Granite City High School - Warrior Yearbook (Granite City, IL)

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Abraham Lincoln started as a poor boy with very little education and the education he had was ob- tained thru his own efforts. He had his eyes fixed on a goal which seemed far beyond the reach of a boy with his education and rank in life. But, by hi 3 indominatable will and untiring purpose he reached his goal. He did the greatest service for the Ameri ’an people that the world has ever known. Classmates, tonight ends our High School career. What our future will be depends upon the way in which we enter it. If we have one aim in view and will power enough to carry our purpose thru and to give us courage to overcome all obstacles and with “Excelsior” uppermost in our minds, we cannot fail. Muriel Morgan. TWENTY-THREE

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EXCE ' .SIOR. Muriel Morgan. “From lower to the higher next. Not to the top is nature’s text And embryo Good to reach its full stature. Absorbs the evil in it’s nature.” These lines express to us the striving of still higher, ever upward, and onward to the greater achieve- ments in life. This is the desire of every human being who can see the worth of great things. Sometimes a person’s desire to reach this high place is selfish. He is determined to gain what he wishes regardless of other people. Renown gained in this way is seldom envied. It fails to satisfy the person who has obtained it, he cannot understand what is lacking but it is because he is too rapt in his own selfish purpose. The person who wishes to do something to benefit mankind seldom fails to accom- plish his ambition., After a student finishes high-school, he knows that he must now decide what his life work is going to be. His one aim is to do something for the good of mankind. The place that will prepare him for this , is the college. This will take up many years of hard work besides the expense, but his eyes are fixed on a goal and he will succeed because his banner is ‘Excelsior.” There are plenty of people to discourage him, but his purpose remains unmoved. After many years of work he reaches his goal. His reward is the more precious because it has been gained by great toil. He is looked up to as one who has reached his goal because of his noble purpose “Excelsior.” He has built a great character, which attracts the people to him as a magnet attracts steel. They know his superiority, not because of his eloquence but because of some latent power. He has built this character because he started with one purpose uppermost in his mind, the purpose to go ever upward and by so doing, benefit mankind. He has inspired the people around him with the desire to accom- plish great things. . What is it that has raised man to the greatness that he has attained in this twentieth century? It is his great will and purpose to go ever upward, his adherence to one definite point. His constant labor and persistence until the top is reached. This word ‘ ExcelsiorJ’ has raised man from savages to beings whose knowledge is indefinite. TWENTY-TWO

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CLASS ORATION, “The Young Man of the 20th Century. Fred Butler. Classmates and Fellow students, the question of a young man’s life preparedness, in this the 20th century, is quite a complicated question to solve. Opportunity awaits every man of today and it is up to the individual himself to grasp this advantage. Colleges and Universities are today, thrown open, welcoming any young man, who is ready to sacri- fice his time and social activities, so as to obtain a higher education. A young man may study and experiment upon these things which science alone is to master. Others, might turn their eyes toward the college course which lies before them, planning to study law so as to become lawyers, others as editors, orators, writers, diplomats, teachers, farmers, and in thousands of other positions in life. Then I might ask why do these young men go to college? Simply because they desire to equip them- selves, by instruction, for life’s battle, and sad to relate, thousands and thousands of young men attend our crowded colleges and universities just to have a “Jolly good time,” by spending their entire time in folly. In your father’s time, a person was proud to say that he had attended school six months of the year. The training that they received was very poor although it was accepted, because “the demands of a young man then were much less than the demandsof a young man of the 20th century. Then, a man could go to school to? several years, study law, buy a few lawyer books, and be admitted to the bar. Later, he possibly would become a famous judge; a student of medicine could read and study the medical profession; buy his satchel and go out and treat his patients; a student of dentistry; after a lapse of several years of schooling; could buy his forceps and necessary material, and become a noted dentist; but that theory does not hold good in this modern day and age. A young man must be ade- quately fitted for the profession which he starts out to follow. The fields of all professions are open wide, and a young man practicing for any certain profession must be fitted properly with the necessary knowledge and wit and grit to succeed. When one begins to think of what human mind and energy have accomplished, he is really amazed. The endless cycle of scientific knowledge and the rapid production; the wireless, the X-ray, the areoplane and others. TWENTY-FOUR