Phillips Exeter Academy - PEAN Yearbook (Exeter, NH)

Page 18 text:

The History of Ninety-Five. O herald forth the glory in this poem I will strive Of that paragon of classes, the class of Ninety-tive. So aid me, gentle Muses, with all thy skill divine, For ne'er was there a subject as great as this of mine. The day was dark and dreary, down drove the drenching rain, As gaily we alighted from the crowded Boston train, And yet from those who came here on that all important day, Fifteen in the Academy to their Senior year did stay. Soon our prowess and our glory made the juniors blush with shame, They seemed weak when placed beside us, insignificant and tame. They boasted and they swaggered, as if they owned it all, But at baseball in the springtime their pride received its fall. Only one thing in our first year, we must with grief remember, How Andover defeated us in football in November. And so the sun of Ninety-five rose o'er the hill-tops brown And gave proofs of future greatness to the dull New Hamp- shire town. To Exeter, in Ninety-two, again we turned our steps, And lorded it with haughty micn o'er the few and sickly Preps. Adams was our president, as he was the year before, And it was his great good fortune to rule for two years more. Three of us were on the football team, tive more were on the nine, While on the track and on the field in glory we did shine. VVe won the indoor tournament, were second in the spring- liefore we came no junior class e'er thought of such a thing. But what we gloried over most, and loved the best of all, Was that we saw proud Andover defeated in football. Vile came down from Qld Exeter to Ant'lover's own ground Their team then saw how brave we were, they saw it, and they frowned. We heard them yell their boastful cheers, they waved their ban- ners blue, Our answering shouts were louder still, and pierced the heavens through. We conquered in the sturdy strife, their flags hung sadly down, Right joyfully we came straight home and painted red the town. They dared not face us in the spring, for they all knew toe well That, in baseball as in all else, our strength was sure to tell. In the class room, for the lirst term, we upheld our former fame, But we lost our dear professor, Mr. Fowler was his name. For the next two terms our Latin class was a place for jest and lark, And though we flanked our Latin, indeed we made our mark. Our mark was our professor for chalk from all the room- One day we put out all the lights and left him there in gloom. But soon the year was over, with all its play and toil, And gladly we departed for another better soil.

Page 17 text:

'ew r I

Page 19 text:

The sun of Ninety-live was high, and its rays of blending light Showed well to all who saw it, its splendor and its might. As Midcllers back again we came, with our numbers greater still, And though some were not desirable, there was far more good than ill. Yet we went, a certain evening, to a still pond's grassy brim, And experiments were made to see if Frenchman learned to swim. Again we conquered Andover, and she learned once for all That, though we may be slandered, we can surely play football. In the space of three short minutes the ball was past theirline, From the tossing of our crimson flags the sky turned red as wine, And in their homeward journey, in the dusty, crowded train, Perhaps they then decided that they ne'er would boast again. But the heavens at old Exeter rang with merry cheer and shout As witl1 bonfires and high revelry we watched the stars fade out. When the morning came to greet us we could not speak a word, Though, when our throats were moistened, a whisper could be heard. But soon the spring had come and gone, and our middle year was done, With all its play and all its toil, its sorrow and its fun. The glorious sun of Ninety-five now straight downward poured its rays, All else, so far below it, was brightened by its blazeg O A few small specks upon its face could not obscure its light, But simply made the other parts, by contrast, still more bright. At last, as Seniors, now we see all else beneath our rule, And surely we have tried to raise the standard of the school g And though the school is smaller than it e'er has been before Since the time we entered Exeter, yet the honor men are more, And the football team was very strong, and opinions all agree I That if Andover had played us, her defeats would number three. This year our French professor left, after twenty years of work, And never, during all this time, his duty did he shirk. His place was filled by two young men, so young 't would not be wrong To ask them, as 't is said one did, To which class do you belong? , So now we leave the school for good and all our ties we sever, But let us love old Exeter for ever and for ever. We can well boast of our record as long as we 're alive, And Exeter can well be proud of the class of Ninety-Five. just as we leave, so the great sun sets, decked in colors gay, And burning red each cloud is tinged with a crimson colored ray, Thenfjust as he is setting, he shines with still more light, And gleams e'en more than e'er before with lines of colors bright.