Seward Park High School - Almanac Yearbook (New York, NY)

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CLASS OF JANUARY I'-735 . BED TIME STORY Time To go To bed, junior. Aw, I don'T wanna go To bed. AImosT bed Time. Come now, don'T be sTubborn. Aw righT, daddy. BuT TirsT Tell me a sTory. Oh, well, iT ThaT will saTisTy you, I suppose I'lI have To. N a cold February day, a bewildered, iiTTery group oT children enTered The new Seward Park High School. They looked so clean, you could Tell aT once Thar The previous nighT had wiTnessed sTeaming baThTubs wiTh soapy washrags busily plying Their Trade above and below The equaToriaI line. Their cloThes were neaT and looked as Though much care had been spenT in Their selecTion. When They arrived aT The building, several kind looking genTlemen gave Them some TaTherly advice on how To enioy The years They would spend in Seward. Hardly had They been senT To Their classes, when school session sTarTed. They were dubbed Freshman by The resT oT The sTudenTs. The usual hazing Took place. Wherever The Freshmen wenT They meT cold sTares: whenever They were losT or wanTed To Tind ouT how To go To a parTicuIar place in The building, They were sure To be given The wrong direcTions, and They were made The vicTims oT a Thousand and one oTher pracTical iokes. Be'sides This, so many new Things, The exisTence oT which They had never known, swepT pasT Them so ThaT They were IeTT quiTe dizzy. A ForTnighTIy ThaT had The appearance oT a real meTropoliTan newspaper, a Folio conTaining arTicIes wiTh a proTessionaI Touch, a dramaTizaTion, RoIlo's Wild OaTs, in which Teachers Took The roles, an opereTTa, The Mikado, in which sTudenTs sang Their way inTo everyone's hearT, TooTball games, baskeTbaII games, aTTer school clubs, all whizzed passed wiTh such sTarTIing rapidiTy. And beTore The Freshman real- ized iT, They were Sophomores. Several hundred addiTions Trom The iunior high schools came To boIsTer This group. EveryThing ThaT The Freshmen oT a year beTore had enioyed, were also en- joyed by The Sophomores. The only change was ThaT The ForTnighTIy changed iTs name To The Seward World. The Two annual perTormances were parTicularIy ouT- sTanding. The sophomores Thrilled and chilled aT The GhosT Train, and The melodies oT The PiraTes oT Penzance were hummed Tor weeks aTTer The acTuaI perTormance. Then came The boaT ride. The once Timid, buT now budding, girls oT a year ago, were escorTed by TasT growing men and They all liked iT! Page ThirTeen

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THE ALMANAC ON THE HONCDRARY Tln which a lower Senior becomes an ArisTa membenl SEWARDITE spends lovely spring nighTs and breezy auTumn eves wading Through a shallow sea oT shapely geomeTric problems Tor one primary purpose. He gives up his sTudy periods previously spenT in laughTer and Talk To bury himselT in The depThs oT Gaul and Ceaser. lT requires Tremendous will power To keep his hands aT his sides and his characTer pure when a parTicularly domineering member oT The Honor Service League venTs his personalify upon him. And Tor whaT? The ArisTa looms as a Tar OTT sTar in a serene sky To many oT The sTudenTs oT our school. All Through Their High School careers a greaT many SewardiTes have ambiTions oT joining The ArisTa. SomeTimes This ambiTion Tades wiTh The appearance OT The age old TormenTor, The Tell-Tale reporT card. BuT mosT Times, The sTudenT sTruggles Through his sTudies wiTh The hope ThaT he will graduaTe a member oT The noble ArisTa. ln his sevenTh Term, This parTicular sTudenT believes he is ready To apply Tor membership, a biT laTe buT beTTer laTe Than never J AT lasT he is called beTore The ArisTa Assembly lThe members oT The ArisTal Tor quesTioning. He waTches hisl Tellow- applicanTs-Tor-membership emerge Trom The mysTerious Assembly chamber and Tries To inTerpreT The baTTled, half TrighTened, halT relieved expression on The Taces oT The Tormer vicTims. Oh, he solemnly promises his conscience, IT I 'should become a member l'll never ask any applicanT a guesTion, never. When The ordeal is over he emerges Trom The chamber, wiTh a wry smile, halT TrighTened and halT relieved, re- peaTing his resoluTion. Well, The anxious sevenTh Termer becomes an ArisTa member in his Senior Term. Added To The burden oT iusTiTying The Term Senior is The TiTle ArisTa Member . 'Whereas his nose would have been adiusTed aT righT angles had he borne only The TirsT honor, his nose is carried in ya compleTe sTraighT angle wiTh The addiTion oT The second posiTion. AT lasT The advenT of quesTioning new applicanTs is approaching and has arrived. A shaky voiced sTudenT enTers wiTh a Torced smile on his Tace. The presidenT goes Through The various TormaliTies due an applicanT and Tinally asks, Are There any quesTions you would like To ask The candidaTe? The once TerriTied sevenTh Term applicanT who has now reached The heighTs oT presTige rises. Madame PresidenT, l have a quesTion To ask The candidaTe. Gone is The promise made To himselT .abouT asking no quesTions. Gone is everyThing buT The ioy of sporT, The pleasure oT The game. He Torges on. As a prospecTive ArisTa member you should be capable oT answering any .quesTion I seT To you. Will you please Tell me oT The belieTs and wriT- ings oT The Greek SocraTes? The gasps oT his Tellow members, The blanching oT The cheek oT The cornered applicanT, disTurb him noT. He siTs. down amid The applause oT his own conscience, and in compleTe peace wiTh The world. Lillian Vogel Page Twelve

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THE ALMANAC Then a Terrible caTasTrophe occurred. War was declared! IT Tlared up aT The end oT The Term. Each Term The same Thing occurred wiTh The same resulT. A Tew were leTT groaning on The Tloor, a Tew rose, a Tew lay sTill. This Terrible relenTless opponenT always issued a Tormal sTaTemenT immediaTely before each war began. He signed himselT REGENTS. The Junior year was reached wiThouT anyThing remarkably new happening. How- ever, The Junior year iTselT was one oT The mosT evenTTul oT all Times. The heads oT These sTudenTs had cleared so considerably 1ThaT They were able To see clearly and To enioy Tully everyThing ThaT wenT on abouT Them. There were more clubs, more plays, The Black Flamingo and anoTher opereTTa, lolanThe To gladden The hearTs -oT every Junior. Qnly one Thing saddened everyone. The TooTball Team ThaT had been Trying hard Tor Three years Tor a vicTory had yeT To gain one. Then, on a snow- covered Tield, beTore scarcely sevenTy-Tive hoarsely cheering specTaTors, CapTain Sammy Levine TighT-roped down The side lines Tor sixTy yards, and Punchy Pollack bumped Three men oTT his shoulder To breeze along Tor TorTy yards, To give The Blue and WhiTe Torces a I2-O upseT over The boys Trom Commerce. To prove This vicTory no chance accidenT, a week laTer, Seward gained iTs second successive vicTory over Morris I9-O, To elecTriTy a madly cheering crowd oT 2,500. IT This were noT enough, during The second halT oT The Junior year, Seward gained so many honors, ThaT -ThaT year will remain alive in The memory oT every Blue and WhiTe supoorTer. The World and The Folio won TirsT place honors in The Columbia ScholasTic Press AssociaTion conTesTs. Led by CapTain Jack Banks, The Blue and WhiTe guinTeT won The lvlanhaTTan BaskeTball Championship under The TuTelage oT Coach MonTy Banks who himselT had capTained a Seward Five To This TiTle eighT years previously. A sTudenT-TaculTy ping-pong maTch was sTaged wiTh The sTudenTs eking ouT a 4-3 vicTory. To make The overTlowing cup become a waTerTall, The largesT boaT ride in Seward hisTory wiTh 4600 aTTending was held. Then aT The senior TaculTy baseball maTch, The TaculTy knocked The wind ouT oT senior sails wiTh a Thrilling 8-7 vicTory. The man in whom Seward placed iTs hope Tor The, successTul eleven The Tol- iowing Tall, iTs new TooTball coach, David Hussack, led The aTTack wiTh a home run and a double. A Tired sun-burned' mob oT sTudenTs graTeTully leTT The Hendrick Hudson as The sun hung low over lower New York Bay. ln SepTember I934, The whole sTudenT body congregaTed ouTside The school To begin The Tall Term. However, insTead oT bouyanT spiriTs, horseplay and all oTher Torms oT exuberance presenT on such occasions guieT and Taces greeTed The eye. Young Coach Hussack oT whom so much had been expecTed in Turning ouT a high- calibre TooTball Team, died early in The summer, drowning aTTer having saved Two boys, a hero To The end. Page Fourfeehn