Ann Arbor High School - Omega Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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D when the final day in June came, in each of those past three years, when I could say good-bye to those dreary old school- rooms for awhi1e'and look forward to a two months' life of Q lounging. For notwithstanding what our respected teachers say regularly before every vacation, that rest is change and not idleness, it must nevertheless remain a fact that a student ap- preciates the thought of a good long time when she will be per- mitted to lounge to her l1eart's content Q I can only speak from experience of the feminine body of students, perhaps the mas- culine may be above such reprehensible pleasuresj. Then all the delightful picnic parties that so many of us can remember withlsuch pleasure, some of them perhaps like a cer- tain sleigh-ride party weknow of, when the conveyances would not come for all the expectation and- longing of the impatient watchers! p. - i Q Then there is one day in June not so fvcryvmany years ago which I remember well. Oh' dear, it makes me hot now to think of it,-how we toiled over plants and evergreen and drapery, and struggled -with surprising energy, considering the weathe1', against one boyis persistent 'purpose to get us to begin work at half-past seven olclock in the morning! Yes, even the recollec- tions of those tasks are almost. too laborious for a June day. I As I went on dreaming away in this fashion my thoughts got farther and farther from my conscious control, and I suppose I nearly went to sleep, It crept into my mind that there was one day in June to come. which would surpass every other in impor- tance, and to which very many beside 'myself were looking for- ward with eagerexpectationg and slowly a vision ofhthat day and its occurrences appeared to me. - ' ae ae ae as ek It isnthe all-important morning. A hundred young people of a 'dignified and imposing demeanor are assembled in Mr. Clark's room' on the first floor of the High School building. Young gentlemen in new black suits and irreproachable neck- ties talk nervously among each other or carry on short conver- sations in a decidedly self-conscious manner with members of the feminine 'side of the house. Young ladies in soft white muslin gowns, dainty gloves and fa variety of flowers, are admir- ing each other in a high state of satisfaction. Apart from the general throng, in various attitudes of studious thoughtfulness

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CZIFLQQ 65f:.QP1U- i.1,..l.l-- BY G ERTRUDE SUNDERLAND. iii- And what is so rare as a day in June ? Then, if ever, come perfect days. Please don't anyone say chestnuts! In the iirstplace, using slang is such a very unpraisevvorthy thing in young people, hardly to be overlooked even in Seniors, and in the second place, haveu't you been told nearly every day of your lives that you shouldn't tire of beautiful things but should enjoy them more and more each time you hear them? According to that, we certainly ought to be passionately fond of this passage by this time, for most of us had heard it dozens of times before ever we entered the High School, and after We became students in that respected institution did Wenot hear it quoted by each successive class of Sophomores, including our own, in a manner calculated to inspire love of the passage in every breast ? Surely I could not have chosen a text more familiar and dear to our hearts than this. ' On just such a lovely June day as Lowell describes, I had taken a book Qwho shall say it Wasn't 'C The Vision of Sir Laun- fal ?j and gone out by myself to read and muse under the shade of a favorite old tree. It was such a beautiful day that the temptation to be lazy and give myself up to enjoying the soft air, the songs of the birds and insects, and all the other pleasures of the early summer time, soon induced me to lay down my book and stretch myself out under the shade of the tree to gaze at the sky and indulge in day dreams. And it fell -out in the course of events that my thoughts began running .over the various delightful June days I had enjoyed since I .became a learned High School student, How I felt I had reached the Pisgah of all my longings

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'et ' ten poor unhappy creatures are passing the few till' 5, miserable moments alloted to them before they are summoned tl ii fate to make their names immortal for better or for to 18 ' u wma. After some five or ten minutes of suspense the com- l is given and all form in line and march slowly up to the mam ,, , D commencement hall. Expectant faces of parents and friends .fl-get the voung aspirants to honor as they take the places iissigned to them on the platform. Just before reaching her seatoone of the young ladies drops her flowers, but they are not recovered notwithstanding the chivalrous attempts of several of, the young gentlemen, for it is a very difficult thing even to pick up a bunch of flowers when a room-full of eyes are fixed upon you and you are not at all used to it. , ' The exercises begin with music, Beethoven's funeral march. The pale faces of the mournful ten on the 'platform grow paler as the music progresses. Finally comes the dreaded announce- ment, Oration by M. Calvin Boylan . Witli trembling limbs the gentleman referred to rises, tries to think what foot he' ought to put first in order to come out on the right one to make his bow to Mr. Perry, gives it up and walks out as it happens, makes his two grand bows and stands facing the audience and collecting his thoughts. His subject is Etiquette, and the remarks he makes on the necessity of gentlemen acquiring deli- cacy of manners while they are young, etc., are truly inspiring. He does himself and '90 credit. ' W Next on the programme comes Mr. R. C. Campbell, and he deals with the ethnological subject, The origin of the Camp- bell gens and how it came to have so 'many representatives in '9O. After him Mr. Alfred B. Connable comes to the front, dis- tinguishing himself especially for the grace of his bows ,fsee Mr. Granger, dancing-masterj. His subject is The modern signicance of the Latin camo, amarc, czmrtfvi, cm1.aizmz. But for some reason the speaker seems unable to view his subject quite dispassionately, and at times unconnected remarks about a wedding march rather break up the thread of his discourse. Hext Mr. Thomas E. Goodrich addresses the audience on the toplcv KMY eXDG1'ience of a presidential campaign. Two 01' three gentlemen among the listeners clap furiously, having had some experiences themselves of a like sort. L