Barringer High School - Athenaeum Yearbook (Newark, NJ)

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HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. EDITORS. William L. Hazen, ’79. Hannah M. Coult, ’79. Louis R. Menagh, ’79- Lizzie P. Baldwin, ’79. Bruno Hood, ’80. Ada Stickney, ’8o. Herbert S. Sutphen, ’80. Florence Patton, ’80. NEWARK. N. J.t JANUARY 1. 1879. EDITORIAL. •• Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer— The distant tinkling of the merry Christ- mas bells, calls the otherwise unassuming High School student to the editorial sanc- tum. With joy he enters upon the du- ties of his position to send forth words of greeting to one and all. But doubt pre- sents itself too soon. Will welcome be accorded to his greeting ? Often has he heard that the course of education pur- sued in the High School is uncalled for— an example of the city’s waste and extrav- agance. If this be true, how can the Annual, a production of the High School, hope for a cordial reception ? And yet we will not despair, for we wish to present in these pages a result which will justify the means—the Annual will proclaim the worth of the High School. The establishment of the Newark Pub- lic High School dates back, as our readers may well know, to the year 1855, and it held its first session on the seventh of January of that year. The number of pupils was about the same as at present, but the organization of the School was not complete. This time, however, has passed away, and the High School of to-day, reflects nothing but credit upon the city of Newark. The courses of study pursued in the Male Department are the Classi- cal, Scientific and English, and the Com- mercial. The first contemplates the prep- aration of students for college. The sec- ond embraces the Sciences, and Latin to a limited extent, and is intended as a pre- liminary course of instruction to those who may choose to pursue higher scien- tific studies, or end their school days with tjie Institution. The third and last pre- pares young men for a business life. Lit- erary pursuits form a prominent feature in the several branches, and that these all important exercises may be carried to a higher degree of perfection, a Society of the young men of the Senior and Junior classes is kept in a flourishing condition,

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i6 UNKNOWN TONGUES. gather bits of truth in these weird jour- nies, which in time contribute to science, and enlighten the world. Others, in the far away depths of the azure sky, arc dis- covering new worlds and myriads of suns, by means of the telescopes, which give the eye power to pierce the misty atmos- phere far into space: and thus again, we find hidden things revealed by seeking. It was the working out of this game that sent Columbus across the broad ocean to seek for an unknown path to In- dia; but our own fair land waylaid him, and his searching won for him renown. Up among the northern icebergs, Dr- Mall sought for an open polar sea, but found instead a grave. Hut there are other than material things for which men search. Unseen forces and hidden truths are often the objects of their seeking, and the same impulse which leads the child to look for the cause of the wooden soldier’s drumming, or the little milk maid’s churning, is developed in the man as he seeks the hidden principle of life. When the merry Christmas-tide comes, and the bells rings out their joyous peals through all the land, our thoughts go back to that day in the long ago, when the wise men sought the Christ child, having seen Mis star in the East; and earth’s wisest ones in every age have sought and found Mim in Mis divine, not in Mis human manifestation. Those who search for ma- terial things may fail in their labors, but the seekers for divine truth shall obtain it, for we read in Holy Writ, “Seek, and ye shall find ; ” and again, “ There is nothing hidden, that shall not be revealed.” THE OLD AND NEW YEAR. TENNYSON. Ring out wild bells to the wild sky, The Hying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go ; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite ; Ring in the love of truth and right. Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease ; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold ; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man, and free. The larger heart, the kindlier hand ; Ring out the darkness of the land. Ring in the Christ that is to be.

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i8 EDITORIAL by the exertions of the majority of its members. Here, great attention is also paid to parliamentary rules and regula- tions—a circumstance which will prove useful in after life. Thus, the High School is to us all a copious fountain of culture and happiness. And, unpretending as we arc, we may yet hope that these few state- ments of our School’s character and do- ings, will prove convincing, and turn dis- satisfaction into satisfaction, the cold “ winter of discontent ” into warm, “glo- rious summer.” But our thoughts carry us one step far- ther. Although the variety of instruction is enough, the over-crowded state of our School, and the deficient condition of our library and laboratory, are matters which require serious and immediate attention. If this year’s Annual should contribute one mite towards these much desired improvements, our murmurs will cease, and the summer of contentment rule supreme. Next, a word of sorrow. Friends have left us, and in the loss, both boys and girls share. The genial countenance of Miss Emma P. Smith no longer meets us. She has left the scene of eleven years’ success- ful labor, and has accepted a position in the Mt. Auburn Young Ladies’Seminary, at Cincinnati, Ohio. So too, we miss the cheering voice and sweet song of Mr. John L. Heffron. Although we regret the absence of these, our friends, still let us extend the hand of welcome to our new teachers, Miss Clara W. GREENE and Mr. J. Watson Smith, and bid God-speed to those, who, in the past, have so faithfully tried to better prepare us for our life work. And now we most cor- dially greet you one and all, and wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. At the time of the issue of our last Annual, the Society paper was published jointly by the young gentlemen and ladies, and rejoiced in the name of “ Hesperian Record and Montagu Round Table.” Whether this high-sounding title absorbed its vitality—children with too long names are said to be unhealthy—we cannot say. This we know, that toward the end of the year, the paper languished ; and now, to use the words of our friend Mr. Tennyson, “The whole Round Table is dissolved,” and the young gentlemen are left alone in their pursuit of journalistic fame. Not that the gallant knights of the Round Ta- ble have wholly given up their quest, but finding the blaze of publicity to which they were subjected, almost too much for their maiden modesty, hereafter they will seek literary improvement in a more quiet and unostentatious way, content with hav- ing their names placed in print once a year on the pages of the Annual, accord- ing to the time-honored custom. The course of events in the Female Department of the High School, glides along in much the same channel this year as last. Our learned Principal leads a new flock through “ pastures green;” that is to say, the hexameters of Virgil, and a new score or two of sympathetic damsels are called to weep the fate of infelix Dido, and to learn with wondering, that the tricks of the “ senior-junior giant-dwarf Dan Cupid,” were the same in the days of Aineas, as in the nineteenth century. The subtile reasonings of the geometrician are unfolded to their eager minds, and a