Hyde Park High School - Aitchpe Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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CLASS OF NINETY-FIVE. at ti i ry. , n t fir 5 HISTOR1 of a Class Y How much that involves T lt! l 1 ln order to be a true history it must touch upon i O 0 I I fi the hfe of each individual member. Carlyle says id' 'tj , i N that the history of a nation is the history of the YWQ f ft i, 'wav i ig? iv it i tl lives of its great men. A Class may in some respects be compared to a nation, but being so very much smaller its history ought to have something about each one. This would be tedious, so a brief sketch only can be given of the Class of '95. On a bright morning of September, 1891, the Class of '95 came into existence. It was a large one, and characterized chiefly by its ignorance Ceoncerning the rooms and building of coursej. as for instance: Should one inquire of another where the Latin Division was, and find he did not know qpaud most of them did noti, it would be safe to say he was a Fresh- man. Thus our first lesson at High School was a character study. VVe attempted to classify each individual, trying to surmise how long he had been there and gauging his knowledge by his actions. Among others we had this help. a little thing several had evidently prepared for the occasion. From the upper hall Hoated the lines, - ff FI'6SlllQ, Freshie, don't you cry, You 'll be a Sophomore by and byfy From the repetition of these few words we formed our first opinions of that Class. After the work of formation was complete, we found our- selves i11 five rooms-three on the first Hoor, one, four, and tive,

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20 with Misses Reed, Pierce, and Wvilkinson as Room teachers: and two on the third floor, eleven and thirteen, with llessrs. Kern and Bennett as teachers. We soon found out what we liked and what we did not like, how many privileges we had and what liberties we could take, and we did our best to abide by the standard we had placed for ourselves. Our most important acquisition was that of recognition by the other Classes, in all branches. ln the literary line we appeared to excel, either because we did so much or because the others did not do anything. At one time, indeed, so much poetry was written that it threatened to take the place of reg- ular lessons, and there was every indication that those who were then struggling with the iirst principles of Algebra and Latin would some day rise and shine as the greatest poets this age had produced. Art was also indulged in. Outside of the Dec- orative Art Society, which tried to develop a taste for the beau- tiful, there was much individual talent, showing originality the like of which never was or has since been seen. But whatever else we did or did not do, we laid the founda- tion of an earnest, thoughtful, and studious Class. Wie liked to study, and during recitation hours we proved that we came to school to learn g and we may trust the records to show that we did learn, if it can be told by mere figures what the mind knows. Wle were really not a Class until we became Sophomores and went tlirough all the formalities of organization. lve then chose our olficers, framed a constitution and tried to live up to it, and adopted a H yell and class colors. Our first President was Mr. Evans, with Bliss Corinne Brown as Vice-President, and on any important occasion we were requested to be re- splendent in apple-green and white. It was in our second year that we made up our minds about college-whether to go or not, and if we went, where, and what course to take, and to arrange our studies accordingly. All will doubtless agree that the second year was more dif-