Athens Area High School - Athenian Yearbook (Athens, PA)

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CLASS POEM Today, when our schooldays are over, and duties are faithfully done. When the last of school's lessons are over, and that newer life is begun. We shall strive and work as we ought to at the task we can all best do. At that work which these past years of training have fitted us to pursue. From the start we must fight our own battles- all agree that the “fight’s to the strong”— We must look to no help save our own staunch will, though the battle rage furious and long. To the one, who faithful in all things, strikes hard at the thing in hand. All success is his for the taking, so up! the world’s yours to command! Then look back as we pause at the threshold, perhaps some at the gates of fame. To give, and give with all gladness, tribute due to Athens’ name; For to her one and all give credit for paving smoothly the way For the larger tasks we’ll accomplish in the future’s opening way. MARGUERITE NEWMAN, ’18. 15} ta ta FLOWERS IN POETRY All phases of nature have been touched upon in poetry, but poets seem to delight most in the beauty and significance of flowers. Henry Timrod in his Flower Life says: “I love the world of flowers. Less for their beauty of a day, Than for the tender things they say.” Following the thought of these lines let us notice how almost human the common flowers seem to be. As modest but sincere people cannot help but win the affections of the crowd, so the everyday common flower appeals to the passerby. Wordsworth has caught this conception from the snowdrop. “Lone flower hemmed in with snows and white as they But hardier far, once more I see thee bend Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend. Like an unbidden guest.” What farmer ever laments the fate of a flower which he has turned down with the plough out in the field? Yet Robert Burns has written a beautiful poem. To the Mountain Daisy, based upon just such a simple every day incident. Have we ever thought of this flower as Burns must have when he said? “Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flow’r. Thou’s met me in an evil hour; For I maun crush among the stour Thy slender stem; To spare thee now is past my pow’r. Thou bonnie gem.” I think there is hardly a person who doesn’t like The Trailing Arbutus, for we enjoy a poem written about something we love. In The Trailing Arbutus Whittier says: “The trailing spring flower tinted like a shell Amid dry leaves and mosses at my feet. As pausing o’er the lonely flower. I bent. I thought of lives thus lonely, clogged and pent Which yet find room. Through care and cumber, coldness and decay, To lend a sweetness to the ungenial day And make the sad earth happier for their bloom.” What can be said of the lily, a flower with so much meaning to us? Some unknown author has given us a lesson through these pure white flowers: “Yes, leave it all with Him; The lilies all do. And they grow; They grow in the rain. They grow in the dew— Yes, they grow; 29

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The Seniors JOSEPH FRAXCKE ‘ I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, their delicacy, their vivacity and—I like their silence. Though Joe has been with us only a year, we wonder how the class progressed so well without him. Treasurer of the Athenian Board in ’18. MARGARET SARIN Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O’er books consumed the midnight oil? ’ A wise young lady to whom we wish success in the role of schoolma’am. Salutatorian. Deutsche Verein. H. S. Girls’ Auxiliary. ALLITERATIVE SLOGANS In the days of our grandparents the fundamental principles of elementary education were the ever popular three r’s—readin,’ ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic—and, as the saying went, taught to the rule of a hickory stick. Although these are surely essential foundations in every walk of life, they do not now have the great significance which was once given them. They are simply the stepping stones, and are considered as a matter of course, not as any great accomplishment. At another time the three h’s—the hand, the heart and the head—became the slogans. These include every principle necessary for a successful life. The heart is the source of all our individuality. The head is the seat of all our mental functions and through it our hands are guided and trained. They are a trio which has as its keynote the one word, personality. We may say with Gibbon, A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute. Coming to a consideration of present day conditions, the slogan of the three p’s at once suggests itself promptness, push and patriotism. From promptness grows the principle of push, the persistent endeavor that is necessary for every effort to become a success. The spirit of patriotism now means more than any one ideal we can follow. If each citizen wishes to do his all in winning the war, he will find no better principles to follow than the three s’s—saving, sacrifice and service. Our young men are giving the best service in their power and everyone who stays at home and saves will be serving his country to the fullest extent. Through this we will be sacrificing and giving services which we had never dreamed we could. But who is not willing to do it for his country and for democracy? Trust no future, howe’er pleasant. Let the dead past bury its dead; Act. act in the living present; Heart within and God o’erhead. JOSEPHINE V. GORI. 18. 28

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They grow in the darkness, all hid in the night; They grow in the sunshine, revealed by the night Still they grow.” A sense of comfort and cheerfulness is gained by the remembrance of the impression that some flowers have given, although at the time one may not realize what effect such a view has. Wordsworth says, after seeing a host of golden daffodils”: “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me hath brought. For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood. They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils.” Bryant has drawn a beautiful likeness between the fringed gentian and the closing years of his own life. This flower, coming so late and seeming to be alone, does not lose heart, but rather looks up to the heavens hopefully. He says: “I would that thus, when I shall see The hour of death draw near to me. Hope, blossoming within my heart. May look to heaven as I depart.” LUCILLE STEVENS. ’18. Ki 3 VALUE OF HIGH SC HOOL PLAYS Since 1909 fifteen plays have been given by high school students. Nearly all of these were classics and directly connected with the English course. The plays were: The Merchant of Venice. Silas Marner. Vicar of Wakefield. The Princess. She Stoops to Conquer, Life of Lincoln. Old Tioga Point. Antigone, Pygmalion and Galatea. As You Like It. The Taming of the Shrew. Hiawatha, Cranford. The Rivals, and a musical comedy. The Captain of Plymouth. The public have proved by their patronage that they are glad of the opportunity to see the presentation of these plays. The money received from them has always been used for a good purpose, as in the instance of the play given in 1917. The sum of fifty dollars received from this was given over to the Alumni Association to be used as they see fit. It is very essential to give plays of high character. Foremost of all is the fact that it raises the standard of the school. The student gains a confidence in himself which is to him a never-ending benefit. It also furnishes a splendid opportunity to present these plays before the students with an effect that could not have been gained by reading them. Take as an example Portia in The Merchant of Venice. After seeing the character in a play, it becomes so much more real that it arouses interest when the play is read and it does not seem to be a dry. hard thing to interpret. as oftentimes something of that sort does seem to the student. The class as a whole derive great benefit from the successful presentation of such plays, but it is also of inestimable value to the high school as a whole. It increases high school spirit and promotes pride in the school. LILLIAN TAYLOR. ’18. £3 THE TAMING OP THE SHREW CAST OF CHARACTERS Baptista ......................................... Leland Grenell, Marjorie Carner Petruchio ......................................... Wesley Vannoy. Lucile Prince Hortensio..........................................Joseph Francke. Josephine Gori Pe( ro ............................................................ Maxine Salsman Biondello ........................................................ Katherine Lynch Gremio............................................. Mildred Stevens, Lillian Burns Walter ..................................................................... Lillian Taylor Nathaniel ........................................................... Myra Tomkins Grumlo ......................................... Harold Leverton, Cathryn Flanagan Gregory........................................................ Evangeline Leighton 30