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

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280 THE CHRONICLE playing all the positions-and won. To top our achievements two school records were smashed by our athletes. I saw that Beethoven was getting restless, and, bearing in mind my former experience with Chopin, I immediately veered off in another direction. Did we rest upon our laurels which we had won for distinction in the line of musical art? Rest? Assuredly and most vehemently not! 'Higher and onward--always higher I' was our cry. Now, we had fif- teen members in the Boys' Glee Clubg this year there were eighteen members in the Girls' Glee Club, there were eight members in the Boys' and six in the Girls' Mandolin Clubsg there were twelve members in the Orchestra. 'lfhe harmonies that have issued from this group of artists have been most re- Stop, cried Beethoven, those harmonies are to us. Often have we sat and listened, here above, to the sweet strains of enchanting concord that penetrated through the silken clouds, even to these aetherial abodes. Oh! what sounds! Continue, my son, for they are indescribable. In Art. sirs, I continued, heeding Beethoven, although a great innovation had already been made for our benefit, there was still room for expansion and progression-and where there is room for anything, Nineteen Sixteen will fill ity if there is no room, Nineteen Sixteen will make it. Beginning now, there comes a series of proofs of our wonder- ful genius for organization and execution. In the department of Art, a Sketch Club was formed, composed primarily and almost entirely of Seniors. Models of the highest nature were procured, Art such as the school had never seen before was produced. Members of the organization received honors at outside exhibitions, and their work was shown in outside cities. Dramatics had for many years suffered a relapse within H. P. H. S., Nineteen Sixteen was the only class that could revive it. And Nineteen Sixteen did l'FT'li'Z.'L' it. A Dramatic Club was composed whose foundation and cornerstone were Seniors. Needless to say, the club proved a remarkable success, and settled forever that argument as to whether Hamlet ate hard-boiled eggs or soft, which we were wont to debate so feverishly with our cherished English teachers. A Commercial Club was needed. Who were the ones that could do it? Nineteen Sixteen. And Nineteen Sixteen did it. XVas it a success? XVell, I have already said that Nineteen Sixteen founded it.

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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

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THE CHRONICLE 281 But there was still room for expansion-still room for improve- ment. A Technical Club was formed. And with it the success that ever came, under our guidance. And still the innovations came. Originality has always been our byword. 'lhe Annual Mock Trial was one of the most famously contested cases in historya-especially since there was a blonde in the case, which was new to H. P. H. S. Circuit Courts. The Yale Trian- gular Debate made its way to the school activities in spite of the failures of previous years, also, the annual H. P. H. S. D. C. banquet. Two new prizes have been offered us, an outright concession of our supremacy in scholarship. The Superior Court could not get along without us. And finally, but not by any means leastly, The Chronicle and Owl Annual both published double-page folding portraits of our class, whereas a single page had been sullicient for the needs of the puny classes before us. Gentlemen, I say no more, this is our case. The judge awoke, delivered a short charge, and ordered the jury sent out. The twelve great men filed out, but no sooner had the door closed behind them, when they reappeared and again took their stand. The judge was immensely surprised, but managed to scrape up breath enough to ask, Gentlemen of the jury, have you come to a decision ? We have, replied Michel Angelo, the foreman. VVhat is it? A Statement that the H. P. H. S. Class of Nineteen Sixteen was the class supreme upheld. And so, ladies and gentlemen, today, before you, you see a class that has been declared nonpareil by a jury of history's greatest sons. Gaze at this class and admire homogeneous beauty. Listen to its an- thems, wonder at its enormity, be amazed at its interminable con- summation-for never again will it be given you to look upon so gifted and renowed an assemblage of celebrities. ELINOR CORBIN, VAHE G. GARABEDIAN. Heard in the Drawing Room First Pupil Qbusily printing the word squarel : Say, how do you make a Q? Second Pupil: Let you hair grow.