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

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278 THE CHRONICLE Seniors? Most assuredly not! Four out of the seven regulars were Juniors, and naturally the majority of the games were won. Two members of the basketball team, one member of the relay team, and two members of the indoor track team, were Juniors that year, and contributed their indispensable impetuosity toward the re- nown of aforesaid teams. Around came the tennis and baseball seasons. If one were to dispense with the juniors on either the tennis or baseball teams, there would remain two men on each team to hll all the positions, for seven out of the baseball nine, and two of the tennis team were members of our class. Chopin, who had been mumbling and yawning heretofore, broke in with a growl: Don't you do anything in that place of yours but take gym. and swat balls around? I was taken aback by this impolite interruption, and looked ap- pealingly toward the judge, he was asleep, however, and I continued: Although we were producing some of the most unearthly har- monies with thirteen members in the Girls, Glee Club, and some of the wildest bedlams with twelve members in the Boys' Glee Club, and, although these were assisted to such an extent by three members of the Boys' and three members of tl1e Girls' Mandolin Club that offi- cers of the law twice threatened to 'run in, the gang for disturbance of the peace, nevertheless, the volume of sound was insufficient. Therefore, an orchestra was formed, seven members of this orchestra were Juniors, and whenever the augmented riot broke loose, window- panes for miles around were shattered and good housewives nodded at one another and whispered, 'What a wonderful classl' Chopin hung on every word and at the end, with tears in his eyes, sank to his knees and begged forgiveness for addressing me, a representative of so glorious a class, so harshly. I forgave him with the magnanimity worthy of our renown. In the realm of Art, sirs, I hastened on, our superiority was of such an astounding character that the Metropolitan Museum of New York co-operated with the faculty in bringing before us the masterpieces of the world in monthly lectures-a thing which had never before been done. Nor did we accumulate our talent selfishlyg every heading in The Chronicle was drawn by a junior, and twenty- four of the thirty-two full-page drawings and headings in the Owl Annual were delineated by members of our class. It is safe to say, 77

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Tl-Ili CHRONICLE 277 some weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth at the announcement of their depredations. But Juniors we were at last and, my most wise and illustrious arbiters, let me call to your attention that evidence of our preparedness. and remind you of the wonderful achievements so brilliantly accomplished in so short a time by this incomparable class, as heretofore recorded. And let me urge you further to be prepared to hear, enjoy, and remember the scintillating sentences, rhapsodious encomiums, and penetrating proofs of the surpassing wonder of our career as Juniors and Seniors. When we entered our Junior year, oh honorable sirs, it was ex- pected and awaited that unprecedented and astounding events would, indeed, must take place within the portals of Hartford High. Al- though during our two years as underclassmen we had partaken nobly in every branch of activity the school afforded us, when we became upperclassmen we were not satisfied with the narrow limit set for us. Our gigantic natures and struggling spirits were cabined, cribbed, confined-as Shakespeare so aptly puts it. Immediately I saw that I had made an impression upon that worthy and illustrious gentleman which was distinctly favorable to the cause of Nineteen Sixteen. But my haughty spirit quelled my exulting breast. VVhat? Must I accomplish my end through base Hattery? Must Nineteen Sixteen use such a weapon? Never! And, resolving never to resort to it again, I continued: The activities of preceding classes were all well and good for commonplace minds, but were childish and insufficient to the astound- ing, probing intellects of our brilliant members. And what was the result, sirs? In no other two years of her history has Hartford High witnessed more momentous advents and events than in the two years we passed in her halls as Juniors and Seniors. And every event has been directly or indirectly due to the pre-eminence of Nineteen Six- teen. Ulust one month after our entry into Juniordom, oh honorable men. New Britain, our most beloved. most fondly cherished rival in football, suffered at the hands of H. P. H. S. a shattering defeat-for the First time in thirteen years. VVas it luck? Was it school-spirit alone? Was it fumbling? No! No! None of these! It was be- cause seven of the thirteen men on the football team that season were Juniors. Then came the hockey season, Was the majority of the team

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THE CHRONICLE 279 sirs, that without the aid of those wonderful works of art, these pub- lications would have perished miserably. Here Rubens, who had been listening in rapt wonder, asked timid- 1y: What type of nose has the feminine element of the drawings- tipsy or straight ? A Straight, of course, I retorted, the highest form of Art. Wonderful! he sighed, Hmarvelous! incredible! and, slowly nodding his head, he sighed again. In the Debating Clubs, too, our turbulence was felt, and ten more cracks appeared on the walls of the lecture room during the course of the year. The new school song was the product of the co-operation of a junior and a Senior. The H. H. S. Club boasted six- ty-eight members of the junior class. Twenty-one articles by Juniors saved The Chronicle from being dropped from the exchange lists of many high schools, and juniors led the Seniors in and out of the as- sembly hall on Class Day in 1915. As Seniors, we were vested with the highest authority given to high school students. It was now that, clothed in this authority, our remarkable faculties for organization, innovation and execution came into full sway. Primarily, as a direct result of our enormous executive ability, the new high school building was completed, and a S250,000 appro- priation was passed for still another addition thereto. And, further- more, as a partial proof of the diplomatic procedure inherent in us for obtaining what we want, we convinced the faculty that we were the greatest bunch of 'bull throwers' that had ever entered Hartford High, and that Spanish must necessarily be taught. And now good old Spanish echoes and re-echoes from the lips of our gay troubadours. 'KAgain, in sports came our great supremacy. I very reluctantly turn to cold figures as proof, but flowery statements alone of our eminence will be frowned upon and disregarded. Again, in football twelve members of the sixteen men on the entire squad, regulars and substitutes, were Seniors. Three members of the hockey team were still breaking each others' shins. Four members of the basketball squad were Seniors. Vtfithout the presence of Nineteen Sixteen men the tennis team would have a grand total of one player. In baseball six members of our class were the only direct cause of the team's remarkable prowess. XVhy, that team was so great that we could have played a whole game with any two of the Seniors on the team