Goshen Central High School - Yearbook (Goshen, NY)

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THE PIONEER 9 A New High School. In introduction let me say that our reasons for desiring a better school is not because we do not like our old one, indeed we are very fond of it, for within its four brick walls we have enjoyed many pleasant hours; it has been the scene of many of our successes and defeats, and taken all in all has had a prominent place in our lives. Most of us are going to leave school now for good, and hence it can hardly be self interest which prompts us. We see room for improvements which are necessary and ought to be made and that is the reason for this attempt at an article. When Goshen High School was built about twenty years ago the plans called for a building twice the size of the present one. However it was not deemed possible at that time to carry out the plans and our High School remained as it is at present. During the past year the school house has been more crowded than ever before. Classes are tucked away in the office and at times two teachers are having classes at the same time in one room. In chapel every morning there are many of the scholars who have to sit two in a seat throughout the year, and when we have rhetoricals or lectures the room is so packed, that is, when the seventh grade comes down, that it is next to impossible to walk up and down the aisles. This brings up the second great want, that of an auditorium. In nearly every high school in the country there is a large room built to be used by the scholars as a place for assembling for chapel, lectures or social events; we have no such room. High School I, which has always been used for one purpose, is inadequate, is so crowded that when anyone speaks he may reach out his hand and touch almost half a dozen people on the head. When visitors come they are packed away in any space which can be found, while the music teacher every morning, after much exercising and side stepping, makes her circuitous route to the piano. One of the most annoying things in high school life is trying to study in a room where a class is reciting. In spite of everything one’s mind is sure to wander away from lessons to the work of the class reciting; and, turning the thing around, it is just as distracting to the teacher who is trying to teach a class, especially a large one, when in a room where the people not in class are constantly demanding his attention either by disorder or by questions about speaking, etc. Now all this inconvenience and disturbance is not necessary in the high school of a town like Goshen. Other towns have auditoriums and recitation rooms. Why can’t Goshen, the heart of Orange County, rich, prosperous, and beautiful, why should we suffer this lack? Let us have a new High School building or an enlarged one at least, one of which we may be proud and which we will not be ashamed to show' to the visitors from other towns. A. O. W„ ’08. i « t Slate Hill. It’s the place for relaxation From the rules of education, Is our Slate Hill. When the breeze is softly blowing And the brooks are gently flow'ing, ’Round Slate Hill; Then the w’orries of the school day Are forgotten in our own way Upon Slate Hill. As we sit there dreaming, musing Of the hard work we are losing On top Slate Hill; We forgive the teacher’s fretting By the pleasure we are getting On old Slate Hill. As we watch schoolfellows weary, On their way to studies dreary Go past Slate Hill.

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8 THE PIONEER High School Athletic Sports. Season of J907-1908. The athletic sports of the past season were quite successful considering the fact that at the beginning of the year there were not any trained athletes in the school. A basketball game with a team from Garr Institute, in which the G. H. S. team were victorious, opened the season. The second game was played with Tuxedo—our boys were defeated by a close score but the return game showed our superiority. There were no other games played, since the teams from Middletown, Walden, and Warwick, did not reply to our challenge. The members of the team are as follows : Parker, Ryerson, McNiece, Wyker, Seely and Welsh. In the Memorial Day games our boys scored one first, one second, and three third places, making a total of eleven points, which was doing well for such young competitors with so little practice. Capt. of Track and Basket Ball Teams. w « » Annual Prize Speaking Contest. On the Friday before Decoration Day, the third annual prize speaking contest of Goshen High School was held at Music Hall. It proved very successful, the declamation or recitation of every participant being delivered in a manner which reflected credit on the speakers and those who drilled them. The following program was rendered : Piano Solo, Florence Mapes, “ The Only Way,” Martha Sutherland. “Storming of Missionary Ridge,” Sayer Seely. “Connor,’’ Margaret Durland. “Toussaint L’Ouverture,” Harold Parker. “ His Defense,” Marie Parker. “ Almost Home,” Dorothy Phillips. “Shepherds of Judea,” Alfred Wyker. “ Piano Duet—Selected, Misses Smith and Schoonmaker. “ The Old Actor’s Story,” Julia Campbell Reid. “ Deathbed of Benedict Arnold,” Augustus Wallace. “Boots,” Edith Strong. “Summer Fancies,” Girl’s Chorus. Violin—“Bolero,” Julia Campbell Reid. Vocal Solo—“ In May Time,” Grace Potter. Decision of Judges. The results were as follows : The first prize for girls was won by Miss Parker, and the second for girls by Miss Reid. The first prize for boys was won by Mr. Wyker, and the second for boys by Mr. Seely. A week later the interscholastic contest was held with the following program : Piano Solo—Selected, Florence Mapes. “ How the LaRue Stakes were Lost,” J. Everett Crigar, Warwick H. S. “ Abner Barrow’s Defense,” Marie Parker, Goshen H. S. “ Sergeant Prentiss’ Last Plea,” Joseph H. Brown, S. S. Seward Inst. “ The Swan Song,” Grace Kane, Warwick H. S. “ The Shepherds of Judea,” Alfred Wyker, Goshen H. S. “The Gypsy Flower Girl,” Ruth C. Vernon, S. S. SewTard Ins. “ The Principles of Freedom,” Ellsworth Elston, Port Jervis H. S. “The Soul of the Violin,” Josephine Lyon, Port Jervis H. S. “ Piano Duet”—Selected, Misses Smith and Schoonmaker. “ Summer Fancies,” Girls’ Chorus. “ Violin Solo—“ Win March,” Julia Campbell Reid. Decision of Judges. Award of Medals, G. H. Baskerville. In this contest Miss Parker won first prize for girls, and Miss Lyon, of Port Jervis, won second. For the hoys’ prize Mr. Crigar, of Warwick, won first, and Mr. Brown, of S. S. Seward Institute, won second.

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10 THE PIONEER We then heave a sigh of pleasure And drink deep our joyful measure To old Slate Hill. And when living under life’s rule We’ll remember how we cut school To climb Slate Hill. Ever back our minds will wander To that dear old place out yonder, “Old Slate Hill.” AN ALUMNUS. « ® The Minisink Prize Essay. The following essay won for A. C. Wallace the prize of $5 offered by the Minisink Chapter, I). A. It.: LIBERTY BELL. Liberty Bell! What a thrill of patriotism the mention of the old historic relic stirs within us! What memories it awakens of our nation struggling for existence against the tjTannical rule of George the Third. How little did our forefathers think when they ordered the bell and directed that it should bear the inscription, “ Proclaim liberty through all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof,” that it should take such an important part in the struggle against the nation who made it. In 1751 the superintendent of the State House in Philadelphia sent the order for the bell, to the agent of the province in London. The requirements were that it should weigh about a ton and bear the inscription—“ By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania,” aud below, “ Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Lev. xxv, 10. The following year the bell was delivered but was cracked on being set up for trial. The firm of Pass Stow was chosen to recast it, but their work was not satisfactory. They again tried with the result that in June, 1753, it was raised and fixed in the steeple of the State House. In the meantime England had been imposing different kinds of taxation on the colonies. Among these were the Stamp Act, the Quebec Act, Regulating Act, the Boston Port Bill, aud taxes on tea, paper, painter’s colors, etc., all violating the Colonial principle that, “ Taxation without representation is unjust.” England continued to send new taxes and laws with troops to enforce them, until the Colonies could endure it no longer. Finally some of the more influential men hinted at a union of the Colonies and so in the process of time the first Continental Congress convened in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, in 1774. This congress adopted some resolutions aud sent a petition to England, but all in vain. Early in June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, obeying the voice of his Colony, introduced into the second Continental Congress his famous resolution that, “ These United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States.” Massachusetts stood by Virginia and John Adams spoke in favor of Lee’s motion. A committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benj. Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robt. R. Livingston were appointed to draw up a declaration of independence. Jefferson was the author and produced an immortal document containing a statement of the rights of man, a list of the causes of separation and a declaration that all political connection of the colonies and, “ the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved, aud for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” It was submitted to the Congress July the third, seventeen hundred seventy six, and was debated upon all that day. On the morning of the fourth, when Congress convened, an old man and a young boy might have been seen to cross the yard and enter the State House. The old man, who was the janitor, climbed the stairs to the bel-