Grimsley High School - Whirligig Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN High Schools. Seeing the importance of sys¬ tem, we found it to be quite abundant there. Some of the individuals persisted in calling it “red tape”—a most silly phrase—but the officials scorned this epithet, saying that it was the “hot stuff,” or some such learned ex¬ pression. For a week or ten days we re¬ mained in this city, and while I studied the school systems, Professor Derdlim examined the business interests, including the cotton manufacturing plant located there that is the largest of its kind on Earth. We then left for other parts of the planet, using our cylin¬ der in covering long distances, such as cross¬ ing the Pacific Ocean, a little matter requir¬ ing some paltry ten minutes to accomplish. In this way we covered all important points on Earth, including Russia and Podunk, Indiana, and gained a comprehensive knowl¬ edge of the customs of the inhabitants. Returning to Greensboro about the last of May, we learned that the High School there was just on the eve of their Commencement. This is a more or less sad occasion that marks the graduation of the Senior Class of that year. Appropriate exercises are held in com¬ memoration of their completion of the high school course, and at one of these occasions, called Class Day, different members read papers prepared by themselves that deal with the several phases of the life of the class dur¬ ing its period in the school. Each year these articles, together with other records of the school year, are printed in a neat volume that they designate The REFLECTOR. Shortly after returning to Greensboro, I was visiting one night in the home of one of these members of the Senior Cl ass when I happened to notice one of these little books lying on the library table. In¬ quiring as to its nature, I soon ascertained what it was for, and being particular to per¬ use it carefully, I asked where I might pro¬ cure one for myself. I was directed to the Manager, and from him I easily obtained a copy. And it is this copy that I have brought back with me as a report on the high schools of the United States in particular. It is a representative book from a representative high school. In it you will find a record of the various school activities. These are grouped under different sections. Primarily, these sec¬ tions attempt to portray the life of the Sen¬ iors and members of the student body. The first section is devoted entirely to the graduating class. As the name of this An¬ nual suggests, it is simply a reflector of what their four years’ environment has been and has meant to them. In it are mirrored the happenings and impressions of this important period in the lives of the Earth men. You notice they have left an individual record of each member, giving a short account of his personal characteristics and his school ac¬ complishments, and, what is perhaps most in teresting to us Marsians, a photograph of himself. 9

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN THE REPORT Professor Tegelet: No doubt you thought last October when you assembled at Thor Field to watch Professor Derdlim and me hop off for the Earth that you were wit¬ nessing the passing from our planet of two fool scientists whose demise would be only a “happy riddance” to Mars. But, gentle¬ men, you have had no such luck, and aftei nine months here we are back with you at the old club! (Applause.) I hardly know how to begin. As the people of the American Republic on Earth would say, “We’ve been scouting around quite a bit” since we last met with you. Of course, you are quite familiar with the de¬ tails of the construction of the cylinder in which we made our flight, and with the prin¬ ciple involved in making it, since it was this body that planned and championed the un¬ dertaking. I was highly gratified to learn that Professor Stagazer and his fellow as tronomers of the Club succeeded in follow¬ ing with their intricately toned X-rayscope the movement of our cylinder in its path to Earth. When we considered the fart that the trip required eight hours, and that dur¬ ing this eight hours the Earth had turned one- third the way upon its axis in the X-rayscope and the cylinder out in space, it makes us pause in admiration of the instrument that can accomplish such a thing. The Professor tells me that he not only followed our move¬ ment in space, but also observed our landing, and though he was not positively certain, he was reasonably sure that we had made Earth safely. And such was the case. In private con¬ versation with you. Professor Dredlim and I have told you how we landed safely, thanks to the compressed air arrangement and the big parachute, in a field just on the northern edge of the little city of Greensboro, on the extreme eastern coast of the continent they call North America, situated in one of the stale divisions termed North Carolina. Our experiences from then on were so varied and so interesting that, I fear, I may digress from my subject, which, as you un¬ derstand, is a report on the educational sys¬ tems and institutions of the sister planet. Let it suffice for me to say, however, that, as they express it, we were “quite the rage” for a considerable time. They lodged us at a hos¬ telry called the O. Henry, named, I think, in honor of one of their prominent sons, who be¬ came an internationally known writer of short stories, one of their most popular literary forms. We managed to get along, and soon contrived a medium of communication with them. As soon as we had acquired their language, which required several weeks, they began to show us around and to acquaint us with their various institutions. The Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, the Ladies’ Club, and other like organizations had us out to ban¬ quets, dinners, parties, and teas, where we were honor guests and sat, as is their custom, next the toastmaster. This man is now prac¬ tically a figurehead, obsolete they say, and these functions lack zest, and—I believe they say in Paris, one of the religious centers of Earth, “ze pep —due, they told me, to the activities of one called Hardhead—no, not that—Vol—Volstead—yes, that’s it. I re¬ member William Jennings Bryan told me that this man Volstead was one of his—er— Tombstone buddies. But coming to my subject, about which 1 have said nothing as yet, it will be necessary to explain that we found it imperative that we adopt some system by which to gather the information we were seeking. We had decided to divide our tasks, and it fell to me to study the school systems. The report I make to-night, then, is upon the subject of 8

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Senior Mascot 10