Campbell University - Pine Burr Yearbook (Buies Creek, NC)

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Senior Clas;s istorp The record of the Class of 1915 is that of a natural, harmonious development from uncouth Freshmanhood to dignified Seniority. The following record, though brief and incomplete, furnishes a few facts showing our class one of high standing and unrivaled strength. Since Freshmanhood we liave lost some from our number. Some upon their return to the old home found the attractions there greater than here; some have wandered the Pilgrim ' s way; and some in their roving have been caught in the net of matrimony. But these lost links have been filled in with twenty-four carat metal. Perhaps the most illustrious of these is Booker T. Sometimes this question arises in our minds. Could we have maintained our normal Seniority and dignity had he not chanced to join us? His initiative work has led the class into many new ideas; he was leader of all explorations into fields of experiment in arranging and getting up groups for the Annual. And no t only has he been an indispensable factor in our class, but the Faculty is greatly indebted to him. His well taken remarks and suggestions in the classroom have been ciuite a resource to the teacher when his storehouse of knowledge was about to be exhausted. It ' s great to be great though sometimes it may grate on others. We are indebted, also, to several previous Senior classes for handing down to us Mr. H. B. Day. He has been accused of aiming at nothing, and some say he always hits the mark. We can safely say he ever keeps his motto, Cut every class possible and keep the teacher in the dark. Though every member of our class is not noted for high marks, yet taking in consideration all phases of school life, we are not surpassed by any class that has passed this way. Why should we not be great, when several states and Cuba have been sifted to get the seed for this plating? Ours was not an ordinary Senior Class. We were quite different frcuii all our predecessors. For why be like other classes? After three years of tlifhculties, disappointments, and struggles, w( entered the Golden Age, the .■oonnuiin honum of high school life, when ■■Just lij exist, Is iintcild l)liss. We have become Seniors. As we stand on th( proud I ' mineuce surveying the lower regions of nu ' diocre life the thrilling words of Tennyson often come to mind: And I would that my tongue could utter, The thoughts that arise in me. There must be individuality and genius always marked by its eccentricities. We have some members in our class who have worked out a device for bringing the

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of 1915 go home and be content with the little each one can do in tlie coniniunity, or will each one wait for the call to a position of honor before he responds? Shall we get behind our communities and push and try to get on top? With the train- ing we have received here will we aspire to a position of leadership or will we bo content to drift? Tonight we stand at the first mile post on our educational development, won- dering, many of us, whether next year we shall enter the walls of some college or matriculate in the grim, unrelenting University of Life. But, members of the Faculty, wherever another year shall find us we pledge you that your teaching shall not go for naught, that the ideals you have instilled shall live on and that the training you have so patiently given us shall be so used that you will be proud to call us your own. The Class of 1915 leaves you tonight and in leaving There is a word of grief the sounding token, There is a word bejeweled with bright tears, The saddest word fond lips have ever spoken, A little word that breaks the chain of years. Its utterance must ever bring emotion, - ' The memories it crystals eaimot die, ' Tis known in every land, on every ocean, ' Tis called ' Good-bye. '

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European War to a speedy close. We have some members who have worked out a propaganda to offer to the world by which all international disputes will l)e ever afterwards settled automatically. The day of great things for this planet is not far in the future. America and the world will stand hereafter a hopeless debtor to Buie ' s Creek for the notable deeds which will be done by the Class of ' 15. In the various organizations for the promotion of religion we have been active. The Y. M. C. A. and Mission Study work has never been attended with quite so much interest as it has this year. Tlie society work has taken on new life and interest not known heretofore. Some of (}ur rough, coarse, country fellows have developed into real polished speakers. Our oratorical contestants are examples of our prospective North Carolina orators. In athletics we have figured promi- nently. The basketball and baseball teams have been strengthened greatly by men from our class; and tennis has bocduic an afternoon pastime for both girls and boys of our class, whose records would do credit to any high school. Though we have had ideas of our own and allowed individuality to play a great part in the history of our class, we have stood firmly together in co-operat- ing with Faculty and student body, in standing by the government of the school and conforming to every regulation for tlie ])romotion of high morals and for raising high the standard of our lieloved sclionl. W ' c have not had froc|uent meetings of our class, but when a meeting was called jiractically every member was present ready to stand l y any movement for the interest of the class and bet- terment of the scliool. As a class, we have i)lanncd our work and worked our plans. Our history has liecn made, and though this, llie 121 h day of May, brings to a close the history of our class, we trust it ' s only tiic beginning of a life for each one of us that will do credit to our Alma Mater, to oiu- country, and to our God. We now pass out from these halls, where by our knightly deportment and noble deeds we have made a host of abiding friends, into the stern Init gloroius battles of life. We enter this larger arena neither with joy nor with sorrow, but in that wholesome, optimistic spirit to which Browning gives utterance in his triumphant: Grow old iilong witli me! The best is yet to be— The best of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith a whole is planned, Youth shows but half; Trust God; see all, nor lie afraid. Historian.