Central Manual Training High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Ships that sailed for sunny isles, But never came to shore. It should be our purpose to steer into the roadway of the future years- l bid you farewell. Like 21 stately ship Vtfitli all her bravery on and tackle trim, Sails iillecl and streamers flying. I T4 XVILI.rxRIm KEND.-xu, S M IT II

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That future will undoubtedly be different, vastly different in many respects, but let us not look forward to it with a wavering of faith. Let us remember the obligations we owe to our training, if courage is demanded, let us feel that we possess our need. When we come now to that parting which shall finally separate us as a class, most of us realize I fancy that it is the smaller, the less perceptible ties that are really the strongest, the least easy of all to dissever. In the three years that have gone by we have formed little acquaintanceships which later have been intensified and transformed into closer relati0H Of firm and Steadfast friends. These are the things that are the 'hardest to give up. It is the characteristic of our common human nature that the freshness of such friendships, will in the coming time fade away and be forgotten. It is but natural that new activities and new relations in life will bring new interests and new associations, this, how- ever, need not in any degree mar the strength of the sentiment which unites us to-day. Although at this time we are to separate as a class, for some of us the occasion is not by any means the end of our student years. The methods of scholarship to which we have been subjected and the habits of systematic study which even the least stuclious of us has to some extent acquired, will later on be of inestimable value to us. An investigation of the record of the graduates of our school in advanced institutions of learning, is one which gives us a just pride and ought to constitute for us, as you have already been told, a special obligation to maintain abroad the high repute of our Alma Mater. If after to-day our class shall separate as a class, let not its spirit, the spirit of comradeship for better things and higher purposes, depart from our lives, let not this spirit cease to be operative as one of our basic motives, Rather let it continue to operate in its full strength, when we shall assemble again in the years to come let that spirit and ambition show the fruitions of an accomplished purpose in life. Let us endeavor to be not like 73

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Qllzwa itintnrg Coming down Seventeenth Street, feeling as much out of place as a Reuben from Bustleton, was the experience of three hundred Fresh on September 8, 1906. The sight that met our eyes was a sorry one indeed, and caused us many anxious moments. Our grammar 'schools had swinging doors, and so did the two buildings that we now saw. The question was, which of the four corners was Manual? Guessing was hard, but being able to hear, threw a new light upon the subject. Follow the noise, our ears told us, and follow the crowd, the shoving told us. We did both, a.nd found ourselves in the so-called Assembly Room, dazzled by the initials newly carved on the benches, which were reflected to us by forty-eight electric lights. A general glance showed us to be in the midst of a number of pillars, but without a guide, we found a bench which had a seat in it, and sat down, not behind the pillars, however, which demonstrated our greenness. No one thought how in the future we would risk a fall downstairs, for a precious seat behind these pillars, in order to hide ponies from the prowling eyes of Profs. We noticed the hand carved furniture, which bedecked the platform, and all had high hopes of some day building nothing less than a mansion, or after a glance at the shops, an auto. The salutations to friends, and the practicing of a whiff-whack were suddenly interrupted by the sounding raps on a bell by our honored Principal, Dr. Wm. L. Sayre. Dr. Sayre will be refer- red to from now on by cognomens, such as Father Billy and - the - OJ if' After a short but impressive talk on what the school stood for, and what it did not, we were turned over to Prof. Louie Sayre for roll call. Under Professor Sayre we enjoyed a sight-seeing tour. This seemed quite realistic, even the voice, which has since caused other Freshies to start from a sound sleep. In the midst of the trip some stale Fresh, who we than all adored, yelled: Come out from behind the bushes: I know you. Louie is the champion roll caller of scholastic circles, calling three hundred names with such rapidity and accuracy that some fellows never even recognized their own names. After the agony had abated we were dismissed to report the following day. 75