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

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 |[ THE) CUCKOO ]} —............................ ■ SENIOR CLASS HISTORY THE year Nineteen Twenty-five A. D. in the minds of forty graduates of the eighth grade, was a most eventful year for Downingtown High School. Yes—we were here to prove to the teachers just how little we knew. We did, and the result was that about thirty-five per cent fell by the wayside at the end of the school year. As we assembled in Room nine, under the never-sleeping eye of Miss Evelyn Naylor, we saw many new faces, the greater per cent being from the country. Our class at that time resembled an apparently dormant volcano. At last the eruption came in the form of a fisticuff between Norman Algiers and Elbe Brown, who at the present time is at work in Philadelphia. This marked the first social event of our High School career Very few events arose during our first year in Downingtown High School, because of the fact that the green-eyed monsters, the upper classmen, would not permit us to organize. We had now made one step upward on the ladder toward our goal. We had been recorded as Sophomores in Downingtown High School. The first and most trying, yet important, item on our agenda for the school year, was organization. Who, in our class, can ever forget that eventful night in September when the class of Nineteen Twenty-nine established for itself a government? Alidst shouts of dissension and riotous balloting the following officers came to the surface: Charles Ax, President; Norman Algier, Vice-President; Margaret Wray, Secretary; and DeWitt Essick, Treasurer. These classmen had been chosen to guide our course during the second year in high school. In November of Nineteen Twenty-six our class, along with the entire high school and many townspeople, visited the Sesqui-Centennial in Philadelphia. The good time we had can never leave our memory. As days went by our government was becoming more and more stable, and so we made our first social venture as an organized group. An Easter Party was held in the Spring of Nineteen Twenty-seven under the auspices of the Class of ’29. Never, throughout our entire high school days have we had any better success with such an undertaking. When the Sophomore year ended, an account of our financial situation was taken and it was found that the sum of thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents was in the treasury. We had gained prestige. We were on the road to success. The Junior year was ushered in with the reelection of officers, and the revelation of the fact that some money must certainly be made, as the treasurers’ report was far from favorable. About this time we purchased our rings. The design selected was pretty and all seemed well pleased with theirs. In view of the fact that general dissension and lack of cooperation seemed to be the prevailing spirit among the class members during the Junior year, it was not surprising that after the year’s activities, being mainly, a party by which we lost money; a bake yielding fair returns; and the Junior and Senior Reception, that we Page Twenty-two

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f THE CUCKOO J ♦4tt 4f- THOMAS MARTIN POLLOCK Tom Hi-Y; Operetta, 5, 4; Cheer Leader, 3, 4; Junior Class Minstrel. Tom” sings Girl Of My Dreams very movingly. We asked him the secret. “Tom” replied, All you need is an inspiration. TO THE MEMORY OF HORACE BEALE Tonight we sing of a great event, W hen for some the school days close. Many of us into life are sent While some have been sent to repose. No lyric is written to ease the heart. No words can take weight from the soul. But time from our memories can not depart, Though he’s gone to the goal of goals. Though gone in body, his spirit lives, His part of our class was sublime, And he will guard the light we give. To the world w'ith our Twenty-nine. Charles Ax. Pnje Twenty-one

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| THE CUCKOO| wound up with a balance of only thirty-two dollars in the treasury at the end of the year. As this history reaches the final year, it is expedient that we mention here the feeling of dignity and importance with which we were endowed for the first two or three weeks of our Senior year. This has more or less worn off, though, in this later day. A Hallowe’en Party, which proved to he nothing more than an even break in pecuniary terms, was the first social event of the year. A little later we held a bake, which was quite a profitable venture. In December, the first Senior play, “Ann’s Little Affair’’, was presented anti merited the success which it achieved. The sale of Christmas Cards until Christmas, and the sequent sale of candy, have netted the class remarkable profits. The last bake held was a decided failure. In general, all efforts along this line have been futile, simply because the articles were not supplied in sufficient quantities. We might do well to ment on the purchase of class pennants here, blue letters on a red back-ground have been chosen. Before concluding the narrative, it is only proper to mention the remarkable participation in the year’s athletics, by the Senior boys. The Manager of the Varsity football team, and five of the players were Seniors. In the Basketball team, three of the players as well as the Manager were of the Senior Class. Baseball claims a Manager and four players from the ranks of the 1929 Senior Class. At the time of this writing we are preparing for the coming play, “Mr. Lazarus , to be presented in May. Commencement and the trip to Washington are still in the future. These events will mark the termination of our four years of High School life. “MR. LAZARUS” THE last Senior play, given on June 4th was a very enjoyable presentation . taking the place of a Class Day program. The fact that the theme of the play was a little bit unusual, served to heighten the interest of the audience. On the whole, the cast was well selected, the leading part, that of Mr. Lazarus, being taken by DeWitt Essick, who fulfilled the requirements for a quiet, unobtrusive, middle-aged man. Dr. Sylvester, who might be classed as the villain of the play, a vain, grasping and lazy man, John Hadfield. The Artist, William Booth, was no other than Charles Ax. “Pud” showed himself to be an artist in playing this part. Mrs. Sylvester, as emulated by Clara Guie, indicated that she was a nervous, harassed, worried woman. Dr. Sylvester’s behavior has been the cause. Patricia Molloy, played by .Margaret Wray, was an admirable opposite for Booth, being a daughter of Mrs. Sylvester by her first husband. Edith Sylvester was portrayed by Clara Shaw as a girl much like her father vain and self-centered. Page Twenty-three