Paxton High School - Reflector Yearbook (Paxton, IL)

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The Paxton High School Reflector 12 and accuracy contest. The material s chosen from familiar matter, and the grades will he determined both by speed and by accuracy. The class in lOng. II. were reading Matthew Arnold’s poem, “St. Brandon”. Upon being asked the question. “Who was Judas,” George Hanson answered, Some guy who got caught with his hair in a tree, I suppose.” The members of the Senior Class in Arithmetic Reviews are renewing their youth at present, busying themselves with what they call their “nv.m her work”. They are growing very proficient in all sorts o' calculation, even attempting to find out the amount of dirt in a hole of certain dimensions This effort may have been caused by the ofTer of a prize in Juik-to the one having the greatest number of head-marks. thes- be’ng given each day to the person keeping his place at the blackboard the longest. The nature of the prize has not been disclosed, but w’th eyes turned toward warmer weather, hints of ice-cream cones have been heard in the classroom The members of the Athqneum Lite-ary So-iety wish to express their thanks to our accommodating janitor, “Oeorge”, for his kindness in decorating o.ir stage at the recent literary. The decorations were very effective, ccns'sting of a large arch composed of white lattice work, with dark, green hangings at e'ther s de. We were also furnished with a new curtain. The old assembly hall presented a very festive appearance to the large audi- ence which assembled, and it was almost entirely due to the efforts of Mr. Papineau. In fact there are very few undertakings in P. H. S. of which our janitor does not do more than his share of labor, and we wish to express our appreciation of his kindly halp an 1 interest. Work has been begun upon the program which will be given by the Pla-tonian Literary Society during the latter part of March. The program will consist of several musical num-ibers, together with the rendition of “The Revenge of Shari-Hot-Su”, a Japanese play of two acts, dealing with the poetry and pathos of th Land of the Cherry Blossom. The cast of characters is not yet complete, but tryouts are being held under the direction of the faculty adviser. A Latin Play. The l atin JII. IV. class has begun work upon a Latin play, entitled “A Roman Wedding”, which will he given in Latin. The costumes will represent the dress of the ancient Romans and the setting will be that of a Roman house. The play will consist of three scenes, the betrothal, the wedding, and the taking of the bride from the home of her mother to the groom's home The cast of characters is not completed as yet, but every member of the class will have a part in it. The Latin I. classes are showing a great deal of interest in memorizing Latin quotations Some are mottoes of various states, while others are well known sayings of eminent Latin authors. '

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The Paxton High School Reflector U Miss Alta Chipps Elected to a Good Position in the Decatur, III., High School. Miss Alta Chipps, who during the past two years taught English in the Paxton High School, was recently elected to fill a similar position in the high school at Decatur, 111. At the beginning of the present school year, Miss Chipps accepted a position in the grammar grades of Decatur schools to do departmental work as a special instructor in reading, composition, and elementary literature. At the close of the first semester, she was chosen to fill the new position which she now holds in the high school. Her many friends and former students in Paxton will be pleased to learn of her early recognition and promotion in the Decatur schools. A SPEECH. One morning this month, Mrs. Mann a writer for the paper “Farm Life’’ spoke to the pupils of the high school. She gave the pupils hints as to the food they should eat. One of the pieces of advice she gave us was “Never drink coffee; for, nothing which it contains is healthful except the cream, sugar and hot water. She also impressed upon our minds that we should eat plenty of sugar. For example she said that she gave her son a piece of sugar every time she sent him for some coal or wood. This, she said, put more energy into him and she did not need to wait several hours for her coal. Mrs. Mann is an exceptionally good speaker, and the hints she gave us were useful. She was one of the speakers at the Farmers’ Institute. GENERAL NOTES AND COMMENTS P. H. S. A “Recognized High School Under a recent law enacted by the General Assembly of Illinois, the Department of Public Instruction is given authority to examine and standardize the high schools of the state, or at least to give official recognition to those high schools that are found to meet the requirements determined by the State Superintendent. The equipment and work of the Paxton High School has been passed upon by the newly appointed supervisor of high schools representing the state superintendent’s office, and has been given official recogn'tion as a standard four year high school. The official classification of the lrgh schools of the state placcg Pavton !n the list of “Recognized Four Year High Schools.” Accredited by the University of Illinois, “Accredited” by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and “Recognized” by the State Department of Public Instruction. This is the status of P. H. S. so far as outside recognition is concerned. The requirements for recognition by the State Department are essentially the same as those of the State University and the North Central Associat’on. However, the minimum requirement for graduation in State “Recognized” schools is sixteen units, while but fifteen are required to maintam the accredited relat’on3 with the State University and with the Association. The members of thp class in typewriting are holding this a speed

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The Paxton High School Pel lector 13 dbifl ifl thr uptjnimirf Numbrr oplmmnrp 0ppartmrut— abp ittust Jlmpartant MAKING A POEM. (By Agnes Johnson.) There are different ways of making poetry, because there are different kinds of poetry. There is poetry written for pleasure, and poetry written at the expense of one’s friends to annoy them; hut worse than these, worse, in fact, than anything in heaven or earth, or in the naughty place under the earth, is writing poetry for English class. That is indeed an ordeal. To write poetry successfully, one should provide himself with a large table and a comfortable chair, several tablets, not less than half a dozen, and a couple of pencils. These are better than a pen and they should be made of strong wood, preferably oak, and should not b° indelible. These condi tions are readily understood when I state that the writer gets much comfort and inspiration from having his pencil while he awaits the com'ng of the Muse. The writer should seat himself on the chair, sit on one foot and twine the other around the leg of the chair; He should place his elbow upon the table, bury his hands in his hair, and chew said pencil, staring moodily at the light, the window, or any other object in full view, while considering a title for his masterpiece. Frowning aids the mind in tbs task, and if this is not successful, the muttering of certain expressive words in an invaluable aid I can not mention any of thes words, as profanity is not allowed in theme writing, but everyone has his favor te expressions and any of these incantatiouss will do, providing they are sufficiently sulphurous. When the title has Leen chosen, the next thing is to write the poem proper; first, write the first sentence; then close your eyes tightly, get a fresh grip on your hair, and name all the words rhyming with the last one of your sentence, alphabetically: to illustrate: the last word of your sentence is ‘allow , begin, “bow, cow, endow, fow, how, etc.’’ until you find an appropriate one. Continue in this manner until your poem is complete. Per-