Medina High School - Medinian Yearbook (Medina, OH)

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Annual 11 (Elaaa Sfiaturu RUTH BRADFORD WRIGHT. We are told by a well-known writer of history that the “ subject of history is man,” that “ history has to do with the careers of individuals;” also that history is “concerned with the actions and fortunes of man.” It is hard to realize that, notwithstanding our extreme youth, we have been making history of a kind for the past twelve years. This has to do only with our school career. Our mothers and teachers have worried over our actions, no doubt, but our fortunes are yet to be made. Perhaps the historian did not mean by the term “ fortune ” gold, but good environment and opportunities. These have surely been ours. Our town is an ideal one for a school system, and we have always been favored with good instructors and equipment. We have had three able superintendents — Judge J. R. Kennan, Mr. C. C. Carlton, and Mr. W. S. Edmund. Our class, while not the largest numerically, is surely one of the best ever sent out by a high-school faculty aided by the school board. We also have absorbed a great deal of wisdom, but not all, as preceding classes have depleted the supply somewhat, and, being naturally generous, we wanted to leave some for the Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen who need to learn so much yet. The least a truthful historian can say is that we have been quiet, diligent, obedient, and rule-abiding all these years. Our class was the first to have the privilege of enjoying an innovation, namely, a public kindergarten. Our town has long been “ progressive,” you see, for now, after twelve years, there are fewer than 200 cities in the whole United States with public kindergartens. Miss Ella Canavan began her career with a private kindergarten the year previous, which a few of us attended. When the father of one of this first class paid the tuition, Miss Ella told him it was the first money she had ever received which she had earned herself. Of our present number, Arthur French, Marcella Fisher, Marion Branch, Lucile Hunsberger, Helen Hobart, and myself were taught to use the kindergarten gifts, to sit in a circle, and sing “ Good Morning to You,” and “ Goodby, dear Teacher, Goodby to you.” Our good fortune continued in the first grade, for Miss Sarah Smith, the widely known primary supervisor, taught us to read by the famous Ward method, which, as most of you know, is a short but royal road to literature compared with the old ABC method. New members joined us in learning to read and spell, for Evelyn Thatcher, Helen Ganyard, and Sherman Maple were added to our roll. It is surprising how the class rolls change from year to year. We have always worked in large groups; but the members of different grades keep dropping out and new ones coming in. So while our total enrollment keeps about the same, yet compara- tively few of the Senior class which graduates to-day have been in these schools through the entire course. What is true of our class, I am told, is true of most others. In the second grade Julia Anderson, Helen Clark, and John Renz were added to our number; but there were no more additions until we were promoted from the primary building, when Fred Reiser entered the class in the fifth grade. In the seventh, Glenn Geisinger joined us, and in the eighth grade (the grade famous for discipline, good teaching, and application of pupils) Maude Whipple and Carloyne Simmons came to

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10 ®tjr Annual Qllaaa Ahhrraa SHERMAN MAPLE. Ladies and gentlemen, we of the Senior class of 1913 wish to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude for the large audience to which we are to submit for approval the crowning event of our whole high-school course, “ Our Commencement.” And we wish to extend a welcome to every one to an extent which is, perhaps, an extra effort on our part to make something of ourselves. For the past four years we have studied faithfully in order to obtain this start, and be prepared for the commencement or the beginning of our work in life. Some of us go forth as we are, our hearts full of unbounded hope and courage, and our minds firmly fixed to the thoughts that nothing is impossible, no one ever got something for nothing, and he who uses his brain as well as his brawn conquers the world. Others go on fitting and preparing themselves for a higher and better education, and to make a mark in the world, of which our community may be justly proud. These Commencement exercises are the apex and the culmination of our high-school life, although in a strict interpretation they are merely the beginning of one of the most vital things in life, Education. During the course of our life we will become vastly wiser and better educated by the greatest of all teachers, Experience. Nevertheless, we have obtained the start, the nucleus of our greater self, to which we may add to a limitless extent, because no one ever reaches that stage in his education where he is absolutely per- fect. No one knows whether we will drift on this boundless sea of fortune; but as we go forth, each to fulfill his destiny, all will look back on the days we attended our Alma Mater as classmates and friends, with our hearts full of regret for the departure from those with whom we sat from day to day and side by side in the class rooms. We wish to thank our parents, teachers, and the community for providing the excel- lent facilities of our schools, which gave us our first preparation to overcome the obstacles with which we will meet in the future. We only hope they will continue the rapid ad- vancement which they have gone through in the past. In spite of our hope and faith in the future, there is a tinge of sadness in the present, which I, for, one, do not fear to cherish or confess, for it testifies to the genuineness of our sympathy and friendship, and the consciousness of our indebtedness to the Medina High School and the community. We welcome you.

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12 Annual help with another innovation — the first eighth-grade commencement. I can tell yon we felt important. Commencement in a tent, special music, new gowns, and a play ! We dramatized Robert Browning’s Pied Piper of Hamelin, and for the occasion some lean rats, fat rats, and gray rats, who perished in the river; and, according to the legend, some of us were led by the Pied Piper through the door in the mountain, presumably never to return, but, like “ bad pennies,” you see “ we came back.” But our school life was not all joys. Our last year in the grades was suddenly broken by the loss of a class member who had been with ns for eight years — Gertrude McNeal, who was called from us to a better land. A turning-point in our history was reached when we entered High School. We had to decide on courses of study, whether our aim was college or business career, and learn to study alone without the constant study-recitation method we had become accustomed to in the grades. But new joys came with new duties; for class organization, class pins, class colors, and class parties were now our privilege and delight. In our Freshman year we indulged in many social gatherings. We had but little trouble securing chaperones, and thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of class gatherings. To help enjoy these good times came the following new members: Naoma Gault, our honor member; Murle Pelton, Lucile Blakeslee, Arbie Carlton, Leland Walton, Wayne Anderson, John Weber, Oscar Culler, William Rauscher, Ralph House, and Carl Lowe. No new members came to help us feel more important in our dignified, wise, Sopho- more year; but with the Junior year came Marion Gleason, Zelma Renz, Irwin Brought, Ralph Snedden, and Marion Garver. This year Robert Beech, Ceylon Woodruff, and McKinley Ewing came to swell our number to even thirty-six. I am aware that I have not been boastful about my class, but have recounted our doings with humility of spirit. But there is one thing I must “ brag ” about, namely, our splendid high-school base-ball team. The members of the team from the class of 1913 have helped to bring us this athletic distinction. Three cheers for those of our class who have helped to bring us this honor. The career of 1913 has been enlivened and saddened by the usual events of interest which make the history of the average high-school class. Last December the school and town were shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of one of our number, Dorothy White, who had been with us for ten years. Thus twice have our ranks been broken by death. These experiences are teaching us the lessons of life. It is our purpose as a class to make better citizens than we have made as students, so that future historians twelve years hence may write, if they choose, a brilliant history of our careers, actions, and fortunes. Time will tell. In conclusions let us say that our class relations have been pleasant, and that there has been but little friction between students and teachers. We do appreciate the efforts made in our behalf, and, no doubt, as the years go by, will value them more and more. The reputation of our class may be summed up in this closing sentence : Whatever Freshmen, Sophmores, or Juniors in the future may do, We have never cut classes, flunked, nor bluffed our way; We’re the best class over which to make ado — At least that is what our fond friends all say.