Scarborough High School - Four Corners Yearbook (Scarborough, ME)

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8 FOUR CORNERS of the Pine Point School, has conducted a music period on Monday mornings during the winter term, and this has been con¬ tinued ever since under the supervision of the regular teachers. Several songs have been written to airs selected from the new book. Our new teacher, Mrs. Arthur Stevens, has started a Glee Club for the girls, which will probably furnish part of the musical numbers for graduation. Mrs. Stevens’ knowledge of music and her energetic per¬ sonality should produce excellent results with the girls. Rubenstein’s “Melody in F,” and Hoffman’s “Beautiful Night” are the selections with which the club will start. Scarborough High School Brings Home the Bacon. Great was the rejoicing of students and townspeople alike when our team of four secured for the third time a unanimous decision in the race for the cup offered in the annual triangular prize speaking con¬ test between Cape Elizabeth High School, Old Orchard High School, and Scar¬ borough High School. The series of contests was begun in the spring of 1919 for the purpose of develop¬ ing ability in public speaking and a spirit of friendly rivalry among the three schools. It was agreed by each school that a pre¬ liminary division should be selected and trained by the teachers to compete in a public contest, and from this number a team of two boys and two girls should be chosen to compete with a similarly selected team from each of the other schools at a joint contest. In the preliminary contest the boy and girl adjudged to be the best speaker received a silver medal suitably engraved, and to the boy and girl who won second place, a similar bronze medal was given. Medals of silver for the best boy and girl, and bronze for the second choice, engraved with the names of the three schools and the date of the contest, were chosen as prizes for the final contest. A beautiful gold-lined, silver loving cup on an ebony base was to be presented for one year to the team whose uniform excellence was the highest, the trophy to be the per¬ manent possession of the school which should be the first to win it three times. Our first preliminary division consisted of Misses Abbie Small, Ethel Foster, Velma Leonard, ’20; Violet Roberts, Isabelle Plummer, Ruth Heald, ’22; and Messrs. Melville Johnson, To; Philip Bowley, Fred Richardson, Earle Willman, ’20; Clarence Lary, R. Leon Larv, ’21. The judges selected Abbie Small and Clarence Lary for first place; Ruth Heald and Melville Johnson for second, with Ethel Foster and R. Leon Lary as alternates with honorable mention. In the final con¬ test at Old Orchard, not only did Ruth Heald and Melville Johnson win a clean- cut decision for first honors, but we were awarded the team prize for the general excellence of all four speakers, an honor all the more valued as it represented the unani-

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FOUR CORNERS Bonny Brier Bush,” “Freckles,” “David Harem,” “Animals I Have Known,” and others. “Beltane, the Smith,” “Slippy McGee,” and “The Riding Kid of Powder River” are also recent editions. “The Four Million” and “Cabbages and Kings” were bought for the benefit of short story writers in the Senior Class. Those interested in the High School can express their interest in no more permanent and acceptable way than by giving standard works of fiction or reference to our library. This year all the books have been covered with a heavy library paper to insure their protection, so that any who feel like making us a gift will know that such gifts will be properly cared for. The most important experiment attacked this year was the maintenance of an evening school two nights a week during the winter term for the benefit of the public at large. Registration was begun at the end of the fall term, but the regular sessions did not commence until the beginning of the winter term when good sized classes were formed in all the subjects offered. Courses in Stenography and Typewriting were taught by E. G. Bessey, Bates, ’13, Principal of the High School; Penmanship and Commercial Arithmetic by E. P. Bul¬ lock of Milliken, Tomlinson Co.; Mechani¬ cal Drawing by Rev. Renscl Colby of the Black Point Church; Business English and Modern European History by Miss Bryant of the High School force. An excellent average attendance was kept up in spite of numerous storms and the impassable condition of the roads. Mr. James Gower and Mr. A. W. Hodgman hold the record for perfect attendance. At the closing session classes were suspended and everybody had a jolly good time. A spelling match was held in which Principal E. G. Bessey proved his superior spelling ability. Refreshments of hot cocoa, sandwiches, ice cream, and cake were served, and these found enthusiastic favor. Mr. Swinburn, in a few well-chosen words presented the instructors with a remembrance of the winter’s work. To Mr. Bullock, a Masonic pin; to Mr. Bes¬ sey, an Odd Fellow’s emblem; and to Mr. Colby and Miss Bryant, each a book. It created considerable amusement when someone suggested that the two latter had “a lot more to learn.” With Mr. Bessey as pianist, a social sing was enjoyed, espe¬ cially “John Brown’s Baby,” when Mr. Colby demonstrated how the aforesaid gentleman rubbed it with camphorated oil. That Scarborough folks can sing splendidly was very evident when it came to “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” and other well- known songs. With an appropriation of $200 which was made at the town meeting in March, supplemented by another from the State Department of Education, we should have a flourishing school another year. A new set of school song books has been bought this year and a good part of the numbers already learned. Miss Bartlett

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FOUR CORNERS 9 mous decision of judges and audience alike. Both second places were awarded to Cape Elizabeth High School. The second year our preliminary speakers were Misses Small, ’20: Ruth Heald, Helen Libby, Isabelle Plummer, ’22; Gladys Higgins, Dorothy Plummer, ’23; and Messrs. Bowley, Nielsen, ’20; Nor¬ man Laughton, Clarence Larv, Leon Lary, ’21; and Harold Bennett, ’23. Our new material proved real discoveries, Harold Bennett and Helen Libby carrying off first honors, while Ruth Heald and Norman Laughton won second. Dorothy Plummer and R. Leon Lary received honorable mention. Loyal rooters filling one special car and crowding several regulars, followed our team to Cape Elizabeth Town Hall and heard them win even more decisively than the year before. Hon. Carroll Beedy, expressing the unanimous opinion of the judges, awarded the team prize to Scar¬ borough High School; the silver medals to Helen Libby and Norman Laughton ; the second prize for boys to Old Orchard High School, and for girls to Cape Elizabeth High School. 1921 was the crucial year inasmuch as it decided whether or not we were to transfer the cup to one of the other teams or retain it as our permanent possession. Due to the critical illness of one of our star speakers, Norman Laughton, considerable shifting of our division was necessary before the following preliminary speakers were selected: Misses Ruth Heald, Helen Libby, Aurelia Wentworth, ’22; Gladys Higgins, ’23; Priscilla Googins, InaSamp¬ son, ’24; and Messrs. Clarence Lary, R. Leon Lary, ’21; Leonard Emmons, ’22; Harold Bennett, Clark Libbey, ’23; Stephen Larrabee, ’24. In the contest, April 22, 1921, Ruth C. Heald and Leonard Emmons were awarded first place ; Helen Libby and R. Leon Lary, second, with Aurelia Went¬ worth and Clarence Lary for alternates. Feeling that the personnel of our team could not be surpassed we hopefully awaited the final contest. April 29th saw the K. of P. Hall packed with a crowd that taxed to the limit the seating capacity of the hall in spite of the two hundred extra chairs. The ante-room and aisles accommodated many who were willing to stand, and still others were turned away. Door receipts totalled $100. At no time in the last three years has the need of a suitable auditorium been so keenly felt as at this final contest when we had to deduct Si5.00 from our receipts to hire chairs and pay for the cartage of others so generously lent us by the Black Point Church and Grange, to say nothing of the inconvenience to those who either had to stand or leave. After an unusually good program, the audience settled down to wait for the deci¬ sion of the judges which was a novelty in the matter of brevity. After announcing a first for boys to Old Orchard High School, which received a volley of squeals and cheers from the Blue and White rooters, and a second for boys to Cape Elizabeth High School, which was greeted in like