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

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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?”

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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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A lunatic certainly does ordinary things in unusual ways and unusual things in ordinary ways, and at first these actions are sulphitic; but after they have been repeated several times they cease to shock or surprise us, that is to say, they have become Bromidic. An actor in vaudeville may play a part of life very familiar to us, and we are in doubt as to whether he is a clever performer impersonating someone or a crude amateur doing his very best. In a word, is he a Bromide or a Sulphite? Friends, we are all born with certain Bromidic tendencies and these ten dencies seem to manifest themselves most strongly in our youth. Where is there a boy who does not want to be like his chums and carry a jack knife with a chain on, and the girl who does not tease her mother to make her dresses longer because Mary’s are longer? However, a child displays just as many Sulphitic ten- dencies as he does Bromidic, for if anyone exhibits a sense of originality in saying or performing ordinary things in unusual ways, or unusual things in ordinary ways, it is the average boy or girl of tender years. With the disappearance of youth, age to some extent does away with these childish fancies, but in any case some trace of the tendencies is apt to remain, Parents and teachers, these little brains, though they be active and alert, need to be developed, and you are the overseers of this development. Carefully mold these young lives; like models of clay you can shape and frame them as you choose. In addition to developing in them a just sehce of what is right and good, arouse within them a spirit of originality, if you can. Away with the restraint of age and custom!. Let us be our true selves regardless ot society’s creed. May we build our castles of thought instead of dwelling within those of our predecessors. In other words, let us be able to think for ourselves so that we will not need to draw our conclusions from what the world says. If we want to see in the future, a man, who as an independent th’.wker, will surprise his fellow men with new theories and demonstrations of brilliant, original thought, we must cultivate the characteristics of that ideal in the child. In the beginning, teach him some of the basic facts of life: or perhaps arouse his curiosity so that he will be able to find out some of them for himself; stimulate him to take an interest in his surroundings, make him. observant; but above all, teach him to do his own thinking;so that when he plays his part in life’s drama, it will be original and not a repetition of what others have done. Ethel McKnight. CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS. Ques. Of what delicacy is Lilian very fond? Ans. Pratt’s Food. Ques. Why doesn’t Fred mind getting so near the fire? Ans. Because he is not afraid of Burns. Ques. What kind of a heart has Alvin? Ans. An Ehrhardt. Ques. Where does Lee keep his treasures? Ans. Underwood. Ques. When does George enjoy himself the most? Ans. In the “Summertime.” Ques. Why are Grant and Royal benefactors to humanity? Ans. They are Wells What makes Blanche valuable in the winter? Ans. Cowles. Ques. Who is the Marshall of our class? Ans. .Moses. Ques. What is the long and short of the Freshman Class? Ans. Jennie and Grant. Ques. What is the Sophomore’s pet? Ans. A Lamb.