Macomb High School - Spiderweb Yearbook (Macomb, IL)

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 THE SPIDER VV'FB,” MACOMB HIGH SCHOOL. MACOMB. ILLINOIS iiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Page Twenty-seven course, we were the sympathetic big brother of the freshman. Alas! was something wrong with the sympathy? Surely not, but it didn’t seem to inspire the most friendly spirit that could be imagined. But perhaps it’s just a natural lack of appreciation, characteristic of all Freshmen. Maybe we were guilty of the same thing at one time in our lives. In that same year came the awakening that we really belonged to the High School and that we might take a part, in Athletics and the various other activities. We heard a great deal about school spirit and were wondering where they kept it; why they didn’t give us some, and if they should in what form it would be. A few of our members attended a very exciting basket ball game one evening and being filled with the joy and wonder of it, reported their experience to the rest of us; and we were at the next game. Before the game was over we were involuntarily clapping, screaming, dancing, prancing, yelling and going through all the various antics called forth by the realization that our team was winning. Then came the awakening, and we knew what we had acquired. It was school spirit! And it wasn’t tied up in a box and doled out with the report cards. Oh, no! It was just some dormant thing within us, which when it was aroused kept growing and growing until it received inspiration from things other than athletics. By the end of the year we were considered as a matter of course; and eagerly desired to assume our places in the ranks of the Juniors and let the world know that we were in it. At the beginning of the school year of 1915 we were Juniors in every sense of the word. The inscription, “Senior,” held no pangs for us. The Freshmen and Sophomores were there also, but what cared we? We organized and entered eagerly into the conquest. We were not the quarreling class which never gains anything, nor were we an indivisible unit, but a class joined by the desire to make people sit up and take notice. We had class parties for ourselves, parties for the Seniors and for the football team. Everyone came, everyone enjoyed themselves and waited eagerly for the next invitation. By means of these social activities many of the natural talents of different people were developed. For, beware, when an overlooked star in the firmament was discovered he was dragged forth to display his talent or talents before the critical assemblage of a class party. We soon had quite a constellation which has rapidly increased until now it includes everything from a Paderewsky to a Harrison Fisher through a Schumann-Heink, Daniel Webster and Don Juan. The most notable feature of the year was the banquet which we gave to

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 THE SPIDER WEB,” MACOMB HIGH SCHOOL, MACOMB, ILLINOIS IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Patce Twenty-six Senior (CUihb (Affirm? President............................Bessie Bayless Vice-President..................Esther Pennington Secretary............................Vera Graham Treasurer...............................Helen Boyce Class Colors—Yellow and White. Class Flower—Yellow Rose. Class Motto—“B natural, B sharp, but never B flat.” Class Advisor—S. W. Norman. (Class liistimj Seniors? es. Dignified? That is too personal a question. Are we as dignified as our predecessors? How can we be as dignified as the Seniors seemed to us when we were Freshmen? Were we not the meekest and most humble group of people that ever entered M. H. S. ? Every morning of the first year we came to school, obediently tex k our places and resumed our work. Painfully conscious of our inferior position and want of years we dared cast only occasional sheepish glances toward that “Holy of Holies”, the Senior side of the room. Life was only misery for us. On every side lurked those terrors of squeaking shoes, literarv programmes and threats of ablutions at the pump, ready to spring upon us with glittering teeth and ravenously clenched claws. In some way most of us survived the first year, although a few succumbed and resigned their position in school life forever. During our Sophomore year we began to be a living class and not merely mechanical objects. Yes, the upper classmen became aware of our presence; and most wonderful of all, at times even spoke to us in the hall. Of

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 THE SPIDER WEB,” MACOMB HIGH SCHOOL, MACOMB, ILLINOIS MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIilllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllM Page Twenty-eight the Seniors. At this most serious affair the dramatic element which was constantly bubbling forth was given expression in a little farce entitled, “The Garroters.” With the coming of spring ideas were constantly being expressed which resulted in numerous weanie roasts and excursions to the woods for the purpose of eating and incidentally walking home under the stars. However, no one became interested in Astronomy. On such occasions our cheerfully beaming countenances made the hearts of the most severe (members of the faculty and otherwise) leap with joy and for their lost youth. So we tripped along in this perfect harmony until exams came. With exams came also cloudy, rainy weather. On one of the most dismal of dismal mornings a group of Juniors gathered in a secluded spot and—why not some excitement. All is so correct and proper. And—a general absence of Juniors around school the next morning. Hut the early risers—what saw they floating from the lightning rod? Surely it was the colors of some class. A fig for those who slept. By afternoon all was quiet; while only an angular lightning rod, a sticker on the ceiling and a rather gummy appearance of those austere busts of Lincoln and Longfellow, remained as emblems of the night's hard, decorating, beautifying labors. O Heathens that we were! Did we repent ? Yes. For three long months we were separated only to unite again under the regime of being Seniors but without the least change in our good fellowship. With a different meaning in the term “school” we worked with everybody else for the school. “Pep” meetings and bonfires were held, enthusiasm arose and soared, while athletic victories were added to the name of M. H. S. When we entered the new building the position of being models for underclassmen and especially the Junior High School was given to us. Even though we are Seniors we feel no older nor less childish than we did the first day we entered High School. So, alas! for the impression we give forth and especially for those who have chosen us as their life models. Just after the Xmas Holidays spirit and enthusiasm were lagging. Something had to be done even if we had to go back to barbarism for the inspiration. We went, and the result was that a little bird, bedecked with our class colors, went floating through chapel one morning, proclaiming the glory of the Seniors to all. There are a great many pros and cons (mostly cons) as to the propriety of this deed; but nevertheless didn’t it reallv arouse everyone from their slumbers? Wasn’t the need of co-operation brought positively forward and taken up by the Seniors who worked to arouse enthusiasm.-' However, social activities were not wanting in the future. Besides