Coopersville High School - Zenith Yearbook (Coopersville, MI)

Page 13 text:

Ballad of the Class of ’20 Oh, come all ye people, ye high and ye low; Come list to the song that I sing. I am the class poet and soon you will know How to catch the fleet word on the wing. I don't like to study, I don’t like to write, 1 don’t like exams, I don’t like to fight. But to scribble some jingle Or to,make up a rhyme Comprises for me A very fine time. We have studied for years To learn how to say A few nice long words In a grammatical way. It has been mighty tough As the sailing was rough, But now with pleasure untold The great book of Life With its struggles and strife Its secrets to us does unfold. For close on four years With wails and with tears We’ve struggled through oceans of books. We’ve written exams, Read of kings and old dames And figured with pothooks and crooks. Oil, geometry’s fine But it’s not in our line, With mathematics we’re all in a fuss, And history’s pages Telling of glories of ages Reads like a dime novel to us; And chemistry, say— Please take it away And bury it deep it the sea; And physics—oh, boy, Possesses no joy But seems most like Chinese, say we. Our class it is best As we all stand the test And I’m sure that you all will agree As we stand up and fight For that which is right Well known we certainly will be. As we strike out alone Through the toil of this zone Each struggling class on the way May follow our path As we lay down our staff And look forward and long for the day When they, too, will pass From the school house and class To less joyful and frequented way. My task it is done And the race almost won And in tempting the Muse as you see, Mv pen’s almost dry So I’ll bid you good-bye And hope you’ll be easy with me. Wayne Murray, '20. Page Eleven

Page 12 text:

 RUSSEL VAN KOEVERING: “He means what he says and he says it, RUSSELL “I’m not lazy, I just don’t feel like work- ing.” Entered from Allendale High School, ’18. Assistant Advertising Manager, ’20. Page Ten

Page 14 text:

Salutatory E as a class, come together for practically the last time. It is the end of our school-days together, and yet it is but a beginning. We thought when we came into high school as Freshmen that that was the begin- ning; but as we are here, to graduate, it is but a new beginning. A beginning with new and larger problems than ever before confronting us! We are so glad to welcome you, for we realize it is you who have made this evening possible for us. So in the name of the class, I ex- tend a whole-hearted welcome to you. When we think of this as a beginning—a commencement—we almost imme- diately ask ourselves—“What have I to begin with? Have I anything worth- while?” The first thing which comes to our minds is—“What ability have I?” And each will have a different answer. “What are my inclinations, my desires?” While thinking of these, we come to the great question—“Have I a character that I in no way need be ashamed of?” A great deal depends on the attitude we shall take toward questions when we leave school. A very great deal depends on whether we shall look at the bright or dark side of things—whether we become pessimistic or optimistic. There will always be tile dark clouds, but if we look rightly there will always be the silver lining behind them. There is always good in all things if we can but see it—everything, no matter how great or how small, has some good thing in it. Oftimes it is these trifling things, as we think, that bring out the best in us—develop our better self. It is not always just silver lining—it often is gold—worth that much at least to us. As Emerson has so beautifully said that in the darkest and meanest things is found the something we have been looking for. A great many times things which appeal to our outer man, our inner man shrinks from. It is indeed our testing—whether the outer or inner man wins. It will upbuild our characters or destroy them. There are many ways in which we may upbuild our characters. Brooke Herford once said—“Begin bv denying yourself, and by and by you forget yourself. The kindness which was at first just a duty, becomes a pleasure and a joy. Self-denial becomes glorified into self- forgetfulness.” Although we will acknowledge it or not, there are many .many things which influence us which we do not even stop to analize—we take them as a matter of course—may we call them “Silent Influences?” These things may be good or bad. still they influence us and become part of ourselves. It is often these silent in- fluences which determine whether we shall look upon many things in a dark or bright light. There are also the outward and visible influences, which help to de- termine our character.—And character means so much to us in these days. This generation in which we live is marvelous—so many, many golden opportunities pass by,—unnoticed,—until it is too late and then we are saddened because we have neglected them and have thought only of ourselves and not of others. A clever magazine drawing shows life as it appears to us at seventeen and seventy. At seventeen the artist believes life consists mostly of one huge “I,” and the other letters of the word being quite lost in the “I’s” immensity; but at seventy life is mostly “if”; to the exclusion of all its other parts. Too many young people make I” the largest part of life, always putting first their own desires, advancement, or opinions, regardless of the rights or wishes of others. But a life so begun is sure to have so many needless disappointments that when old age overtakes it, that life—in retrospect—will lose itself in one big “if”. “If only I had!” they say, or “If only I had not!” If at seventy or eighty we would esteem ourselves, it will Page Twelve