Deshler High School - Orange and Black Yearbook (Deshler, OH)

Page 16 text:

( RAMBEANP BLACK The J .ew School House Look ing MONG the clianKes which liave taken place in the past in our American social life, there have been none more significant or far-reaching than that one which had its beginning about the opening of the present century, when log-rollings, husking- hees and simi ' ar forms of community activity have l)een largely abandoned. The American school house once more began to be ised as the center of comnninity life. Our parents and grand-parents all love to tell of the good times they iiad in the old school houses when they met in the o ' d literary and debating contests, when wits clashed in speling schools and when they learned to sing do, re, me, in the old singing skule. However, with the coming of good roads and better means of travel and communica- tion, this old spirit of neighborliness was partially lost, and the movies and other forms of connnercial entertainment took the p ' ace of the common interests. Altho some of these forms still maintain their hold on at least a portion of the community, the need for a common meeting place reasserted itself and the school houses again became the .gathering pl-ice. Today we find in practically all communities, the old activities (i] erating as never before, but changed and adapt- ed to meet our modern ideals. The old debating society has become a forum where neighbors meet to explain and discuss problems of everydaj ' life, social as well as political and economic, local as well as state and national. The old spelling school maintains its hold, but it, to, has been modi- fied, while the sing:in ' skule is now a Choral Society, ren- dering choruses and oratorios like The Messiah and with it works the glee clubs, the orchestra, and the band, all instruments in the drawing together of the separate lives of the community and fashioning them into a living unit of fellowship. Along with these facilities for social and mental recreation the new school will afford means of building up the physical side of ourselves. For the younger set, there will, of course, be basket ball and for the older folks, particularly those whose lives are passed mostly indoors, there will be volley ball, indoor baseball and setting-up exercises, all which help one to keep fit. The school house is the one place where all meet on an equal footing, regardless of sect or religion. It is the com- inon property and a mighty instrument in the building up of a .strong, helpful, uplifting spirit of neighborliness and co-operation. Shall we be wise enough to grasp our op- portunity?

Page 15 text:

riliaRAMBEANPBLAClCl

Page 17 text:

lilfORAIiBE AND BLACICl Page Eleven