Central High School - Centralian Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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EDITORIAL- Continued aroused our highest interest and were a credit to any high school. The Websters were our first entertainers. 'iWeb- ster Day was celebrated by a one-act farce which showed hard and conscientious study on the part of the actors. The school looked forward with much curiosity to the Aris- tonian program, for 'twas heard in and about that 'troasts were to be numerous. They quite exceeded our expectations in every sense of the word, for there were roasts galore, strong and weak. The S. L. H. surprised us next with their original ideas as to how John Kendrick Bangs' book, 'tThe House Boat on the Styx, should be read to the best advantage. In this, the oldest society now in existence in Old Central nobly upheld the high standard of their society forefathers. Two weeks later found the Central Shakespeare Club making their initial appearance upon our stage. Through their teaching the school at large was permitted a view of the modern Hamlet, intermixed and interwoven with a revised version of Romeo -and Juliet. Later in the year the Del- phians and the Glee Club gave very interesting and cred- itable performances. In Athletics, Central has fulfilled entirely the tra- ditions of her past victorious record. On the gridiron her battles were lost and won, it is true, but even though the defeats had been in majority, the scales would have been balanced by her overwhelming victory over our friends across the way. Again in the indoor track meet at Convention Hall, Manual met defeat through the glorious victory of our team. When Central defeated Manua.l at basket ball, the victory was taken as a matter of course and was not given the praise which was due it. Constant success becomes monotonous, nevertheless the school is looking forward to the time when the base ball and track team trophies will be added to our collection ofnwinning cups. To add school spirit and more interest to athletics, the faculty have al- lowed the organization of the different classes for the pur- pose of inter-class meets. Through this privilege, our ath- letic instructors are enabled not only to provoke more in- terest in track and field work, but are greatly aided in choosing promising material for our next yearls team, especially in the Sophomore and Freshman classes. . But though victorious time and -again within our own school, victory would go without the true meaning if we were compelled to win only at home. If this be true, Cen- tral well knows the meaning, for not only in our own schoolpbut in outside fields, Central students have flaunted the flag of defeat in her opponents' faces. Honors in the Chicago declamation contest have 'become looked upon as common place, and perhaps, for this reason alone, it is well for Central to have taken only the one prize through Miss Beulah Robinsonls reading instead of the usual two. Again, in the annual essay competition conducted by the Sons of the' Revolution, Central stood well up in the rank of honor. To this we are indebted to Mr. Earle Bowers, who won the silver medal and Miss Elizabeth Moise, who received hon- orable men-tion. The twentieth volume of THE LUMINARY can be said truthfully to have been equal it not a trifle better than its predecessors. Some eighty of the most prominent schools have been visited by our school paper each month, and dur- ing the year THE LUMINARY has been favorably commented upon in the exchange columns of nearly every one of these. No college or university, with the exception of the larger institutions of the East, can boast of a better school mag- azine than TITE LUMINARY. The Seniors have finished. Their high school career will be ended when the last of the school events comes -their Class Day and Commencement, which complete their course in secondary schools forever. School has ended and the Juniors are prepared for the ordeal of Seniorship. But All's well that ends well, so this year is well.

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FROM THE EDITOR Schoolmatcs, Alumni, and Frieozcls of Central High, School: HE class of 1905 has gone, their connection witl1.0ld Central will soon be entirely severed, but in passing let us hope that they will al- ways keep a warm spot in their hearts for their old alma mater. V The editors have done their best to make this a true representative of all in Old Central-from the mighty Senior to the smallest Freshman, and if they have accomplished this end, they will feel ful- ly repaid for all their hard work. We pass no judgment on the book, hence make no apologies for its shortcomings. Yours is the task of judging, for it is your book to criticise or compliment 'as you please. The past year has been a creditable one for Central in every field of her endeavors. September found our stu- dents at hard and conscientious work. which has become a characteristic of Central people. As has been said, time and again, even the Freshmen seemed less green and began their high school existence in a dignified and studious manner worthy even of a Sophomore. Society work was again continued with more than the ordinary zeal and seri- ousness. October brought with it the annual election of THE LUMINARY staff. Although some disappointments and even hard feelings were occasioned by this election, the staff, green as it was, took up its work with enthusi- asm. About this time the Central So- cieties welcomed into their midst two new organizations-the Central Shakes- peare Club, a society composed of boys and girls, and the Delphians, whose roll call was responded to entirely by boys. With this addition to her society direc- tory Central is now the proud posses- sor of five active and hardworking or- ganizations which is a valuable asset in raising the literary standard of any school. A welcome hand was extended as December came, with the Christmas festivities-including a never-to-be-for gotten occasion, in the annals of Old Central, her Christmas play. This was the first of a series of public perform- ances during the past year in which our students have so admirably taken part. This year's play, to use a slang expres- sion, was the best ever. Though it seemed ridiculous that Charley Byers, a member of- the Anti-Cigarette League, could smoke a large black cigar and still remain intact, or that John Higley could drink so much watery looking Wine, and be so strongly advocating religious prin- ciples, nevertheless the characters as a whole appeared truly realistic. Every field of Centralls stage ability has been well represented. The literary societies have given programs which 9

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, THE CENTRRLIHN ' r I Hzsfomf - I-IEN one reads this, the seventh volume of THE CENTRALIAN, he naturally wonders about the history of this book. Vfhen the first CEN- TRALIAN was published, in what form it was, who its former editors were, and by what steps it has developed. The first CENTRALIAN was published in 1899. It was a thin little book, six by nine law-'T inches in size. The paper was not very good and the pictures would look exceedingly poor to us today. They were necessarily small because of the size of the book, but even then twfo pictures, such as the Senior and Junior officers, were often put on the same page. Yet the book well represented all the interests of the school, and is exceedingly interesting. James Gibson was the editor of this volume, and Buford Scruggs was his assistant. , The next two years THE CENTRALIAN retained almost the same form. In 1900 the editor and assistant were Chandler'Warren Watson and Ray Merrill, and the follow- ing year Will Hogsett and Joe Ellis. In 1902, however, THE .CENTRALIAN took a step forward. It was made larger, seven by nine inches, and so was able to give better pictures of the societies and different organizations. The editor and associate editor were Clifford Jones and Helen Mahr. Two years ago, however, was published a CENTRALIAN that showed how much room for improvement there had been. It was nine by twelve inches in size, the paper was of the best quality, the pictures were large and clear and in every way the book proved how,excellent THE CENTRALIAN could be made. The editor and associate editor were Dell Dut- ton and Ruth Weelzs and they will long be envied by THE CENTRALIAN editors, for it seems almost impossible to sur- pass their work. Last year, 1904, Hyden Eaton and Joyce NVelsh were the editors and upheld the standard that had I gre as been set the year before. The book was slightly different in shape, but in size, quality, material, etc., it differed very little from the preceding one. 'When the old GENTRALIANS are examined we can see that there have been many changes in the methods of pro- ducing THE CENTRALIAN, but that the aim has always been the same-to publish a book that will be of interest to every pupil in Central. At first the staff was chosen by their predecessors. Then in 1902 they were nominated by the teachers and elected by the school, and a faculty adviser was added to the staff. That year, too, the editor-in-chief of THE LUMINAEY was retained as editor of THE CEN- TRALIAN. This seemed wise, the greatest experience is needed to publish the ANNUAL. In studying the history of THE CENTRALIAN one studies also the history of Central. Every change that has taken place there is at least hinted at in THE CENTRALIAN. In the 1900 book we find that open sessions have been forbidden and that strenuous efforts are being madeto re- gain them. VVe see, too, organizations that have since dis- appeared-the Anti-Cigarette League, the Cadets, and the Girls College Club.' This year we noticed the first ap- pearance of the Aristonians and Wfebsters. This CEN- TEALIAN seemed to show. that Central was wide-awake, for that year the first glee and mandolin clubs were formed, THE CENTRALIAN had language and science departments for the first time, and the four literary societies gave their an- nual Christmas play. In 1903 we miss this feature and some of us are reminded of the struggle the old societies made against admitting the new ones. Last year we mourned the absence of the three oldest literary societies. lVhen we study the history of THE CEN'r1mi.IixN and see in what close touch with the school life it has always been, we realize that THE CENTRALIAN has been what it evei hopes to be-a true representative of the life at Central. LEE CAMPBELL, '05.