Chester High School - Flamstead Challenge Yearbook (Chester, VT)

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24 FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE permanency, represented by Vermont marble and granite, but happiness and sweetness which Vermont maple sugar brings to us. At the present time there are at least thirty-eight slate establishments in Vermont, and slate goods from these factories are now shipped to all parts of our country, even to Europe. In these goods she is exceeded only by the state of Pennsylvania. Lumber is another important industry, and, although Vermont does not lead in its production, she furnishes material for a large number of pulp mills. what would the world do without Vermont dairy products, for she not only supplies herself with milk, butter, and cheese, 'but also sends great quantities to New York and Boston. Farms of today are very modern and the farmers have all kinds of machinery which makes their work pleasanter and easier. The early farms of the pioneers were quite the opposite. They not only were without modern equipment, but were 'without the knowledge for making their crop pro- duction successful. Many times their crops failed and they would be faced with starvation. In spite of all these hardships and disappointments, the pioneers struggled on. As years passed by they gradually began to learn more about cultivating their crops, and the invention of new machinery made their tasks easier. We, too, will be faced with hardships and disappointments in the future, but if we remember the pioneers who stuck by their farms, never giving up, we will be encouraged to keep on until we have accomplished whatever we set out to do. - One hundred and fifty-seven years ago little did the early settlers, as they herded their sheep and tilled the soil, realize the vast amount of wealth that lay hidden under the very earth they walked on, and that was to be found in the forests about them. As we go forth now to make our place in the world, little do we realize what opportunities lie hidden from us and how we, by seeking out these opportunities, may make a name for ourselves as Vermont has done. Class History Kermit Reilly Now that the class of '48 is about to graduate from Chester High School, the question as to where the years have gone has been raised in the minds of some. It doesn't seem possible that four years have vanished leaving only majestic memory, but checking up on the time, we find that there surely have been four years that the class of '48 has spent in high school. Nevertheless, it seems only yesterday that we were freshmen. When school opened in the fall of 1944, pupils from Chester and surrounding towns walked up the path to the halls of knowledge to continue their pursuit of a higher education. Many students came from a one- or two-room school- house, and the sight of the brick high school filled some of them with a sense of awe and a bad case of shaking knees. The teachers looked grim and a trifle frightening to some, but after a few days we discovered that -the instructors of the various languages, sciences, and so forth, weren't so horrible as we had imagined. Then the first class meeting was conducted, with the Chester pupils making the most noise this time fthe out-of-towners were not very well acquainted with the surroundingsl. Barbara Jeffrey was the first ladyu Qpresidentj of the class, and the staggering sum of 25 cents a month for class dues was adopted.

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FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE 23 drops, while artistic ability is needed to arrange successfully the special furniture required and other necessary stage properties, to produce the proper lighting effects, and to plan appropriate costumes. Since to be a good actor one needs to 'be able to put himself in the place of the one whose part he is raking, be able to think as he would think, feel what he would feel, we can see at once that acting requires a sympathetic understanding of other people. Not only must the actor be in sympathy with the feelings, peculiarities, and oddities of the people themselves, but he must also be acquainted with various customs of dress, and ways of living of the peoples of other nations and races. These may be vastly different from his own, but the more he studies these people and their ways, the broader he will become and the more tolerant he will be toward them. 'Thus we can see that drama can play a large part in helping to achieve world peace by promoting a better understanding among nations, and a kinder feeling toward those who are unlike ourselves. Vermont, Our Torch Bearer THIRD HONOR ESSAY Marion Walker One hundred and fifty-seven years ago Vermont declared her independence, and since that day, began the laborious task of making a place for herself in the world. How proud we are of the tom'b of the Unknown Soldier, the Arlington Memorial, which is the largest cemetery monument of the world, built within sight of our nationis capital, at Washington. The blocks for this monument came from the Vermont Marble Company of Rutland' and Proctor. Before marble was quarried here, the land was a barren sheep pasture, considered so worthless that it was traded for an old horse. Now it has been transformed into by far the largest marble-producing establishment in the world. Barre has the largest granite-quarrying area in the United States. In fact, monuments made fom the dark Barre granite, which can be very 'highly polished, have been shipped to all parts of the world. Granite from Bethel and Woodbury has gone to build some of our finest buildings in the United States. We, of today, with all the conflicts and uncertainty around us, should strive to make our future as strong, dependable, and permanent as Vermont has made her industries of marble and granite. The industry which brings approximately two million dollars to Vermonters yearly is the maple sugar industry, in which Vermont leads the forty-eight states. She not only leads in quantity but in quality. John G. Saxe, a Vermont poet, declared that Vermont was famous for four things: Men, women, maple sugar and horses. The first are strong, the last are fleet, The second and third exceedingly sweet, And all uncommonly hard to beat. Ma le su ar not onl brin s mone into the ockets of Vermonters, but it also P A g - ya g n my P o brings happiness into their hearts in its season. This, too, should be kept as we go out into the world, because life not only needs strength, dependability, and

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FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE 25 The fatal day arrived all too soon! The one that set our hearts pounding and filled us with dread! Freshman Initiation Day! ! The boys modeled trian- gular trousers, long silk stockings and other linery, while the young ladies were bedecked in their pater's long fiannels, a chicken bone in their hair, and heavy work shoes. Soon this brutal day, it didn't really kill us, although we thought it would, came to an end, and the Freshman Reception Dance was held with the freshmen getting in free.', As we were still buying war stamps to lick the other side, in this case Ger- many and japan, every Wednesday was War Stamp Day and everyone pulled out his pennies, or borrowed money from the 'home-room teacher, to purchase red or green war stamps from President Jeff The year came swiftly to a close and we celebrated its climax by having a class party, which was a complete success, judging by the way in which the refresh- ments disappeared. The sophomore year was slightly uneventful. We elected Barbara Jeffrey for class president, increased our class dues, and studied, or didn't, as was our separate beliefs. In October we placed a few corn shocks in the gym, added some pumpkins, and had a I-Iallowe'en Dance. From this affair a few pieces of silver and some dollar bills were added to our treasury. Year number three had a few new changes. Henry Trombley was president this time, and there was a noticeable increase in dues, as we were going to New' York, we hoped. We had some new classmates, a turkey to raffle off in December, and in March our class dues, taxes, had to 'be paid before we could vote in school town-meeting. If we didn't pay our taxes', our names were on the social register, entitled Delinquent Taxes. In May, 1947 were were told to prepare for the Junior Prom, our memorial to the then senior class. For about two weeks we scraped paint, washed floors, varnished, decorated, did 'ballet dances in our stocking feet, and blithely pinned crepe paper tails on our classmates. A huge Maypole was placed in the middle of the gym thus giving our party the title of lVlaypole Prom. The prom was a success, and aside from a few paltry dollars which we lost on this event, we were triumphant. Then came the autumn of 1947 and we were SENIORS. We were happy that this was our las: year of school, and doubtless our teachers were, too, although they were too polite to say so. In a peaceful class meeting Henry Trombley was reelected president, Kermit Reilly, vice-president, Frankie Williams, secretary, and Marie Nloffitt, treasurer. Miss Sawyer, who has always guided the senior classes so well, was our class sponsor. An initiation committee was soon appointed and they picked out some fiendish costumes for the hapless freshmen. Then the great day came. Armed with dark, greasy lipstick, we welcomed the freshmen cordially and gave them a primary and even secondary coat of war paint, marched them through the streets, and herded them into the gym where they performed some specially devised con- sequences. That night we entertained them with a dance. Those of our little victims who couldn't dance came and spent the evening drinking up our Coca Cola. Our senior play, Advice for a Price, came next. After many hectic re- hearsals and a jittery afternoon of playing before the small fry of the town, we were prepared for the evening performance. The audience was generous with applause and cat calls during the dramatic love scene. Following this, in due time, 'Christmas cards were sold, and soon we were preparing for the Christmas Formal. After a hurried last minute decorating job on the auditorium, we spent a wonderful evening dancing.