Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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We shall always look back on the years spent in Ionia High School with pleasure. We shall never forget the pleasant associa- tions, the teachers who have been so patient and helpful, and our classmates whose daily enjoyable companionship now ends. Though we now leave this school we pass into that higher school of experi- ence, where many grades will be passed, but from which we shall never graduate. Henceforward we must remember that we have become a molding factor in our community, that we are looked up to and imitated by those younger than ourselves. It is for us to say whether we shall influence others for the right or the wrong. Surely wq shall strive to help those around us, to show them the trail marks of the Highway of Success. Some one of us may by patient pursuit of an idea discover or invent something that will be a boon to the world. Be that as it may, all can have part in making our little world better because we are in it. The final marks of success or failure are written not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of those about us, for “No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.” Perhaps our success will not be material gain. But think you that anyone’s efforts are w'asted? The world progresses by what the best give; what a man takes never advances progress, only what he gives does that! The way is paved with the numberless efforts of those who have worked to achieve. “It is the mystery of the unknown That fascinates us; we are children still, Wayward and wistful; with one hand we cling To the familiar things we call our own, And with the other, resolute of will, Grope in the dark for what the day will bring. And confident that what the future yields Will be the right, unless ourselves be wrong.”

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$al? tct0ry Lois Normington In history only those nations and peoples are deemed worthy of extended study who have contributed most to the progress of civiliza- tion. One new idea or invention that can advance humanity a single step is worth more than the power wielded by the mightiest king or the most magnificent monument ever raised. The history of the world is repeated in our own lives. From the time we begin life our character takes shape. It is molded by our surroundings. In child hood we feel our way and every unfolding idea is to us a wonderful discovery. Home and playmates and school are modifying and developing our inherited tendencies. In youth we begin to deduce and reason. We are pliable, susceptible, and receive impressions that go far toward building character. In high school our studies give us the keys to vast storehouses of knowledge; and whatever we learn exerts its influence on our lives. Antiquity, philosophy, nature, foreign lands are full of inspir- ing examples that would all lie in darkness unless they were reached by the light of literature. We who have learned to glean the best from what we read will have this advantage, that all the experience of the past is ours and we can make use of it in whatever we do or say. Every real experience, faithfully recorded by those who know, read and remembered may prove valuable to us, whether it is learning to row a boat fom the description in Virgil, making a toy from the illustrations of catapults in Caesar, gaining interesting closings for letters from Mr. Macawber, recognizing the note of a bird from the essays of Henry Thoreau and John Burroughs, or feeling acquainted with the sounds and smells of India from reading Kipling. When our class was studying History and Caesar the World War was being fought on the ancient battlefields of western Europe. We saw the struggle of Roman civilization and the barbarian hordes— later that of the Saracens and the Christians while the armies of freedom and autocracy were battling on the same ground for world supremacy. How much greater was our understanding because of a little knowledge of the past! All our studies help in daily living. You all know how we struggled with X and Y till finally we learned their intricacies. The problem of life is to be faced in the same way. There is the known and the unknown to be handled; and if we assume facts to be true before they are so proved, confusion may result. Our mathematicsjeads to clear, orderly thinking, the kind that arrives at accurate conclusions. But this is only one of the sciences. What is a rainbow? How can a camera take a picture? Why do people wear white clothes in hot weather? Why are hills and stones? What makes a fire burn? The sciences attempt to answer these and all similar questions and isn’t it a glorious feeling to be able to explain to the little child just “what makes the wheels go ’round”?

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Class ong Adeline Kendig Harold Harwood Alice Humphrey Why the cause of all the sighing? Why the cause of looks so sad? Why the cause of looks so sad? Even now come words replying Mem'ries of the times we've had. What a jolly life we’ve led. Care and trouble we’ve defied. How our High School days have fled. Fun and study side by side. Through these four years we have had. We must leave it with a sigh. We’ll recall with cheerful hearts Mem’ries of Ionia High. Boys and girls around here singing, Near the campus singing low, Near the campus singing low, Listen to our voices ringing It is time for us to go. Here we gather now to sing Of the jolly time we’ve had; Work and care aside we fling, Whistling, singing, always glad; Till the darkness fades away, And the happy days draw nigh. We’ll recall with cheerful hearts Mem’ries of Ionia High. Thoughts of school days around us lingering As we think of days gone by; As we think of days gone by; Under oaks we now are mingling, Saying here our last good-bye. Friends, and teachers, scholars true, Troubles we have had, and fun, Hours we’ve had both bright and blue; We, the class of ’21, Bid you here a fond farewell. When our future lives we greet, Let us cheer for I. H. S. When again old friends we meet.