Commerce High School - Commerce Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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ant part in making this open house a success. We performed experiments in chemistry, aped Daniel Webster by debating in our English classes and helped in other lines of work. The Junior girls were in evidence that night, when the Seniors and the Juniors played a game of basket-ball. But the days grew into weeks, the weeks into months, and soon vacations arrived. We were now no longer common, ordinary Juniors but SENIORS. As we walked in the halls now, everybody had to give way to us; we were Seniors and had a great many weighty subjects on our mind; we could not demean ourselves by moving aside. We were so important that it was great favor to receive a look from us. One permanent effect of our new dignity was a general run on the hat stores in the vicinity of our school. Each boy had to invest in a larger hat, and each girl dressed her, hair in a more dignified manner, that is, farther skyward. These mysterious symptoms rapidly disappeared, as is always the case in a disease of this kind, that comes to every person in high school; but ours was only a mild case, we suffered no ill effects. We now' became social leaders; we had several parties and a formal dance. All who attended these affairs confessed in a very enthusiastic and convincing way that “this w’as the best time they ever had.” This seems to be a favorite expression with some people, but in this instance it really was the best time we ever had. Some of the teachers of our school called several dances at these affairs wrestling matches, but they were wrong, we were only taking our daily course in gymnastics as prescribed by A. Nut. (This gentleman is well known; he is most prominent in Newburg, Ohio, where he is now residing in a grand brick building with an elaborate iron fence around it.) But let us come back to earth and imagine ourselves in a Senior class meeting. No, let us not, it is too painful. Just imagine a chorus of voices ranging from high soprano to deep bass, all trying to talk at once, and you have an idea of the situation. Mr. Gehring has confessed, however, that we were the most businesslike class of any that he has been connected with. The wonder is what could the preceding classes have been like? We elected our class day speakers at one of these meetings, after much discussion as to their finer qualities and merits. After hearing them Class Night, we believe wfe did not make a mistake in our choice. Now comes the most important event of the year, in fact the most important of our whole school life. It will mean going from school out into the business world for most of us. It is commencement. It can rightly be called “commencement,” for it will be the commencement of our life struggle to win success. No'more will we have any teacher to guide us; we must strike out for ourselves; we must work out our own destiny. On that occasion we will receive a testimonial of our work for these four pleasant years. We shall no longer enjoy the spirit of school life; we may be scattered to every corner of the earth, but the memory of those years will always remain with us as the best part of our life. RALPH MULLEN. 17

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HISTORY CLASS OF 1914. BEFORE our class leaves the High School of Commerce forever, fate gives us a fleeting view of the four preceding years. We see ourselves as we entered the high school fresh from grammar school, proud and happy, not knowing the pitfalls which lay before us as “flats. “Flats we were, and everybody called us that. We were not fresh as the term freshman may imply; if we had been, the freshness would soon have been taken out of us by the Sophs, who considered themselves our betters. Lessons kept us busy, for each teacher seemed to make it a point to impress upon us the fact that a high school course is no “cinch. We came here with the “do or die spirit, however, and we were determined that we would succeed in our school work. Many of our class were so filled with this spirit, and worked so hard that they received E’s as their reward and had their names placed upon the honor roll. How proud we were when these reports were sent back to the schools from which we came! The class of ’14 was going to be some class; it needed no prophet to predict our glorious future. The boys played basket-ball upon the various color teams and indicated, even at that early period, that Commerce’s future basket-ball teams were to be the good ones they have since turned out to be. The big event of our first year was a general good time for visitors and pupils. It was labelled Edaudivid. We were most prominent at this time as we laboriously assisted in making posters to advertise the coming event. A good time was enjoyed by every one present; we didn’t think high school life was so bad after all. Upon returning the next fall we could look down upon the entering pupils with scorn, for we were now Sophomores. We treated them kindly, however, and only impressed upon them very gently the fact that we were Sophomores, and they were only “flats. We met our classmates and were immediately ready for school work, refreshed by the long vacation. A call for football candidates brought out several of our class, who proudly secured places on the team. The majority of the Rooters’ Club, led by Ross Baxter, was composed that year of Sophomores. Although we may have been a little meek in our classes we were able to yell when the occasion arose. The girls were also heard in the Glee Club and helped to make that year's concert a success. In fact we were becoming of some importance in the school. We were the noise producers of the High School of Commerce. The year soon came to a close, and our second happy period at Commerce had ended. We were now Juniors and endeavored to capture the secrets of shorthand and the mechanism of a typewriter. We went into society and enjoyed several jollifications in the gym; we thought we were “some pumpkins when the Seniors, on the day of these parties showed envy of our position, for the good times every one had at these parties was equal to, if it did not surpass, those at the Seniors’ parties. About the middle of this year our school was thrown open to our parents and visitors who might wish to inspect the school. The Juniors had an import- 10

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RUBY BOWMAN. A quiet girl, and bashful, too, Is this Ruby bright and true; Her work she does with all her might And never tires from morn till night. RUTH BURGER. Sunny bit of God’s creation, Fond of good for its own sake,— Vivid her imagination, Brightness, all her life she’ll make. RUTH HERSCHOWITZ. Though troubles falls from her like rain from a duck,” She’s often complaining about her hard luck. She's lucky all right, without any doubt; But simply wants something to talk about. HERBERT HENRICHS. He is a boy of sweet sixteen, A tall and stately lad. And by his ag , ’tis plainly seen, That school work is his fad. HELEN DUDASH. This little girl, so jolly and gay, With eyes that sparkle and shine, Believes in enjoying herself all the day And in making her friends feel fine. 18