Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

Page 30 text:

Retrospect The folloxxrng oratron xvas qrx en by ohn W Gocher as the Vale drctory Address of the Class of 1886 Thrs was the frfth class to be graduated from the ohnstown Hrgh School and rncluded the followrnq members Charles C Greer noxv udge rn Cambrra County Charles M Lemmon ennre R Beale Mary R Beale Cora M Wagoner Lucy Marnhart Arvrlla Barnes essre A Tommrns L Grace Young and ohn W Gocher Mr Gocher rs the father of Mrss Alrce M uocher 1 member of the present faculty of the school ORATION There comes a trme rn ex ery nun s lrfe xx hen he pauses rn hrs on xxard career and thrnks of the past Hoxx short hrs lrfe seems' The vears are as days and the hours as seconds He never fully realrzes untrl then the full force of the thought that the future comes xxrth folded wrnqs whrle the past flres xvrth eagles prnrons Hrs reflectrons may be pleasant or thev may be the rexerse ac cordrnq to the lrfe he has led He can see the results of hrs actrons qood as well as bad and thrs rs the trme when he can drstrnqursh between them If he be rn a penrtentral mood perhaps he determrnes to do what he can to rectrfy hrs mrstakes Thrs rs not alwavs possrble however especrally rf he rs old Then he sees that he should have retrospected earlrer rn lrfe new step we would try to thrnk of srmrlar ertperrences rn the past and therr effects we should be sax ed from makrng many blunders Young people generally rush rnto anx nexx project wrthout thrnkrng whrle to older people the habrt of retrospectron comes more naturally The aged haxrng but lrttle of the future before them lrxe rn the past A roseate glamous sheds rts hue on ex ery path untrred And dreamrng youth thrnks to hrs quest no good mav be denred Whrlst tremblrnq age turns back the page and through the record xarn Strrves hard to fell the ancrent zeal and lrve the past agarn People lrxe a great deal faster noxv than they drd rn past trmes Then they were content to lrxe on rn the same xx av day after day wrth nothrng to drstrngursh one day from another Noxx there must be ex crtement rn a person s lrfe or rt rs thought not xx orth the lrxrng Work xxhrch taxed the powers of men rn those days rs now done by boys Lookrng back over the hrstory of a country for a trme how strange rt all seems' Take the hrstory of the Unrted States for example Begrn wrth the landrng of the Prlgrrms on Plvmouth rock We can see them stepprng on the rock from the boats of the Mayflower They are dressed xerv srmplv and fully realrze what hardshrps they xx rll haxe to endure They burld therr log huts and burld them for comfort and conx enrence and not for elegance Then xxe see the growth of the colony and the settlement of other toxx ns untrl frnally there xx ere thrrteen colonres xxrdely separated srnce the only means of communrcatron xx as on horseback and the trme re qurred for the journey one or txxo xx eeks and sornetrmes more I V' ' K ' Y I . - n . . . - r - f' . . , c . . V L . . V . . n . 7. . . , A Y v C ' I N Z . . . . . , . This is a habit every person should possess. lf, before taking any . 1 I . . . . . . . . y A V ' ' ' ' 4 V V , , V . . ' V. , . . V Y . - ' ' ' r 1 ' C ' ' h t

Page 29 text:

The orchestrw also his pllvcd 1n Ch lpcl md it the VV llnut Groxc Unlted Brethren Church lndlxldual members have been grouped to gether into xarxous ensembles and hixe entertwlned at many social affalrs Song IS an outpour1ng of the heart and an art1st1c embochment of the language of emotlon oy gr1ef pa1n love hope hero1sm and fortltude xx1ll remaxn her fax orlte themes to the end Mox ed by such feehng pr1m1t1ve man f1rst ralsed h1s VOICQ 1n accents of pass1on and qave hrs trxals of the clay or of the chase or of War around the camp flre ln a constant VOICG wh1ch gaxe the practlcal effect of the ch'1nt or practlce of 1ntonat1on A perlod of experxmentlng saw much ln the de xelopment two three or ex en four notes yxere added and thus began the transformatron of speech 1nto song Dancmg played a great part ln the development Wlth men accommodatrng thelr song to the beats of thelr feet xnfluenclng the melodles and group1ng the notes 1nto bars and phrases In th1s vxay cho1rs choruses and sololsts came to outpour the1r hearts 1nto song the one th1ng everyone IS capable of domg or has a deslre to do 'it one t1me or other Chorus act1x1t1es xn h1gh school today enjoy a hrgher plane of exlst ence ln the school program than was the1r condltlon a generatlon ago In those days the rehearsal per1ods vxere spasmodxc and 1rregular the or ganlzatron was usually termed a Cvlee Club and nts repertolre con slsted malnly of tr1fles such as The Bull Frog on the Bank or slckly sentlmental tunes and xx ords of the type Bobolmk Tell Me Tell Me True Today the chorus occupies a dlgnlfled place ln the school currlcu lum It IS an organ1zat1on of balanced sect1ons studylng works writ ten ln four SIX sexen or exght parts Educators today b6l16W6 that serlous and worthy muslc has as much 1ust1f1cat1on 1n the school pro grams as the study ofEngl1sh or a forelgn language The Chorus studles vxorks from the x 1r1ous schools of muslc datmg back from xvorks of the early church to those of the modern perlod VV1th1n the xocal l1m1ta txons of the hlgh school xoxces the vxorks xx h1ch are studled represent the hlghest type of music llterature from masters ln that fleld The fol loxxmg l1st w1ll 1llustrate the types and perlod yxhxch are exempllfled through study Adoremus Te Palestrlna M2dl36X3l Church Be s1de Thy Cradle Bach Early Classlc Axe Verum Corpus Mo zart Later Qlasslc Fmile from Cvondohers Sulllxan Llqht Opera The Three Kmgs Wxllan Modern Sacred Cnrgoes Lutkm Modern Secular Both the medlum of a capella and accornpanled s1ng1ng are em ployed by the lohnstovxn High School Chorus Sexeral performances ire yearly glxen tnese performances ter mlnite usually a semesters xx ork Many hours of addxtlonal t1me are dlhgentlv spent by our most capable dlrector Mxss Mary Weux er and the h1gh school puplls of the chorus besldes the scheduled tlme for regu lar rehearsals e Chorus . , Y , . , ' , . V Y 'm , r., . , c c I T c x c c c . -. . . Y S . . c ' c . Y Y c Z I h . 7. . V . Y Y C Y Y Y Y K . ' lc ' Y . Y , Y Y Y . . . . L Y Y Y i . I . . Y Y Y Y S c. . , 7 . . . F Y Y . . ll YY . . ' - . . . l. YY . . U . . , . Y Y Y YY Y - ' . , ' Y - Y Y - Y Y 1 C ' v A . ' - . . Y . 7 V . . Y 7. . . . . 7 . . . H H . . ll j ,-4 ,... ' ' - Y . YY . ll YY .-. .-. : ' ,i, , -. . ll , . , Y .Y , . ,-Y ' C ... ' ,.. 1 ll , YY . l. 1 Y. , C --f -- Y c L' .... , ' . w . . c I ' - . 1 H Yv V Y . . . c . I L Q I I . ' c ' ,

Page 31 text:

Next we heir of the qroxxmq dnsswtlsfwctlon xv1th the mother coun try beciuse of the tax ltlon of the colonxes ind then of the RCx0lLlfl0U ary Wir xxhlch left the colonles free 1nd mdependent states We follow our countrys affrnrs on through the other smaller vxars dovxn to the Clxll War After 1ts horrors were ended came a txme of prosperltv listmg unt1l the present the country groxx mg rneant1me ln srze and power until xt 13 noxv the greatest nat1on of the xxorld Through all th1s the people had been growmg more lntelllgent Many 1nxent1ons haxe been made rex olutlonlzmg the methods of farm lnq manufacturlng and commerce floxx strange lt would seem to us now rf the days of the stage coach were to come back and we xxere compelled to xx11t for our mall untrl the post rlders 1rr1x ed How xx ould these people endure lt xxho ex en novx when rallroad trams run it the rate of forty mlles an hour groxxl the whole t1me and keep the other passengers 1n m1sery7 In the sc1ence too there has been corresponding adxancement par txcularly 1n the natural sclences for example the names of the dlfferent uses to vxh1ch electr1c1ty may be put are leglon Slnce there has been such advancement 1n t1mes past xx hat may people not do 1n the tlmes to come7 It rs sald that each succeedlng generatlon of men becomes expect a time to come when the fertlle bram of min wlll form such qreat projects that he wlll not haxe the strength to execute them It xvxll be a long tlme before that takes place hoxx ex er and mean xx hlle vxe may expect great thlngs of men We may expect to see aerlal nax1gat1on establ1shed the North Pole dlscox ered and many other thmgs of whlch we cannot conce1xe But on the other hand Vx'l'l1l6 some natlons of the world haxe ad xanced others haxe made a retrograde mox e1nent Gomg back to early tlmes xxe may take the Roman Emplre as an example In the days of the Caesars thls kmgdom comprlsed nearly the whole of the c1v1l1zed world It xvas the seat of learning and art and contalned many beau txful c1t1es 1n whlch xx ere the most beautlful bulldlngs rn the world All other countrles pa1d tr1bute to lt But xvhat IS It now7 Th1S great em plre has gradually fallen to pleces and parts of It haxe been annexed to other countrles so that hardly any of lt remalns The great difference betxx een the past and present lb strxklngly 11 lustrated ID a poem called Old TlmES and New Thls represents one of the Pllgflm as x1s1t1ng the xx rlter and belng so astonlshed It the number of new thmgs IH use at the present tlme that he refused to hxc mv lonqer upon the earth saymg rn explanatlon Your telegraphs your rallroad trams Your gas l1ghts frlctlon matches Your hump backed xxomen rocks for fuel Your thing xx h1ch chlckens hatches Haxe turned the earth so upsxde down No peace 1s left xx1th1n lf Retrospect lcontlmn rll .Y K VA lssvl Vs' C . I ' 1 1, . . 1 , . , ln K , I , 4' - p l C C , , ' A .', L . .W sv. 'L C I xi 1 'K 1 7 f s Cx V . 4 ! VA l D if 4 C 1 H 1 1 1 R . 4 . 1 - . 1 C . 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 7, . . 1 C 1 1 . . . . . physically weaker and mentally stronger. If this be the case, we may 1 . . . K . . , 1 1 1 1 - V ' Y 7 I . I Y V r , ' ' - , ' . . V w c I , Q ' ' - - V