Banning High School - San Gorgonian Yearbook (Banning, CA)

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to be a Sophomore. We had been told the meaning of ‘‘Freshie,’’ and also of ‘‘Sophomore,’’ so with a contrac- tion of the meaning of the two words we were told by the dignified Seniors that after entering the Sophomore year we would be ‘‘wise fools.’’ That was doubtful en- couragement to be sure, but why should we care since we had stepped over the Freshman year. When we entered our Sophomore year our number had decreased by four. The first day of school eight smiling faces occupied the Sophomore row. Now we thought a path of roses leading to glory was before us, but after several weeks of such f ancy our ideas changed as they had done during the first year, after trials and worries. ‘Whoever invented geometry?’’ was a common phrase among the classmates, for geometry was seemingly as useless to us as algebra had been. English was Julia’s long suit, and my, how she could read! We had to watch our books when Julia started to read. She never mispronounced a word and always read quite audibly. The Sophomore year was not quite as interesting as the first year had been. However there was one thing which we did take great pleasure in doing and that was listening to the Freshies recite. Whenever a mistake was made we made fun of them just to see if they would shake in their boots and blush. Thus the Sophomore year disappeared from our view, and astill richer life was anticipated, when we could enter the third year of our higher education. Now our names would change and we could be called the Jolly Juniors. The name in itself was enough to make us jolly and that we were. High School life by this time had fastened it- self upon us with a firm determination that we were in it for the best we could accomplish by it. One of our brilliant girls who had labored so success- fully in trying to master Latin and Caesar in the first two years respectively, began the study of Virgil, the third = —

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Class History HE class of 1915, whom the whole school loves and Al: will mourn for after its departure out into the wide world of trials and pleasures, has a complex but in- teresting history. When we first entered high school we were a noble class of eleven capable students. Being rather shy youngsters we gained the favor of the faculty for the first few months on account of our good behavior. Very interesting indeed were we to the upper classmen for we were the ‘‘green’’ Freshies. We endured much and took the blame for mischief done by Juniors and Seniors. Becoming members of the Student Body by initiation into that august order was a great feast of laughter and tears, scorn and contempt. We were asked to do the most embarrassing stunts to the ridicule of the upper classmen, who looked upon it as one source of amusement. Some were treated more civilly than others, but as a rule the medicine administered was equally bitter for all. We waded through all of it and rallied by the assurance that we would sometime get our revenge on other poor Freshies. We used to think that carrying four subjects in high school was a small burden, but our minds have heen slightly changed through experience, our most reliable teacher. Algebra was a subject which set our wheels to working. How funny it was to us to take nothing and make some- thing out of it; nevertheless we did, and sometimes we had a lot of something, which proved to be nothing. William had a warm heart for Latin and often mastered the dear old subject with great tact. Cora, who was es- pecially proud of physical geography, could fairly quote passages from the book, when called upon to recite. On we struggled through the first year and looked for- ward to the time when we could call ourselves Sopho- mores. It was great to be a Freshman but greater still —10—

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year and absorbed the mythical narrative for half a year or more. Then she decided it was of no avail and dropped it. English was a strenuous subject for we had to take fourth year English in the third year. Miss Hield, who was our English teacher, was often quite lenient with us but she advanced our acquaintance with Milton, Shakespeare and Tennyson. Here we took up that form of science known as chem. istry. In our freshman year we had looked forward to the time when we could delve into the mysteries of chemistry, for we caught the fumes of many unpleasant gases and were always curious to know what they were. Now we could heat glass over the gas jets and twist it into fancy shapes, especially if we knew the glass sup- ply was low. Many a delicate test tube went to its doom at the flames, and many a piece of sodium was wasted by the curious Seniors of 1914, with whom we worked in this scientifie study. By this time we had been so strictly forbidden to erib our books that it was almost a thing of the past. To be sure we exercised great mental ability to refrain from the cultivated habit which had clung to us so long. About three months before school closed that year one of our eirls and later one boy left us, ready to go out into the world, satisfied, it would seem, with what they had already received. We were sorry to lose them and I think they hated to leave us. Several weeks before that term closed we were calling ourselves Seniors, to tease the real Seniors as they thought themselves to be, and as the lower classmen now think of us. Thus the term ended and only one more year remained for us, but it was the crowning year of the course, and so was looked upon with much anticipa- tion. When the last year opened we found ourselves with the five noble members of today, full of vim and with brillianey not excelled. jt