Roodhouse Community High School - Railroader Yearbook (Roodhouse, IL)

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EG ENDE -lt . fx,'xcX. x'xAfX:Xfx, x:'x.f-x,fx:x.fx , 'B S' H SENIOR CLASS HISTORY WAY OUT here in mid-ocean from all civilization we can look through field glasses and see a tiny speck. Yes, it is the harbor from which we started. For eight long years we worked in the shallow water without looking back at the harbor. But at the end of this time we thought, turned, looked and saw the big black harbor. It seemed a century to our young lives, those eight yearsg yet when we peered into the distance the harbor loomed up very distinctly. We hadn't gone as far as we thought we had, so we decided, after stopping at the harbor named Freshmen, to continue our journey for a few more years in the same direction. Before starting out from Freshmen harbor our crew rented a new ship from Mr. Hutcbens. We decided upon a tall popular sailorboy by the name of Buell Wallis, as captain. Buell did not like the idea of taking all the res- ponsibilities so he proposed to have an adviser to help him, Mr. Hill was chosen. After selecting these various helpers and a number of 75 sailors, Buell steered the ship into the deep water. Buell made an excellent captain. But with all of his clevcr manage- ment and steering of the ship, the inevitable storms came with big waves sweeping over our boat, and carried away many of our crew. During this year we had to have some enjoyment so we decided upon a party. Since we had agreed upon a harbour by the name cf Sophomore to be our next stop, we called this party the Freshman and Sophomore party we had lots of fun during this year but we also had many struggles. Our ship surely would of been swept to the bottom' of the ocean by the terrible storms, had it not been for our brave captain. One morning one of the sailors came rushing in to tell us that Sopho- more harbor was in view. We soon reached this harbor and decided upon a change in ship, captain and advisor. There were many ships in the Sophomore harbor to be rented but the one that especially took our eye was owned by Mr. Moore. We chose this ship Olena Cole as captain, and Mr. Lane as advisor. This time starting out with only a crew of fifty and headed toward Junior harbor. We hadn't gone far before Olena suggested that we have a weiner roast. We stopped at the first island we sighted which happened to be Birch Creek, built a fire and had a regular feast, which lasted far into the night. We had another party before we reached the Junior harbor in one of the rooms on the upper deck known as the Gym'l. One day toward the end of our journey the crew could tell by the look on Mr. Moore's face that there was going to be a change in the weather. About the middle of the journey Mr. Moore had looked this same way and we had run into some huge rocks known as semester examinations. We got up the next morning and seeing a big fog hovering about, worked very hard to save our ship. At the end of the day we heard a joyous shout from one of the black ugly rocks and the Junior harbor was right in front of us. Our captain was very tired and at the suggestion of Mr. Moore gave up her oliice as captain to Margaret McCarty. The crew also voted to elect Mrs. Wilkinson as advisor for this trip and started with a crew of thirty- seven. We were very busy on this trip, because of our decrease in the Page Twenty-four

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. . 7 L EG EN DE t LOST CLASS IVIATES HEN OUR old bark set out in nineteen hundred twenty-two for a four years voyage on the sea of knowledge we had a crew of seventy-six. It was the largest that had ever attempted to sail this sea. The R. H. S. Gradua- tion was our goalg and our slogan was Row not Drift . That we might reach our gcal with a complete crew was a wish not to be realized for we had merely started when Edith McAndrews was captured by a strong pirate. Isabel Safely, Melvin McMahan, Floyd Lane, Russell Grifiiths, John Scott, and Joe Witworth deserted us at various islands throughout the first year. In the late spring the old vessel pulled up along the coast of vacation. After a brief period of repose and recreation we set sail again with a crew of fifty. Some of our farmer mates had failed to return for the second voyage and a few were ordered to try the first voyage again. The sailing was more difficult than it had been the preceeding year. The following were deserters: Freda Downs, Hazel Lawson, Russel Davis, Lee Strawmatt, Don- ald Elliott, Eugene Crabtree, Jacob Rawlings, Everett Windmiller, William Gilmore, and Dorothy McAdams. Alberta Cooper, Florence Dawdy, and Leta Ruyle had been transferred to another vessel. V On our third trip we had a crew of thirty-six, several repeating the second journey. Mary Mae Peebles, Grace Sieberman, Ira Waltrip, and Walter Thurman had failed to appear for unknown reasons. Olena Cole received orders to go on board a distant ship, Wretha Coffman was captured and Helen Vineyard and Kenneth Roe deserted us. Now we are starting on our fourth voyage. It is hard to realize that this will be our last. Lela Marsh, Alta Gilmore, and Elsie Crabtree did not return to us. Eliza Strang Andras, Helen Smith and Buell Wallis transferr- ed to other crafts. For five months we sailed along undisturbedg then at an unguarded moment Mary Piper was stolen. Our number has diminished to twenty-five. Those of us who had kept our goal in view soon came to the end of our journey. We were sorry for those who had deserted our ranks for we had truly profited by remaining faithful. -M- M- Pugc Twenty-three

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LEGENUE -.f2af'..I -I5I'ZI'-f'.1Tl'If'IITZ K.IN..I -.IT.!N number and because Mrs. Wilkinson promised us a banquet at the end of the journey if we were a faithful band. Margaret managed the crew well and got through all the storm by only losing eleven members. We were all very happy when we saw Senior port in view for we had failed to see the lighthouse and got upon the ter- rible semester rocks but with Mr. Moore's strong ship and the clever man- agement of our captain we sailed over the rocks into Senior port. We again changed advisors and captains. This time we selected Clay- ton Ruyle and Rawlins Advisor. We had only twenty-six to start on this voyage. Clayton turned the ship toward the harbor known as graduation. We hadn't g.one far until we ran into some whales, which proved that we were in deep water. They followed us for two days. Mr. Moore told us that he had made this trip often and he had always noticed that if we were not near the rocks because the whales were following us. This voyage seemed to be the hardest of all. We encountered many stormsg and were once attacked by a pirate ship. One of the men from this boat grabbed one of our fair maidens and carried her off with him. One night during a heavy fog we thought we surely were lost. But when morning came Mr. Moore came in with a smile upon his face and told us to look. We did, and lo! there in front of us was Graduation harbor. We all declared if it had not been for Mrs. Rawlins and our captain we would never of reached the harb.or. We are now ready to begin another long voyage. Each of the twenty- five left with a ship of his own and himself as captain. We hope that in the future when we meet our brothers and sisters and the vari.ous helpers on this long voyage it will not be like: Ships that pass in the night, and speak to one another in passing Only a voice in the distance, then darkness again and silence. -Effie Griffiths. ACCOMPLISHIVIENTS OF Tl-IE CLASS OF I 9 2 6 S SENIORS we can look back over our high school career and point with pride to our accomplishments. Our class has a reputation of doing well everything which it undertakes. As soon as we entered high school we began to do our share. Two members of our class represented our school in the Greene County Meet. Alberta Cooper in vocal solo and Pauline DeVilbliss in piano. Alberta won second place, and Pauline third place. This gave us the inspiration and de- termination to work and to win more honors for our school in the succeed- ing years. During the next two years our school interest in literary work increas- ed and out of the number who took part in the contest, Buell Wallis repre- sented our school in declamation and oration in '24 and '25 respectively won first place both years and Pauline DeVilbliss took third place in piano twice. Olena Cole and Buell Wallis were members of the debating team. Clayton Ruyle won first place in extemporaneous speaking in the state pre- liminary contest held at Springfield and fifth place at the I. S. N. U. meet. Several people were members of the chorus in '24 and '25, As we are now nearing the end of our fourth year, we are expecting to do more than ever in the spring contest. We are proud of the h.onors that we have won for our school. We feel that our class has been loyal and has supported it on every possible occasion and we shall continue to do so in the future.fM. M. Page Twvw ty-fire