Fredericksburg High School - Rapahanoc Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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liropfjecp of 1925 ATE one summer afternoon, I left Richmond determined to reach Fredericksburg before the night grew too late. Many years had passed since I had visited my old home, and as my car sped along in the gathering dusk, my mind in anticipation pictured the familiar places I would see. They would look much the same as far as all out¬ ward appearances were concerned. Of that I was certain. But the people who had endeared those places to me, the boys and girls with whom I had spent my high school years would perhaps be gone, and I wondered what life had brought to each one of them. Suddenly in the midst of my revery, my car stopped. I was alone on a country road with no help in sight. As I looked about nervously in the night, which had now settled over me with a vengeance, my fears were relieved by the sight of a tiny light peering through a grove of trees. I started eagerly toward it. Perhaps the light came from a cottage where I might get some assistance. It was a beautiful moonlight night and one on which you would least expect to see spirits. You can imagine my fright, therefore, when I saw coming toward me, a thin, white, startling object. The subject of my revery came sud¬ denly back to my mind, and forgetting the errand on which I was bent, I determined to clear up, if possible, the question which the return to Fredericksburg had called up in my memory. —“Can you tell me of my old class at F. H. S., the class of ’25?” Spirit —“Yes. Probably I’ve seen them on my visit around the world.” I —“Did you see anything of John Allison?” Spirit- —“Oh! is that the boy who was seen so much with Vivian? They are at last married and are still seen walking the streets of Fredericksburg.” 1 —“How about Bettie Billingsly?” Spirit —“Why, I saw Bettie happily keeping house for her brother, a General in Japan.” I —“Did you see Margaret Brewer? I lost track of her.” Spirit —“Oh! Margaret, being so quiet, is now making a fine minister’s wife.” ft [ 42 ]

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to it by the sunshine and the music of the birds. As the third stage is most joyful to the pansy, so was our Junior year the jolliest for us Our class was well represented, in both the literary and athletic activities of the school. Our greatest literary achievement was the “High School Spotlight’’ published by the Junior class of 1924. We are proud to say that this was the only paper to be issued by one class during our whole High School life. But now, we see a tiny bud bursting forth from among the green leaves of the pansy plant, and this warns us that our Senior year is at hand. At the time when the pansy is bursting into full bloom we may truly say that it is rewarded for all its struggles by the beauty of its blossom. Our Senior year has also brought forth the fruits of our labor. Our studies this year have been made most delightful, and we have received the full co-operation of our gardeners in all our undertakings. Whatever successes we may have achieved have been in a large degree due to the careful guidance of these, our friends. And now, while the dainty pansy is proclaiming the joyful mes¬ sage of Spring, we, too, have a message to give. To our school¬ fellows we wish to say that in the four years of High School life, lies the opportunity which will never be offered again. Seize it! For school days come but once. And to everyone we say, in the words of Rabbi Ben Ezra—in life, “See all, trust God, nor be afraid.’’ —Margaret Williamson.

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7—“Then there was Lother Dodd—did you see him?” Spirit —“Yes, and from all appearance he is diligently working to become the golf champion of the world.” I —“There was Virginia Clift, who was always so voiceless in chemistry.” Spirit —“Oh! she is a country school inarm and as strict in making her pupils speak loud as Miss Kennedy was with her.” 7—“Don’t forget Charles Hooper, who was so proud of studying.” Spirit —“Why he has set up an automobile repair shop, thinking it less ex¬ pensive to own it himself.” —“What of Elizabeth Cadot and Lemuel Houston? In school they were always together.” Spirit —“They are still together, judging from their being seen last night at a society ball, at which they were the leading figures; probably due to Lemuel’s being such a successful writer of poetry.” 7—“Then there was Thelma Moody. What became of her?” Spirit —“Thelma! Oh! yes. I saw her standing in the doorway of a cute little rose-covered bungalow awaiting her husband’s return.” 7—“What of the other couple, Madelaine Wheeler and Thomas Morri¬ son ?” Spirit —“You will find that ‘Dan Cupid ' keeps them faithful postmaster and wife, but instead of his driving to meet her mornings she goes to bring him home.” 7—“Can you tell me of Mary Daffan ?” Spirit —“Oh! Mary teaches in a country school also, where, remembering how she suffered from excess of work in F. H. S., she gives so few lessons that she will always be remembered as an ideal school-teacher.” 7—“Well, what became of Margaret Williamson and Duff Green ?” Spirit —“Oh! as 1 glided over a large concert hall in New York I found Margaret, now a great singer, accompanied on the piano by Blanche Russell, while Josephine Fisher played the violin obligato. Duff, as would be expected, was found, a prosperous young business man, waiting in the front row the rise of the curtain.” 7—“Can you tell me of Thomas Payne and Orson Stuart?” Spirit —“Thomas had succeeded in becoming such a fine doctor that he gets patients from all Fredericksburg and the surrounding country. However, Orson Stuart, now a farmer and raiser of prize onions, remains true to his former state¬ ment that Thomas shall never doctor him.” 7—“What is Margaret Pepmeier doing now?” Spirit —“Why Margaret may be seen any day at the Mary Washington Hos¬ pital, where she has become a most successful nurse.”