Danville High School - Medley Yearbook (Danville, IL)

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body to make definite plans for the purchase of these stamps in the near future. For two succeeding Thursdays the teachers in each of the first-hour classes propounded, with infinite detail, the advantages of them as an investment and as a patriotic duty. A number had already purchased, and those who had not were urged to invest. Then, Friday, March 15, the office took up the sale of thrift stamps in the school, and the lower office has kept a supply on hand ever since. True to the spirit of D. H. S., her students responded loyally to this call of patriotism. Over 500 thrift stamps and 100 war saving stamps have been sold in the school. Individuals have not been the only purchasers, for many first-hour classes have organized clubs and invested collectively. The Girls Club purchased $150 worth, making a total of nearly $900 for the whole school up to this time, and the sale goes steadily on. Opportunity stands before us, as Fabius, in the days of ancient Rome, stood before the Carthaginians, and extends to us a corner of his toga, saying, “I carry here victory and defeat—Democracy and Autocracy. Choose, ye of America, which ye shall have. Your answer will be judged by your sacrifices for the sake of your country, and your willingness to labor for its attainment by the extent of your sacrifices. Which is your choice? Q. Guy Burris, 19. Tke Class in Agriculture This year, the school, deeming it a patriotic duty, as well as being beneficial to the boys themselves, introduced a course in agriculture for boys over 16 years of age. The work is under the supervision of the government, and that in itself makes it a safe proposition for the boys. To be enrolled in this class, one must belong to the U. S. Boys Working Reserve. The class was begun about a week after the start of the new semester because of delay in receiving the lessons, and in obtaining a teacher. Mr. Flannigan, assistant manual training teacher, finally consented to take the responsibility. He knows a great deal about practical agriculture, and that is what is wanted in this course. It is only to last three months—that is, up to the first of May, at which time those who are passing in class will be given their credits in other subjects and allowed to begin the required three months on the farm before receiving the credit in Agriculture. As stated above, the course is practical. The different lessons are devoted to such as these: “The Care and Feeding of Horses, “Milking, “Preparing the Seed Bed, “Harnessing a Horse, etc. The knowledge obtained in these lessons is necessary to any city boy going to a farm to work, and to make it more within the boys’ grasp, trips to the harness shop and farm implement store, have been arranged. Also, there have been talks by retired farmers, and other men who know a great deal about what is needed in the class. In this way, it is hoped that the boys will get the practical knowledge needed to start them on their three months’ farm work. The positions on farms for the boys are to be arranged by the County Commissioner, Mr. Telling, although they may work where they please if they can find positions they would rather have. Page Tiventy-three

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The Junior Red. Cross Danville High School is not lacking in the spirit of service and sacrifice that so dominates our city. With the entry of America in the World War, every one began to ponder and wonder how the High School could do her share. Miss Miller, who is always to the fore with good ideas, solved the question. One Thursday morning in the Fall of 1917, she brought the plan of a Junior Red Cross to the seven hundred-some pupils. The idea was eagerly and gratefully received. To become a member one must pay twenty-five cents, or offer service, or if he wishes, give both. The slogan was: “A 100 per cent Junior Red Cross!” It is needless to say, that before a week had passed, Danville High School was a 100 per cent Chapter of the Red Cross. Service had been willingly proffered, but what were the duties to be? Soon a Surgical Dressings Class was organized. The girls have been meeting in the library basement every Tuesday since then, and by March the twentieth they had made over a thousand dressings for the wounded heroes at the front. The boys made the boxes in which to ship them. The girls have sewed many garments for the suffering war-stricken of Belgium and France, and knitting for our soldiers has become a part of their daily routine. At Christmas the members of the Junior Red Cross sold seals which netted $100 for the tuberculosis fund. It is with pride that the Medley announces Danville High School the founder of the Junior Red Cross. Many schools throughout the country have followed her example. Let us not grow lax in the noble work begun, but let us push our endeavors more earnestly and vigorously! Madeline Lawrence. Thrift Stamps or Hell! Utopia and Hell, as Roosevelt so aptly put it, are the two alternatives left us by this war. We are directly responsible for the momentous decision that shall determine which one of these conditions our country and the world shall exist under in the future. Great strides have been taken toward the attainment of both these ends; for the former, by the Allies, and for the latter, by our enemies. One of the greatest contributions to the former, in which both opulent and proletarian classes have participated, is the purchase of liberty bonds, war-saving stamps, and thrift stamps. It is unnecessary to go in detail concerning the system, for you should already be well acquainted with it. Ever ready to lead the school into higher ideals of duty and citizenship, Mr. Baer, on the morning of February 28, explained the thrift system from the assembly platform, and urged the student-Page Twenty-two

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aOver There” Over There—the embodiment of all the hor rors of this age, a dread, unnameable terror, the ghastly shadow of oppression, of rebellion, of forced abdication of internal dissension, of the fall of nations; a hellish, raging inferno, the like of which Dante, with all his unique inventiveness, was never able to conceive, shot by the rays of searchlights, torn by ghastly, gaping shell-holes, and utterly devastated and ruined by hostile armies. A region where Death and Destruction stalk abroad, above, and beneath, and from which there rises an indescribable medley of sounds—the ceaseless buzzing of aeroplanes, those giant vultures of the air, the incessant booming of cannon, the nervous chatter of machine guns, the shrill, droning scream of the shells as they pass on their paths of murder and demolition, the sound that signals the beginning of a gas attack, and the never-ending cries and groans of the wounded and dying, all of which combine into such unutterable woe that it seems it must strike at the very gate of Heaven, and summon Omnipotence to quell it. But Over There—are other sounds than those of horror, and other rays than those of the searchlights’ shifting gleam. “The sacred call of ‘Friend’ ” was answered when General Pershing, standing at the tomb of our friend of Revolutionary days, said, “Lafayette, we have come,” and a greater than Lafayette has said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” And seintillant of the spirit of liberty and the determination of success, are the rays of hope generated by the bleeding sacrifice and bull-dog tenacity of England, France, and Belgium, and widened and intensified by the entrance of our own United States into this titanic struggle. And here is our particular interest in Over There. Every community and organization of the country is repiesented over there, and Danville High School has sent forth upon this holy mission a goodly number of her noblest sons. On the south wall of the Assembly, one hundred eighty-seven stars represent one hundred eighty-seven lives ready to be offered. Surely, with such mighty armies, moved to avenge the hideous atrocities of autocracy rampant, we cannot but be victorious. Despite the overhanging war cloud, with the American people standing back of those who have gone, we are justified in repeating the words of the immortal Lincoln, when he said, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war shall speedily depart from us,” and in its stead shall reign a period wherein peace shall be dominant, and nation shall not rise up against nation, and men will be permitted to pursue, without strife, the occupations symbolical of peace and contentment. q quy Burris ’19. Page Twenty-four