Oakfield High School - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Oakfield, WI)

Page 19 text:

BROMIDES AND SULPHITES, A PLEA FOR ORIGINALITY. Teachers, Parents, Members of the School Board, and Friends: i ach year in June some of you, no doubt, have been welcomed by the graduating class; but never with a more heartfelt greeting than we extend to you tonight. You who have felt with us our hopes and ambitions, now rejoice with us in this hour when we lay aside the booksof school life, and take up the books of life’s school, the volumes of experience. We have comoleted our course in the High School and are celebrating the event with these Commencement Exercises. Commencement! Ah, what a world of thoughts that word suggests. It means the beginning of life to us, who up to this time have been preparing ourselves for the tasks of the future. Only for tonight are we here as graduates to bring you greeting, tomorrow we will take our places among men only to vanish ’mongst the toilers of fate. Teachers, Parents, Board of Education, and Friends, we extend to you a cordial greeting. May we clasp hands in a burst of welcome, rejoicing together in this our hour of triumph, for despite the pain which we feel in leaving our pleasant associations, among which we have passed so many happy hours, we are exultant to think of our freedom. Again we bid you welcome! The world of today is not the one in which our grandfathers spent their lives. With the advance of the times, there has been an accompanying progress in civilization. Glancing back through a half century’s pages of history, we see how a discovery in the scientific world, an artfully contrived tool of the inventor, a new thesis in religion, a single reform in the educational system, a new issue in the political field, an important event in the realms of society have followed each other in swift, confusing succession like the variously tinted spokes of a huge revolving wheel, making the world what it is today and building a foundation for its future. Never has an age been so bright, so fair, so free, so full of opportunities and prospects of fame to the rren and women who are taking part in the world’s drama, for “All the world is a stage, on which every man must play his part.” In this drama a few of us may taken the leading roles, for “Some men are born great, others achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”; while others may play such an unimportant part that their presence is scarcely felt. In the scenes of life’s drama every phase and type of life is portrayed. We recognize the characteristics of the good, the bad; the kind-hearted, the cruel: the optimistic, the pessimistic; the pious, the unbelieving; the ambitious, the shiftless; the conscientious, the thoughtless; the wise man and the fool. But in th:’s surging mass of humanity of every creed, of every color, with their merits, faults, ambitious, joys, and fears, there are, psychologically, speaking, but tw?o types of people, Bromides and Sulphites. It has become the habit of some thinking people to try to classify their friends into definite groups. However careful their classification, it will finally end in two great divisions, those they like and those they do not like. This is absurd. It is unjust and of no value to society. The classification which I mean to give is based on psychology. It is one which we all can understand and with which every one will agree when he is given a good definition of each group.

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CLASS POEM. Consisting of numbers twenty one, Our class entered the first year High; But now when four years by have run, There are only eight to say “Good bye.” Of these eight that are left together, We have descriptions of every sort; For like all birds of feather, They are tall, lean, fat and short. We have two generals, Grant and Lee, Just like two blooming roses; But to keep in full bloom as I see, Both will have to Marshall Mcses. Grant is known as great in speaking, While Lee doctors horses every night. Marshall is crazy over hunting and trapping, For he says it is his greatest delight. Then there’s Lillian, very meek and mild, Who knows her lessens from A to Z; And Ethel, our studious, industrious child, Who is just as good as good can be. Alvin, you know, is the cyclist great, And says machines are his greatest hobby; But Edward says he thinks it is his fate To teach an arguing class in some lobby. Then comes our dear teacher, For what should we have done, If Curtis had turned preacher? He would have made us all run. And Miss Bcvee in English Lit, Knows all about the poets: In elocution she makes a hit, And does not profess to know it. Miss Kalbach has the German class, And talks Dutch by the hour; And si is in the library, as you pass, Like some new fresh blown flower. Then there is Jessie, last but not least, Who in trying to tell of the rest, By a flow of wit, and of soul a feast; And in so doing is doubly blest. —Class Poet.

Page 20 text:

It is not a difficult task to define a Bromide, perhaps because he is so familiar to us, for this type constitutes by far the largest mass of people. At any rate we will consider their characteristics first and then dwell on the traits of the Sulphites. The Brcmidic person is met with every day. You will always find him with the crowd, participating in their thoughts and deeds. Susceptible to the influence of others, he is like the straw which shows which way the wind blows. All Bromides are alike. Their habits of thought are ready made. Living by rule and rote, they all travel the same well-trodden road. It is not a question with the individual whether he will be a Bromide or no. It is a question of the brain. There seems to be a certain reflex psychological action which is automatic and works like a charm. Bromides think that all common every day occurrences are and must be accompanied with especial remarks. The brain cells are taught to respond to these impulses, and when the person speaks, it is without thought. Why should he think? How can he say anything different when these former impressions have become so deeply grooved in the gray matter of his brain, that for them to take another course would be almost impossible. Does the person who says, “Lovely weather, isn’t it,” or “Nice day,” by way of beginning a conversation, really think of what he says? Hardly. He seems to find it difficult to broach a subject for conversation and easily falls into the habit of discussing the weather. One great characteristic of the Bromide, then, is that he is always the same. He will never surprise you. One can never look for any quick, flashing idea from such a person. All time worn subjects as well as established matters of fact are ever new to him. At any time he is apt to confront you with the statement that the sun does not really rise and set, that it only seems to do so, and defend his assertion with such glowing logic that you are quite overwhelmed with his exquisite command of language. This, then, we may depend upon it is the chief trait of his kind, which will ever enable us to tell a Bromide. Now what is a Sulphite? He is the person who does his own thinking. He shuns conventionality, and unlike his Bromidic brother, he is constantly surprising you, for one can never foretell his actions, He is explosive. He seems to be enclosed in a volume of original ideas which are liable at any time to escape in a volley of startling vehemence. Sulphites are agreed on the basic facts of life and see no use in dragging them into conversation. They do not marvel over axioms, What they say is original. They speak as though moved by some hidden inspiration. But from this you must not judge that all Sulphites are agreeable company, for some are and some are not. You may depend upon it they will surprise you at some time or other, they must explode. They will never bore but they may perhaps shock you. All cranks, reformers, and artists are good examples of Sulphitic people. Burgess says that Sulphites not only do ordinary things in unusual ways, but also do unusual things in ordinary ways. What is more Sulphitic than for a person who is in a runaway automobile to hang on to his hat so that he. won’t lose it? What more unusual than for a guest to tell her hostess that she does not like the pattern of the gown which that lady displays with such pride?”