Auburn High School - Trojan / Oracle Yearbook (Auburn, IL)

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done well and by your efforts much has been contributed to the proper molding of our young lives. Also, to the Board of Education, a heartfelt greeting is extended. Through your co-operation the will of the community has been executed, and we are per- mitted to enjoy the privileges of a well-organized school. We now go forth as members of a large family, probably to meet no more, but always remembering to honor our Alma Mater. Since Twenty-two has but a few more days to live, let us make tonight, which is our own, the brightest and happiest of our High School career. During the exercises this evening 1 bid you listen to our representatives, as they lay before us the various pictures of our past four years,-as they prophesy, mirthfully, the future, and as they bestow our treasured possessions upon our friends and those next in line. To this Class Day program, the Class of Twenty-two bids its friends welcome. .JOHN MASTERSON. Daledictori] Friends, Teachers and Classmates: There are a number of unwritten but universal laws, as fixed and un- changeable as the laws of the Modes and Persians, that govern in a subtle way the lives of men and kingdoms. Some people live through the entire course of their lives without once waking up to a consciousness of tin existence of these laws. They stumble along blindly, wafted hither and thither by every passing breeze of circumstance, knowing not why they do this, that, or the other, and having no idea why certain experiences should come to them. All the time, however, they are moving in obedience to probably the most powerful and in- vincible of all these laws—the great Law of Compensation—which was first put into words by the holy Man of Nazareth, centuries ago, when He said, “With whatsoever measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again.” We may not be even dimly conscious of the workings of this great law. We may not have even begun to realize that, for whatever harvest we reap, we our- selves must certainly some time or other have sown the seed. But it is none the less a vital truth in the life of everjr individual, and day by day, hour by hour, as we enjoy the benefits of every passing experience, we are signing our name to life s same old promissory note, “For value received, T promise to pay!” For in those few words, common-place and ordinary as they may seem to us through continual usage, lies the real keynote of all human life. Gentlemen of the Board of Education, we realize that it is your silent in- fluence at work that has laid the foundation for this hour, and has made it pos- sible for us to stand here before you tonight. As we linger upon the threshold of active life, the doors of our school and its educational advantages ready to swing behind us, the question arises in your minds, as well as in ours, “Just what are we going to get out of life anyway?” We feel that you have a right to ask and expect a frank reply. But indeed, there is only the one sure and satisfac- tory answer. We are going to get out of life just exactly what we pay for, just 24

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Engcrt, assist.” And then J remembered having often heard of Dr. Coeplin during our school days and understood how they had been brought together. Going into the streets a short time later, 1 found an immense crowd gathered round a platform where a hot political debate was going on. To my surprise I found the opponents to be Blanche Snell and Floyd Harris. They were both running for the state legislature, and had planned their campaign just as Lincoln and Douglas had done four score years ago. Blanche was defending the state- ment: “Resolved that the franchise should be taken from men and given to women only.” Her political career had been marked by aggressiveness, while Floyd had been on the “also ran” list for four previous elections. 1 was very interested in the debate, but as I had to fill an appointment I could not hear the end. That night at the Bijou Roof Garden I saw Cecil Crouse play the leading role in a wonderful play, “The Rose of Romany.” I enjoyed it immensely. Between acts Miss Elizabeth Bruuk was introduced as the greatest American toe dancer, which she proved to the audience beyond a doubt. The next day I went to see my old friend George Mehr. lie owned the best chewing gum factory in the world, and bad become very rich. He told me that Harold Williams was a diamond broker in New York and that Teddy Skaggs was a popular ladies’ man at Palm Beach and various other summer resorts. The next night the newspaper bore the news that the president had ap- pointed J. Mervin Foster ambassador to the isle of Yap. The article went on to say it was because of his excellent diplomacy and splendid statesmanship in other national affairs that he had received this appointment, and that great things were expected of him in the future. By checking up I found that I had either seen or heard from all my former class mates and I found that with my own exception, they had all risen in the world. As for the author of this line, he will do as little as possible during the next twenty years and if this prophecy comes true, will go into the fortune telling Parents, Teachers and Friends. The Class of Nineteen Twenty-two ex- tends to you a most cordial welcome. Within a few days we will have reached that goal towards which we have been striving for four long, yet seemingly short years. We must now enter upon the field of greater activity, which lies stretched out before us. Before doing so, we take this opportunity to express our thanks to those who have made it possible for us to advance thus far in educational fields. Our parents, who have sacrificed so much for our benefit, especially, do we wish to welcome to these exercises. We owe them a debt that can never be paid in full, but by persevering and earnest endeavor we shall win success that shall reflect credit on those most dear to us. To our kind and patient teachers, we wish to say that your work has been business. HUBERT R. HATCHER. 23

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exactly what we will to buy from the world, at the figure the ages have placed upon all life’s gifts. It all rests with us. It only remains, then, for each one of us to decide within ourselves what we most earnestly desire to get out of life—what is really most worth our while— and then deliberately sit down and count the cost. For, although there are a great many people always attempting to work their smooth bit of “graft” upon the world, trying to get something for nothing, it has never yet proved to be a successful venture, for the reckoning always comes to every individual, teaching that “with exactness grinds He all.” Members of the Faculty, when we pause seriously to consider all of the workings of this universal Law, we begin to grasp, a little bit more definitely, the value of your work of instilling into our minds a few of your own noble principles and lofty ideals. We begin to realize how grateful we must be to you for these years of training throughout all the life to be. IIow often we see men and women paying for their early mistakes by years of remorse; paying for their indolence, shiftlessness, and extravagance by poverty and want; pay- ing for their disregard of the laws of health by disease and invalidism; or, on the other hand, enjoying the reward they have earned by industry and a firm adherence to the right, in a succession of happy, prosperous years, in the respect and esteem of their fellowbeings! Thus is our life to be what we make it! Thus to you, O good friends, who have given us so fair a start, do we feel our debt of gratitude. Classmates, what a stimulating thought it is, that from this time on we have the shaping of our destinies in our own hands. These years of our student life we have been, for the most part, on the receiving hand. Although it is true that we have justly earned a certain portion of all that we have attained, there is a great deal of that subtle inner development, that almost invisible growth of the dormant man and woman within us, that has been brought to bear upon us by these years. We stand tonight at the very gateway of life’s activities, pre- pared by these years of careful instruction and watchful guidance, for the struggle with that real, vital existence that awaits us on the outer side. As we look back, how easy it is to estimate the “value received” of our school career! Now the time has come for the working out of our “promise to pay!” The world will demand our noblest revelations of character, our highest demonstra- tions of every latent possibility of attainment, our most faithful, self-sacrificing service. It will remind us, at every turn of the road, of our ever present obliga- tion to pay full value “For value received.” It will never once let us forget the cost of life. Classmates, is this a hard way to look at it? It should not be. It is only the immature mind that could take the narrow view of its significance. To us it should be an inspiring thought, for it sets no limit to the possibilities of our attainment. So, we step forth through the gateway tonight. Classmates, let us walk out into the world bravely, with a full realization of all that is expected of us, but with just as full a realization of our own ability to meet every requirement. Let us. then, resolve that we will keep our record so stainless, our account with life so accurately balanced, as we go, that there will never be any bad debts standing against us, but that “For value reecived, I promise to pay,” as represented by our diplomas, may be only a pleasurable reminder of our duty, as we look th world in the face, feeling our hearts joyously responding to the divine command of old, “Freely ye have received, freely give!” BLANCHE SNELL