Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

Page 9 text:

THE ORACLE. 5 Meta Rutter Pennock Haledictortan Margaret Virginia Leggett Salutatorian Hire President of 1910

Page 8 text:

4 THE ORACLE. The Salutatory Gentlemen of the Board of Education, Mr. Superintendent, Mr. Best and the members of his Faculty, Honorable Speaker and Citizens of Plain- field, greetings and salutations from the class of rg1o! If you are glad to be here this evening, surely the class of 1910 is doubly glad. ‘“‘Every- thing comes to him who will but work and wait.” We have done both, and we have become in our turn the graduating class of the Plainfield High School. It is a special pleasure to greet the Board of Education. During the four years of our High School course, the Board has silently worked beside us, making possible our many advantages. The class of 1910 is the first class to have spent four whole years in the High School building. It was a building well worth waiting for. We have appreciated it and we have appreciated all the good things that you have given us. Dr. Maxson, you know how much our class loves you. It seems almost useless even to try to express our feelings. Every graduating class has told you of their great admiration, and 1910 shares the unanimous feeling a little more deeply. And Mr. Best and the members of his faculty! Will it seem wrong to say that we are glad to leave old P. H. S.? Surely not, when one remembers the care which you have taken to prepare us for the future years. We should be glad to leave, to prove our worth and to prove the value of your careful training. To the untiring efforts of Mr. Travell, our principal for three years, we owe a large share of whatever success we may have gained. Mr. Best, you have been a teacher, but better than that, a friend to every one of us. It has been your first year as principal. Perhaps the class of 1910 sometimes made the waters troubled, but believe us, it was unintentional, and you have our best wishes for many more successful years as principal. Very gladly do we greet you, citizens of Plainfield. You have helped make us what we are. You have made it possible for us to have the benefit of the best that education has to offer, and it is our fault if we have not taken the proper advantage of our opportunities. We realize that in a few years many of us will become citizens of Plainfield. It will then be only fitting that we should do for others even as you have done for us, and because of what you have done for us, we shall be better able to do for them. We thank you, citizens, for your interest and for your substantial help. MARGARET VIRGINIA LEGGETT

Page 10 text:

6 THE ORACLE, Valedictory Address A little hepatica on the barren mountainside struggles up thru the gray worn rocks into the air. Hindered in its growth by biting winds and overtowering stones, shielded by the same rough boulders, shaped by the nourishing soil, the faint sun, and March showers, the cramped curls unfold in the brighter April sunshine. After four long years, surrounded by unconscious influences, our individuality is now developed. We may know the properties of hydro- chloric acid, the character of Henry the Fifth, the meaning of a projected line, but these things are only the unrelated details of the picture. Our thoughts, our habits, our moods are now forever ours and will give life its true meaning. The fixative has set the drawing, For all we may be to-night we thank our friends, our guides. Shall I say we are their shadows? Many things we have willed to do, but after all we are only the reflection of the silent influences about us. The stones, the soil, the rain, the sunshine all have done their work. And somewhere breathes a forest Deity who plans for every one. Against, and with our wills, we have been moulded by the master hand; and we are thankful with all our hearts for the mistakes by which we have learned, for every quirk and turn of our school life, and every self-sacrificing effort. Yes, class-mates, we have pushed our slender stems thru Stygian rocks and breathed ozone under circling suns. Each impression is a blending of combined influences; the thoughts of others have seeped thru our ideals and left their traces. By daily friction we have filed down our sharp corners; lived, and lived happily, together. We have known and loved each other well. “The moving finger writes, and having writ, May we, thru all the coming years that flit, Not lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all our tears wash out a word of it.” And the hepatica? We are pushing out into the great world. The shining sun and blowing wind will bring the flower face to face with blue skies. May our life be as real and true as our thoughts. We do not grow and bloom for mere existence. May we each strive to forma fair flower, cheer a little lonely child, found a happier home, make one heart the blither for our passing,—so—good-night. Meta Rutrer PENNOCK.