Soldan High School - Scrip Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Edward Everett lived during a period of extreme restlessness, per- haps the most stirring and important of American historyg at a time when civil strife was almost inevitable owing to the sectional differences between the North and the South, at a time when the national principles were confused and contradictory. Everett started his career as a college professor and the esteemed editor of the North American Review. He managed this with the same wisdom and grace as Sidney Smith did the Edinburg Review in its eary days. However, in 1825, Everett gave over his editorship to occupy a seat in Congress. Here he strove for ten years with untiring diligence to bring about many new measures that were so badly needed for the good of the country. Some of the most important of those measures which gained his hearty and efficient support were the establishment of the board of education, the establishment of the scientific surveys of the state, the criminal law commission, and the advocation of a sound cur- rency. All the ofhces which Everett held he filled with distinction. But it is because of his sublime gift of oratory that we remember him. His natural gift of expression, his careful discretion in the selection of words gained him great admiration and vast influence in the minds and hearts of his hearers. His speech was that of great eloquence, force, and rea- son. He was broad and unbiased in his utterances, possessing that pow- er of soothing and quieting the feelings of the populace during that period of turmoil and distress. -Kenneth H. Bitting. Samuel Finley Breese Morse 2 ,Q It is no exaggeration to state that Samuel F. B. Morse was the greatest inventor before Edison. His inventions annihilate time and space, and accomplish things which be- fore existed only in the mind of a jules Verne or an H. G. Wells. They have made possible great economic progress. Notwithstanding their importance Morse received from these inventions, which could have been made to yield a fortune, only a tithe of their worth. Morse was not only an inventor and a man of science, he was also an artist, and a lover of beauty in all forms. At one time he was con- sidered the greatest American artist, and was called upon to make por- traits of famous men then living. Morse's father was a congregational clergyman, a very wide-awake and sensible person. His mother came of a good family and was well educated. With parents such as these, it was but natural that young Morse should receive a good start in life. He was sent to school at And- over, and later to Yale College. There he proved a good pupil, especi- ally in chemistry. The experiments in that study interested him greatly, and were useful to him in later life. He was also fond of drawing and painting and in fact became so skillful that he paid part of his college ex- penses by painting portraits. -Leslie Tacke. izs

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Woodrow Wilson .9 Q How could the man who sounded the trum- pet of freedom have been nominated for the high office of governor of New jersey at the dictation of the champion state boss and his retainers? It is the general impression that the machine politicians discovered him, but investigation has proved that it was through his published works and public oflices that he revealed his capacity for a career of statesmanship. It was really the best people in America who discovered Woodrow Wilson although the Democratic machine men brought him forward be- lieving that they had in their midst a theorist of statesman-like ideals, who, when transplanted to the field of practical politics, would prove himself a politician in swaddling clothes, honest, easily blindfolded. tame, manageable and perfectly harmless in all the word harmless means as interpreted by the state bosses. But in his speech of acceptance of his nomination he said, I did not seek this nomination, I have made no pledge and have given no promises. If elected, I am left absolutely free to serve you with all singleness of purpose. WDelphine Nichols. Ulysses S. Grant 2 0 I propose to light it out on this line if it takes all summer. These words wired to Washington on his famous last campaign are the keynote to Grant's success. They show the iron determination of will which characterized Grant at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Cold Harbor, and other famous battles. They show his policy first and foremost is concentration. During his last campaign, Grant undoubtedly lost more men in all of his battles than the Confederacy. The people of the North were shocked at the appalling loss of life at Cold Harbor, but they did not know war, and this method of lighting was contrary to all their conceptions as to how a campaign should be managed. Coupled with the inefficient food supply, this constant ham- mering began to tell on the Confederacy and culminated in the surrend- er at Appomattox. That he was relentless in the execution of his purpose was also shown in his campaign against Vicksburg, an almost impenetrable fortress which controlled the Mississippi. Impossible, foolishness, sui- cide, and other epithets were applied when Grant first broached the sub- ject of this campaign. But overcoming these obstacles, he carried out the campaign in twenty days, twenty days of fighting in which the gen- eralship was perfect, twenty days of one of the greatest campaigns the world has ever seen. -Carl Betglund, 8. Edward Everett ,Q 2 A man of unbounded culture, undisputed scholarship, and devoted statesmanship, combined with a wondrous gift of expression, cannot be set aside without some appreciation of his im- portance and accomplishments to the youths of this generation. 128

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5' .19 ,.,-gg - 1: .fel -E Q-'zrg '3f !-- . -qiz. . -i 'f'--1' bfi if - Q, 1Aiir 5f joaquin Miller .9 Q A tall, straight, white-haired man, clad in high leather boots, soft shirt and corduroy trousers, stands in the door of a little cabin, looking down over the sun-lit iields of California. He is Joaquin Miller, the poet, the man of dreams. Born in a rambling prairie wagon in Indiana, he grew up among the wild scenes and adventures of the forty-niners, himself a western pioneer by choice. Many were the occupations Mr. Miller successfully triedg a teacher in the mining camps, a judge of the superior court in Oregon, a farmer, a miner, a journalist, a war correspondent, an editor, and greatest of all, a superb pOCt. The Civil War greatly aroused him. He wrote stirring articles against it as being inimical to the genius of democracy and the religion of Christ. Charged with disloyalty, he decided to go abroad. In London Mr. Miller published his Songs of the Sierras , and at once rose to fame. Coming back to California, he settled on The Heights, overlook- ing San Francisco and the Golden Gate . The place was peculiarly adapted to his nature. He desired peace and quiet, a beautiful spot in which to work and dream, to study out an ideal manner of living. Far above civilization, he was free to plant his gardens, to build his mounds and pyres, and to live close to nature, and above all, to write his im- mortal poems. -Flora Gunnerson. james McNeill Whistler ,Q 9 Whistler's art was different from the style of other artists. He was first influenced by the Japanese. He recognized the fine qualities of the japanese line and color and quickly absorbed these qualities. For the simple reason that Whistler's art was different, his work was not allowed to be shown in art exhibits. Now those same countries which once refused his work are claiming him as their own. It took years for the public to appreciate him but for that very reason his work will last while popular artists of to-day will not be known to posterity. -Charles Gray. Cyrus McCormick 5 5 McCormick determined to work out a reap- ing machine on an entirely new principle from one previously attempted by his father, who tried to dissuade him, but this only aroused him to greater efforts. He had the benef-it of all his father's mistakes, successes and experiences. He built the machine with his own hands in the black- smith shop on the farm, and after a thorough test it proved to be the First practical reaping machine ever constructed. It was tested in July, 1831, in the presence of his neighbors, who all agreed that the great reaping machine problem had been solved. In 1834 McCormick patented the first successful reaping machine, and with the assistance of his brothers began to build the machines for sale. -Ralph Burns. iso