North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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SPORTS By Jor RousE v HEN I entered school, the boys had few sports, but they had military training. The girls had very few sports and took very little exercise. They took a brisk walk on Sunday if the weather was good, but when they had finished their work on week days, they did not know what to do. The boys had a good basketball team and a baseball team. Basket ball was the chief sport at that time, but no football was played. In 1923 our gymnasium was built. It contains a swimming pool, a bowling-alley, and a recrea- tion hall. It has been giving us a great deal of pleasure. Every year a class of boys and girls have taken the Red Cross life saving test. We have many more pleasures than we used to have. In 1926 Mr. Underhill came here from Florida and became our head coach. Our new athletic field was graded and laid off in 1927. He organ- ized a new football team. The boys played awkwardly at first, but the next year they made a splendid record winning six games and losing only two by a close score and tying one game. In 1926-27-28 our basket ball players took part in basket ball tournaments in Atlanta, Georgia, which were held to see which team of deaf boys would win the championship of the South. I went there in 1928. In 1930 we had a successful football team and won most of the games. In the winter of 1931 we joined the Western Conference of the State High School Athletic Association. We had a hard time trying to defeat the heavy teams for we were too light to fight against the husky lads. We did splendid defen- sive work, but we made poor progress on the offense side. In 1928 the foot ball team, with four substi- tutes, motored to Virginia. I was one of the sub- stitutes, so I went along. The next day we had a game with the boys of the Virginia School for the Deaf. It was a hot fought game. On the way back home we had an opportunity to visit Lexington, Virginia. There we saw Washington and Lee University and the chapel in which Robert E. Lee is buried. We enjoyed that trip. At another time we made a journey to Ten- nessee where we had an exciting football game with their team, but we were disappointd at losing the game to them. We went across the Blue Ridge Mountains where we obtained a beautiful view. In February, 1928 our basket ball players with two substitutes went to Atlanta, Ga. There the basket ball teams from all the Southern Schools for the Deaf met to take part in a tournament to decide who would win the championship of the South. We enjoyed seeing the sights of Atlanta. Arkansas won the championship. We stayed in Atlanta one day and returned here by way of Asheville. It was a nice trip. I have been to South Carolina School for the Deaf four times with our basket ball team. We have never won any basket ball games on their court because it is too small, but we have won several games from them on our court. During the winter on every Tuesday night we have made many short trips to neighboring towns to have basket ball games with the other schools. These trips have been a great pleasure to us. It has been good for us to mingle with the hearing boys. It has given us more self confidence and will help us to get along with people when we are through school. Sports are good for us because they make our bodies strong, improve our health and develop our muscles. They help us to be useful, self-controlled citizens. They help us to take defeat cheerfully. We have had a great deal of pleasure in playing games and making many nice trips to other schools. We have made many good friends among the hearing boys through these games. All this will help us when we leave school.

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CLASS HOBBIES By ALBERT MaTuIs Me DWARD FARNELL’S favorite hobby is collecting clippings about scientific happen- ings, about new inventions, discoveries and ex- periments. He knows more about such things than any other boy in school. He always takes a deep interest in accounts of experiments and disco- veries. His favorite magazine is The Popular Science Monthly and he usually hangs on to it till his mind, which seems to be always exploring new things, has thoroughly grasped the meaning of the articles in it. Wallace Kinlaw likes to collect stamps. He has some 4,000 stamps in all. He has about 350 United States stamps. He has been collecting them since he was in the sixth grade in 1927. He is so much interested in stamps that he joined the Morganton Junior Stamp Club and tries to be present at every meeting. He is planning to secure the Boy Scout merit badge on stamp collecting in the near future. From collecting stamps he has gained valuable information of geography and history of other countries. Roy Chandler reads all the political news he can find. He has a trunk full of political clippings, pictures of politicians, and information about them and their lives. He takes deep interest in the study of civics and hopes to learn more about how the government is run. The teachers and in- dustrial instructors say that he will make a wise voter because he ‘“‘knows his onions” about such things and will not be easily fooled into voting for the wrong man. Albert Mathis’ hobby is making things from wood. He thoroughly enjoys that kind of work and has made several good pieces of furniture in his leisure time. He hopes to pass the Boy Scout merit for wood turning this month. He already has three merit badges on wood-working. Joe Rouse collects souvenirs of his sporting days. He gets something from almost every place he goes. A football shoe cleat there and a shoe string here. He has pictures of almost all the teams that he has played against or newspaper clippings about them. He has souvenirs of his football, basketball and baseball trips. He wants to keep them to remember the friends he has made on these trips. He lost almost all of them when his home was burned a few months ago. Paul Hemric has a desire to be an automobile mechanic. He likes to investigate the mechanism of cars and find out how the parts work and what they are for. He has liked to work on automobiles since he was a small boy. Although he is a cobbler, he likes to work on automobiles in his spare time. ‘Joyce Flynn has been collecting pictures of his school days. He has been taking pictures for several years and has many kodak views of our camping trips, his possum hunts and hikes. He has pictures of the football, basket ball and base- ball teams and many more taken on the campus. These pictures will give him many pleasant hours as he looks them over and recalls incidents of his school life. He may win prizes in amateur photog- raphy.

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ADVANTAGES OF SCOUTING By WALLACE KINLAW a SN AM glad that I am a Boy Scout. Scouting encourages boys to live up to their highest ideals of life. It helps them build better and stronger characters; think clean and beautiful thoughts; take the best care of their heaith and live purer lives. It encourages them to be useful, helpful and reverent in all they do. It is worth while for every boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen to bea Boy Scout, as he learns the mysteries of woodcraft, camping, hiking, cooking, of making fire by friction and other useful things during his leisure time. He forms a friendship that may last a life time. He learns to enjoy nature and to know the trees, flowers, birds, animals and stars. These give him wholesome pleasure and much happiness. Those two helpful and inspiring Scout mottos, “Do A Good Turn Daily,” and “Be Prepared,” have helped every boy become a better citizen of his country as he tries to live up to those mottos. A Scout always realizes that his duty is to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent and he learns to form the right kind of friendship. He tries to live and do the kind deeds that the knights of ancient times did. He wears a uniform, but has no military training and is not trained to fight with arms, but he is a “Modern Knight.” In case of war he is always ready to fight for his country and protect and defend it. A Scout not only works hard, but has a grand time, too. He goes on picnics, hikes and camp- ing trips. He takes part in the games and sports that his Scout friends play and enjoys the life in God’s great outdoors. He is especially interested in Scout work and tries to get a good knowledge of it. Before I entered this school, there was a Boy Scout organization under control of Major Vernon Birck, who was commandant of the boys when there was military training in the school. The Boy Scouts at that time had a camp near the school. They built several log cabins there, but they were abandoned and finally destroyed. We would like to rebuild this camp there or at some other place near our school. After Mr. Birck left our school, the Boy Scout organization was done away with, but was reviv- edlater. Mr. Underhill, our present Scoutmaster, has done a great deal to interest us in the Scout work and to arrange meetings with the hearing boys. Since I have been here the Boy Scouts have had three Scoutmasters, Mr. Odie William Underhill, Mr. Fred Kent and Mr. John Haynes. I hope the Scout work can continue to grow at this school as I feel it is a great benefit to a boy to belong to that great organization. I have been a Boy Scout for nearly five years at the North Carolina School for the Deaf and have had three Scoutmasters, Mr. Fred Kent, Mr. John Haynes and Mr. Odie Underhill. Mr. Underhill who has a considerable interest in Scouting, has been my Scoutmaster for nearly three years and he has taken us on hikes through the mountains near our school and to all the Courts of Honor that have been held in different towns near here once a month. When I was a youngster, I did not understand the real mean- ing of Scouting and my chief interest in it was a wish to have a good time. Since I have grown older, I have realized the real good in Scouting and I have taken a deep interest in all the activities of the Scouts. I have worked for merit badges and am now a Star Scout. My training as a Boy Scout has caused me to lead a better life, to gain a good knowledge of the many things in nature, which I had never known before, to form good friendships among many of the hearing Boy Scouts and I hope that after leaving school, I can keep on advancing in Scouting and become a useful, intelligent citizen of the Old North State.