Reading Memorial High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Reading, MA)

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Page Twenty-two The Pioneer Town, ’’ was witnessed by us and also the gracious gift of the same class to “Doc” Doherty, ‘‘a cake of Palmolive soap to keep his school girl complexion.” Yet those days soon vanished and we passed to a more blissful time known as the Medieval Period. Medieval A year, or if you like percent better, 25% of our history-making is included in this period. “Fran” Porch, “Dob¬ bie” Jones, “Ding” Lyons, and “Chass” Ellis represented us upon the Round-Up Board as literary characters and “Hooky” held the assistant managership and the Board dast not refuse us. Nevertheless w T e were still in the 1 Dark Ages ’ ’ and we presented some mighty and noble warriors for the foot¬ ball team, ‘ 1 Doc” Doherty, 1 ‘ Ding ’ ’ Lyons, and ‘ ‘ Paully ’ ’ Clements. 11 Our little Helen ” Badger wrote her nation-wide play entitled ‘ 1 Patent Medi¬ cine.” The Copley Theatre audience ap¬ preciated it, though the patent ran out and we just missed a noble prize. The Junior Prom came next with “Fran” Fowler chairman, and Marcia Ham, 11 Ma ” ' Adams, ‘ ‘ Ding ’ ’ Lyons, and 11 Jack’ ’ Spear as assistants. It was quite the affair and needless to say it is well remembered. With a knack all his own, 1 ‘ Chass’ ’ Ellis continued to present poetry to the Pioneer. In the early spring an intruder came to R. H. S. and took away ‘ ‘ our ’ ’ Miss Abbott. We soon recovered and things changed to the “Renaissance” period. “Jack” Spear, “Count” Cutcliffe, and ‘ 1 Buff ” Partelow with ‘ 1 Ding ’ ’ Lyons as assistant manager reported as our agents for basketball. With no regard to seniority the Sophomores captured the class basketball series from us, though 1 ‘ Sug’ ’ Crocker and ‘ ‘ Buff ’ ’ Partelow made the all-class team. “Johnny” Howard held out as presi¬ dent of the Debating Club and became famous as a debater and humorist, most¬ ly the latter. We were then well “re¬ vived ’ ’ and crushed our final exams in 1 ‘ steam roller’ ’ fashion and topped off by tendering a dance to the Seniors. This affair was well taken care of by “little Annie ’ ’ Crowell aided by Marcia Ham, Hazel Morrison, “Dobbie” Jones, “Bob” Moyer and ‘ 1 Ding” Lyons. A few days passed by and we saw such notables as “Hilly,” “Van,” and “Bob” Merritt evacuate. With one loud and triumphant acclaim, w T e took posses¬ sion of R. II. S. as supreme rulers of the student body. To date we had covered almost 11,500,- 000 seconds of the 15,552,000 seconds of our school life. Urged by the dying words of Anaxagoras, “Give the boys a holi¬ day, ” we departed for a brief relapse before we entered the well-known, much- talked of period known as Modern His¬ tory. Modern History This era constitutes a most important part of World History and also of the history of the Class of 1926. We fairly dove into the ‘ 1 Tormentor” work and out of habit swamped the “Pioneer” Board with “Dobbie” Jones, and “Fran” Porch, joint editors, and a staff composed of “Ding” Lyons, “Glass” Ellis, Helen Abbott and 1 ‘ Russ” Barnes, while “Hooky” held the check book, with Mr. Halpin cautiously watching his every scribble. The first issue of the 11 Pioneer’ ’ to meet the eye of modern scholars was pre¬ sented with all but seven articles labelled ’26. Most of them bore the immortal seal of our president, “C. J. ’26.” In this issue we intended to reveal what our teachers did in the summer time, but the interviews were quite tame, -as many were too bashful to give details and personal lights which would add much to such narratives. ‘ ‘ Chippie’ ’ and ‘ ‘ Billy” Gaw, 11 Doc ’ ’ Doherty, and “Tommy” Phillips with “Hennie” Carleton, manager, reported for football duty with the squad. Then came another 11 Pioneer ’ ’ with but four articles of other brand than ’26. ‘ ‘ Buff” Partelow managed a Senior Party for us, which was a delightful af¬ fair, especially financially. When the Christmas cantata was presented “Dot” Goddard, “Ma” Adams, “Pete” South- wick, ‘ ‘ Mil ’ ’ Scanlon, ‘ ‘ Franky’ ’ Norton, ‘ ‘ Tommy” Phillips, and 11 Hooky,” like so many angels, carolled “Good will to men. ” The day passing rapidly, we saw our

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The Pioneer Page Twenty-one You don’t believe me? Figure it out for yourself, then by means of logs, sines, tangents, sulphuric, acid, or even Latin and you will see that 15,552,000 seconds is as near right as can be and leave the historian with a clear con¬ science. Here’s the method: 180 days, for 4 years, at six hours a day, times the next smaller division of time which Mr. Pope has so instilled into our minds, by means of numerous problems, and your answer will be 15,552,000 seconds. It lias taken us that length of time to make history. Now let us survey our own narrative of what we, as civilized men and women, have thought and done in past times. The first thing to do is to “make a rapid preliminary survey of the material to be covered” and “with a flying start” we can review our brief, yet vastly important history. Prehistoric First we have a period known as Pre¬ historic, or before written records. This period is brief enough in that it covers about 12 years of time, when we as youngsters succeeded in doing what was all wrong and never remembered to do the right thing, though we did succeed in learning our R’s, you know what three. But we progressed through this period in lightning style with the help of our brilliant predecessors, including many teachers and our beloved principal, Miss Alice Barrows. Does this prehistoric age seem vague to you, peculiar, or even funny? If it does you can take part in the dumb-bell drill, which has been so well demonstrat¬ ed by some of our girls during Education Week. Ancient Out of this era of antiquity we pass to another, which covers two years of time. This time, our Ancient History, was well spent for we became better pre¬ pared, if you will recall the words of Dr. Barker, “to do what has to be done, wdien it ought to be done, whether we like to do it or not.” During that period, so ancient and so honorable, many events occurred. From a state of barbarism, we progressed until we became real thinkers, and organized a democratic, self-governing group at our class meetings. “Ding” Lyons became our president and also a member ofthe Student Council. 11 Fran ’ ’ Porch and “ A1 ” Levenson were elected to the Round-Up Board. “Fran” also became a note-worthy Ciceronian and has orated to “Dobbie” Jones, our president, ever since. “Pete” South- wick, “Ma” Adams, “Dobbie” Jones, and “Chippie” Gaw lent their voices to touching, yet pitiful harmony, in the operetta “A Lass of Limerick Town.” The varsity girls’ basketball team cap¬ tured “Buster” Harvey, who once was ours, as our representative. With heart¬ felt affection, we extended sympathy to “King” Jarvis while he swelled up with the mumps. Next “Dot” Goddard and 11 Hooky” were made Round-Up desper¬ ados who attempted to capture news from their lazy classmates. However, lest I bore you, we must remember that famous Durfee game and the clever work of our basketball stars of the season,, 1 ‘ Beth ” Fowler and ‘ ‘ Mic. ” But we were kept busy sprinting for Coach Tay¬ lor, and answering in tones that allowed no discussion, ‘ 1 1 have no oral theme to day.’ ; Ancientl (continued) The teachers needed a vacation, so we followed suit and took ten weeks, coming back fresh, but not Freshmen, for an¬ other 180 days. We chose “Ding” ' president again, with “Count” Cutcliffe,. secretary-treasurer, and “Jack” Ingalls, as “Ding’s” assistant. Those were the good old days w T hen we had such dignified and austere gentle¬ men as “Ben” Nichols, “Elsie” Hill and “Van” for upper classmen. “Van” showed his dignity when he acclaimed, “A zebra is a sport model jack-ass.” At this time we had a clever young man known as “Chass” Ellis enter our class, and he contributed bushels of poetry to the Round-Up. As real and genuine floormen, we evened up in the class series of basketball losing 3 games and taking as many in return. “Ma” Adams, “Buster” Harvey, and “Fran” Fowler made the girls’ varsity basketball team and they showed up the green and white in flying array. “Jack” Spear was our private repre¬ sentative to the boys’ varsity team. The Senior play, “Rose o’ Plymouth '

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The Pioneer Page Twenty-three fiery captain “Count” Cutcliffe, with 1 ‘ Sug ’ ’ Crocker, 11 Winnie ” Horton, “Jack” Spear, and “Buff” Partelow on the floor as our defenders, while “Ding” Lyons held the manager’s hold. The girls presented “Ma” Adams, as captain, with “Gin’’ Merrill, “Fran” FoAvler, “Uppie” Upton, “Elly’’ Fultz, and 11 Connie ’ ’ Cell as mates for the girls’ varsity team in basketball. To break the strain of sports and otherwise we had double doses of school, especially College English. But we had such brilliant classmates as ‘ ‘ Franky” Norton, who relieved the tension by dramatically reciting three lines from Macbeth, “Hail, hail, hail.’’ Our Senior play, ‘ 1 The Thirteenth Chair,” which w T as a huge and. delightful success came next. 11 Kay ” Sweetser, Louise Richardson, “Fran’’ Porch, Muriel Mussells, Helen Reed, Lois Baker, Nelcena Copeland, “Franky” Norton, “Russ’’ Barnes, “Buggie” Eames, Walter White, Walter Doucette, Garrit Oldenbrook, “Al” Hodson, “Tommy” Phillips, and “Billy” Gaw were the cast. The committee chairmen were “Winnie” Horton, costumes; “Jack” Condon, properties; “Elbe” Weale, scenery; “Uppie” Upton, publicity; and ‘ 1 Hooky ” tickets. 11 Johnny ” Howard and “Bob” Moyer lent valuable aid to the production. Miss Francois of Boston, with the able help of Miss Pratt and Miss Warren coached the play, which was presented two nights. The financial returns w T ell watched by Miss Pratt’s scrutinizing organs of vision were very complete and gratifying, and might be boasted of, if we were not always so modest. Because of this fund, we are en¬ joying a happy and inexpensive gradu¬ ation. “Old Wales” body, the football dum¬ my, just a few days after the play, had to be carried to the attic and in the process “Dobbie” Jones with the grace of a dignified president of this, the Class of 1926, proceeded to ostentatiously slip through the ceiling of Room B much to Miss Ames’ horror. Being far from musical geniuses, we tired out poor Mr. Wilson and he had to leave for quieter work. I’m sure Miss Pratt will tell us it was a wise and very sane move. The baseball season opened w r ith Boyd Stewart, manager, and some Senior squad men, “Sug” Crocker, “Winnie” Horton, “Doc” Doherty, and “Jack” Spear as our representatives. The skirmish that alwavs comes in preparation for graduation came for us, of course. We had class meetings, class meetings, class meetings, and class meet¬ ings. Walter White was chosen chairman of picnic; ‘ ‘ Ding’ Lyons, sports; Muriel Mussells, banquet; “Russ” Meikle, gift; and ‘ ‘ Ma ’ ’ Adams, class elections. Some were also chosen to strut-their- stuff tonight at this honorable banquet. After quite a discussion as is common on any important question, we chose to go to Provincetown for the picnic. Who will ever forget it? If you do forget to remember June 16, 1926, then turn to the poem called “The Secret of the Sea” which runs: 1 ‘ Ah, what pleasant visions haunt me, As I gaze upon the sea! ” Commencement has cast its shadow over us and not a Senior knows where to go, and what to do next. These are busy days. In this state of affairs we close the pages of our class history. Yet, stay, my good classmates and re¬ call with me what we have written on the book of time. For 259,200 minutes, as 87 of the selected young people of Reading, we have journeyed down the path of events. We have traversed 15 classrooms. 2 labora¬ tories, 3 offices, a lunch room, and a gym in this good old R. H. S. We have tread the 211 stairs which have served us with musical accompaniment as elevators for 4320 hours past. We have been trained by 30 different teachers, 2 prin¬ cipals, 1 superintendent of schools, 2 chairmen of the School Committee, a dean of girls, 2 janitors, a janitress, a school doctor, a school nurse, 3 instruc¬ tors in music, and other helpful super¬ numeraries. Now we are ready for the battle of life, with our hand on the scrimmage line and a confidence that these our coach¬ es, are backing us, while the underclass¬ men cheer from the sidelines, as we take