Blair Academy - Acta Yearbook (Blairstown, NJ)

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(Glass JBiU WE, the unsurpassable Class of 1936 ol Blair Academy, being of sound mind and in fairl) good health, arc well aware of the inevitable end of our glorious career within these portals, and do herebj bequeath certain of our numerous and re- nowned qualities to the more unfortunate members of the lower forms. FIRST — To Dr. Breed, our Headmaster, we leave our sincere gratitude and ap- preciation for his kindly interest, his excellent advice and kindly criticisms, along with our humble sympathy of the task bi fore him with the Class ,,f 1 37. SECOND — To Dean Freeman we leave our most sincere thanks for his unfailing i Hurts and assistance in guiding us through Blair and for preparing us adequately not only for college but for Lite. THIRD — To the Faculty, God Mess them! we leave the pleasant thought that no more will they be put to shame bj our superior comprehensions. F( URTH — To the Class of 1937 we have the anticipation of thoroughly bene- fiting our inspiring examples and the hope that they will strive to equal our high standard of scholarship. We also leave our stately dwelling Ark with its interest- ing bulletin I iard display . FIFTH — To Poppy Cage we leave our sinceresl hopes that the coming occu- pants of Ark will be as innocent and as law-abiding as their big brothers have been. To Bill McKcan, Buzz Gould ' s intellectualism, responsibility, and ready grasp of situations. To Cootie Corwin, Augie Evans ' suaveness and sophisticate! poise along with his leisurely manners, To Bottle Bloom, Sleepy Lewis ' s placid contentment and happj outlook along with that old proverb. If at first you don ' t succeed, try, tr again. To Arnold Zimmerman. Jim Vbgdes ' wisp-like silence and eye-fluttering inno- Cf nee. To Jack Castor, John Richard ' s profound diligence, unassuming quietness, and d( vi ition to bis hooks. To Donald Reinicker, Ted Fenstermacher ' s booming eloquence, Napoleonic diminutiveness, and home town pride. To Frank Casa-Nova Hernia. Walk Watkins ' glad hand-waving finesse and his intricate and artistic body manoeuvers. To Richard Braman, Gus Kellogg ' s ability to dominate the situation and to in- fluence everyone with his beaming smile. To Carl Becker, Horace Mann ' s gift of gab, esnscialh with the opposite sex. We do hereby appoint as lawful executor of this, our last will and testament. Bob Hack, who has lulled many of our memhers into awe by tales of bis feats and wonder. In witness whereof we, the Class of 1936, do affix cur hand and seal on this sixth day of June in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-six. Ttvcnty-Nine

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(gift ©ration WE are the living. It has been said that one lives and learns. We are the living and, strictly speaking, we are the learning. The graduating class of 1936, in keeping with an unwritten law, the spirit of which pervades us seniors at this very moment, some time ago set aside funds for a special purpose. That purpose, conceived in mere appreciation but now executed in sincere gratitude, is, in a sense, the only tangible way by which the seniors can show their appreciation of what Blair has meant. Contrary to what some people think, your young Mr. America is not a frolicsome, insensible fellow. He does have a serious side and he is supremely conscious of the value of education. Thus it is that we who are about to graduate have approached these ceremonies with feelings tinged with regret and a sense of loss. We wonder if, as adults old and grey, we shall find again the comparative happiness which has come to us during these years. Most of life ' s major experiences first come to the growing young man rather than to the mature oldster. When, for instance, shall there be again precisely the same satisfaction which came to us when as boys we first tasted the fruits of a victory well won ? About to enter a hard-boiled and commercial world, shall we ever be so free from the sordid and hypocritical, the cheap and shallow, the impure and cynical ? So it is that we, in the act of saying that we gained much from Blair, far more, indeed, than we gave it, present this gift to a school which, though we think well of it now, will grow increasingly dearer as each year passes. A secret feeling possesses us that we are going to be thankful eventually for all that Blair has contributed. With this gift, therefore, we leave both a remembrance and a safeguard, for in giving the school something to remember us by, we can say that we did not go forth from Blair totally unappreciative of its educational contribution to our lives. (lllctss 39tstnry AT THIS TIME it has been the custom to pause and review the activities of the Senior Class during the past year, comparing our successes and failures. Having now reached our goal, we wish to express our regrets upon leaving these familiar halls, and our sincere appreciation of the help Dr. Breed and the faculty have given us. We, the eighty-eighth class, the Class of 1936, officially organized on May 28. 1936, when we elected our class officers for the coming year. It was not until the next Fall, however, that any further organization of the class took place. On the 20th of September of this school year, the first meeting of the class was held, augmented by 40 new members. At this time proctors were chosen, and the customs of the senior class were explained. A week later, in another meeting, a committee was chosen to select a class ring. The social climax of the year was reached on February 21st when the Mid-Winter Prom was held in the gym. On Friday evening forty-three couples danced to the music of Jul ian Woodworth and his orchestra. The class returned from Spring vacation ready to begin the last leg of the jour- ney towards graduation. Elections to the Halls of Fame, as well as the dedication of the Acta, were voted upon in a meeting held on April 16th. In the last week of May the annual senior banquet, enlivened by several spirited speeches, was held. The class then settled down to the serious work of the final exams. And now, even though some failed to qualify for a diploma, the whole senior group expresses its sorrow at leaving, and pledges its loyalty and sincere thanks to its Alma Mater. Twenty-Bight

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3lug (©ration THE evolution of our present-day educational system, with its culmination in schools like our own Blair Academy, has been rather a continual struggle. Per- haps we may appreciate this institution more after examining the chronicles of the past, and after discovering from what meager opportunities the great universities have developed. The seeds of education growing in the Old World during nine centuries of prog- ress were transplanted in America sixteen years after the Pilgrim Fathers landed on New England ' s rock-hound coast. So eager was the thirst for knowledge that, though their resources were miserably limited, the first settlers made constant sacrifices to overcome their handicaps. On October 28, 1636. a few learned men together with several colonial legislators convened on the peninsula now known as Boston, and laid the educational corner stone for a continent. One farmer contributed some sheep, another a few bushels of wheat, a woman donated some cloth — and in that experiment of Harvard College, which this year is celebrating its tercentenary, was education first introduced to this land. Because of the scarcity of money in the struggling colonies, its first students were permitted to pay the small amount of tuition in the form of farm products. Sixty-five years later, in 1701, the neighboring colony of Connecticut was fired with similar ambition, and from out the assemblage of ten ministers there came the founding of that institution which we know today as Yale. Each one placed upon the table the best books of his own scant library, saying as he did so. I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony. New England continued to carry the intellectual torch but both North and South followed who ' e-heartedly. The heroic success of American schools and colleges is now apparent, but one must not forget her early endeavors for existence. The early fight of education for survival in an uncultivated land is directly com- parable to that of the Ivy, which we are planting today. This five-leafed plant will again undergo, as it has done since the days of Egypt and Greece, a process of aspir- ing to unknown heights. From day to day, throughout wind and storm, this small plant will continue to exemplify to all mankind a spirit of unsurpassed courage and determination, as it climbs upward to the yet invisible goal, while clinging still to its source of life. And as we plant this symbol of Beauty, Loyalty, Action, Independence, and Reverence, may there be aroused in each of us an irrepressible ambition to exalt the ideals which have been kindled within us. With this ivy, a representation of classic Oxonian learning, we permanently pledge ourselves never to sever relations with Blair. In tlir real world we enter. May zvc guard thy ideal well; As our ivy be our memory, — .-lima Mater, dear, farewell. Thirty