching children.
+*http://www.gc.ecape.school.za/
+*http://ings.ds9.org.za/gallery/graeme Ingrid's Photo Gallery
+*http://www.martinsguesthouse.com/portalfred/graemeboys/ Martin Kruger's Old Boys Page
+[[Category:Schools in the Eastern Cape]]
-==External links and references==
+[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1873]]
-{{wikisource}}
+[[Category:Grahamstown]]
-* [http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Twain/Mysterious-Stranger.htm Text of ''The Mysterious Stranger'']
-* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/TwaMyst.html Another version]
-* {{gutenberg|no=3186|name=The Mysterious Stranger}}
-{{Twain}}
+{{SouthAfrica-school-stub}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Mysterious Stranger, The}}
-[[Category:1916 novels]]
-[[Category:Novels by Mark Twain]]
-[[Category:Unfinished novels]]
-[[Category:Posthumous works]]
-[[cs:Tajemný cizinec]]
+[[fr:Graeme College]]
-[[he:הזר המיסתורי]]
-[[ja:不思議な少年 (小説)]]