Chester High School - Annual Yearbook (Chester, PA)

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ANNUAL 15 cation, and lo! all that remains of the freshman year is memory. September, 1911, saw Fourteen back, strong in number and in spirit. Our strength was shown by our unusually large representation on the football team. No man on the team played any better game than the Fourteen boys. For several months the class quietly continued its work, although numerous individuals per- sisted in trying to wear out the carpet in the principal’s office. But it is a true saying that the devil finds mischief for idle hands to do. A class cannot be expected to do nothing but study and attend games. Those on the teams work off the superfluous energy, but the others! There will be an outburst somewhere; so when Nine- teen Twelve erected and trimmed a Christmas tree, the boys of ’14 noticed that the customary numerals were conspicuous by their absence. By clever manipulation—the details of which are not even yet understood by some—a glor- iously impressive “14” was placed on the top- most branch. What a scene the next morning! The president of the senior class and the mem- bers of the committee who had trimmed the tree became colorless or flaming with anger, ac- cording to their respective natures. They banged at the numerals, but they stuck to the top. They searched for a ladder—in vain. By the greatest imaginable effort on the part of these dignified seniors, the numerals fell. A few saw tin funny side of this prank, for, after all. it was not performed by the sophs in the spirit that the seniors thought. How- ever. many lost their dignity in a most sur- prising manner. Who ever saw the good seniors of a respectable high school engaged in hazing? It must be confessed that one does not do this in polite society, yet the seniors swooped down stairs in a body, seized those whom they thought were ring-leaders, and placed one ’14 lad under the shower bath. It may be said in passing that this lad and many others of ’14 have made bet- ter use of this shower in athletic activities than Twelve or any other class has done. When all the rest of the school failed to as- sume the responsibility of supplying Chester with entertainments of literary value. 1914 took upon itself the task of bringing Mr. Marshall Darrach to this city. On the evenings of March 7. 14. 21. 1912. Mr. Darrach read “Twelfth Night,” “Macbeth” and “Merchant of Venice” lx fore large audiences. We cleared over three hundred and sixty dollars on this series of re- citals and placed statuary and pictures in the building, among the latter being the copy of “The Bargello.” “IVnn’s Vision” and “Rouen Cathedral.” The ’14 girls took an active interest in all the activities of the Girls’ A. A., which was orga- nized that year. CLASS OF NINETEEN FOURTEEN

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14 ANNUAL IStstnru of the (Class nf l!J14 5 » Ralph Pennington, President Elizabeth Rein hard. Vice President SEPTEMBER. 1910. marked a great epoch in the history of the Chester High School, for then this great institution of learn- ing received beneath its stately portals the great and glorious class of Nineteen Four- teen. What a splendid assemblage of boys and girls, especially girls, that nearer, clearer, dearer heaven of stars. But I must not dwell too long upon this gentle theme; for it is a subject where, like a babbling brook, 1 could “run on forever. These scholastic genii of stellar qualifications were not in school long before they began to make their presence known. As soon as foot- ball season made its appearance, the '14 boys showed themselves to be born lovers of the old pig-skin. In one of tin most gruelling contests in the history of football, these progenies of the gridiron put a crimp in the tail of Nineteen Thirteen by swamping them to the tunc of ‘21-0. This was only practice to our boys, however, who repeated the process of a runaway victory on Nineteen Twelve. Feeling that the rules of etiquette pleaded for a slight recognition in Sara Riley. Score tan Ferdinand Nyembtz, Treasurer seniority of age. we spared the senior class the humiliation of defeat. Soon basket ball season came, and Nineteen Thirteen was anxious to avenge her defeat in this new line of athletics; but the contest that ensued was not a game; it was a tragedy. To our rivals it was a case of non veni. non vidi, non vici, or the Latin equivalent of hard luck. The game finished with the score 23-11 in our favor. Ye gods, what martyrdom ! Besides com- pleting our baseball season creditably, we also enjoyed the distinction of being the only fresh- man class with members that had earned posi- tions on the first baseball, basket ball and foot- ball teams. Our next achievement lay in the conducting of the Flag Day exercises. The program was splendidly arranged, and the selections deliv- ered in that eloquent manner which character- izes the oratorical abilities of the (’lass of Nine- teen Fourteen. But summer was destined to end the first year of our high school career. It brought va- CLASS OF NINETEEN FOURTEEN

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ANNUAL 16 The finest Peace Day program ever presented lx»fore the school was rendered by this class. No wonder the faculty said “There is good ma- terial in that class.” and 1912 looked on with amazement and even respect. The term ended with good feeling on all sides. Our first act upon our return to the High School in the fall of 1912 was to hold a meeting for the election of class officers for the ensuing year. Clinton Stewart was elected president; Marjorie Black, vice president; Ralph Penning- ton, treasurer; and Elizabeth Reinhard. secre- tary. The next step was to gain a monopoly of positions on the football team, and with such ’14 men as Birtwell. Cochran. Cramp. Hewes, Robinson and Sweney. tin Chester High School enjoyed a very successful season. The Public Debate now made its inevitable appearance, but a little “if” stood between us and victory. Of coarse! we really won. but by some ingenious method of reversing the order of things, the judges rendered the decision in favor of our opponents. But we more than retrieved this defeat in basket ball. The contest could hardly be called a game; it was more like a tragedy; for when 1914 wiped the floor with the poor seniors, tin latter demonstrated their efficiency as mops, brooms, dust brushes and vacuum cleaners. The game ended with the score 26-17. In March the class once more presented Mr. Darrach to the Chester public. The audiences were completely swayed by his interpretations of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Julius Ca sar” and “The Tempest.” Spring brought baseball with all its glory, and Nineteen Fourteen won an undisputed in- ter-class championship. The junior middles were tin only ones able to put up a somewhat animated game, and they would have had splen- did prospects of success if an express wagon had been used to assist their bush league pitcher in putting the ball over the plate. The recital, however, was the crowning glory of our senior middle year; the grand finale to three long years of splendid work. It ushered in the close of the school term, which ended in a joyous class picnic, which will always be re- membered; for the recollection of those happy days that are no mem will earn from us “the passing tribute e f a sigh.” The autumn of 1913 found the largest senior class in the history of the school back from its summer activities and energetic to assume the eluties of the senior year. We started unusually well. We elected a student council and Ralph Pennington, presi- dent of the class. The council was something entirely new to this school and at first it work- ed splendidly, and we were pronounced by our principal to have the true spirit and the right attitude toward discipline, but we have slowly CLASS OF NINETEEN FOURTEEN.