Nokomis High School - Old Nokomis Yearbook (Nokomis, IL)

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A MESSAGE TO THE STUDFNT BODY One who is loved and honored by all stood befoie the student body on a morning prior to the great tournament. After a few inspiring words of advice and encouragement, he summed up the whole matter with this brief, pithy remark : “Play the game, but play fair!” What one sentence could better express a message from the faculty to the students of Nokomis Township High? Athletics play a splendid part in high school life. They develop the physical nature, they cultivate self-control and self-effacement for the good of the greatest number, they promote study, and create high school spirit. What, then, shall it profit us if they also encourage lying, cheating and brutality? What if we win county honors, but lose the honesty and uprightness from the character of our boys? But however much athletics promote and supplement the real work of the high school, they can never take the place of the mental gymnastics which must be practiced, not by a limited number, but by every member of the school. The chief business of the student is “To Study.” Preparation of daily assignments is his ever present duty. True, it is not the particular bit of information he gets each day that is of such vast importance; but by the accumulation of days of study and thought he develops into a person who knows how to live in a world of people, and who makes his life count for service. This is your game, and you must play it with all your might and with all fairness if you are to win. You may be unfair by outright cheating, but this sort of unfairness is limited to such a small number and its disadvantages are so apparent that it is not worthy of discussion. A much commoner form of unfairness and one not always easily recognized is failure to play the game itself to the best of your ability, letting the golden days slip by without taking one forward step in independent thinking. When you have this attitude you develop no initiative nor ability to think in an emergency. The following story may be somewhat exaggerated, but

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“dEHb jSofeomtsT Published by SENIOR CLASS 1922

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2 2 at least it illustrates the point. Mr. Stupid, who was hurrying to get in out of a shower, tried to push his umbrella through a doorway. One of the doors was open, but the opening was too narrow to admit the umbrella. Mr. Lackwit said, “Wait a moment, Friend Stupid, open the other door,” and thus entrance was effected. Then they talked for several minutes. By and by Mr. Stupid exclaimed, “What a dolt I am! If I had closed my umbrella, I could have entered the door as it was.” “That’s so!” remarked Mr. Lackwit. “Come to think of it, I see you could. Well, well! not a day passes that we do not learn something new.” Pray, do not, by your drifting and leaning upon a stronger fellow student, even approach a Mr. Stupid or a Mr. Lackwit. When you have finished your education—but wait! When you have finished your education? The story is told of Michelangelo, who was found by a friend walking in solitude amid the ruins of the Coliseum, and when he expressed his surprise the great artist answered, “I go yet to school that I may continue to learn.” Who among us can after this talk of finishing our education? Let us make another beginning. When you have finished your high school or college course you are ready for a new and harder game. In this, too, you must be fair and must play to win. Some of the older players will tell you that this game cannot be won fairly, “Business is business,” is the old cry. Happily the number who teach this doctrine is rapidly becoming smaller. Men of the highest business ability recognize that even a financially successful career must be built upon honesty. As players you may disagree as to what constitutes winning the game. Some may argue that it consists of getting—getting money or fame or power. But those who have a clear vision will see that you have truly won, only when service to your fellow man is your guiding ambition. Power and fame and money may be yours, but let them be a sacred trust to be used wisely and well. Bend all your energies toward giving the best that is in you in business and social relations, but take the fruits thereof hum-play fair.” Mrs. Eekhoff. OLD NOKOMIS