Browns Valley High School - Thunderbird Yearbook (Browns Valley, MN)

Page 23 text:

Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust, If Latin doesn’t kill us, Algebra must. —Ex. Mr. E. in Botany.—What is the largest seed you have ever seen? Freshman.—A Hayseed. A jolly young Senior so tough, While mixing a compound of stuff, Dropped a match in the vial, And after a while, They found his front teeth and a cuff.—Ex. Blessings on thee, little man, Freshman l oy, that’s just began, With your restless afternoons, Heads as light as toy balloons, With your greenness, green as grass, And your flunks in Latin class, With your worthy president, And all the rest so innocent, From my heart I give you joy, I was once a Freshman l oy . —Ex. Mr. E. in Botany class.—Harry, why is the Burbank potato called after Burbank? Harry.—Because he invented it. •Editor’s Note.—We have latui making inqui- ries as to whom this most interesting piece was written by; but up to the time of going to press, have not lx en able to find out. From the tone of it, however, we surmise that it was written by a conceited Senior who had just contracted the “Poetic Fever.” After the game is over, After the field is clear, Straighten my nose and shoulder, And heilp me find my ear. —Ex.

Page 25 text:

(Tlir fcmjltsh Department uf Slip Urrnuns Halley timjh grlinol II, was not many years ago, that the subject of English, in our high schools, was considered a mere nonentity, taught once or twice a week and considered, merely as a period of recreation from the routine of work. Today, we are approaching, as we believe, near- er to the comprehension and interpretation of the relative merits of subjects suited to our sec- ondary schools, and lo! the study of English leads all the rest. As we look back, it is with difficulty that we realize how our educators of the past have failed to give the proper attention to this one vital subject. Pupils, themselves, with that instinct by which we accept the re- forms and advances of the age, feel the import- ance of the mastery of the essential principles of effective speaking and writing, together with the appreciation of the great authors, in order that they may fill their place in the world with greater benefit to humanity. In our high school, the work of the four years in English has been correlated as closely as pos- sible . The thought of a firm basis with gradual but steady development is ever in the minds of the teachers. A building upon the known, an advance from the simple to the complex, are the fundamentals of the course. Composition and rhetoric form the basis of the work for two years; and this is strengthened by the study of such fasterpieces of English and American literature as come within the interest and appreciation of Freshmen and Sophomores.