Coplay High School - Coplayite Yearbook (Coplay, PA)

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new dispositions. After a delightful entertainment by the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A. and refreshments for both mind and body, we retired, waking on the morrow with a new and warmer feeling for our Dear Old School. As time flew l y and more difficult and more numerous tasks confronted us, we began to feel that we really were a part of a typical educational institution. To grace our first week’s end both literary societies rendered special programs. How marked was our beginning here at Normal! The chapel, in order to be more in keeping with the entire school, upon our arrival, was found to have been entirely remodeled and beautified. Even a new addition to the kitchen and laundry was now being completed. How we have felt the benefit of it all cannot be expressed in fitting words. Upon our beginning two new teachers greeted us: Miss Henrietta Groeneveld, an able teacher of music, and Mr. W. S. Ilalde-man, whose work here has been felt by the entire school. The lecture course of this year gave unbounded information on topics of great importance, among which were Judge Willis Brown, of Utah, who very powerfully spoke on “The kind of training needed by morally delinquent boys.” Dr. J. E. Cathell’s lecture on Abraham Lincoln was an inspiring and patriotic address not easily forgotten. Following Philomathean Literary Society anniversary with its glowing and inspiring musical and literary program came Hallowe’en, our first one spent here at school. How marked it was! To students and teachers alike it was without taint of loudness or annoyance to any one. A sumptuous feast was served in the dining room, suitably decorated for the occasion, and after supper and toasts were over, all repaired to Chapel, where a delightful entertainment was given under the auspices of the Y. M. and the Y. W. C. A. The occasion was one of sociability, mirth and laughter, and we Juniors had now become entirely assured that the Keystone State Normal School had no equal all over this broad land. Thanksgiving Day was just as pleasantly spent. After an unparalleled feast, which was one truly to be thankful for, we again repaired to Chapel, where the exercises were instructive as well as interesting. In the meantime, while “Father Time” was speeding onward and the sand glass kept running lower and lower, we, as Juniors, began to feel the need of a closer acquaintance, and consequently 3

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HISTORY OF THE CLASS OF 1912. JUNIOR YEAR. From Junior class to Senior journey on, The small beginning has been well begun, If you would covet learning’s prize Climb her heights and take it. JUST as the wise and god-gifted birds congregate into flocks and finally wend their way southward to spend a portion of their little lives in a more wholesome atmosphere and a more gentle climate, when autumn paints the leaves with its glorious colors and Jack Frost nibbles at every little thing; so we, the glorious class of 1912, first congregated and found a temporary destination at the Keystone State Normal School in the autumn of 1909. Here we were sheltered from the howling winter blasts without with plenty of food, both intellectual and physical, within. What an impression our first sight of Dear Old Normal made upon our pliant minds, and what an impression we looked forward to in three years of implicit obedience and the tug of war with seemingly unmasterable tasks! But we, as Juniors, “Had to learn to labor and to wait,” for we were advancing one step and only one, toward the threshold of broader education. With all the newness around us and many strange faces, nevertheless the kindly looks and hospitable actions of both teacher and schoolmate soon made us feel at home. How attracting and interesting our environment soon became! We gradually became aware that the enrollment of our first term actually surpassed that of any previous year in the history of our school; and how boastfully we now speak of it, for we are the class of 200. We were just about beginning to get acquainted with our upper classmates when an event took place which greatly promoted friendship and familiarity with our upper classmates. A certain never-to-be-forgotten Friday evening found us in Chapel, tagged to perfection, and in no time we learned new faces and acquired 12

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our first class meeting was called. In time officers were elected and colors chosen, and for the remainder of the year we felt as though the Middlers and Seniors were “ Not the only pebbles on the beach.” The winter term with its various lectures, and Keystone anniversary with its important topic, ‘‘The waste and conservation of resources,” so well discussed, passed by very rapidly, and it seemed but an immeasurably short time from the time of the reception in Chapel to our return home once more. After a fleeting vacation of ten days, we once more, as Juniors, returned to Dear Old Normal for the final tug of war. The term as usual was opened with a reception in Chapel, and now we received the last recruits of our Junior year most eagerly. The year 1909 passed only too quickly, and spring term, with the glories of nature and the busy Junior, seemed to disappear like the ice before the sun’s warm rays. The saddest event of the year was an epidemic of measles, which for some time held sway with the physically weaker element of the student body. The well-equipped infirmary, however, fostered these unfortunate students with the materly tenderness, and when time came for departure all were again released. But now the climax of the tug of war had reached us: we were confronted by a double phalanx composed of the Faculty and State Board of Examiners. However, being well drilled and armed by a year’s hard work, we proved our fighting abilities and emerged joyfully from the thick of the fray with swords sheathed for another year. Now, we were full-fledged middlers, and after congregating our flocks in the school and on the beautiful campus, Class Day and Commencement Day, we again journeyed northward to return with the winter winds. Louis Edgar Dieruff. 14