Billings Senior High School - Kyote Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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I II E K V O T E i wish to thank the hoard of education for their generosity and in- terest in tiii school and in our Hass, especially during the last year. It will Is hut a short time now till the old class of 1012 will goto its reward, as alumni, never again to come together ns an organization, hut no matter where we go or what occupation we follow we will always have an abiding interest in the doings of the Billings High. Ogden F. Beecnau. History of Class 1912 What is History ? History may be defined as a written record of the lives and deeds of heroes, the events attending their brilliant career and the undying influence of such character upon the past, present and future life. The simple word history may not have meant very much to you. To some of us it means no end of needless toil and to others it is only a dry [Mistime. The cause for this lack of appreciation is due to hut one fact—that is, that we do not realize that we ourselves are makers of history. Hi w many of ns stop long enough to think even, that there an famous characters right in our midst ? We seldom appreciate any- thing which is not written or that which we cannot see plainly before Its. “Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is l orn to blush unseen. And waste its sweetness on the desert air.” The lives t»f this type of heroes shall fill the annals of this history. To those who, unconscious of their greatness and “who have conquered because they have endured” we would sing praise. It has fallen to me to mention a few of the facts concerning the members of the class of 11)12, who are destined to even greater eminence. To break away from the ancient procedure of “Praise after death,' I would prefer to lay laurels at their feet while living. To be ignorant of such live i to continue in childhood all your days. So 1m- not dis- heartened, Freshmen; Sophomores take courage and live; Pause a mo- ment. Juniors, for as the ancients sought the fountain of | erpetual youth, so may you not only seek but find the path to wisdom. When school opened in the autumn of 1008 the largest Freshman class which hud ever entered the Billings High School wa admitted. It was a brilliant class with keen wit and humor and clear compre- hending intellects. Why even the upperclassmen were eamjxdled to gaze wide-eyed at some of the wonders |»er formed by them. To the amaze- 23

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T H E K Y O T E or two «of them reached the g nii uiteud of us. others arc bringing up the rear in the Junior clas«, and some dropped out altogether but a few were replaced by new recruits, who joined us later on. Tomorrow we shall receive our pa pels of honorable discharge, which is to say. our work and play at the Billings High School is over. But let us for the present forget this breaking up of the ranks and delight only in the joyousness of the occasion. Forget all sorrows and troubles. Forget the important derisions that tomorrow will bring. io with us into the past with the historian, and dream with us of the future with the prophet. Again in the name of the class of 1012 1 welcome you. not once, nor twice, nor even thrice, but twenty-four times, for T bear the greeting to you from each memlier «• f the class. Edward Scherer, ’12. President ’s A ddress Memliers of the faculty, fell vv students and friends: On behalf of the graduating class of BM2, I extend to each and every one of you a most hearty welcome. It is with a dood deal of regret. that we gather here tonight in this our last meeting as a class and as schoolmates. As we look back over the past four years we see work, ves, but it is not an unhappy memory for this worn has been a pleasure. We like to recall. too, the splemlid associations and fellowships, to -ay nothing of the good times, trips, and athletic battles in which metntiers of our class have participated. As we gather here tonight for the last time a class we feel that we may give a little advice not as one schoolmate to another hut as an elder person who has endured and conquered to a younger one who is as yet nither inexperienced in school life. This advice may lie summed up in one word and that is work. If you go into a football game work as if vour life depended upon it and if you are studying go at it with the same energy, for work you must, if you expect to receive any benefit of your labor. To the teachers who have made us realize this we are most grateful for their help and guidance- We wish to thank too, our schoolmates for their comradeship in all enterprises for wo know that without them our work as a class would lx impossible. Lastly but by no means least 22

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T II E K V () T K inwit of all, oiu stillv night. while principal and touchers slumbered, i ne of this class, with tin upper classmen looking on in childlike wonder, climbed boldly through the transom of this Assembly loom and carried oil the bust of iReethoven. Think of the courage that required! What Freshman of today would dare attempt such a feat? Ft was during this year that the das established its reputation. Its pace became so swift and its powers of conception so great that only six out of the original number have survived, the others having fallen by the wayside. A gradual change came over us. seem to have stop|H d long enough to view the surroundings; at last we began to sit up and take notice. I he girls of the class discarded curls and the boys refused to tolerate knee trouser . They even went so far as to walk to school with the young ladies once in a while and sometimes a stray pa]xr wad would go buzzing across the Assembly Room. on wonder what had come over them all? Has not every Hophotti tv felt this palpitation of the heart i W by, we surely would have all perished if there had not appeared a means of deliverance. Again the scene were changed, a new a cl in our lives had begun. Some of you know what it means to b Juniors, What an exalted opinion they have of themselves! Text larks are cast aside and deemed unnecessary. The argument is that they should have practical experience. In the botany class two of our Junior omv concluded that it was nonsense to simply read of flowers and other plant life, that actual observation was necessary, so they tank n trip to the bluffs in search of heartsease. They found here an excellent sjxH’imen of the ( os(‘v ('orner, w hieli is a hot-air plant belonging to the Cuddle family. They also found a very few specimens of the cherished Proposal plant, which Ixdongs to the Lovo-you-lia family. However, all this vanity, haughtiness and pride is overcome by Junior classes! We realize that life is real and life is earnest and that we get out of it just what we put into it and that the bluffs is not its goal. As Juniors we were exceptionally patriotic. Who does not remember the holiday denied us iij oii Lincoln's birthday? Whv we considered it an insult to the Father rf our country; the conscience of each t)f us smote and we were cmupelled to take the day off regard- less of rules. We |Kaiit the day in song and dance and solemn parade. I his we thought a worthy tribute1 t Lincoln, hut the Ushers disagreed with us ami for our h.yulty we were rewarded with three zeros and as much extra work as possible. But we feel repaid, for we converted the entire faculty into tlu strongest patriots by our youthful enthusiasm and this year when Lincoln s birthday came we were given a holiday. 24