Momence High School - Monesse Yearbook (Momence, IL)

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WAYNE ALLEN GRACE HUNTE LAWRENCE MC CONNELL OPAL MARTIN MARY CLARK IYAN CROSBY LIVONIA WALKER BERNICE ASTLE BESSIE BRASSARD MAUDE HUPP RUBY TUTTLE

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THE OLD FLAT-BOAT, ETC. SAMUEL SAN STROM, (Deceased) Class of 1895. THE OLD FLAT BOAT. The old flat-bottomed boat Was no work of art, Still it was a success Even from the start. It was not a racer, But still it would float, And this was the purpose Of the old flat-boat. Asa joke the boys said It would hold a ton. One thing - was quite certain, It furnished us fun. And though it was old And hard to pole, It always was steady And never would row. For its bottom was flat, And the sides were high, And the ends were square, And the inside was dry. It’s good points were many Thou nick-named a float. I think of it fondly, The flat-bottomed boat. THE OLE SWIM MIN’ HOLE. At the edge of the grove in the river bend. Just a little below where the ripples end, Where the river bank forms a shallow like a bowl, Is the place the boys call the ole swimmin’ hole. The large shady oak trees I’ll never forget, And the sloping green banks, I can see them yet, And the island there right across from the bowl, These were the scenes around the ole swim¬ min’ hole. Oh the days they come back when I was ahoy, I recall youth’s freedom and all of its joys, And a feeling of sadness steals o’er my soul To think I’m parted from the ole swimmin’ hole.

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THE PENDULUM OF PROGRESS IVAN CROSBY. S Americans we are blessed with a heritage held sacred by our forefathers and perpetuated by their posterity, that inheritance without which no nation ever has or ever can live. It is a sacrificial devotation to the Mother Country, a burning patriotism which places the welfare of the Nation above all other things. It was this patriotism which induced our ancestors to exchange homes for desolation, peace for war, and life for death that their country might live. This same feeling prompts us to place our own native country before all others. Nor do we do this unjustly. For what other coun¬ try in so short a time has grown from a mere hand full of flee¬ ing Pilgrims to the greatest, grandest nation on earth? This broad land was given us that we might erect here a living and a lasting monument lo civilization. The foundation of that monument has been securely laid. But with the present and future generations rests the power to erect a strong and lasting edifice or a weak frail structure to he swept away by the first violent gale of insurrection. As we look hack through the past ages, we see that nations have risen to fame in various pursuits. Sparta was famous in war. Athens excelled in culture and learning. And mighty Rome surpassed all in government. These people have passed on into eternity. These nations did not last, they could not last because they were not rationally balanced. But how is it with our own country, is it noted for one thing only, does its fame rest upon one support? No America is the most versatile land in existence. She has been called “The land of glorious extremes.” It is true she has gone to extremes in many things, and this very fact is the key note of her success. “Her fame is as one light which beams out of a thousand stars.” One hundred fifty years ago, all the settled land in the United States lay east of the Alleghany mountains. The cities were few and small. As each year of that century and a half rolled by civilization took a long step westward. Now from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Gulf to the Lakes, the whole country is divided into prosperous farms, and large cities re¬ place the haunts of savages. Steam and electricity have eliminated distances to a mini¬ mum. The journey across our country once lasting months is now accomplished in as many days. The old trail of the prairie schooner strewn with bleached bones of perished travelers, is now replaced by railroads over which the passengers travel in coaches and sleepers. Messages are clicked from one continent to another in the twinking of an eye. Science is superseding material. Wire is no longer needed to conduct electricity. Wireless stations are set up all over the continent. All this has been accomplished since the advent of the twentieth cen¬ tury. Science lias not advanced alone. Yea r after year, step by step religion and education have steadily kept a pace with this