Hartford Public High School - Classbook Yearbook (Hartford, CT)

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THE CHRONICLE 283 As for scholarship-take for example the ten boys ushering at graduation in 1914, who were so closely and highly ranked that the faculty could decide only with the greatest difficulty as to who were the guilty ones. Indeed, it was suggested, only momentarily, to be sure, that they depart from the usual custom by choosing the ten with lowest marks to pay the penalty for their negligence throughout the year, by having them 'cater' to the graduating class. They-the teachers-rejected this proposition, needless to say, as jarring too much on the fierce fand fierce in more ways than onej spirit of liberty which had distinguished the entire class from the very outset. 'Thus the banquet ended,' and 1915 scattered to mountain, river, and ocean, for a brief respite in preparation for the coming fall, when the excruciating toil and the tremendous labor, promised them for their Senior year, would be upon them. But, along with the hard work, there was destined for them what was no less inevitable than it had seemed when they first set foot inside the H. P. H. S.-glory. We shall see. The general sentiment of each member of the class as it merged into seniority followed those famous lines of Macbeth: 'I dare do all that may become a Seniorg Who dares do more is none? But it is apparent that, during this last year, the line established to govern the behavior of the highest classmen has been stretched to take a new shape, to fit the class itself, to embrace new or broader activities. For they fulfilled, and then went beyond the requirements made of ordinary Seniors, in actions dignified and exemplary for those who need to be shown. Perhaps the first opportunity they had to 'Hash' their colors in athletics was in the New Britain game on October thirty-first, And, even if that had been their first, last, and only chalice of showing their worth as sportsmen, 'twould have been sufficient. It was a rare treat to read of how A 'They reel, they roll in clanging lists, And when the tide of combat stands, Perfume and flowers fall in showers, That lightly rain from ladies' hands'- of how bravely the blue and white fought against the overwhelming odds of precedence, breaking down a thirteen-year-old tradition, bury- ing it Cand New Britainj, we hope, forever. Nevertheless, there is

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hh.. 282 THE CHRONICLE siasm of the entire class, and had more of the former been on the first eleven, New Britain would positively never have 'gotten away with it' that season. Two youths with long arms, and with the letters 'B ll B' emblazoned on their broad chests, were kept busy instructing their comrades in the art of 'shooting baskets' successfully. Three boys claiming 11115 as their foster-parent 'banked their corners' in the relay, while four pit-a-patted about the indoor track, waiting for the coming of spring, when the same number worked in the open ozone, 'counting the ties' on the outdoor track. The ice at 'Elizabeth' received such hard usage during the hockey season that it fairly 'cracked under the strain' of two of 1915's men, the caretakers at 'Popes were busy all spring and summer rolling the courts where the junior twins on the tennis team had insisted on making their victims 'bite the bally dust.' Une lad, 'Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea,' caused the baseball team to be widely known, upholding class dignity. Mainly through the efforts of certain juniors, a golf team was founded, and out of the six 'clubmenf four were of the same class. Kilts, too, became quite popular that term. But all this time, the weaker sex, and the more intellectual of the stronger sex, were by no means idle. 'O ferque beati' was the Girls' Mandolin Club, while six times blessed was the Boys'. Only nine of the eighteen who had sung in the Boys' Glee Club while Sopho- mores retained their membership that season, possibly because their leader feared lest they should drown out the pianist, but more prob- ably on account of the fact that the youthful voices of said individuals were changing rapidly-too rapidly, indeed, to be relied on in moments of stress. In that gleeful and, accidentally, musical body of young ladies known as the Girls' Glee Club, ten juniors administered the much needed Hrst-aid to the other members. Both boys and girls were very active in the literary realm throughout that year, as is befitting Juniors, and that exponent of 'English-as-she-is-spoke'-be it more or less correctly, instructively, and interestingly-The Chronicle-became famous through the lucky thirteen articles, mastmfpiecvs, which appeared between the ornate covers of that august, conservative and, ordinarily, sensible periodical, under the signatures of the growing geniuses and budding bards of the justly renowned junior class. ,

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284 THE CHRONICLE no doubt but that the football team of next fall will have a stiflish task before it in 'beating up' the said town's bloodthirsty repre- sentatives, without the sustaining hands of the six 1915 men on the hrst team and seven on the second. It was, indeed, a pleasure to hear of the 'saving grace' used by the Seniors in shielding the Hallowe'en celebrators from unjust censure and blame, and to read of how the evident good manners and obvious righteousness of the same upper- classmen speedily disillusioned critics in whatever suspicions they had entertained of 1915's active participancy in the regrettable affair. The basketball team, with four 'fifteeners' enrolled, reached the end of its season with a percentage of victories well above the passing-mark: the hockey team sensibly hung on to the two veterans who had shown themselves up well the preceding year. On the floor of the 'gym.,' eleven Senior boy leaders proved that their strength was as the strength of twice that number in the leaders' class of any other year. Quick of feet was that Senior Class, for besides the fact that three- fourths of the relay team were from 1915's numbers, as well as the majority of the indoor track squad,-if one had made a point of going to every dance attended by Seniors this year tan absolute impossibil- ity, you will admitj, he would have been struck by the nimbleness, the gracefulness, and the daring of our heroes and heroines as 'ex- ponents of the modern dance.' The critics in the front row at Unity Hall on March nineteenth declared that never had they heard a concert by the Glee Clubs which encouraged them so much in the impression that there might be a possibility after all of there existing some latent talent for music in those organizations. They were probably aided in this belief by the fact that there were one-and-twenty Seniors in the two clubs, who were relied on to keep the time, the place, a11d the pitch for their infant col- leagues. And the gorgeous Hertford Club resounded from the applause which greeted the tuneful strains rising from the strings picked by ten Seniors, and a few under-classmen, at the annual concert fand vaude- ville stuntj given by the Mandolin Clubs. Never did Minnehaha die a nobler death than in the midst of the famine and the fever 011 the occasion of the Choir Concert this May, when a full hall sat and suffered themselves to enjoy the delights of a wedding-feast, and weep at the griefs of a funeral, in which the voices of 1915 were the most pleasant, plaintive, and the most predominant. In the kingdom of letters of the past year, The Chronicle has