Lawrence High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Lawrence, MA)

Page 16 text:

I,,,., i. . .. .........inn.mi,in,.. iiiiiniii .. iidiim n 11iiimimi,in , n 111mm ii,im,imiiiiiiiiiiiii nmil mmi i ' . ““ S ' SH Everything went along smoothly until one clay, the whole sehool was set on fire, the Seniors with horror, the Juniors with indignation, the Sophomores with surprise, the Freshmen with unbounded delight. We were to be rewarded for our hard work, we were to have a party! One afternoon in February the afternoon session abandoned its books and went up to the hall to meet its little brothers and sisters of the morning session. Each timid freshie wore a badge saying “My name is-,what’s yours? It had been a number of years since a freshman class had had a social affair, but then the Class of 1920 was— well, exceptional, to say the least. In our first year in High School, the Honor Roll was introduced. This urged us on to greater efforts, and many happy little freshman attained the pinnacle of success, and became attached to the Honor Roll. All through the years, the Class of 1920 has had the largest number of representa¬ tives on the Roll, in comparison to our number. The weeks and months flew by, and all the while, we absorbed everything sponge-fashion, and felt ourselves more learned than the Seniors. At last came the “rare days in June,” and the rarest one of all was the day when we took leave of Ptolemy and Socrates and Caesar, and every¬ thing else, and we scattered ourselves here and there in remote parts of the Republic to see how much we could forget. SOPHOMORE YEAR With a dignity becoming to Sophomores we again presented ourselves for admittance at the Lawrence High School. Our mode of procedure was entirely different. In fact we were different. We assumed a somewhat less studious air, and at the same time gave the impression of being scholarly. Of course, these two airs do not coin¬ cide, but they were not both used at the same time. Most of us had spare periods, and with two ears and one eye devoted to the poor victims hav¬ ing a recitation, with the one remaining eye, we did all our Latin, English, French, or Geometry, or anything else, and this totaled to nothing at all. While in our Freshman year, we brought home so many books that we all developed cal¬ louses on our hands; but in our Sophomore year we went home empty-handed, and told the sol¬ icitously inquiring folks that we did all our work in school, we didnt have to study much. During this year also, we became acquainted with that intimate and personal friend of every student in the school —the lunch counter. Every day at recess, we ran as fast as our little legs could carry us, and squeezed in between the big and proud Seniors and shouted out in our loudest and most official voice, “A hot dog and a cup of coff ee P’Then we made a bee line for the candy “department,” or perhaps we directed our foot¬ steps towards the store in order to invest in sink¬ ers or lemon pies. Nevertheless, as Sophomores, we spent a serious year, for the United States was waging war against Germany, and we all bristled with patriotism. When the Magazine Club was formed we brought in loads and loads of magazines to be sent to the Soldier boys. The Girls’ Civics Club was organized under the direction of Miss Harriet Lord. We began work at the Red Cross Rooms on Jackson Street. All the girls in the High School went regularly and worked for two hours making surgical dres¬ sings. 1 hen on April the work was transferred to the Art Room in our own building. In our Sophomore year also, the Democracy period was begun. Every morning, for the first iiiimiim imiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiii lltlllllUIIIIIIIIII

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Class History FRESHMAN YEAR I rubbed my eyes, I stretched my arms and legs, “Ha,” said I, “And what day is this, pray?” The poor long suffering little brother replied, “May first.” “What year?” I asked. And he responded laconically, “1920.” So four long- years have rolled by since I first entered the Law¬ rence High School. How everybody has changed Yet as I look over the class, I realize that there are very few faces entirely unknown to me. But whefe are all the nice, shy, little girls with the beautiful curls whom I met on that first day in school? And where— Oh tell me where— are the little, freckeled, bashful, blushing boys in short trousers? Don’t you remember that first day of school a beautiful, sunny, balmy day in September, 1916? Meekly, and timidly, to heart beat, but not to drum beat, (on tiptoes, indeed) we looked around and wondered, “Whither now ?” We did the obvious thing, that is, we followed the noble Seniors. Wherever they went, there also we went. After climbing up flight after flight of stairs, we entered the Assembly Hall. There we met the “tympan” (alius the piano) the statuary, and— Mr. Horne. There also, we met with our first rebuff— many of us. Those taking the Col¬ lege or Normal courses were sent home and told to return in the afternoon. Very early that after noon we assembled in the hall and were told to sit down, which we did. This illustrates the ab¬ ject obedience of the Class of 1920 in the long, long ago. Then the girls immediately set them¬ selves to wondering who on earth those boys were, standing up against the wall. May be it wasn’t very flattering, but then, how did we know that they were to be our teachers? And how did we know that “that Senior with the big voice” who called out our names in an awe inspiring voice, was none other than our own beloved teacher, John Hogan? After a week or so, we settled down to hard work for the rest of the year. Every night we brought home all our books, for the public must know that we are now High School students. Then too, Freshmen, are just exactly what they should be, studious, faithful, obedient; in other words, we were so good that we began to observe little wings sprouting out from our shoulders. miiimiiii!.iiimimi..innnununiiinnnunnnnin...iiliiiiiiinm...I...inn...I...a.........uni...inniininnunnnii.unnnnnnniinn.innininiiin.il...uninnnnnnnnnnnnninnunn.unnnnnnnnnuninnnnnnnn...mi.... 11 mm................nun...mm.....mm................nnnuununn.........

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ymimniiim .iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii).iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.......... fifteen minutes we read from books called “De¬ mocracy Today.” This cut off a quarter of an hour from the first period, and we were all thank¬ ful when the Rotary System of recitations was introduced. At first, however, it was hard to ac¬ custom ourselves to the new way of operation, and great was our embarrassment when we heard the titters from a class we had entered by mistake. On the 19th of April of that year, 1918, there was a monster Liberty Loan parade, in which all the students in the school marched and sang pat¬ riotic songs, and in which the girls wore their Red Cross uniforms. While speaking of patriot¬ ism, we must not omit the mention of our six young men teachers who left us during our Sophomore year. One after another went, Mr. Hogan, Mr. McElroy, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Edward Lawlor, Mr. McLaughlin, and Mr. Higgins, to join the ranks of honor. The Lawrence High School was proud of them, and the Class of 1920 was proud of them, and bade them Godspeed and a safe return. JUNIOR YEAR In the fall of 1918, the Spanish Influenza broke out. We had just about got settled down to work, when the schools were closed down for five weeks. When we went back to school, we practically had to start the year all over. From then on, we have been late. Every morning, a dozen people strolled in late, and when the teach¬ er glared at the tardy ones, and said the usual “Late again?” the guilty ones always had a glib excuse, such as— “The Belt Line car was late,” or a freight train held us up,” or the “fire went out and I had to light it again, ’ and every excuse was an antique. I mean some of the excuses were old, but our class had shown great ingenuity in inventing excuses and camouflaging old ones. When we did return to start definitely our Junior year, we hardly recognized each other. Goodness, we were all “growed up,” and dolled up ; every girl carried a mirror and a powder puff and every boy greased his hair, and took special care to have his tie ' On just so! But what was our surprise and consternation to behold the smallest member of our class—little Dicky Brown, y’know in long jeans! But then, we shrugged our shoul¬ ders and said, “What would you have?” Its all in the High School game, and we must grow up sometime, so why not now? “Why not?” said the grasshopper, “Why not?’ The first event of our Junior year was the organization of “Win the War Club.” Each room was organized w.th its own officers, and we held a meeting every Wednesday at intermission. Each one pledged a certain amount to the War Chest, to be collected weekly. After the dues were collected, and small business transacted, some topic of the day was put up for discussion by the pupils. Our interest in the lunch counter languished for one or two weeks because many people were so rash as to pledge twenty-five cents and it t kes a little time to straighten out financial tangles Of course, we Juniors were the first to recover our normal status, and we mobbed the lunch counter. The Seniors followed suit after a few of our noteworthy mathematicians had given them some advice—Leland Lee and Jake Aldred, and a few others. On Tuesday, January seventh, the Juniors rushed and scrambled to the hall for our first class meeting. We chose as our officers: Raymond Ela,, President; Gertrude Owens, Vice-President; Hazel Burton, Secretary-treasurer; Charles Dres- cher, Marshal; Fred Donovan, Color-bearer. Then we decided to hold a social. SmmmmilimmiimmmmimmmmimiiimimiiiiiimimimiiHiii.....mil... Him ... IIIIIIIIIIIII .Hill...minimum.....mill. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii .........mu.....mi.......minimi.iimiiiiiiiiiiill! 1 ° Jo