Petaluma High School - Trojans Yearbook (Petaluma, CA)

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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.

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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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Now, when F-d w’as in the Grammar vSchool he was quite a climber, and it didn’t take long for him to get on the other side of the fence. These are simply details. If you want to know more, just ask him about it. He will be per¬ fectly charmed to relate it in full, we are sure. “ ’03.” Seemed Natural to Him. The two trains came together with an awful crash. Some one had blundered. That, how ' - ever, was a matter which would have to be left for future investigation. As soon as those who w ere uninjured could extricate themselves from the wreck, they turned manfully to the work of rescuing their less fortunate fellow-passengers. It was a sickening sight. Cars were heaped on top of one another. People w ere pinioned under seats, beams and trucks. Steam was hiss¬ ing from the overturned boilers, the rails of the track were w arped and torn loose from the ties, and the moans and cries of the injured could be heard afar off. Finally, after long, hard w’ork, the rescuers reached the bottom of the mass, where the legs and body of a man protruded from beneath a twisted platform. Beside him lay a cane, deco¬ rated with colored ribbons, and a long tin horn. Fearfully and anxiously a score of strong men lifted the weight from the head and shoulders of the prostrate one and carried him up the em¬ bankment. As they reached the higher level, he opened his eyes, passed a hand in front of them as if brushing away a film of some kind, and shouted: “Rah! rah! rah! Sizz, boom, ah ! Ki-yi! hip-hip, hoo-gah yah ! Come on, fellows ! Which side has the ball ? ’ Chicago Times-Herald. The News Dealer. ALWAYS HAS THE LATEST IN - Stationery, Books, Music, Magazines. Picture Framing in up-to-date Styles. Fine China, Glass, Fancy Goods, Etc. Novelties in all lines constantly arriving. H. STEITZ’ SONS,? == G r oce r s == Western Avenne and K]entu.ck:3r Street. A Terrible Slaughter of Flies and Mosquitos. Thousands of these pests are being killed by Bobard’s Flea Exterminator. NEVER FA- Price 25c. McGuire’s Pharmacy 875 Main Street. GEO. N. SMITH, Up-to-date Printer. 861 Main St., Petaluma. 5 45 Makes a Specialty of Calling Cards, Engraved or Printed. Latest Designs in Wedding Stationery ’Phone-.-Main 95.