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

Page 33 text:

6',f1GT iQ-L -Q Qi T Our Surprise Parties 2 ,Q We are dragging our weary way to school. We are thinking of the never ending English, history, and mathematics. As we enter the door we hear an excited hum of voices. What is the matter? Then we see those green alchemists that turn our recitation minutes into a blissful resting period. One pupil, at least, breathed a sigh of relief when he thought of that English lesson he had not done. Why, he could not remember whether Tennyson had written The Lady of the Lake or whether Scott had composed The Lady of Sha1ott. As for the author of The Dream of Fair Womenn he was hopelessly at sea, although he had been dreaming about them for lo, these many years. And yet, do we get tired of our green light surprise parties? Never, if we are getting out of Lating but just let it be a study period, instead, and the temperature rises some twenty degrees with the vehement declarations of our opinions. Even then we ought not to kick. Don't we always say that resting is better for us than studying? And isn't the best place for a good rest cure the thirty-first row in the auditorium? There we are very seldom interrupted by the voice of the speaker. But alas! Nothing is ever perfect. If the schoo-l clock were only put up in front we would have the height of perfection. It would be so soothing to see our recitation min- utes going up in a green haze. -Robert Maupin. Louisa May Alcott 2 0 Over twenty-tive years have passed since the hour when the children heard the dread message, Louisa May Al- cott is dead. Thousands can recall the sorrow that Hlled their hearts and the tears that dimmed their eyes. There are those who remember the simple funeral in her father's rooms, the touching words read over her, and the quiet burial at Concord in the cemetery of Sleepy Hollow. She slept at the feet of those she loved the best, in the gracious company of the men and women who had been closest to her in her lifeg for spirit- ually Louisa Alcott never did die. Her presence had been too radiant to pass without leaving a stream of light behind her. She lives in her books, in the hearts of her readers, for Louisa M. Alcott wrote as did Shakespeare, for all generations and for all time. The element of immortal youth is mirrored in all her work and abounds throughout the story of her life. The crown of success, the height of her efforts was never so expressed in any of her appreciated works as in Little Women. -Mary Berkowitz. Henry George ,Q ,Q The name of Henry George, in the minds of most people, is synonymous with Progress and Poverty, his great book on political economy. Henry George knew poverty through bitter ex- perience, and he had often seen in sharp contrast the results of progress, the wealthy few who pass by the many poor without a thought. 131

Page 32 text:

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

Page 34 text:

'3f?gn p ff ' In his book, Henry George offers as the only remedy, We must make land common property. Should not the land, God's gift, be shared by all alike? Sometimes a man buys a piece of land, and some years later a big city grows up near his property, thus enormously increasing the value of the land without his turning a hand. Or perhaps some min- eral or oil may be found on the land, and he sells at an enormous profit. Should we call all this good luck and let one man become wealthy without rhyme or reason, merely because he had the money in the First place, to buy the land? Or should not the holder pay this extra growth of the value of the land, due either to society or nature, to the government, as the single tax , supplanting all other taxes? !Edna May Martin, 8. Mark Twain 5 ,Q Mark Twain's humor was as natural to him as breathing the air, or the beating of his heart, and this humor together with his attractive personality has given to him a place in the hearts of all the world. Surely then Missouri may justly claim to have given to the world Mark Twain. To prove the truth of this is the fact that let- ters, no matter how addressed, if only his name were on the envelope. were always promptly delivered. Mark Twain, United States was a common address, but Mark Twain, The World was just as frequently used. At one time when abroad he received a letter addressed, Mark Twain, God knows where. He replied, He did . Then again a letter was sent addressed Mark Twain, the Devil knows where , and when this letter reached him he answered HE did, too . Mark Twain once said, Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry , and he lived thus. Per- haps no man has ever before been so widely known and loved and so truly mourned by the entire world. We Missourians have mingled with our great love for Mark Twain a feeling of pride that ours was the state which gave him birth. -Hazel K. Farmer. Edison .0 .9 Whom might the world to-day proclaim the greatest American genius? A man who seems to us almost a magician: a man of mystery surely, but mystery that becomes at once practical. He grasps the reins of madly rushing waters and harnesses them to produce power that we may have light. The elusive waves of light and sound respond to his whim. He has friends in distant countries whose voices he wishes to hear: instantly, they are heard. His wonderful midnight brightness is the sun's greatest rival. In every walk of life, in every modern home, in countries far and wide, how many are the evidences of this genius at work. The world will have to travel fast if it would keep pace with the marvelous inventions of this man, Thomas Edison. -Pansy Avery. 132