Spring Valley High School - Purple and Gold Yearbook (Spring Valley, WI)

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Q PURPLE AND GOLD 1913 Chapter One THE LITERARY IOCIETY 'l'ln- litvrary sovivty ol' tha- Spring Yallt-y Iligh Sc-hool was or- ganim-xl in 11101 hy thc- ms-mln-rs ot' thc- high ss-hool, and has he-4-n in vx- istvnc-0 4-vt-r since- that timv. ,Xn an-1-onnt ol' it has ln-1-n givvn by thc- first l'rt-sich-nt, as follows: f ln tht- wintl-r of 1901 wt- organizs-rl a litvrary som-it-ty antl I was 1-lt-4-tt-rl l'r1-simlvnt. As far as l know, that was thc- first litl-rary soc-is-ty in tln- Spring Valle-y Sc-hools. 'l'ln- funny thing l rc-ml-lnlx-r about it happt-nm-sl at the- first mvt-ting. living 4-ntirc-ly in ignorant-0 of parliame-ntary law. I 4-alle-tl for a volt- on a qnvstion anml l saitl. All in favor signify by standing np: all opposml signify by sitting clown. lt brought mlown thx- honsv, ancl math- ml- ls-1-l likt- fill cc-nts. Our mm-1-tings consists-ml ol' short mlm-hats-s mostly, with thru- on a simlc-. Wm- varn-ll this on-1-asionally with papers on intl-rl-sting snhjects. rt-c-itations antl mnsir-al programs. I ln-lievc wc mot onc-0 a we-uk, ancl always in tln- 1-vt-ning. in what is now your gratis- school lxnilmling. We nswl kvrosvm- lamps for lights the-n. 'l'hc-n. alta-r tht- me-1-ting, I know what a grm-at timm- l always hail to get npr-onragc1-nongh to ask to set- ont- ot' tht- girls homo. Ilnt l firmly 114-lie-ve that this last stunt hronght as m'1ny ot' ns kills to thosm- nn-clings as all of' tho rc-st of tln- rm-asons 'itll to- gm-lln-r. Thu- sovim-ty was rm--organize-tl in 1910, :mtl a 4-orstitntion anml lay- laws wa-rv writtc-n np by a 4-ommittt-0 appointval for that pnrposm-. Aftt-r tln- first organization tht- parliamentary me-thoml was flroppvcl, anrl xlnring a few yt-ars thc- lmnsint-ss ol' the- soc-it-ty was 1-arrie-ml on hy two captains, UIIUSUII lay thx- st-hool. Now tln- pirlizlmi-ntary mx-thotl has again he-4-n atloptvcl anrl a pr:-simlc-nt, st-crm-tary anal treasure-r, choscn every half yt-ar, 1-arry on thc work. The print-ipal anal 11-ac-ln-rs he-lp, liowe-ver, in tht- matt:-r ot' re-he-arsals anrl programs. as statt-ml in artim-lc-s 12 and 13, as follows, l'lv4-ry nn-rnlwr ol' thx- soc-it-ly shall havm- the privilege- of 1-hoosing the-ir own sc-I4-4-tions, snhjc-rt to tht- approval ol' a nn-mln-r of tln- l.2lC'1llly.u llowc-vc-r, amcnflml-nts wt-rv t'ill'I'll'lI at ont- of the- last lll1'0llIlg'S, hy which tln- work is to hc- pnt almost 1-ntirt-ly into tht- hanmls ol' the stnrlc-nts, as will ln- sm-1-n in thc following 4-opy of the-m. 1. 'l'hat a program 1-ommittm-v of thrx-0 mm-mln-rs, holrling oflivc- for ont- sc-nwster, shall ln- appointe-fl hy the- l'r1-simla-nt, whose- tlnty it shall ln- to assign se- ll-ctions to thc- stnmlc-nts anal assign 1-ac-h stmlc-nt to an instructor who shall haw- 1-hargv of thc- gc-nm-ral stanrlarrl aml the rt-lu-arsal ol' the- sv- lvm-tionsf' -3. 'l'hat an oflic-4-r. to ln- known as t'ritic-, hx- e-loc-11-ml from

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l- Book III. School Life

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SPRING VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL 35 the two upper classes. to serve for one semester, and whose duty it shall be to review and criticise the selections delivered at each program. 3. That the student body shall hereby take over to themselves the active charge of this Literary society. subject only to the supervision of the principal and instructors in the matter or rehearsal of selections, and the general standard of work to be done: and that all financial action be audited by the l'rincipal. livery student of the high school is a member of the society. and is required to do a certain share of the work. The Freshmen requirement is three oral selections: the Sophomore, two orals and one original written essay: the Junior. two originals and one selection: and the Senior, one oral, one written and one debatef The latter have proved especially interesting since local questions have been chosen. lnstances of those of this year are: Vvhether it would be of advantage to the people of Spring Valley if the iron-ore furnace should start. Vvhether the new parcel post law, as established, is advantageous. Resolved. that in rebuilding the Nordrum bridge, the present location is most desirable and of most advantage to the community. Often times. instead of giving an oral. and occasionally instead of an essay. the student takes part in plays given at the regular meetings, in the annual mid-winter play. or in the oratorical and declainatory con- tests. The first one of the midewinter plays was given this year by seven students: it was entitled. More lllunders than Une. .Xu original play was given last Thanksgiving. and a Norwegian play. given by the members of the society who speak that language. was given that proved very interesting, not to speak of several others given previous to this time. The meetings are held on Friday evening of every fourth week. in the High School assembly hall, beginning at 8:l5 o'clock. This work has proved to be very entertaining and beneficial. both to the students and to the public. Through it the parents of the students learn something of their work and ability, and come into closer relations with the school, which is a desired thing, as shown by the social center work in operation all over the country. The students are enabled to speak more fully in public. which is one of the objects of the society, as stated in the preamble, YVhereas. it is necessary. in order to tit ourselves for the varied duties of life. to cultivate a correct mode of speaking and qualify ourselves by practice to express our opinion in public in a correct manner, therefore we do constitute ourselves the lligh School Literary Society. and have adopted for government the following constitution. By-l aws and Regulations. The students are becoming more interested in this work each year, and through their intense interest are influencing the interests of the public. l think in a few years this could very nicely he developed into a real social center, in which the people might take part and help carry it on as such. ltAf'lll'fl. U'ltltll'lN.