Reading High School - Arxalma Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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, LITERARY 25 Chick Hawk, who was captaln, and Polly Leinbach, who played guard. There is an old Dutch proverb which runs something like this: He who lives with cripples, learns to limp , and this I think, must have been the case with our class basket-ball team. We had been su- preme so often in athletics, that being constantly surrounded by a bunch of in- ferior athletes, causes us to limp ex- ceedingly much. To make a long story short, our team played so punk, that every game was lost, and the honors of cellar championship were ours. Out of consideration for those on the team, I will not mention any names. We made up somewhat for this punky showing, how- ever, by winning the steeple-chase, the ilrst of its kind in the school. This event diillers from the cross-country run, in that one must surmount certain obstacles, such as fences, streams, etc. The first man to finish was Boomer Hendricks, the Pot-Pie Kid. You might ask, whence the name, and, so, risking Boomer'si' wrath, I shall give you the story, and you may judge for yourselves whether or not he is properly named. One day when I was busily engaged in studying QU, Boomer came up to me and says, Bill, you're going in the Steeple- Chase, ain't you? Sure, says I. Well then, let me put you next to some good dope, says Boomer, if you want to make a good showing in the race, take my ad- vice. This is somethingl do in every race. Don't eat anything for a. whole week before the race but pot-pie, and on the day you run, go home for dinner, tdon't eat in schoolj, and eat pot-pie until you can't surround any more. Of course, I didn't follow this advice, but I see now that Boomer was right. He has since informed me that he intends publishing a book entitled The Advantages of a Pot- Pie Diet in Running. There are few, if any classes that can boast of three celebrities as great as those we shall now take up, We havein our number, one, who besides being editor of the school paper, is already a newspaper man on Reading's latest and best paper. This one is Joe McKenna. We have an- other, Rev. Edwin Raymond Haag, our punky valedictorian, who has never taken an examination since he entered High School, which is certainly a fine record. The third, Speck Spohn we no longer have with us, this gentleman hav- ing fallen a victim to the wiles of Cupid. Readers of history may remember the days when mail-clad knights opposed each other in their tournaments and fought savagely to overcome one another, often with serious or fatal results. Today, in Reading High School we also have tour- naments, although not quite so dangerous as those first mentioned. I have refer- ence to the Checker Tournament, in which our team, composed of Savidge, Reuter and Nagle, came off second best. The interclass debate this year was not quite so interesting, due to the fact that our opponents were rather inexperienced in debating, and consequently the team of 1913, consisting of Leinbach, Masters and Schnapps 'De1let, had an easy time de- feating the Juniors on the affirmative of Resolved, That the present system of protective tariff be gradually reduced to a free trade basis. In April the school debating team, up- holding the same side of the question, and consisting of two 1913 men and one post graduate, Leinbach, Howden and Harper respectively, opposed the Lebanon High School, and came off with a two to one victory. We come now to the inter-class meets, in which our team, by winning every meet, became track champions of the school. We strengthened our claim to this title later, by winning the big handicap meet with a lead of 20 points over our nearest opponents, the Sophs. On April 26, the school relay team with three of our men, McKenna, Matz and Noll on it, and one 1914 man, Charlton, journeyed to Philadelphia, and took sec- ond place in the one mile relay. This team made the best time that was ever made by any Reading High School team, doing the mile in 3.3935 being beaten by 33 second. Had it not been for a little hard luck, they would have captured first place, as our team was certainly superior to Johnstown team on whom Dame For- tune' sm-iled very graciously that day. This is not merely a line of bombast, for I think if you ask Ski Henry, he'll tell you the same. Eight of our men, Maso- nek, Matz, McKenna, Noll, Dunkelberger, gilbert, Brossman and Albert were Q11

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24 THE RED AND BLACK and contributed a large amount to the grand total. The entire amount for which the Association aimed was S15,000, but only 510,000 was obtained, not, however, through lack of work by those on the dif- ferent teams. When this debt is once cleared, the Association will endeavor to procure a gymnasium for the school, if one doesn't turn up before then, which is extremely unlikely. It is certainly a sad state of affairs when one considers that a school the size of ours, is without a gym. All other High Schools, many small- er than ours, are equipped with up-to-date gymnasiums, where a course in physical training is part of the education. Does this then look as though we were pro- gressing? Does it look as though all pos- sible steps have been taken to insure those graduating from this school, not only of a good mental education, but something greater, more important than this-sound healthy bodies. It is not our desire to stir up resentment against any- one, but these things we think should be remedied, and that in the near future. Nuff Sed. First prize in the annual Eagle Essay Contest was captured by Pup Howden, while Johnny Noll took first honorable mention. Once again the heavy hand of fate rest- ed upon our class. On January 14, 1912, Herbert Lindberg, another one of our be- loved classmates, was claimed by death. About this time our chances of being basketball champs looked exceedingly bright. Everything was running along smoothly, when suddenly the team took one awful slump, and 1913 came to rest in second place. This sad fate, however, did not deter one of our number, Cummy Wolfskill from winning first prize in the Red and Black story contest. Cummy it will be remembered was second in the same contest the year before. On April 19, occurred an event which caused the members of the class of 1912 to gnash their teeth in rage and tear out their hair in great handsful. On that day our debating team consisting of Leinbach, Dellet and McKenna, upholding the affirm- ative of the question, Resolved, That the advancement of civilization is more in- debted to intellectual culture than to the force of arms, Went against the class of 1912, and completely overwhelmed them. Its seldom that a Junior team defeats a. Senior team and this makes the victory all the greater. In the election of class ofiicers for the Senior year, George Dellet captured the position of President, with Julius Sneez- er Fenstermacher as Secretary and Treas- urer. Johnny Noll was ,made Track Manager, and Harry Matten, Basketball Manager. About this time the Board of Managers for the Red and Black was elected. The offiecrs were as follows: Editor-in-Chief, officers were as follows: Editor-in-Chief, Bruce E. Howdeng Circulation Manager, P. Bitzer Leinbachg Advertising Manager, H. E-arl Erbg Business Manager, Cum- my Wolfskillg Treasurer, Pete Haugen, Ass't Circulation Manager, Brossman, Assistant Advertising Mana- gers, Potteiger and Walley. There is one thing for which we must give the Red and Black men of this year credit, and that is the promptness, with which each issue was gotten out. Few, if any classes have a record such as our class holds. So wonderful is this record, that I would fain disclose lt, but the extreme modesty of those on the staff forbids me doing so. We come now to our last year. In our first year, there were one hundred and sixty-eight in the class, but our last year shows a drop of over one-half, there being only seventy-seven remaining. In September, the swimming team again went against the Y. M. C. A. team, again met defeat, this time, however, by a margin of only two points. Wanner and Keiser, the stars of last year's team, again were right there with the goods, and contributed largely to the final score. The football team of this year was com- posed of practically all '13 men, there being nine of .our men on the team. Ted Leinbach captured first honors in the Alumni Contest, while Paul G. Mas- ters took first honorable mention. In the next event, the cross-country run, our class made a miserable showing, being beaten out by the Juniors. This was due largely to the fact that there were only about three of our men on the team. On the 'Varsity basketball team, we again find the names of two of our men,

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26 P THE RED AND BLACK the 'varsity track team this year. Matz, this season, has twice succeeded in smash- ing the half-mile record. McKenna held the record before at 2.09M5, but Matz low- ered it to 2.072 and finally 2.04 fiat, which is now the school and track record. 1913's literary supremacy again showed itself, when Wilbur Moyer took first prize in the Panama Canal Essay Contest, held by Dives, Pomeroy Sz Stewart. Then, Paul Masters, in the Swathmore Oratorical Contest, while he didn't win a prize, nevertheless made the best showing of any High School represented there, and received first honorable mention. The end of our high school career was now in sight, and accordingly prepara- tions were made for the Class Day and Commencement exercises. Ed. Haag with an average of about 930, well earned the honor of valedictorian. The contest for salutatorian between McCall and Howden was very close, and it was decided only at the last moment that Roger F. McCall was the successful man. To Bruce E. Howden accordingly fell the honor of de- livering the faculty oration. An innovation was introduced this year by selecting a German motto, Ich Dieu, upon which Ted Leinbach was elected to deliver the class oration. Ravel was elected prophetg Noll, distributor of gifts and Hartman, historian. Several efforts were made to have the boys' and girls' Class Day t0gether, or at least on separate dates, but all to no avail. We labored, not so much with the idea of gaining this privilege for ourselves. but rather to plant the seed, so that the classes which follow us may enjoy the fruits of our la- Asked the pretty teacher:-- Who can give me a sentence containing the word disarrange? Answered the little Wop- Every morn- ing my fadder get up in the cold and say, 'Hang dis-a-range. -Exchange. Ill Ill lk Stop smoking young man! You'rc help- ing to back a trust.-Exchange. . ik 41 -1- Who are you, Gnat? Mol1y. Molly who? Molecule! Aw, gwan! I'1n the guy what put the ding in Read- ing. bors. One of the reasons advanced why this privilege is unnecessary, was that it seldom happens that a brother and sister graduate at the same time. You all know, as well as we, that the real reason in ask- ing this privilege was to make it possible for the boys and girls to attend each oth- er's exercises, and thus, at least once in four years have a chance to see what our classmates look like. The last event of this year was a social one, the Bazaar, held by the Red and Black. In former years it was the custom to give a play of some kind, but the young class, having made suggested by Prof. thespians of our their rep, it was Birch that a Bazaar be held instead. This suggestion proved a very valuable one in several ways. First, it renewed to a cer- tain extent the social life between the schoolsg and second, it was a great suc- cess iinancially, there being over 5200 cleared. The career of the class of 1913 is now almost ended. Some of us may be glad, others sorry, still I know that all will look back on their high school days with fondest memories, and remember them as times of great pleasure. While our class was by no means a model one, yet I am sure that each and every 1913 man tried to give the school his best, and worked hard to uphold the glory of Old Reading High. We hope that the seed we have planted will mature, and that our example as a class has been a good one, so that in departing we may as Longfellow says, Leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found diflicultg and left untried.-Gilbcrt Keith Chesterton. if I U On the day that any copybook maxim is carried out there will be something like an earthquake here on earth.-Gib bert Keith Chesterton. if i 8 There are only three things in the world that women do not understand. They are Liberty, Equality and Fraterni- ty.-Gilbert Keith Chesterton.