Philadelphia High School for Girls - Milestone Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Philadelphia High School for Girls Nor is our courage and daring merely youth's desire for action and change. We have learned, in the past years of high school training, two facts which together may prove the key of our puzzle. Vile realize that whatever we may choose as our chief work, we must reach out to many other things, broadening, deepening and diversifying our interests. Each part of life is so woven into the warp and woof of the whole that interest in many affairs is beneficial to the pri- mary interest. Every experience we have, if we use it rightly, makes us bigger and our lives richer. If we confine our abilities to one work, they grow less keen and we become useless to the world. The great demand of today is for people, not only specialists in one field, but possessing knowledge of the many. The young woman of the present has greater opportunities for broadening her interests than the woman of former years. Through the political life she can and should enter, she comes in contact with the majority. We girls, by keeping, before us always the high ideals we have been given, can make the ideals of America finer and more splendid. If a girl chooses a business life, the teaching profession, or immediately goes into the home life, her influence upon her asso- ciates will be great. While we realize the value of varied interests, we also have learned a greater truth. We know that the richness gained from all our living, to be of any real force, must be concentrated on one definite task-a work of which we can say: This is my work, my blessing not my doom. By me alone of all living This work can best be done in the right way. We are sure that among all the many occupations in all the fields of service, there is one particular task for each of us. If we should neglect the task for which God designed us, it must go forever unfinished. There is no other indivi- dual with the talents necessary to carry on that work. It is ours and only ours. The illuminating truth is that for each individual there is a definite task. It mat- little if it be great or small, but it is important that we give to it the best that is in us. We must develop our talents in the field for which they were given to us. As we stand here today and think of the thousands of girls, from this school, who have gone into the world and accomplished noble deeds, our hearts thrill that we belong to such a splendid company. VVe sincerely resolve to find the work which is ours, to develop a broad-minded spirit and live lives of service so fine that our beloved Alma Mater will be proud to have our names on her list of graduates. The Gentlemen of the Board of Education: In later years we may appre- ciate more fully the benefits you have made it possible for us to receive. But on this Commencement Day we do realize the many, many things we have to thank you for. Those of us who are going directly into the world of business. have only the capital you have given us, to aid us. The honors we win and the heights we reach will be obtainable because of the training you have given us. We shall always be grateful to you. Dr. Gowing, our Honored Principal: VVe are closer perhaps, to you than the classes before graduated, because you and we were Freshmen together. For four years we have worked together and you have guided us towards the ideals you yourself live by. You have been ,a faithful friend and a wise advisor to us. To enumerate the many improvements you have wrought in our lives, would be an endless recital. So with honest sincerity let us say as simply as possible, Thank you. The ideals you have given us will guide us long after this day on which we bid you Farewell Dear Teachers: During the last four years we have stood before you. on more than one occasion, in mute dismay, powerless to put our thoughts into words. At this time of parting, we find our words powerless to express our thoughts. VV e can tell how you have influenced us for good-have made us big- ger and better than we ever dreamed we could be--but it leaves unsaid many thoughts. With your faith and confidence in us, we dare choose our work and Page Sirtnn

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Class of February, 1921 Halrhirinrg ' Time has at length brought us to the goal for which we have long been working. The dictionary, with its customary lack of emotion, sets down a goal as: the end, or final purpose, the end to which a design tends or which a person aims to reach or accomplish. Then, it sums up the meaning we have in mind, when it says: any starting post. The latter definition is distinctly the one to be applied to our goal-Commencement. The goals we have striven for previously, have terminated active efforts in a certain direction. This one differs from the others, in that it is both an ending and a beginning. It finishes one race and starts another. VVe, on this Gradua- tion Day, complete a race which has covered four years of high school work, and are pausing awhile before starting the bigger race. It is well to consider deeply the commencement of any worth-while enterprise. That the life we lead hereafter is to be worth-while, we are all fully agreed. To the best of our ability it will be creditable to the training we have had. The consideration of an enormous undertaking is apt to confuse one's mind. We all know the panic-stricken feeling that accompanies thoughts of Gradua- tion. It is really a doubting of our own ability. Up to this time we have, to a great extent, had our plans made for us, and in carrying them out have been carefully supervised. While we have been taught self-reliance and independence, we have not yet tested our powers of initiative. We are now facing the time when we must be the directors of our own lives. We can no longer rely upon others to make plans for us. The first step we take, free from another's aid, is in choosing our life-work. It is a decision which will make or spoil our whole lives-and we hesitate. There are so many paths, so many bends and twistsg and not a few turnstiles and cumbersome gates. Facing this bewildering maze, we might do well to recall the directions of Helenus to the Trojans: There, having set out you will approach the Cumean city, the divine lakes and Avernus resounding with woods, you will see an inspired prophetess in her home under a deep cliff, who sings the fates, and consigns the omens and symbols to the leaves. The maiden arranges in order whatever verses she inscribes on the foliage and after hiding them in the cave, she departs. They remain un- movedg nor is their order in any way changed. However, as the door turns on its hinges, to permit the entrance of someone, it disturbs the tender foliage and a gentle wind blows the leaves. Then, she neither troubles to catch them flutter- ing about the cave, nor to restore their places, nor to put the prophecies together. The people go away unadvised and hate the seat of the Sibyl. We have approached our Cumean city and find before us many omens and symbols. It is not plain what they prophesy nor into what they would lead us. Numerous vocations seem to be attractive and splendid, monetary offers await us. The real value of each is hidden. We see as through a prism and our own point of view, distorts the objects viewed. However disguised the many phases of work may be, they are ready for us to make a selection. The choice is for our own lives and only we can find and fit together our destinies. We are young and so are not likely to become impatient because, instead of a beautifully planned work, a baffling puzzle is presented to us. In lfact, we rejoice in the fitting together of our individual puzzles. There is a thrill in the task that appeals to us. Even the danger of making a mistake attracts us and we welcome the struggle necessary to avoid blundering. A worth-while battle leaves its imprint upon the participants and makes their characters strong and big rather than weak and mean. Page Fifteen

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Class of February, 1921 face the world undauntedly with our choice. VVe shall never forget you. You are too much of us. Dear Girls: To you, with whom I have worked so intimately the last four years, I can wish nothing better than that your individual tasks will be difhcult enough to develop the best in you. As we go our various ways into the things for which we have been trained, the relationship, formed in our happy high school days, will not be severed. However scattered we may be, we shall ever be united in our common bond of love for our Alma Mater. VVe do not say Good- bye, for the circle of friends in the Graduating Class of February, 1921, can never be broken. XVe say, instead, in the good old language of our Anglo Saxon forefathers, who knew the full meaning of their Goodbye, - God be with you. KATHERINE B. GRILLET. A Page Seventeen A