Raleigh High School - Excelsior Yearbook (Raleigh, IN)

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ORVILLE MORGAN, Editor-in-Chief. DWIGHT BROOKS, Business Manager. MELVIN COLE, Athletic Editor. VOORHIESE THOMAS, Joke Editor. Page forty-seven

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moral conditions of the people at that time. It does more than this: it tells us of things which written or spoken language cannot express. It reflects the ideal. When it comes to expressing the deeper emo- tions of the soul, there is a point beyond which the poet or orator cannot go, because of the limitations of language. But music begins here where words leave off, and leads onward toward that indefinable sense of the ideal. Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. The folk songs of the various nations reflect the hopes, trials, joys and ambitions of the human race at all stages of its development. The works of the great composers give expression to the noblest thoughts, the loftiest sentiments and the highest as- pirations of the greatest genius of the ages. All this is a wealth of inheritance which each child has a right to expect from those intrusted with his train- ing for future citizenship-a training which should enable him to grasp, appreciate and enjoy the larger things of life. Thus, in a brief way I have endeavored to set forth some reasons Why music should be regarded as a practical study of the most vital importance in the training of the child. This view is supported by the best educational thought of all time. It is the view taken by those in authority over our schools who have any degree of enlightment as to the real object of education. GLADYS AURELIUS, Supervisor of Music and Art. Page forty six M erry times we've had this year A nd our work is full of cheer R aleigh is the school for me, Girls are jolly as can be A nd we have to get to work, R ight away, we mustn't shirk, E very day our task is new rr eacher says, We must pass, too. S uch good pupils in Room Three, E ach as busy as can be, E very moment precious seems G ood are all those bright new themes, E very boy and every girl R ollick in one merry whirl. S oon this school term will be o'er, nex year we'll be on second floor.

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A Brief First History of the Raleigh School HE first successful Centralized Township School in the United States is situated in the center of Washington Township, Rush County, Indiana. For some years the first school of this kind to prove a success was said to be located near Cincin- nati, Ohio, but facts in connection with this school claiming first honors, shows that it was not in exist- ence until a dozen years after the school in Raleigh was started. When our Indiana townships were first organized it was thought necessary to elect three trustees to look after township affairs. William S. Hall, an early pioneer of the state, son of a soldier of 1812, grandson of a soldier of the War of Independence, was chosen as one of these trustees of Washington township. Very soon it was noticed that all matters pertaining especially to the schools were left for William Hall to see after. When the time came that but one trustee was thought necessary to fill the duties of this office, then the voters, insisting that Mr. Hall was best fitted for these duties, kept him, year after year, in this office. Under Mr. Hall were eight district schools, and do the best he could, Mr. Hall found it impossible to fill these schools with competent teachers. Too often he found the boys and girls leaving the district schools entirely too young, their school education merely begun at the age they were leaving school. Page forty eight As this trustee, now an ageing man, possessed of a mind of the highest excellence, and a strong belief that the hope of our country lay in the education of the masses, tried to better his schools, there crept into his brain the dream of a central township school in which every country child could receive an academic education without price to the child, or leaving home to get it. This was not a new dream, as Eastern educators had tried to get such schools, butfailed in every instance. Not so William S. Hall. When ready to resign township duties to younger brains and hands, he formulated his plans secretly, for he was a man of old time action in public affairs. Opposition against throwing one district school out was strong against him. He went ahead as though it had not been, bonded his township for the money to build this first central country school, and at the date the tax was all paid, purchased this site of ground for his school, setting the brick makers right upon the spot to make the brick for his school house. This was in the year 1876. In the beginning of this year he threw out and abandoned four of his inner lying school houses, leaving the four outlying district schools supplied with teachers, the scholars of these schools given the privilege to attend the central school if they so pleased. By fall the house of three rooms, one large room covering all of the upper floor, the lower part divid-