Downingtown High School - Our Year Cuckoo Yearbook (Downingtown, PA)

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THE CUCKOO 17 lege. Will they not be doing their part in solving the problem of having better educated people in the United States? The citizens of our nation must be well educated in order to make it bigger, broader, and better and to uphold the ideals and principles of our greatest Americans. W e have already ben taught in High School to place behind all outward show of patriotism some thought and intelligence and with this additrional college training we can surely do our part in upholding the educational standards of Uncle Sam. Right now we can all do something to better bad conditions in our home town. Our lessons on good citizenship can be put to use. Why can’t the crowded housing conditions be bettered; why can’t some of the homes be cleaner; why can’t the streets be more attractive? One answer to these questions is this—we are not doing our honest duty as American citizens to educate the foreign element in Downing-town. Of course, the children have to go to school, but what are we doing for the older men and women who are willing and ready to be taught American standards of living? They are used to being housed in the slums of the cities and they do not seem to understand that we have other standards. If everyone would boost and push the good enterprise now on foot to have night schools for the foreigners of our town I am sure that the results would be cleaner homes, less crowded conditions, more attractive streets, higher standards of living, and a “garden town’’ growing to be the ideal “garden city.” Yet as the town is now we are proud of it. If we re not, we aren’t good citizens. Rut we are intelligent, we know it is not the best town, the model town. Men and women of Downingtown, shall we not work together to make it better? And now, Board of Education, Dear Parents, Kind Friends, and Teachers,— You have all helped my class make a beginning in these schools and you have helped make the close of our High School career a success by suporting more than well our many enterprises. We, the class of 1921, tonight offer you our most sincere thanks for this loyal assistance. You have already been made welcome to these, our commencement exercises, but to me has been given the more difficult task of saying farewell. It is true that we rejoice in the completion of our High School course, but it is equally true that we feel sad when we think of separating, one from another. In the course of four years many true and noble friendships are formed among pupils, teachers and school officials and it is these relations that give pain when severed. Rut if we cannot associate with you personally or as a class, our thoughts, emotions and best wishes will always be with our friends and we shall try to prove ourselves true friends through the Alumni, our former teachers, and school officials. And now, with this little poem written by one of my classmates, 7 may I bid you farewell? Our school days are almost over, v 7 Our lessons are almost done, We’ve spent many happy hours, In days of work and fun. W e’re leaving our Alma Mater, Our hearts are sad today, . 7 We’re leaving our childhood forever And the days that were carefree and gay-

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16 THE CUCKOO (Emmiuutnnmntt GDratimts ‘NOT FINISHED, JUST BEGUN” Valedictory by Virginia L, Clark Dear Parents, Kind Friends, and Teachers, You can see by the motto which inv class has chosen, “Not Finished, Just Begun,” that we are not unmindful of the place we have reached in our intellectual training. Four years ago at our Grammar School Advancement Exercises we finished the first lap in the race; our first goal was reached and passed. And now, tonight, we have completed that High School career that we were looking forward to on that night. Yet, have we entirely finished our school life? Have we reached the end of our training; have we finished our preparation for future usefulness? No, our training and our talents, whether prepared in a formal school or in the school of life are ready just now to be put to a test in that bigger world outside the school. We aim to be successful and to be so we must render the greatest and best service that we can to sincerity. In other words, to be successful in a democracy means that we must render to society a just and equitable return in service for everything we reeive from it. Those who are best trained are the ones who give to society as much; nay, more than they take from it. We, the youth of the nation must solve the problems which have been opened by the recent war. The world today is being reconstructed and remade. We must do our part; we must render some serivee to the people of our nation. Those who lay on the battlefield, fallen at a time when they were rendering service, can not help fin- ish the task which they have so grandly begun. Today, we should and can echo the words of Abraham Lincoln, “It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Through our social studies and our problems of democracy courses we have been brought face to face with the big problems of the day. Some of the most important ones which confront us are the immigration problem, the capital and labor problem, the housing conditions, the health problem, the educational situation—all are worthy of our deepest study. We cannot hope to solve all these big present-day problems even in our own town. Only the best trailed, the best educated, and the most intelligent men and women of the day are able to study these problems from every viewpoint. This is one reason that the majority of the members of my class are looking forward to a higher education. As we are trained now we may be able to help these conditions, but, since we have only begun and have not finished our education, we surely cannot solve these problems. There are many educational fields open to us. Some of our girls are going to train to be nurses and some of our boys to be doctors and thus do their part toward rendering a wonderful service to humanity, and toward solving the problem of making our communities, and finally our nation, more healthy. About tO per cent, of the members ot my class are going to col-

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18 THE CUCKOO We’re looking now toward the Then farewell to our teachers and future, classmates. We wonder what it holds in store We re sorry to leave, we confess. It seems very cheery and hopeful But we’ll never forget you—and As we stand in its wide-open door. school days, And our glorious I). II. S. (Poem by Esther Eppehimer) —♦D.H.S. — ANOTHER PHASE OF WELCOME Salutatory by Evelyn McKinney Dear Parents, Friends and Teachers, One and All: How many, many times in our life are we forced to admit the inadequacy of mere words to express the sentiment of the soul. Although our hearts are tilled with emotions, our tongues falter, and our lips refuse to say what wew wish them to say. W e are very inexperienced as to the ways of the world, hut we have already learned how useless words are, when we try to express the deep feelings that are in our hearts. To you dear friends, this may be an interesting occasion, for it may bring back recollections of your early hopes and aims. As for our parents it is an hour of pride and live, while teachers think of the joy of our success and accomplishment. This occasion closes an epoch in our lives, it is the end of the most important period that we have vet known and one that will materallv affect our future career, because we want to be able to look back over the past few years and feel that we have done our best and made the most of every opportunity. My part in this programme is to welcome you here to-day. But what does the word welcome mean? Have we ever heard it before? Let us consider the word for a moment. To mv mind comes a picture of a great city decorated with banners and dropped with bunting. “Old Glory” was unfurled everywhere. Everyone was trying to do his part to welcome home our soldiers. The streets were crowded with people eagerly awaiting the coming of the big parade. At last the music is heard in the distance and soon you can seen the soldiers and sailors marching, in perfect line, up the street. Great shouts of welcome are given them as they pass. Every-one feels proud to call the soldier “our own boys;” and when the required marching is done they are escorted to the central part of the city where they are presented with medals. The soldiers were the center of attraction and no one thought of their own comfort but thought of how our boys fought to make the world free for Demoracy. But wait! to my mind comes another picture of a port in a large city. In the foreground are several large vessels from which many thousands of soldiers are descending. There is no one on the docks to welcome them, as no one knew the date of their arrival. Although they were some how disappointed at not seeing their friends, just a glimpse of United States filled their hearts to over flowing.