Momence High School - Monesse Yearbook (Momence, IL)

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JAMES RYAN, Cup Winner ORATORICAL CUP

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JUNIOR YEAR BOOK. are drawn and taken to the enameling rooms. Here they are known as biscuit bricks. Here they are enamelled, the superfluous material cleaned from the edges, and are then set in the finishing kilns. They are here burned up to a temperature of 2,400 degrees F., cooled off and then drawn and sorted into firsts, seconds and builders. The principal shades made are white, cream and granite. Besides these are made blues, greens, browns and yellows, as well as various shades of mottled brick. The plant is now running at its full capacity, and has proven of great benefit to the town of Momence. County Oratorical Contest. The Seventh Annual County Oratorical Contest was held at the Kankakee High School Assembly Hall, Saturday evening, May 4, 1907. The crowd gath¬ ered before eight o’clock, and while waiting for the contest to begin, the dif¬ ferent schools represented, gave their yells, especially the Momence boys, who felt very jubilant over the ball game which they had won in the afternoon. The first number on the program was a soprano solo, followed by invocation by Rev. J. C. Hazen, and a selection by the St. Anne High School Girls’ Glee Club. Then came the orations, in which three schools, Kankakee, Momence and St. Anne, took part. The first prize, a gold medal, was awarded to James Ryan of Momence. His subject was entitled “William Ewart Gladstone,” and it was delivered in a manner that showed his ability as an orator. The second prize was awarded to Miss Eleazabeth Wetmore of Kankakee. After a bass solo by Mr. G. A. Newton, the declamatory contest began. Each of the declaimers spoke well, and held the close attention of the audience. The first prize was given to Miss Lucia Kranz of Kankakee, who gave a selec¬ tion entitled “Zingerilla, the Gypsy Flower Girl.” The second prize was award¬ ed to Miss Frances Poutra of St. Anne. This is the third time that Momence has been victorious in winning in ora¬ tory, and we have good material for coming contests. It has been decided that the school winning the greater number of times out of ten shall come into pos¬ session of the county oratorical cup, and it is hoped that the Momence High School will be the victor.

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JUNIOR YEAR BOOK. William Ewart Gladstone. First Prize Oration in High School Oratorinal Contest, March 22, 1907.---James E. Ryan. In that great city of Liverpool, in 1809, was born a man, who, as the years rolled on, was destined to become the most illustrious star in the firmament of heroes, William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone took an important part in the momentous events of a great age, an age which beheld the final triumph of democracy. Born in the awful night of democracy’s tribulations, he heard the last mutterings of the retreating storm, he caught the first gleam of the new¬ born day. Removed to the halls of Oxford, he there began his instruction in the rigid lore of diplomacy. Graduating at thirty-two, he passed from the realm of college into the more extended sphere of public life. Young, rich, eloquent, and with increasing fame, he entered upon the stage of English his¬ tory, when Europe was restless as a stormy sea, the eastern horizon was black with impending disaster. But the times were unprcpitious for enduring achievements by peaceful statesmanship. The hum of industry was now supplanted by the clash of arms, calm discussion gave way to tempestuous debate, and England was drawn into the vortex of a mighty war. Interwoven with these great events, the career of Gladstone was stormy as the passing times. Called immediately upon the out¬ break of hostilities to the Court of St. James, he repaired there, not to repose in rich saloons, amidst the glitter of lights, and the intoxications of voluptuous music, but as a storm-tossed mariner, to watch the swell of those shadowy bil¬ lows beneath which all Europe heaved, the throes of the heart of Crimea. Honorably he fulfilled his high position, and when the star of peace again gleamed, he became mediator of that peace between nations which we trust will last forever. Worn with the duties of state, he retired to the halls of Hawarden, to con¬ tinue as he began, an ardent devotee at the temple of humanity’s cause. Infat¬ uated with the lust of plunder and crazed by a mad thirst for blood, the Mos¬ lem horde swept like a desolating tempest over peaceful Armenia, driving the plowshare of destruction through its kingdoms, leveling its cities with the du$t, withering its smiling valleys by the fiery breath of devastating war, and tramp¬ ling under foot all the nobler elements of our Christian civilization ' . Indignant at the inactivity of Europe, and zealous for the welfare of Christianity, the “Grand Old Man” rushed forth to champion Armenia’s cause. Across the con¬ tinent, now rang the clarion voice of the aged statesman, awakening the slum¬ bering spirit of Europe to a realization of its duty, and stirring in the breast of man the long dormant passion of humanity. It penetrated the Christian na¬ tions of Europe, and stimulated them to action, and Gladstone had the satis¬ faction of beholding that mighty torrent of incarnate justice, pour down upon that infidel empire of the East, giving deliverance to people, states and powers, while the Moslem clan was swept from the face of the globe.