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Saint Mary’s Manor was nestled in the rolling hills of Langhorne, PA., about a forty minute drive from home. It was indeed previously a manor, the main building being an eighteenth century mansion. The cedar shake exterior gave it a warm rustic look. It was like a picture post card with a long winding road, coiling around a lake with gliding swans and ducks, leading up to the main buildings on top of a steep hill. The building complex was surrounded by acres and acres of green fields, apple orchards and farm land. The three main buildings were connected by a huge wrap-around porch, maybe thirty feet wide, and lined with rocking chairs overlooking the lake.
A stately, rambling three-story building housed the priests and the chapel. The upper two floors were the living quarters for the faculty of some dozen priests. Each had their own suite with a large office area, bedroom and bath. On the first floor, off the porch, was a large reception area with a marble floor and a wide corridor leading to the chapel.
In an adjoining building was the refectory, or dining hall. There were eight or nine long tables each seating nine students. Off to the side was a separate dining room for the priests. In the back was an enormous kitchen area. The upper floors were the living quarters for the fifteen or so nuns. They were a French Canadian order and very few of them spoke any English at all. They weren’t cloistered as such but went about their chores typically in silence. They did all the cooking and laundry for the priests and students. Rarely did you see them outside the kitchen and never outdoors.
The next building, same style as the previous two, housed the student dormitories, a small dispensary and the study hall which was on the first floor. Each dorm had some fifteen beds lined up in a couple rows and right beside each other with no separators of any sort. Wooden lockers ringed the walls, one assigned to each student. A bed in the corner of each dorm was reserved for the proctor, an upper classman, who made certain things didn’t get out of order. There was a door leading from the dorm to a communal lavatory.
The study hall was one large room housing the library and desks for each of the students. Two proctors, at the front and rear, had their desks on elevated platforms so they would have an unobstructed view of the room.
The last building in the row was the gymnasium with classrooms on the upper floors. This building was added later and didn’t have the same charm as the original structures.
Behind the main buildings was a large, red barn surrounded by chicken coops and pig pens. There were two resident farmers, Bill and Gary, who were overseers of this area and preferred not to be bothered by the students although they were friendly enough. There were fields of potatoes, corn, beans and other vegetables. They had all the equipment like tractors and plows that you would normally find on a small farm.
And it was functional as the chickens, their eggs and the pigs would eventually end up on the tables of the refectory. You didn’t want to become overly fond of any of the animals knowing their ultimate demise. There were also some cows and you would see the farmers carrying large pails of fresh milk to the kitchen area for refrigeration. And with the harvest from the apple orchards the nuns would make delicious pies and tangy apple sauce.
The one animal everyone became fond of was Terry, an Irish Setter, who was the official mascot of the Manor. He seemed to spend every waking hour chasing squirrels up the trees and the ducks around the lake. He was a gangly red blur as he would fire off after his prey, which he never caught. He was having so much fun that he wouldn’t even bother with the dozen or so cats, which the farmers called mousers.
The bottom floor of the main building, the original basement, had a recreation room of sorts. There was a radio and a ping pong table. There were a lot of rooms used as storage areas. The two resident farmers had their living quarters on this floor as evidenced by the lingering aromas of their pipes, which they smoked constantly.
Another striking feature of the grounds was an asphalt pathway, canopied by huge old oak trees, winding from the main building to the property line and on the way a small cemetery off to the right - a great place for a leisurely stroll.
The day would start with a groggy ‘rise and shine’ greeting by the dorm proctor or the incessant crowing of the roosters behind the barn – whichever came first. Either way it was around 5:30AM.
You had to react quickly because there was barely time to wash up and brush your teeth before you lined up on the porch for the walk over to the chapel – always in silence. After Mass was an hour study hall followed by the march to the refectory for breakfast. After breakfast you made up your bed and ran a big dust mop around your area. If scheduled for that day, your laundry bag was left on the bed.
Morning classes lasted until lunch. After lunch it was back to classes until 3PM. There was a short period to change clothes for intramural sports which were mandatory for all students. About ninety minutes later, a hand bell would be rung to end the sports sessions and announce the quaint tradition of the ‘bun line’. One of the students would have a large basket of goodies freshly made by the nuns and hand two to each one in line. Typically they were hot cross buns and were wolfed down without anything to drink. Seconds were permitted providing there was anything left in the basket which was not usually the case. And of course Terry was always there hanging around for handouts.
Then came one of the most hectic periods of the day – the rush for the showers. Talking was allowed while you waited in line, carrying your soap, shampoo and towel. Things tended to get a little rowdy in line like towel fights, tooth paste shampoos etc.
Then it was back to study hall for an hour before dinner. There was a break after dinner and depending on the weather you could go to the rec room, walk around the lake and feed the ducks or take a stroll down the tree-lined walk to the end of the property. Doing any of the above alone was discouraged. Hanging out with the same companions too frequently was also discouraged as cliques were frowned upon.
After break there was yet another study hall before evening prayers in the chapel. Then back to the dormitory and lights out at 9:30PM. Most nights everyone was pretty exhausted after a full day.
Saturday and Wednesday afternoons were ‘walking days’ which meant you were free to leave the grounds for a few hours. You were doled out $.35 from your tobacco tin and, in groups of four, were free to explore the outside world. You arranged your foursome based on common interests, for example, a local high school football game. But the most popular destination by far was Greenwood Dairy, an ice cream and sandwich shop, on the main highway. Their specialty was a huge sundae served in a facsimile of a wooden trough. Upon successful consumption you were awarded a colorful button stating “I was a PIG at Greenwood Dairy”. If any of the guys had stashes of cigarettes or money, this is where you were likely to see it. Behavior was pretty much a personal thing and there was no kind of honor code where you were compelled to turn someone in for breaking the rules. It was none of your business. Worrying about yourself was enough.
Langhorne Manor Hotel
Langhorne Manor Hotel 1889
Desiring that their friends, who for various reasons were not able to locate permanently, might have a choice, select and beautiful place to make their summer stay, a number of gentleman interested, in the summer of 1888, bought from the Langhorne Improvement Company twenty-six acres of its finest land and erected thereon one of the most complete and finely furnished summer hotels to be found in eastern Pennsylvania. It has an open lawn, sloping to the railroad, a background of towering Oaks, and overlooks a lake of three acres in extent, which is fed from a cool sparkling spring near the building. It is always breezy on its wide piazzas, from which the view is a delightful one. It is the aim of its projectors to have everything in and about it truly first-class.
Philadelphia Biblical University
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School Days Verses and Chorus for those to young to remember!
Verse 1: Nothing to do,
Nellie Darling,
Nothing to do you say,
Let's take a trip on memory's ship,
Back to the by gone days
Sail to the old village school house,
Anchor outside the school door,
Look in and see, there's you and there's me,
A couple of kids once more
Chorus: School days, school
days, dear old golden rule days,
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick,
You were my queen in calico, I was your bashful barefoot beau,
And you wrote on my slate, I love you Joe, When we were a couple of kids.
Verse 2: 'Member the hill,
Nellie Darling,
And the oak tree that grew on it's brow?
They've built forty stories upon that old hill,
And the oaks an old chestnut now.
'Member the meadows so green dear,
So fragrant with clover and maize,
Into
They've cut them up since those days.
Chorus: School days, school
days, dear old golden rule days,
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick,
You were my queen in calico, I was your bashful barefoot beau,
And you wrote on my slate, I love you Joe, When we were a couple of kids.
Music and lyrics from 
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