Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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YEAR BOOK ° - 22 “GUASS of 7905 Managing Editor, Percy Brown. Committee, Howarp G. Lapstey, chairman; ApA WesrpHat, LILLIAN SNODGRASS. Cummrurcement Speaker of Evenng, THE REV. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS, D.D. Salutatorian, E. FLorence Derpy. Valedictorian, CAROLYN PALMER. SALUTATORY yO you, our friends, our relatives, our benefactors, who have as- sembled here to-night because of your interest in individual graduates, in the graduating class, in the Plainfield High School, and in educational advancement in general, we extend our heart- iest greeting. We welcome you to these exercises commemorat- ing the completion of four years of study and labor. You have come here to witness our transition from one stage of our journey to another. In every period of transition we look into the past as well as into the future. Perhaps some of us have not met with the largest outward success in our school work, but what we have left undone in school need not necessarily determine our future. We can each be that which commands respect and esteem from everyone, rich or poor, exalted or lowly,—a power for good. Our influence may extend only to those around us, in constant touch with us, or it may reach out over broader and farther fields. Those, on the other hand, who have been more successful in the High School, must not stop here as if the work were over. Tennyson says: “How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use; As though to breathe were life—”’ Truly we must goon. There are great regions of the unknown for each one of us to discover, regions that are waiting for us alone, to explore which we have thus far been preparing. Our explorations will take us in different directions, some far, some near. We are standing together at the cross- roads, waiting—some to start north, some south, some east or west. Some

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THE ORACLE. y ITH true regret we learn that we are to lose Miss Ball and Miss Cum- - ming from the faculty next year. When the announcement was made that the Board of Education had granted them a year’s leave of absence, we realized as never before the good influence which they have exerted over us. With the able services of Miss Ball, the rough p ath leading to proficiency in geometry has been smoothed out for us, and even Greek is not distasteful to us when under Miss Cumming’s patient guidance. Both have worked untiringly to bring our High School up to its present. high standard of scholarship, as well as to make our school life a pleasant one. We feel that their places will be extremely difficult to fill, and cannot but thank them with all sincerity for their efforts in our behalf. The entire student-body unites in wishing them Godspeed, and at the same time looks forward most eagerly to the time when they shall reassume their places among us. When Dr. William Dunning. of Columbia University dropped in upon us on May 25, a special assembly was called at 11 o’clock, and we had the pleasure of listening to a most interesting talk by an “old grad” of ’74. Dr. Dunning gave an amusing account of the laying of the cornerstone of our High Schocl, a very momentous occasion for Plainfield. When the school- boys of the class in which Dr. Dunning was then a member, heard rumors of a high school, they decided, “with the mature wisdom of eight years,” that the building would be high, architecturally. Their anticipations were rea- lized, and when completed, the school stood three stories in height. Dr. Dunning spoke also, with much humor, of the publication of the first period- ical in the P. H. S. It was “Echoes from the Class-Room,” edited and printed by the class of 74. However, the aspiring printer disregarded syl- labification, and the result was horrible to relate. Words were dissected at any convenient letter at the end of a line, apostrophes were forgotten, and the second edition of “Echoes from the Class-Room”’ never appeared. In conclusion, Dr. Dunning spoke of Mr. Kerr, a former principal of the school, in words of highest commendation. He expressed his sincerest thanks to Mr. Kerr for his uplifting influence, and said that however little we may appreciate the efforts of our teachers now, we certainly can not fail to do so latvr in life. Ulysses was off for the wars. “T do hope,’ murmured Penelope, “he won't get mixed up in that Japan- ese-Russian affair ; he doesn’t speak anything but blank verse Greek.” Anxiously unravelling the shroud, she awaited the extras.

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THE ORACLE. “It may go far and meet with success on every hand; others may follow in more sheltered paths, quietly doing the little things near at hand. Of failure we hope there will be little. We have always before us our aims, our ideals. Yet these ideals will fade and disappear, unless we share them, unless we en- thuse others with the beauty and the value of the life that we ourselves are slowly learning to realize, and that we are trying to attain. We appreciate the fact that it is to wish us success on this journey that you have come here to-night. You have watched from year to year the graduation of other classes ;-you have taken an interest that has inspired us to do our best; and it is the result of your interest as well as of our own en- deavor that we can now look not mournfully into the past that comes not back again, but hopefully and confidentially forward, with purpose wisely to improve each present opportunity. E. Florence Derey. ESSAY SAMUEL CHAPMAN ARMSTRONG. ANNA LOUISE RUNYON. N these days, educational developments in the South are attract- ing general attention. Men are devoting more and more time to the study of the great problem with which the South has to deal, and are watching carefully every new step taken in its so- lution. Mr. Robert C. Ogden of New York yearly invites a large delegation of well-known northern educators to accom- pany him to educational conferences held in the South, for the express purpose of learning more about the education of the freedman and what is being done for him. You ask why we are all so interested in the education of the freedman? Why do we not let him live his happy care-free life in ignorant bliss, dwelling in his log cabin and never learning even to write his name? The reason is this: At the close of the Civil War our nation was confronted with the problem of dealing with ten million freedmen. Of this number five per cent. possessed a small knowledge of reading and writing, a fewwere skilled manual work- men, and all were totally untaught in the art of taking care of themselves. Plainly something must be done! The nation was bound to take upon her- self the task of fitting these men for the freedom she had bestowed upon them. How should this be done? It required a master to solve this mighty problem, and that master was Samuel Chapman Armstrong. From the mo-