Bryant Junior High School - Junior Life Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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THE JUNIOR LIFE 9 Cam p fires When I was very young, it seemed to me that campfires were a decided nuisance. The smoke got in my eyes, and the heat scorched my face and hands while the rest of my anatomy resided in a very cold atmosphere. Soon I was shivering and smoking at one and the same time. As I grew older, it became more and more clear to me that around a fire in the great outdoors the best and most lasting friendships are forged. The dancing, glimmering flame is the spirit of life itself. No one can forecast its movements or in any way change them. I also discovered that we who are highly civilized have much in common with our primeval ancestors when we are around a campfire. They sat in their crude garments around a jealously guarded flame, made perhaps by lightning. We sit around a fire ignited with a match and clothed in apparel made in large lactorics. Yet the thought is the same around any campfire, a group chatting and singing and making friends. All are equal around a fire, and all are apparently endowed with the ability to see into anyone's innermost thoughts and to discern his character plainly. Around a campfire there is charity for all and malice for none, and we have a just and lasting place among ourselves and with everyone. George Schwert. The Good Luck Piece of a Brilliant Boy Soon as the early, rosy-fingered dawn appeared, a dark, curly haired, rather short boy rose from his bed, put on his clothes, slung his bright orchid rabbit paw over his shoulder, under his shining feet hound his fair shoes, and came forth from his chamber. For many a long year he had carried a shiny white rabbit paw given to him by an honorable friend, but now he had a new orchid paw. As he entered his father’s dining room, his father came forth and opened his arms and said, “Explain to me, dear son, why you are carrying the rabbit paw.” “Oh, my dear father,” answered the dark one of the brilliant mind, “it is to help me win in a game of baseball against the other great teams of the glorious house of Bryant where the gods and goddesses of Wisdom dwell with the Father of Education, Ernest J. Hardakcr. May the gods of physical education, John Boylan and Kristian Andersen, give us strength to win. That, my dear father, is the reason I carry this rabbit paw. This is a sure sign of spring when Maestro Howard Grossman turns from snooping for news and exercising his nimble fingers on the piano scale to match his skill against the others boys in a game of baseball. Bernice Kronick

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8 THE JUNIOR LIFE Did You Know That 1. The first session of school in Bryant was held March 26, 1923? 2. The total enrollment at that time was 999? 3. There were eighty pupils in the first 9A class? 4. Twenty-three members of the present faculty were here when the building opened? 5. There were no pictures in the classrooms or halls when the building opened ? 6. The building that is now Warrington was once Bryant? 7. There was once a cow pasture where Bryant now stands? 8. In the early years of Bryant there was only one lunch period and the whole school met in the auditorium at one time? 9. The first Bryant Times was published December 6, 1923? 10. The first Junior Life was issued in January, 1925? 11. Field Day was inaugurated in 1927? 12. The pool wasn’t tiled until 1929? 13. The playground across Clinton Avenue wasn't purchased until 1926? 14. We have always had a Student Council? 15. The first P. T. A. was organized in 1923? Signs of Spring Again spring has made its round with the other seasons and is now upon us. To support this statement I have sound proof. Attics or basements are being ransacked in search of fishing baits, reels, and rods. New strong line is being acquired for future use. Old boats are being calked, painted, and fitted with reliable oars. Old and dirty fishing pants arc being dug out of their winter quarters. The patient fishermen are eagerly waiting the day when they can leave all their cares and worries to engage in the favorite sport of many, fishing. The less patient fishermen risked being fined by rushing the season a little. The fish also realize it is spring. They are hungry and in search of new born insects and worms after living on dead vegetable matter through the long winter months. Mother fish are continuously searching for a cleverly concealed hiding place for their eggs to protect them from marauding turtles and other egg eating creatures of the lake or brook. Once more the exaggerated fish tales will begin, the stories of the huge fish that were caught but wiggled free while being landed. Douglas Martin.

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10 THE JUNIOR LIFE Minneapolis, Minn. March i, 1973 Dear James: Sitting in my library tonight, gazing into my sparkling and glowing artificial fireplace, my thoughts wandered hack to the days when we were boys at Bryant Junior High. How we used to discuss the cartoon of Buck Rogers and wonder if it would ever become true. Now as 1 gaze about me and sec all those things happening daily and becoming the accustomed things of life, I marvel at it. We boys were then glad to get a ride to school in an automobile. Boys and girls now just attach their flying belts and away they go to school. The air is thick with people flying here and there, with no automobiles. The traffic cops are now many miles up in the air instead of on corners. Their troubles are quite different from what they used to be. They now regulate the airplanes so that people with flying belts arc safe and there are no accidents. How difficult for the youngsters to understand our childhood days. Now instead of their fathers saying, “Johnny, put some coal on the fire,” they say, “Turn on the hot or cold vapor,” or “Turn on the sun rays. Instead of mother working half her time in the kitchen preparing the meals, she just hands them a couple of pills. Do you remember the instruments called telephones? How much better television is. You can't fool people now by pretending to be somebody else. I talked to my mother way across the continent and could see every wrinkle in her dear old face. Your friend, Gerald Goodlund Qualities Of A Perfect Student A perfect student is always on time; A perfect student avoids waste; A perfect student obeys his teacher at all times; A perfect student never shirks his duty; A perfect student is always prepared; A perfect student never chews gum in public; A perfect student loves his classmates; A perfect student is always courteous to new pupils; A perfect student is helpful at all times; A perfect student is never detained after school for discipline. How many of these qualities have you?