Robert E Lee High School - Leeway / Record Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

Page 27 text:

Salutatory Kerlyn Baber R1ENDS, patrons, teachers, and fellow-students of Robert E. Lee High School, I consider it a great honor to have the pleasure of welcoming you here this evening. We are very glad to have you present at our graduation exercises. And what does gradu¬ ation signify, what does it stand for? It stands for the reaching of the goal which we set for ourselves when we entered high school, and toward which we have been working since that time. Our school has been growing and thriving too. Many improvements have been made since our entrance here, and it is with great pride and affection that we look upon our high school. Even though we have reached the goal which we set for ourselves upon enter¬ ing high school we have not completed, but only started upon our real work. In the future, as we go forward with our work, we shall take different paths. Some will pursue further their education, others will enter the business world to occupy different positions. Let us remember that life gives back no more than is put into it; therefore, let each of us give to our work the best we have to offer. I am sure that we shall all strive to be successful, and through this success bring honor to Lee High. In the different walks of life there are many, and great opportunities. Our desire and duty should be to find them and avail ourselves of them. Success comes not only through recognizing an opportunity, but also in grasping it and working long and faithfully until what it offers is ours. When success crowns our efforts, as it will for many of us, no doubt, let us not fail to look back to the years spent here and to give credit to the school which so well equipped us for the journey upon which we were setting out. Teachers, as we take leave of you we wish to express our sincere appreciation for your helpful advice and support during our high school career. We hope that we have conducted ourselves so that you may justly be proud of us. I salute you, class of 1930, and on your behalf extend a most hearty and sincere welcome to our friends here tonight.

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Valedictory Kate Drake T IS with a feeling of sadness that we, the class of 1930, meet this evening to say farewell to schoolmates, teachers, and school. Friendship is a precious, a tender thing; during the years we have been together, we have learned to know and appreciate the many hue qualities of those whom we are proud to call friends. The happy hours spent here at old Lee Fligh with them will ever be a sacred memory to us. To the teachers we express our sincere gratitude for their unceasing and tireless efforts on our behalf, their kindly encouragement, and warm friendship. When we go forth into the broader fields of life, as we shall soon go, what are our plans? Are we planning to become leaders in college, in business, or shall we be content to depend upon someone else? Content merely to follow the crowd through life? A view held by many today and gaining in popularity is that the world has too many leaders and too few well-trained followers. Be that as it may, we well know that in this great age of industry, and of rapid changes, situations and con¬ ditions are constantly arising which call for outstanding men, leaders who must have the qualifications of courage, honesty, and perseverance. Today, we hear much of the spirit of service to others, and rightly so, for if we are not useful to others, of what use are we? But can we all become leaders? you ask. Perhaps not, but if we aim high, if our vision is a worthy one, we cannot fall very far short; and those of us who fail to lead, will, at least, through the efforts made, be much better qualified to serve as followers. Let us not be content to stand still, for as has been said, “A standing still is a kind of descent.” We fully realize as we go out from our school here that we have been well prepared and equipped to assume the responsibilities which will confront us. May we look upon our responsibilities and difficulties as valuable opportunities to aid us in reaching the thing we most greatly desire. Remember that the man who reaches the heights and who conquers is the one who does more than is required of him. Today is yours, and mine, to do with it as we will. So let us keep ever before us these words of Phillips Brooks: “The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still. Sad will be the day for any man when he becomes contented with the thoughts he is thinking and the deeds he is doing—where there is not forever beating the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do.”

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The Prophecy of the Class of 1930 “Tzvist, ye, tzvine ye! even so, Mingle shades of joy and zvoe, Hope and fear, and peace, and strife, In the thread of human life. ■ —Scott. And then spake Clotho, the youngest Fate, W ho spun the threads of human lives, And mingled Fright with sable strands, Which made life gay or made it sad, Who fashioned threads to guide men’s lives, Or set their goals, aims, high or low, Which facts determine man’s success, “The noble Jupiter now entreats us As he oft times is wont to do, And in a most imploring way doth wish That we be generous in the bestowal of gifts, Knowledge, beauty, wisdom, love and friends, To a certain group of mere short-living men; For it seems that of that tribe for which he prays, A few have praised him much and sung his name, Wherefore he wishes to reveal to other men That he can love and administer kindness.” And while with deft fingers that only time can teach, The fair one spun a thread for some poor mortal, And while Lachesis, the second-oldest Fate, Twisted it and by so doing made it Sometimes strong and sometimes weak, The aged Atropos, who often cut too short The thread of life, spoke in quiet tones, So many men are weak and ignorant, They cannot see the wills of the gods, But are so head-strong, vain and proud That we often see it fit to stop their lives, Lest by liv ing they influence other men Who might have known and loved the gods. It seems imprudent now that we let them live longer And have wisdom, but since great Jove 1 )oth beg that we enrich their lives, Because that they have loved us gods, There is no reason that can hinder it.” hile hearing this the skillful Lachesis made strong The threads that fair Clotho had spun. She made Them fit for harder and more useful toil, For service and endurance, and twisted them firmly. And while the dreadful Fates worked on They sometimes spoke in praise or admiration Of the lives for which they planned. And while Father Chronus made the day pass by