Petaluma High School - Trojans Yearbook (Petaluma, CA)

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in her direction. Ada is nearly always the last to leave the room, and if anything is said she will say, “ We’ve more time than money,” and will take her time in coming. vShe will be missed next term by Mi.ss K., who is always wondering what Ada will do next. We next come to our only boy, Ellis Hart. Like Joe, at the beginning of school two years ago, Ellis was bashful and if the girls asked the loan of his knife it would be blusingly given. However, time works wonders. A remark¬ able change has come over him this year, and instead of being one of the most bashful boys in the class he has become a regular tor¬ ment. He delights to play tricks upon some poor, unsuspecting girl. Sometimes, however, he gets caught in his tricks and is punished by i having to remain in the room at recess. The | last time this occurred Ellis was sitting in one | of the windows, feet outside, when a certain ! young lady, accidently, of course, made him fall | out on the ground. Thus he was able to play at his favorite game, baseball. We must not only tell of his tricks, as Ellis has some very good qualities, fie is the most studious body of the class and always has a perfect recitation. He | is the only touch method typewriter in the j class. He has faithfully followed Mr. Harford’s directions in this line, and as a result has fine speed in typewriting, seldom making a mistake. Although Ellis lives seven miles from town he is .seldom late, which is more than can be said of some of the other members of the class. Taken all in all, Ellis is all right and will make his way in the world yet. ' h. Florence M. Hood is the mo.st diminutive body of our class, but we implore you not to judge from “quantity,” as she is our greatest mischief lover. vShe is our only vocalist, and often unconsciously favors us with a solo, which | “makes the world wonder.” But we are of the | opinion that she is rather selfivsh with her sweet ' soprano voice. Florence has mastered the art i of letter writing, and often in the stillne.ss of a j quiet (?) study period she is seen jotting down ! her thoughts with great rapidity. vShe has a wonderful vocabulary and we judge she accom¬ plished this by her constant stud} of the dic¬ tionary. “Flossy” takes all things as they come and this, her motto, “only one life to I live, and might as well enjoy that,” does not meet Mi.ss K’s approval. At times she is very studious, and “woe be to them” who interrupt her, for she has been seen to fly from her seat and hit a certain young man with tremendous j velocity. But we do not want our readers to be wrongly impressed with Florence, as she has numerous remarkable characteristics, and never fails in anything she undertakes, but always has a per¬ fect lesson. vShe is soon to leave us for her future home in Oakland, and her laughing eyes and jovial disposition, which have won for her numerous friends, will be sadly missed in the P. H. S. A. .s. - m - To the Graduates of the Commercial Class. I have been asked to say a few words to those graduating from the Commercial Department, and with whom I have been clo.sely associated during the past school year. Preaching is one thing and practice another, and perhaps we all know what to do if we could but be sure of doing j it. Still, I can repeat a few ever new old- i truths to you on this, the eve of your gradua- ! tion. We have advised and directed you always according to your best interests; now you must learu to adapt yourselves to conditions, to think for yourselves. From the Commercial Depart¬ ment you step into the Commercial World, from under the influence of sympathizing teach¬ ers to the harsh criticism of the world. You leave behind theory and enter upon practice. Your preparation has furni.shed you with the necessary tools for, perhaps, your life work. You have, or .should have, .some aim in life. The aimless man is the man who fails, for life is worth living to the one who has a purpose; who is working to attain some end. Life is ju.st what we make it, and if our ideals are true and noble, our actions will be worthy, and our actions crystalize finally into character, thus a purposeless life is a characterless life. You go

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COMMERCIAL, Commercial Class History. We as a class leave a history; not contain¬ ing any great events, records of any great bat¬ tles or wonderful discoveries, but in it are some of the events of our school life. When we entered the High School we were meek, mild and timid, and upon reading the course of study laid out for us, our foreheads became wrinkled with lines of care. But in spite of the dreary outlook we went to w ' ork and the two years soon fled. During the first year our class consisted of fifteen members, while tonight we are only a class of three—two girls and one boy. Let us first run over the names of those who, for various reasons, have left us : Kathryn Kamp, on account of ill health, was compelled to leave during the first term. She is still in town and has continued her stenog¬ raphy and typewriting with the present Fresh¬ man class. It is needless to say, Kathryn, you have been missed by us. Anita Dias also had to leave school because of ill health but is still residing in town. Katie Canfield is at present in one of the local dressmaking parlors. She was so very jolly that we missed her sadly this year. Carrie Burns left school during the first term as she had completed the studies she was taking. Carrie was always willing to help any one who was in trouble, and is missed very much when dancing is going on. Katy Fratny left us about the middle of the second term to reside in San Francisco. Ewell Cox left after the first term. Claude Hanson, Thomas White, Fred Zim¬ merman, Rudolph Peterson and Clayton Dean are still among the “ Freshies.” Joe Tuttle, or “ laughing Joe,” the torment of the class, is still with us, although he does not graduate with us tonight. He is always playing tricks on his classmates. Even the girls are not spared. He has a knack, so to speak, of getting out of every scrape he gets into, and when accused of anything he can look as inno¬ cent as a ” new born babe.” Joe has an especially ” sweet tooth” for candy and oranges and always treats the girls. Last year Joe was very shy and has continued (?) so this year. We are not aware of Joe’s future plans but suppose he will continue to live on the ” wild hills” of Chileno valley and embark in the stock (?) rais¬ ing business, especially that branch pertaining to the care of his neighbor’s p gs. We do not want our readers to think Joe is entirely bad, as he has a number of good qualities. He is nearly always on time and always has his lessons, al¬ though he says he never studies. We know better, as we can tell by his recitations. Now we come to our graduates. Our class orator, Ada M. Stone, is the favor¬ ite of the class. She makes new friends every day by her jolly ways and winning manner. She is a most studious body and always has her recitations in “ first-class order.” Ada is some¬ what of a poetess and often in her leisure (?) moments, an inspiration comes to her and then the way her pen flies is remarkable. Some of the trials of a certain young man of the class have been told in verse by this modest young poetess. If any joke is to be played, Ada is al¬ ways on hand to have a share in it, and if caught she endeavors to look innocent, but her laughing countenance gives her away. She has one of the happiest dispositions of any student in the P. H. S., and often when the room is very quiet her silvery laugh will ring out .so clear and strong that others are sometimes startled. There is one young (?) lady in the room, however, who does not seem to approve of Ada’s mirth, from the “looks” that are cast

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out t o solve the meaning of life for yourselves. Success or failure await you, and to a great ex¬ tent you have the making of your life—either the one or the other. You have had the advan¬ tages of at least a common school education. In that respect your start has been better than some who have been denied that privilege, and yet through personal efforts have made successes of their lives. “ The fault is not in our starts, but in ourselves; that we are underlings,” after all. To say that “I had no opportunity” does not excuse you from making the best of what you have. Many of our most successful business men were not as well prepared to battle with life as you are. It was not through chance that they succeeded. It was through the hardest kind of work and steadfast application to the smallest detail of duty; a whatever-is-worth doing, is-worth-doing-well spirit. There is al¬ ways a place made for such a person. When Garfield applied for entrance to college penni¬ less, the president asked him what he was willing to do. “Anything,” was the answer, lo feel that any honorable work is below your dignity is the quickest and surest first step to failure. vStef out, then into the world w’ith a determination to succeed in whatever you un¬ dertake, and you cannot fail. Take with you as weapons against your worst enemy, “self.” Obedience. You have learned the rudiments of obedience in school, but more rigid are those imposed upon you by the commercial world. I recall to mind a very bright student who on entering his first position w as told by his employer to “never forget anything, and do everything I tell you.” He made that his motto, and is now a successful busi¬ ness man. Make it a habit never to go con¬ trary to the dictates of your superiors in the smallest details, then the larger and more im¬ portant ones will take care of themselves. Thoughtfulness. Untiring application to the interests of your employer, aw ake to every¬ thing that concerns him. You may conscien¬ tiously keep your employer’s books and type his daily correspondence, and yet thoughtlessly do many things that are to your own rather than his interests. It means going to work a few minutes before time, and offering to stay later if w’ork is pressing ; seeing what is to be done and doing it without being told, rather than hoping it will be forgotten. Cheerfulness. Remember that your emplo ’er has responsibilities that you can lighten by a cheerful application to your share of his labors. Do not allow your own affairs to make you ir¬ ritable in the discharge of your duties. To be pleasant costs nothing and brings its own re¬ ward. Lastly, make yourself generally so necessary ' a part of your employer’s business, so conver¬ sant with the matters entrusted to you, that he could not dispense with your services. In other words be interested in w hat interests your employer, center all your activities in what concerns him, be ready and willing at any and all times to perform cheerfully his commands, the matter of promotion then becomes only a question of time, and unawares you will derive untold benefits from your life of obedient, thoughtful, and cheerful activities. The good wishes of the Commercial Department go with you. E. R. K. Hard Luck. One of our Junior boys went to the library’ the other night. Now, this is nothing strange in itself, but F-d stayed too long in the lower hall, and on attempting to go home found the doors locked. It is not known what he said, as he was alone (?) but he lighted a match and started on a tour of inspection. All the doors were locked, but he found one win¬ dow open. From this point to the ground was a distance of fifteen feet, and as, b}- pensonal experience, he knew the ground was hard, he decided he must find another means of exit. He found a hovse and proceeded to make a patent fire escape. But on looking out of the witidow again what did he see but a shadow, which, on closer inspection, appeared to be a stairway. He got out of the building by this but found himself little better off, for there, right in front of him, was a high board fence.