Moline High School - M Yearbook (Moline, IL)

Page 14 text:

Ct ' H E 1 1314 ii M than I for school so that 1 might watch the boys run and jump, hurl the discus and put the shot. And that is not all. You’d have to go a long way to see a prettier sight than my girls make, sitting along the edge of the terrace watching the young athletes below, cheering, laughing, pushing one another down the grassy slope — just glad because they are young and it is spring. “In former days, I loved the big stretch of green lawn to the east, but I never had a moment’s grief when they put the tennis courts there. I like everything that keeps my children near me longer, and I love to have them associate me with their play as well as with their working hours. “Twenty years! Twenty times have my old oaks and the maples down yonder passed from the young green of spring through the luxuriance of summer and the flaming glory of autumn to the sterner beauty of winter. Twenty classes have come and gone, growing larger year by year, till lately my old arms have scarcely been able to hold them.” There was a quiver in the voice, a quiver that became a break as it went on. ‘‘And now, after twenty years, they are going to take them away from me. They have grown too much for me. You see that building going up yonder? 1 did not mind when they cut up the lawn for the tennis courts, but when they chopped down my trees, my life long companions, and began to dig and to lay foundations for that, it broke my heart. For now 1 know that I, who for twenty years have held the proud title of Moline High School, must surrender that title to an- other and become — what? I wonder. Just ‘the old school,’ I suppose, just ‘the old school !’ Autumns will come, with their days devoted to the grand old game, but no longer will the banners of victory hang on my walls. Springs will come, with the sharp crack of the pistol and the crunch of swift feet on the cinder path ; but not to me will they come when the meet is over, to tell which class has won. I shall be here. I shall see it all, but I shall have no part in it. 1 wonder if any of them think how hard it will be for me to give them up! I’ve served them well and loved them well for twenty yeais — for twenty long years!” Down near the river a train whistled shrilly. The listener started. The wind had freshened, and the leaves on the great oak in front of the old school were all astir. W as it that he had heard, he won dered, or had the old school, under the spell of night and of deep feeling, really spoken to him? He could not tell; but as he wandered down the hill he paused again to look back, and just before a turn hid the old school from him, he mur- mured : “Don’t you fret, old school. They may build as many new ones as they wish ; but there are loyal hearts in every quarter of this great land to whom the words ‘Moline High School’ will always and forever mean you — just you.” Edith Broomhall, Instructor in German, 1902-1912. Spokane, Wash. 10

Page 16 text:

7.9 1 ' V a ' H E 1 1914 ( n M ) The New High School What hopes these four words have aroused for ten years past ! What visions successive generations of students have vainly cherished of a building that would contain the many features that the pres- ent building has always lacked! How the teachers have looked forward to the increased facilities for doing their work and the consequent expansion of the work — “when we get the new building!” Some of those students are now heads of fami- lies, and are looking forward to the time when their children will enter “the new building.” Only two or three of the teachers who first looked forward to the relief from the congestion will be here next year when the “New High School” finally becomes a reality and is occupied. Here is hoping that those who have gone to other fields of labor may see the picture of the building in this annual and know that their dreams have at last come true. The story of the postponement of its erection is too long for details. First, a new grade building was a necessity. The resources left were not enough for a high school so they were used in enlarging an- other grade building that unexpectedly became congested. The erection of the Manual Arts building relieved congestion for a time, both in the high school and in the treasury of the school board. Then when the bonding capacity had again in- creased to a point where a New High School looked possible, a sudden develop- ment of the east end of the city called for another new grade building, so we heaved another sigh of regret and appropriated the room of the Art and Calisthenics work, turning those departments out to shift for themselves. At last, in 1912, re- sources had accumulated in quantity suffi- cient to warrant the erection of the New High School. But Fate had one more blow in reserve for us — the bonding proposition failed to carry at the polls. At this juncture the gloom on the hill became so thick as to attract the attention of the citizens — particularly of those who had failed to vote on the bond issue, and the proposition was put to vote again and car- ried two to one, with the provision that the ground east of the present building be used as a site for the new structure. Then ensued prolonged consultation with architects, extended trips taken by the Superintendent and Principal to other new buildings in this and nearby states, with the result that there took form on paper a building that embodied the best features and avoided the mistakes ob- served in the buildings visited. Decatur furnished the Gymnasium plan, but we added a running track, directors’ rooms, direct entrances for contests and a circu- lar stairway to the stage. The Auditor- ium plan came chiefly from East Aurora, but we provided a larger stage with dress- ing rooms conveniently placed. The arrangement of stairways and light courts is most like Burlington’s. Decatur had the best lunchroom plan, so we borrowed 12