Croswell Lexington High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Croswell, MI)

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HISTORY—Class of 1912 The present senior class of ('. II. S. ean hardly he identified as the freshman class of four years ago. At that time the class roll numbered thirty-two, but due either to the plucking ability of the instructors or the lack of sticktoitiveness on the part of the students (the latter being probable) our umber has gradually decreased until now we have but sweet sixteen. One characteristic of our class is its appreciation of woman’s rights and elimination of maiden sisters and bachelors, as is shown by our roll, having completed the course with an even number of boys and girls. Suppose we follow our fortunes throughout our four years; after leaving the grades. Our grammar school teacher was a sort of combined mother-confessor, social worker and home missionary to the community. She had dealt with us as in- dividuals for two years and knew our personal peculiarities. She strengthened our feeble wills and confirmed the growing virtues by requiring a pretty faithful accounting every day for the daily task. When we reached the High School we were thrown at once on our .own resources. We had four new teachers, new studies and an older crowd of students to compete with. I remember well the first day in the high room. We were looked down upon jeered at and called “fresides, ” and I presume we were all right, at least we felt as though we were. It was during this period, having reached the high school, that most of us boys were allowed to don our first long trousers, and then may- be’we did not get put through the mill. Thoughout the year we did not seein to grasp the real pur- pose of our being in school, not being included in the social events of the upper-classmen, and being backward about strik- ing up for our rights, thought ousel ves an abused class. Toward the end of the school year we began to take part in the social affairs and to realize the function of the institution and our part in it. When the call came for track contestants, we pided ourselves with two entries, which brought us honors at the annual meet held at Marlcttc. The next year we entered upon our duties with a good will and a fair knowledge of our position in the school. Through- out the year we had a few social gatherings and class meetings but could not be considered as the “stars of the school, being as yet dominated bv the upner-.dassmen in everything except athletics, in which we always took highest honors. It was also in this, our sophomore year, that we received into our class the Wixons and Greys, who were valuable addi- tions, in view of the fact that they are numbered in the chosen sixteen to complete the course. Our junior year was crowned with success, not only in our studies blit in our social affairs and athletics. The climax, or highest point in our school life, was reached, after which came the last act, then the curtain. The senior class, being small, was easily subdued, leaving us champions of the school, and we certainly made use of our time, living up tio the maxim, “eat, drink and he merry, for tomorrow you may be solemn seniors. ’ During the year we carried on our business meetings and social evenings. Wo also made great strides in athletics, send- ing the point winners to the state meets and tying for first

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An Evening With Big. desolate, empty, the assembly room looms before us on Monday evening, as we enter it to attend a meeting of the re- nowned debating club. Empty, did 1 sayf Well, perhaps hardly that, for at the far table in the back of the room sit a couple, evidently come early to secure an advantageous position. His blond head makes an effective pic are near her brown one, as they bend whisperingly and gigglingly over some task. Prom them it seems miles in the dimly lighted room to the desk on the front, platform, where sits Mr. President, in all his doubtful dignity, ably flanked and supported by a girlish secretary, who takes minutes furiously between the whispered comments to her colleague. Scattered here and there between the two extremes are a few devotees of the declamatory art, a few ardent seekers after the culture of self expression. Towards the back sits a large, jovial person, who quite over- flows his seat in his eagerness to prepare his debate before his turn shall come. When it does arrive, he marches up to the plat- form with sn assured air, though with slightly flushed face, apd delivers his oration with only occasional hesitation. The remain- der of the evening he spends in teasing the girls around him, most of whom are sitting two in a seat, arms intertwined. Others sure to be present are an elderly man who acts as judge or critic, and a flushed individual sitting in the back seat the Webster Club who has always some comment to offer on the delivery or conclu- sions of the speakers, and who invariably moves that “the reports be accepted.” The censor, too, is there, he of the ruddy, ruffled hair. Still another Cicero sprawls in his seati near the rear of the room, hands in his hair, eyes glued on the array of books spread out before him, yet with his ears ever open that he may not miss anything that is happening about him. The program flows uneventfully on, from the msieu of the opening number through the speeches, the debates to the reports of the censor, broken only by faint clapping and an occasional giggle, now and then rounding into a hearty laugh, if the speaker scores a good point, or by the tap of the bell heralding the close of a speech. The period of loitering which follows the movement for ad- journment is brought to a close by the decisive movement of a Titian-haired girl, who leaves the assembly room with an attendant (usually varied) in tow. This is a signal for a period of inde- cision on the part of “Uncle Haze.” who never is sure just which one he wants to take home. Most of the others, however, are not troubled in this way, but slip into their coats, pair off and begin the slow promenade away from culture toward home and mother.

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place versus the combined forces of the other classes in an in- ter-class meet. In this, our senior year, we have been ‘'dignified seniors” in every sense of the word. Our last three rows of seatn, and especially the rear of the same, have set an uncqualed example in deportment, while our investigating committee on sanitary conditions and cleanliness have ferreted out many misdemeanors on the part of some of the underclassmen. The victims were allowed the full course of the law, and were sentenced to five minutes in tJu shower hath. Foremost among these were Dea- con Townsend, and how well I remember (as will anyone who happened to be in the court room at the time of his trial his pathetic appeal for mercy, on the ground that his head had never been wet since he was a babe, and it might “give him his death of cold.” The good work was not dropped here,however. We proceeded to varnish the seats, clean up the walls and dec- orate the halls and assembly room, and we sincerely hope that the classes to follow will keep up the good work which we have started, and that they will leave things in as good condition as we have left them. Our greatest undertaking was the publication of this, the first annual of the High School. It has necessitated much work, but will doubly repay us for our effort, and besides it will be an incentive for futur classes to continue tin same. Our class meetings, with Reynolds pounding for order (while Anna and George in one eo er and Uncle Ilazen and either Louise.Elda or Nellie in the other, holding meetings of tludr own and paying no heed whatever to our president ’s frail implor- ings), have always been sources of the greatest pleasure, and it is with a swollen feeling in our throats that we think of leav- ing our many friends and familiar surroundings. V. 1). QUAIL.