Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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THE ORACLE 147 remark, both in school and outside, “The High School has a good team, but no battery.”’ Now, the opinion of baseball critics has changed somewhat, for we now hear, “The High School has the best scholastic battery in the State. We see the cause for this change in the manner in which cur games have been won. The fielding has been fairly good in some, and very poor in others; but in every one the battery work has been excellent. Not only has Smith secured the record for the greatest number of strikeouts, but he has the lowest number of hits registered against him of any pitcher in the school at any time. Davis has also developed wonderfully for a first year catcher, his success has been remarkable, and pitcher and catcher have work- ed together like a well regulated machine. The rest of the team has on the whole, a somewhat lower standard than the battery. The infield did some very good work, but. it also did some very poor work. The outfield did a little better. At the beginning of the season, Scott, Bock and Guinn made a powerful trio, but changes reduced this until Scott alone of the old three, remained. In batting, the team was not all that one could wish, but noe was a list of heavy hitters in the beginning of the batting order which always showed up to good advantage. Long, Craig, Scott, Smith and Thompson could usually be depended upon for hits in times of need. This was es- pecially true of Adam Scott. The Pingry game was in fact the only one in which he did not give a good account of himself with the stick. The games for City Championship were tamer than any one expected. Leal’s were easily vanquished, and Cedarcroft almost as easily. The real struggle came rather unexpectedly with South Orange. The Orangemen came here, flushed with an overwhelming victory in basketball, and expected to do the same in baseball. We trounced them to the tune of 4 to 3, and they retired vowing vengeance in the return game. That they over-exerted themselves is clearly shown by the game struggle they put up on their heme field. The superior pitching of Smith finally conquered and we returned with a ten-inning game, 2 to I to our credit. The last game of the season at Pingry, also showed the stuff that we were made of. Up against a pro- fessional pitcher, we won out on our own merits and a pitchers blunder, Craig making the only run scored in the whole game. When we look back over the whole season, there are two things which impress us most strongly. The first is the ability which the team, as a whole, showed in getting out of tight places and in keeping their heads. This is due in great part to the magnificent spirit with which they

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146 THE ORACLE tempts were of no avail. At this the Scotchman flew into a rage’and stamped about until all the small fry, which were hovering near, fled in dire con- fusion. This reckless loss of self-control was not a characteristic of the Scotchman, for when on board the boat he had a most equable temper, but it was the effect of being under water. Strange to say all pearl divers are affected in much the same way. Most peaceful men when on board, they very often fly into a temper when: under water because of a wrong air sup- ply or some other trivial matter, and signal to be pulled up. As they near the surface, just like a child, they forget their anger and when hauled on deck do not know what they have come up for. With a powerful pry of his knife the Scotchman loosed the oyster and signaled to be drawn to the surface. A little more air was pumped into his suit. Being thus made lighter he easily rose to the surface and clambered aboard. After a week’s more fishing the little ship made sail for home. After the cargo of several tons of oysters was unloaded they were dumped into sand pits. Here they remained under a broiling East Indian sun until they were thoroughly decayed. The oysters were now easily opened and were washed in a sieve. The pearls, which are mostly quite small, were separated into different sizes, but out of one large oyster a pure oriental pearl was washed. This pearl had the distinction of being put in a strong tin box all by itself. As the completion of one of its series of many adventures, “the 80 pearl,” as it was known, finally found its way into the hands of afamous New York jeweler. There, on account of its regality, it remains to this day. Nat- ure, when allowed, always does her work perfectly ; and as a grain of sand in an oyster is transformed into a pearl of great price, so a little grit in the Nature of a man, if carefully nurtured and allowed to grow, will in time prove a pearl of great value in his character. Howarp G. LAPSLEY, 05. Baseball When the time came around for the organization of the baseball team, matters looked rather doubtful for a successful season. Of course some of the old team were left, but an entirely new battery was required. There were very few candidates for either pitcher or catcher; but, of the material at hand, the most promising were “Phil.” Smith, for pitcher, and “Neal” Davis, for catcher. How well these two players fulfilled that promise is a matter of history. In the beginning of the season we often heard the

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148 THE ORACLE were captained and trained. Much praise is due to Captain Thompson for the successes of the year. He inspired a wonderful amount of nerve in the whole team, and this alone pulled a victory out of the South Orange, the Rutgers Prep., and many of the other games. The second thing whiclr appears very remarkable is the woful lack of support which has marked the attitude of the school at large. The Pingry game was the only one in which much support was given by the school. In the City Championship games we had the smallest crowds of rooters of any of the schools. It is very hard to find a cause for this since a successful team almost universally receives the support of the school. The only cause which can in our mind be as- signed to this lack of support, is the deterioration of the school spirit in the members of the Plainfield High School. The only encouragement we have in regard to this, is the fact that next year we will have almost identical- ly the same team, the only graduate being ‘‘Peewee” Long, and the student body may support a team which served so successfully this year. Ty Ola. HEN Mr. Travell made the announcement that we were going to lose Miss Burroughs from the faculty next year, weallrealizedthat she has occupied a place in our midst which will be difficult for another to fill. Miss Burroughs has made the department of History a delightful one, and to her we owe its general popularity among us. Great as will be the loss: which the whole school will feel at Miss Burroughs’ leaving us, the mem- bers of THE OrAcLE Board will miss even more her untiring efforts as our Associate Editor. Miss Burroughs’ connection with THE ORACLE dates. back to the launching of the enterprise in the fall of 1902, and throughout she has devoted much of her time to the success of our publication. It is therefore with a great deal of gratitude that we join with the rest of the School in bidding her Godspeed and wishing her every success. The Fatulty will also lose a very valuable member in Miss. Santee, who al- though she has been with us but a short time, has greatly endeared herself to the heart of every pupil. In general, only the lower classes have had the benefits of Miss Santee’s teachings, but we can safely say that the school at large will greatly regret her departure. “Everything comes to him who waits,” mused the waiter sadlv, as he gazed at two Canadian dimes and a lead quarter—Ex. Teacher—‘“A fool can ask questions a wise man can’t answer.” Pupil—‘That’s why we flunked.”—Ex.