Abraham Lincoln High School - Railsplitter Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

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THE SENIOR RAILSPLITTER President Summers Address to June Qraduates M ' HE CLOSING HOURS of our high school career are ap- JIL proaching; our work is almost over. We meet today for the last time as a class, 100 of us making the last entry in the journal of our Abraham Lincoln high school days. For four long, hard, but happy years we have added debits and credits to our personal ledger — crediting the useful knowledge that we have retained ; the various contributions we have made in the fields of athletics, dramatics, journalism, music, and other extra-curricular activities; the service we have given to make life in Lincoln high easier for all concerned; debiting against our- selves the numerous opportunities we failed to grasp, the times we cheated a little on a test, or played truant from school for a few hours and supposedly got away with it. As the time draws near for severing our June, 1932, class rib- bons, symbolic in itself of the scattering of the members of our class, we all wonder if, when our books are finally audited, they will show a credit balance, signifying our success, or will loom up in red, revealing to the world that we have made a failure of the first important test we have had to confront in life. The mere fact that we are graduating does not necessarily imply that we have been truly successful. Because of our ability to pass the required scholastic work, we have earned the right to sit garbed in cap and gown today; but. if our departure is not felt by Lincoln high school; if we are not leaving on our own merits; if we have not left some tangible impression instilled in the minds of the faculty and students, our years have not been well spent. Today we are in a strange and contradictory state of mind — both optimistic and pessimistic ; optimistic and hopeful because we have completed our assigned task, and are about to have what we have always visioned, until today, as personal freedom. Now, we realize that this, that we have called freedom for four years, embodies, with its pleasures, much responsibility. We are leaving the guidance and protection of faithful instructors, who have aided us in our decisions during our high school career and we are facing life, alone, in the most difficult time history has ever known. Classmates, if we were placed on a high pinnacle where we could look upon all periods of history, would we choose this day in which to live, this day in which to enter the business and pro- fessional world in the midst of economic change and unrest ; this day in which to start in at college to study for a career which may possibly shift so quickly that it will not even be a needed profes- sion when completed? No! Not one of us would choose such a difficult time to face life and start anew. However, through our study we have learned that hard times are frequently the path to development of deeper thinking among the more earnest. These last four years of prepa- ration have taught us courage if nothing else. The present period is a challenge to us. Shall we falter and fail now? Study also shows us that strife is caused through greed, imperialistic am- bition, or lack of capable leaders of sound character and reason- able foresight in a great crisis, such as we are now facing. Is not the demand of today then greater than ever before for the efficient, skilled, well trained individual? Is not the urge even stronger there- fore, to fit ourselves to meet this demand through higher edu- cation ? The garden of the world is a paradise of miracles and unrest, but those who have their inner sight wide open to the unforeseen mysteries of life ever recognize them In every seed is eternal glory of creation, in every blossom the promise of the greater pos- sibility of which the fruit is the perfect fulfillment. Someone has written : A poppy seed — it lies in the hand, a grain of dust, mo- tionless, unlovely, dead. Yet think what it holds ! The cool, gray- green of the upward-springing stalks and leaves, the calyx with its hundreds of protecting ears, the exquisitely shining, silky, gorgeous petals in sunset rose, misty white balls, magnificent scarlet. In all this not an atom of dust. So it is with our lives. Today we, as a class, arc pushing out from the seed to grow upward into the perfect aspiration of material life. Are we ready to grow? Many of us who had planned a college education for the fall of 1932, now find that impossible. Others of us had thought we would be able to find employment during the summer months, but there are no places available. Apparently we are at a standstill. But this is only apparent. Industry may be at a standstill but that is no reason why we should not perfect our learning and util- ize what we have so far gained. If we have a period of enforced leisure we may use it to learn. If we will study we shall be led to higher life, and be induced to place higher goals before our- selves. An educated person is not necessarily one who has com- pleted the prescribed courses in high school and college, but one who has taught himself to be fair and honest, as well, to meet the problems of life with a level and clear head, to take both the good and bad breaks with his head up and a smile for the world. A student of the world does not let temporary success turn his head, but sets forth toward a higher goal, and ambition instills in his own soul a desire to do more for God and humanity. But if we do reconcile ourselves to the fact and believe the world has nothing good in store for us. we shall gradually become ust less and reckless, caring not for the future, typical drug st ore cowboys sitting around telling useless stories. In time we shall either awaken and start over, or we shall be swept through life a dismal failure without doing justice even to ourselves. Which life is yours, members of June class of 1932? The choice is for each of us as individuals to make. Today marks the completion of one of the four most vital and important years of our lives. They have been years of building foundations, and preparing to meet these odds that we are actually facing today. The world is crying for sound, sane, unbiased leaders, both in- telligently and morally. Arc we going to be able to meet this challenge? Let us be found standing together, shoulder to shoulder boldly facing the problems of our lives. The June 1932 Class Remembers Lincoln High The June, 1932, class is giving to Abraham Lincoln High school, as a remem brance, two artistic cement benches and a cement bird bath trimmed in unusual colored stone. They are moulded by hand, the stone coming from different parts of Iowa. These benches will be placed in an appropriate spot on the Lincoln campus. a 15 i

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THE SENIOR RAILSPLITTER Abraham Lincoln High School Chapter of National Honor Society Arthur Johnson. President Ethel Potter, Secretary John Stevens. Vice President Dorothy Latta, Treasurer Odessa Farley. Adviser Twenty active members compose the present chapter of national Honor So- ciety in Lincoln High, Des Moines. Each semester an additional group is selected from the 11 A, 12B, and 12A units to make up the active group. Initiation cere- monies are conducted in a special all-student assembly. The aim of the Lincoln High chapter of national Honor Society is to develop character, to create an enthusiasm for scholarship, to promote leadership, and to stimulate a desire for high attainment. 1932 All Club Presidents Back row, reading left to right: Eva Jo Mason, Junior English club; Harold Macy, Dramatic club; Joseph Lindsay, Lincoln-Douglas Debate club; Terry Bissinger, La Curie Science club; Lucy Plemone. Home Economics and Girls ' Athletic Association; {CATHERINE Buhrer, Bibliophile and Library staff; Edgar Shephard, Junior Character commission. Front row reading left to right: Lloyd Burnstedt, German language club; Dorothy Tur- ner, Junior Debate club; Alva Cook, Junior Student Council; Ruth Brown, 10th grade Dramatic club; John Gillotti, Tuesday language club; Herbert Gunson, Junior Aviation; Thomas De Young, Thursday Scribblers; and Leda Nizzi, Folk dancing.

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THE SENIOR RAILSPLITTER Journalists of June 1932 Marcaret Glassburn. Editor Francis W. Sharratt, Business Adviser Xadi.nk I a k kk , Managing hditor Helen Glessner, Business Manager Joseph Plemone, Sports Dwk.ht Thomas, Advertising Manager Una Masolini, Publicity Jack Summers, Circulation Esther Mary Brannen, Editorial Adviser Kmnv Des Moines Club Donald Haruis President Kathleen Munzkn m aikk, Assistant Secretary Harold Gray. Vice President Owen Hall, Treasurer Marguerite Morlan. Secretary Mrs. Edna McCaull Bohlman Adviser The Know Des Moines club was organized in the fall of 1927. The purpose of the club is to acquaint Lincoln High students with the business and working conditions of industries in Des Moines. During the past semester, trips have been made to the Northwestern Bell Telephone company, the Des Moines Register and Tribune, the city jail, and the Rollins Hosiery Mills. Following the trip to Rollins, a club picnic was held in the state fair grounds for the final session.