Momence High School - Monesse Yearbook (Momence, IL)

Page 30 text:

“The Chicago Trip. On October 20th, 1900, about twenty-two pupils, accompanied by the three High School teachers, visited many interesting places in Chicago. Arriving at the Polk St., depot, the company divided, part going with Prof. Little and Mr. Bonn and the others with Miss Griffin. Prof. Little’s company visited the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company’s works. These factories cover about seventy acres of ground, exclusive of the yards, and are the largest harvesting machine works in the world. Here is plainly manifested the intelligence and ingenuity of the Amer¬ ican workman. Almost nothing seemed to be left for the hands to do. Several engines of more than ten thousand horse power each are made to do practically all that is done. The men seem to be there simply to make sure that the immense forces should be kept under proper control. Here were great masses of melted iron and brass being conveyed to molds by means of traveling carriers and, even pouring of the metal and the subse¬ quent removal of the castings was accomplished by the aid of the good demon, steam. In another part of the works were machines for the making of bolts and screws; here the attendant had only to see that iron and oil did not fail. The finished product was delivered in perfect shape with never a flaw or a break, save in the rare cases where a defect existed in the mater¬ ial used. To have examined all the departments thoroughly would have re¬ quired, at the very least, a week, and as but a few hours could be spared several important branches of the business were entirely neglected. The class, however, eagerly accepted the very cordial invitation from the manager of the firm to visit the works again, at some future time. One of the noted incidents of this trip was the rather remarkable fact that when the party reached the works, one of the principal buildings, the cordage factory, was found to be on fire. Several of the city engines were at work pumping water into the building and this enabled the pupils to watch this very interesting operation. Some of us have since been trying to work

Page 29 text:

28 SENIOR YEAR BOOK. lowed to enter had been so neglected or perverted by his guardian, so hedged about with temptation, that he was changed to a thing of evil, a besotted wretch, despised of men, a disgrace to his race. But, important as is the office of teacher, it is not the only, nor even the chief influence in the education of the youth. “ Home is the sphere of harmony and peace, the spot where angels find a resting place, when, bearing blessings, they descend to earth.” The most important of all schools yet devised for the formation of an enduring character is the home. Within its sacred precincts every human being acquires his best, or his worst education, because it is there that he receives those impressions that are the most enduring ending only in death. It is a crime, in this age, and country, for a child to grow up without a fair education in the English branches and in the studies necessary to an ordinary business life. Education costs nothing, comparatively, in this country, but the time and effort necessary to acquire it. An ignorant man is an incubus on, and a standing menace to the community. Teach children noble ambitions and lofty purposes and so shape and diirect their minds that they may come instinctively to shun an action that looks alone to mere personal gratification. As Mrs. Jameson says, “Where the vivacity of the intellect and the strength of the passions exceed the development of the moral faculties the character is likely to be embittered or corrupted by extremes either of ad¬ versity or prosperity.” So, the higher the life the higher the character.

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30 SENIOR YEAR BOOK. out, by the theory of probabilities, how many chances there are that we shall find the said factory on fire when we visit it again. Miss Griffin’s company first viewed the immense steel framework of the new postofiice building. From there they passed through some of the largest of the department stores, to see perfected business plans in opera¬ tion. The next point of interest was the new public library, one of the finest in this country. It is built of granite and the inside finish is marble. On the first floor is the G. A. R. memorial hall, where are on exhibition hun¬ dreds of relics from the wars in which the United States has engaged. Among 1 these are found the last telegram sent by Mr. Lincoln and the pen with which he wrote it; Firstfive dollar green back; Southern newspapers; piece of flag that floated over Fort Sumpter in 1861; field map taken from the confederates at Shiloh in 1863; a tree from Chickamauga, in which were buried several ten pound Parrot shells which were fired by the con¬ federates in 1862. On the floor above were found the general delivery, the reading rooms and the several reference departments. At 1 o’clock the two parties met at the Field Museum, Jackson Park, each party visiting such departments as were of special interest in its line of study. At three o’clock the parties again met at the lecture room, where a scientific stereopticon lecture on Wyandotte and Marengo caves was de¬ livered by the curator of the geological cabinet. After visiting the museum the party divided for a second time, a few going directly home while others remained for the entertainments of the evening. After this, things were badly mixed Some returned on the night train, while others, who had friends in the city remained as late as Monday, and some of them even as late as Tuesday. All united in declaring that the trip had been not only highly enter¬ taining but also very instructive and solemnl) ' vowed to go again as soon as an opportunity offered.