John A Johnson High School - Maroon Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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g commanding personalities and intluencel' that we owe that which we value most in our course at johnson. VVe shall be sorry to say goodbye to them. VVe dread to see the end draw near. XVhen Commencement Dax' ar- Carry Did you ever pick up a copy of the Junior Red Cross News which comes to our high stchool each month? lf you did, you doubtless read about the vari- ous helpful activities which are still carried on by countless schools, big and little, throughout our country. For instance, in a recent issue there was an article on gardening. it was an appeal to the Red Cross juniors to keep up their war gardens this year. The whole world is hungry, Mr. Hoover says. Do you ever stop to think of the tens Of thousands of boys and girlbl of your own age who go supperless to bed? just because you have enough to eat, are you going to sit back and say, I should worry ? As Red Cross juniors we ought to be anxious to help increase the produc- tion of food. We can, by taking bet- ter care of that garden that was started at home this spring. l.et's get up au hour earlier in the morning to pull weeds. The crop of vegetables will be twice as large as it would be without this extra tcare. There are other ways in which the junior Red Cross can help. At Christ- mas time each year the crippled chil- dren in the Home near Phalen are made glad by the people of St. Paul. XVhy can't we try to make these little un- fortunates happy throughout the year? The boys in the manual training depart- ment could make some toysg the girls could dress dollsg the art students could compile scrap-booksg while the expres- sion pupils could go out there to tell the children stories. Then there's the Home for the Friend- less on Maple and East Seventh. We Y 12 rives, we shall be loath to turn away from the school that has served us as a friend. as a guide, as a tutor, and as an inspiration to seek the better and greater things in lite. Un could go there in groups to entertain the old ladies, or we could go individ- ually to read to those who are almost blind. A few tlowers from the garden NVOllld cheer them up. Old people ap- preciate it so mulch when the young folks think of them. just try it once, and you will want to go again! The county poor farm is another wonderful .field of' opportunity. The poor need a little sunshine, too. Such a clean but cheerless place their home is' These poor people think that no one cares for them llOI' thinks of them. Let's show them that the Red Cross Juniors do. Did you ever stop to think of the many sick in the city hospital without even a Hower to cheer them? Let's remember them when our tiowers bloom. There isn't a better way to advertise .lohnson than through service. Xt 'Thanksgiving and Christmas time we have always looked up a large num- ber of poor families and provided them with their holiday dinners. This is a good work and should be carried on. Still these families exist all the time. Vlthv should we forget them three, hun- dred sixty-three days in the year? Our sewing department doesn't. They have outfitted from head to toot a fatherless little girl from the neighborhood. Those of us who are not in the sewing class could help to build up a fund to help the poor around us. Selfdenial days might just as well come oftener. Now isn't there a great deal that we as a school can do? Let's make our .lunior Red Cross amount to something. Let's carry on! :Xndrew Swanson, '2O. Agnes liinnerooth, '20.

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.4 f i J ' ll i l MLMN y A Tribute to Johnson As the time for the graduation of the class of 1920 approaches, we feel that we must pay a tribute lo the school which we have learned to love and respect. Never before. have we been called upon to leave a place that has won so high a position in our hearts, our memory, and our admiration, Dur- ing the four years we have spent at johnson High School we have been subjected to intiuences that will have a lasting effect upon all of our future lives. XYe have received benefits that we could not have received anywhere else. Th school has stood before us as a beacon light pointing out the way to the better and greater things in life. XX'e have had our viewpoints broadenedg we are better fitted to take np different kinds of work 5 more important still, we are better prepared to take up the duties of citizenship, As far as l personally am concerned, the three most pleasant and beneficial years of my life have been spent in this school. l sought and found what was refused me in the land of my birth. For this reason America and her institutions have won mv lasting affection and ad- miration. Xihat a 'golden opportunity l would have lost had l refrained from crossing the Atlantic! Vihcn l came to America, I was made welic-ome every- where, but nowhere quite so cordially as at lohnson. This school welcomed me with the warmth of a lifelong' friend, ' My stay here has been very much worth while. My hunger for knowledge has been appeased, and my wits have been sharpened. For three years I have enjoyed a most wholesome infiuence. Of such great benefit did my work here seem to me, that, although l lost two years while in military service, T could not refrain from resuming my studies upon my return to civilian life. VVhat 'lohnson has done for me, it has ll done for my other classmates, and will continue to do for those who come after us. We want everyone to realize this. We earnestly hope that every parent in our community will recognize the good derived fI U1l1 a high school education, so that he will, if neicessary, make strenuous efforts to send his chil- dren to johnson. We feel that had we, when the time came for us to go on with our higher education, ventured into the world to earn money, instead of coming here, our loss would have been almost irreparable. For after all, a high school training is one of the most prized of human pos- sessions, not only because of the oppor- tunity atforded to study various sub- jects, but also because of the wholesome atmosphere with which the students are surrounded. Outside of school we would perhaps have had to work among more or less evil surroundings at an age n hen enviromnent counts for a great deal. The escape from the serious con- sequences of such a fate is not the least of the advantages for which we owe a lasting appreciation to this school. As the years pass by, we shall strive to prove that our appreciation is sincere. XYQ shall make it our dutv to do our work out in the world in such a manner that honor will be reflected upon the school that taught us to work right and live right. lf we have not learned to do that, we ourselves, and not Johnson High School, are to blame. Every opportunity has been given us to fit ourselves for our future careers. Carefully lchosen courses of instruction were prepared, and every- thing' was done to make each course profitable. No little credit is due to the faculty, to whose unceasing efforts to guide, to instruct, and to help ns when- ever help was needed, we owe so much. lt is to their wisdom and s-kill, to their intelligence and culture, and to their

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. --lv A ef' . t IIRIDN Knitting ,Needles A door slammed and the tchildren coming from school stormed into the library. Their noise aroused their aunt from her reveries. Her book slipped to the floor. Oh, -Xunt Aurelia, we had such a good program at school. You know we celebrated Armistice Day this after- noon. ,-X soldier who had been in the Great Nliorld Wiar talked to us. Say, Auntie, in what high school did you teach in St. Paul? elamored eleven year old iQharlotte tffonnell. So fast dicl her tongue fly that it was almost impossible for her aunt to get a word in edgewise. -lohnson High-. Yes, l thought that was it. lle said he went to war when be was a sopho- more at johnson High School. Did you know him, -Xuntie ? VX'liat was his name 7' Mr, Swanson. lle told us all'about the Germans and Frenchmen and Rus- sians and lurks andw-and everybody. I guess he must have been everywhere, he knew so much. lle said his class- mates did a whole lot, too. lle-. Aunt Reoo. you tell us about it! interrupted Mary Louise. Htflh, do! do! chorused the other youngsters as they gathered around her chair. VX'ell. what shall l tell you about? About the warwork my class did at ,lohnson High? Yes, yes. Havent l ever told you about that before? l am surprised. Vilell. let me see, where shall I begin ?e -XVe had a big front wall. it. hung a were many or three of 17 assembly hall, and on the where everyone could see huge service Hag. There stars in this flag, and two l 13 them stood for members of the class ot which l was advisor, so, of course, we were especially anxious to help the boys in Uncle Sams forces. At that time my students were only sophomores, but they surely did do a large amount of workg quite as much, l think, as the juniors or the seniors did that year. The girls were not the only ones who helped either, for we had over a dozen boys who struggled with their knitting needles to keep them from getting tangled up in the wool. My, it certainly was a laughable sight. Here she stopped to smile at the re- collection of the boys trying so hard to learn to knit. ls that when you learned to knit, Aunt Reoo ? Yes, And I expect l made as many funny mistakes as some of the others. l think it was patriotic of those boys to learn to knit, and l'm proud ot them and all the others in our class. They actually learned how to do it, too They didn't knit any socks or sweaters, but they did knit a consider- able number of squares for the two afghans which the .class made. t l'hey learned how to make surgical dressings for the wounded, and a great number of them helped to pack and get ready for shipment boxes of supplies for the overseas hospitals. There was hardly one of my girls who didn't do something to help her c-onntry in its great need. the sewing' teacher had charge of a class in Red Cross sewing. Some of the girls joined that. They made hospital leggiiigs and undershirts. They worked hard on various kinds of clothing' for the little children in France and Belgium. who had lost one or both ot their