Harrisburg Central High School - Yearbook (Harrisburg, PA)

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midnight Third Street was aroused by sweet strains of music-it was not the little German band, it was merely the juniors returning from their class picnic. Vacation passed quickly and in the Fall all returned eager to win their laurels. On the morning of October 19, Igor, juniors were seen madly rushing up Forster Street to the High School, decked out with yards and yards of crimson and white, at first I thought it might be a class iight, but they were only going to a chestnut party. As they returned home in the evening, empty handed but happy, one tired little junior sighed aloud, Pleasures are like poppies spread, we seize the flower the bloom is shed, just then the wagon lurched, the sleepy junior was landed on terra firma, the rest of his selection was not from Burns. The week after the chestnut party the juniors appeared listless and preoccupied, the teachers looked aghast when day after day a flunk was recorded, now all this was attributed to the chestnut party, all seemed to forget that the next Friday was Pennsylvania Day and that the juniors had to do harder thinking and solve harder problems in connection with how to get their flag up, than was found in a geometry, days before there was an unusual confusion, and mysterious meetings were held, but the secret was well kept. The Seniors could only guess what this meant. Several boys had spent the night before resting peacefully at the top of the telegraph poles on Forster Street bravely reciting to kill time, O sleep is a gentle thing, beloved from pole to pole, and sleep the innocent sleep, alternating these by singing I'm nearer my home to-day than e're Iive been before, much to the enj oymentC?jof the neighborhood, T'he next day two junior flags floated proudly on the breeze, explaining the mystery ofthe Hunks and the dark secrets. In the afternoon a junior flag hung resplendent from the ceiling of the assembly room. It was small but then it was there, showing that to the bravely courageous all things are possible. It has been said that honors always appear in groups, never singlyg this seems to appear very true for in November, Igor, the day of the Kunkle Oratorial Contest, Seniors and juniors alike contesting, the prizes were all awarded to the successful orators of 1903. In oratory this class has never been excelled, winning lanrels throughout the entire High School course. Will they be the orators of this new century? 'W ill they rise higher in the Helds of Oratory? The opportunities lie about them, they can be had if sought after. In December the Senior-Junior foot-ball game was played. The day was intensely cold yet, notwithstanding this the members of both classes appeared decked in their colors and carrying pennants yards long eager to encourage their teams. The game was hotly contested and at the end of the Hrst half the score was tie. By this time the cold was forgotten and the excited members rushed around their teams urging them on to victory. But the score was 17-5, favor juniors, and the Seniors felt just a little bit blue, as the crowd dispersed the Senior pennants lowered, the junior flags flying. Again victory was recorded for the juniors, 39

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unremitting toil and their lamps burn far into the night, for of this year the jolly junior cannot say I came, I saw, I overcame. I The midnight oil is blithely burned As we toiled over Latin and Greek, But to other things our minds soon turned And it lasted just-one week. History is recorded by actions, not years. The next month the junior Class was called upon to select class colors. This question was a very weighty one, and hard to decide. Excitement ran high, for colors to be chosen was the question, Never did the walls of Congress ring with such eloquence, never have subjects been treated better than this important question that was discussed and decided by the youthful aspirants of 1903. Crimson and white were at last chosen as the colors. Hardly had the excitement of selecting colors died away, when I heard or seemed to hear of a class dramatic society. Very often one could hear snatches of parts being rehearsed. Infirrn of purpose give nie the dagger, The sleeping and the dead are but as painted pictures, etc. And startingsuddenly, and looking you could see your Lady Macbeth, her face convulsed beautifully unconscious of all around her, speaking to her imiginary Macbeth, grasping for the imaginary dagger. Again you are startled by hearing Ophelia's pitiful cry, and turning you see a fair damsel scattering bits of paper around the hall. These fair artists bob up serenelyu at almost any time and before you are aware of it, you see a Portia pleading for mercy or hear a love lorn maidenls cry of anguish. Again we hear of the many engagements booked for this remarkable society and thought what the future promised to these fair young aspirants in the dramatic world. But soon. too soon, like an echo this died away, and with it all my hopes for its future success. And now there were heard joyous exclamations of the vacation approaching, and the tired little juniors held up their aching heads and studied just a little harder, eager to deservedly earn their reward, but their reward was surely overlooked for when on a certain day in june, the thermometer playing arounid the hundred mark, the Senior and junior nines met on the base-ball field, the juniors were defeated ro-2g but the Juniors had been studious and it was such a warm day, and then victory isn't always the best thing. The juniors quickly forgot their defeat, in their eagerness over the class picnic, now they were receiving their reward. V ery early on the morning of june the 6th the Juniors appeared, and very late it was in the morning when they finally reached their destination-'Walkemeyer's Dam. All enjoyed themselves immensely and sometime before 58

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The pages are quickly turned, the end is almost in sight, 1903 has entered its last year. The new honors were borne with great dignity, it had been a long hard struggle, but 'filled with sweet memories of the other years 3 victory was almost won and they could feel proud. Words fail to describe the Senior picnic, the junior picnic was voted a grand success, but nothing can be said that will give you the faintest idea of the pleasures of the Senior picnicg memory alone can bring it back to its participants. The vacation time passed quickly, but none too quickly for the Seniors, they were eager for the last battles. October 19, 1902, was Senior Pennsylvania Day. The essays showed that the fair sex of 1903 possessed great literary ability and could win laurels just as easily as the boys. The last victory in foot-ball was wo11 by IQO3 on November 27, 1902. It was the game for the championship, the score was 1 1-5 favor of the Seniors. In the first game of the Freshmen year, victory was recorded for 1903 and victory is recorded for the last game as students of the High School. The days of Auld Lang Syne were recalled on December 25, 1902. It was the class re-union tl1e first of its kind ever held, many of its members had dropped by the wayside or left school. Eat, drink and be merry was in truth carried out by the merry revellers, and like the Epicureans of old, they thought life held only pleasure and enjoyment, the hours were danced away until the early morning warned them of the approaching of the new day. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain top. f This re-union is long past but memory still recalls it as one of the brightest pages of 1903 Pleasure and misfortune, victory and defeat alike, enter into the pages of history. Time, that impartial judge, will soon look upon the history of 1903, its true worth will be searched for, and remembered, its mistakes will be forgotteng as the class goes forth into the world 'l Mehr Licht H will be its cry, and as the years go by only the echo will come back as the last farewell of the CLASS OF 1903. So the multitude goes, like the flower or the Weed That Withers away to let others succeed, So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that has often been told. MARY CLECKNER. 40