Ashtabula High School - Dart Yearbook (Ashtabula, OH)

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The Dart Considerable comment has resulted from some serious inquiries in football games this year. It seems as though the criticism has been in- tensified simply because a few fatalities have occurred in the large eastern schools, a fact which would cause the risk to be. greatly exag- gerated in the opinion of the hypercritical. Possibly just as many ac- cidents have occurred forrperly, but they have happened in schools not so prominent. However, some changes in rules would prove advisable. Rough tackling is a cause of many serious accidents and ought to be prohibited by rules. Then again if players were compelled by officials to leave the game when unfit to play, it would lessen danger, for it is often the man who remains merely because of nerve and grit who suf- fers. The open play made possible in recent years seems to be an ad- vance in the evolution of the game. There is no reason why other changes can not be made which will still leave it a manly game. It might still be a game, if governed properly, in which boys can delight and in which they may get a training for tackling difficulties and ex- hibiting real courage. In our school football has been a success. There have been no serious accidents. The boys have kept up their studies well during the season. Norman Hackett, the leading actor in DeMille’s great West Point play, “ Classmates,” addressed the students of the High School on Thurs- day, December 2, 1909, in a most interesting manner. Aside from his great popularity as an actor, Mr. Hackett has won an enviable reputa- tion as a scholar and lecturer. He has been honored by invitations to address such large universities as Cornell, Michigan, Virginia, Notre Dame and Illinois, besides innumerable high schools. His main theme was “ The Great Ever-Living Dead Man—William Shakespeare.” He made a direct appeal for a closer study of Shakespeare’s plays, for he said, “ They are a glorious Anglo-Saxon inheritance, the influence of which no one can afford to miss.” He said that students were prone to think Shakespeare deep and beyond them, but if they would cultivate an interest and love for the man by a knowledge of his early life and then apply these influences to the beauty and truth as found in his plays, they would have no trouble, because Shakespeare is always sim- ple, always human, always direct. Mr. Hackett delighted his audience by a number of familiar quotations from Shakespeare, such as the Queen Mab speech, Gratiano’s “ Let Me Play the Fool,” and selections from “ Macbeth ” and “ Julius Caesar.” He closed his address by a strong appeal for the better use of pure English, declaring it an outrage 11

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The Dart the student ? ” has been discussed time and again by learned educators. In this, as in every other question, there are two sides and each one ha? it’s supporters and adherents. A great majority have been in favor of examinations, and in nearly all places they are employed as a means of testing a pupil’s ability and knowledge. While they make the work harder and while they are a nervous strain, yet we believe them to be a good thing. If a pupil knows he has examinations ahead of him in which he must make a good showing, he will not let his work slip back nor will he neglect his review—as he would if he thought at the close of a recitation that he would never again need what he had recited, and so could promptly forget it. Examinations mean hard work, but then that is what we are here for. We should not always be looking for the “ soft snaps ” and easy places, but do our share without sighing and groaning. We have called this issue of our High School paper the “ Alumni Number.” We have done this for several reasons, chief among these reasons being the desire to interest the Alumni to a greater extent in their old High School home. We feel that a large number of the mem- bers of the Alumni have helped us by their liberal patronage and kind words, but there are some who apparently have forgotten all about old A. H. S. It is these persons whom we wish to bring to the realization of the fact that A. H. S. is still doing business at the old stand and would appreciate assistance or encouragement in any form. We have in this issue several articles written by members of the Alumni when they were in school. We consider them very good specimens of High School work, and they show that the present members of the High School will have to do some hustling to produce as good results. In the last ten years Ashtabula High School has graduated two hundred and thirty-one persons. In all probability it will graduate a much larger number in the next ten years. Most of these persons live in Ashtabula or near here. We wish to urge the organization of an Alumni Associa- tion. This would not only promote good feeling and comradeship among the members, but it would produce interest in the High School. There have gone out from A. H. S. persons who have risen high in various lines of work. If they could be brought into closer touch with our school we feel sure they would be a source of inspiration and encour- agement to the students. Many towns much smaller than ours have Alumni Associations, and if one were started in Ashtabula we feel that it would be a means of enjoyment and would cement the bonds of fel- lowship between the Alumni and the undergraduates. 10

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The Dart the way Americans, in their customary haste, are daily mutilating the English language. He urged all students, teachers and actors to eradi- cate the evil. ser We were visited this fall by the State Inspector of Schools, Prof. Twiss. He gave a very satisfactory report of Qur school at headquar- ters and we were placed on the accredited list for a period of three years. We have been on this list for some time, and so this is simply repeating the honor. We feel that this places our school on an equal footing with larger high schools than ours. 38? We, the retiring Dart staff, will and bequeath to our successors our good will, good wishes; our titles, some pleasure and plenty of work. We have in our term of office just passed, learned many things which will, without doubt, be of use to us in future years. We have enjoyed greatly our little “ stunt ” of journalism. An informal fraternity has been formed by the staff members which will, we sincerely hope, last after our school days are o’er and we are separated one from another. We have shared our difficulties and our pleasures equally, and we trust that in future years, when we look back upon our efforts in the literary world, we will remember only the pleasures. We are grateful to the faculty for their assistance, and especially are we grateful to Mr. Diet- erich. He has taken a deep interest in our paper as he does in all our High School ventures. He has given much of his time and thought to the betterment of the periodical. Although he has never written for it, as he believes a High School paper should be entirely the work of the students, yet he has done many things for it of which the students know nothing. He has been ready with his good advice and counsel at every uncertain place. Without his assistance The Dart could never have reached the degree of excellence we feel it has attained. Mr. Dieterich in History—” Give one way by which the people showed their anger toward Hamilton.” Beatrice A.—“ They burnt stuffed dolls just like him.” Wanted—To know what hair tonic Roy Sterling uses. Senior Girls. How do we know that poker was invented before Vergil’s time? Because he mentions a full house (omnis domus) in the Aeneid. 12