Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 1904. 13 they rose as with one impulse and delivered a broadside of very hard green apples, collected for such an emergency. Their well directed aim resulted in several resounding smacks on the young man’s frame, and they returned to their talk well repaid for their exertion by the thought that they had made a fellow-mortal uncomfortable. When the bell rang and they took their places for devotional exercises they were astonished to see the young man on the platform, and the prayer he made for the forgiveness of sins was so personal that the several boys felt ready to sink through the floor. This lesson had a very lasting effect on some of the members and has resulted in a tendency to caution under such circum- stances even to this day. The Sophomore year was unimportant from the fact that the members of the class were rather weighed down by a sense of their importance as full-fledged H. S. students, with Freshmen under them to bully and Seniors to emulate. But when they returned to school after the second vacation as Juniors th6y awakened to the fact that they ought to be con- trolling affairs in the H. S. They organized a debating club and made the walls ring with their eloquence. A gymnasium was next on the list of diversions and was a decided success until the officers were seized with a sordid greed for gain and embezzled the funds, thus destroying the financial standing of the organization. The class, as is the custom, gave a reception for the de- parting Seniors of last year, but they showed their originality and defiance of precedence by giving a dance for those who were sufficiently acquainted with the ways of the world to par- ticipate in such entertainment, while the uninitiated were re- galed with frappe and wafers. When the class returned to school after the summer vaca- tion they were forced to bid farewell to the scene of their early triumphs and temptations, their early joys and sorrows. The building where they had fought their way to the dignity of Seniors was to be torn down and the second story of a store building was exchanged for the pleasant High School room. But this was not the worst. When they returned from the vacation, with the honor of Senior upon their shoulders, they had to suffer the mortification of seeing the little Freshies admitted to the sacred halls of the High School. For the first time in the history of the school the Seniors were compelled to endure the ignominy of associating with boys in knee trousers, hardly old enough to be out alone after four o’clock. Their future quarters were to be an old and dilapidated dance hall down town, which could only be entered by pass- ing through a labyrinth of dark hallways that would baffle even a Senior if he tried to find his way out after night. Amid all these discouragements the present class have been foremost in maintaining the dignity of their Alma Mater and are acknowledged by their associates to be the tallest, best looking, most versatile class in the school. They have furnished the largest quota of football players for the athlet- ics, and the most numerous complement of musicians for the High School choir. Their class pins were the most chaste and unique of any that have ever adorned the breast of an upper classman. We might also mention that they cost the most. Let us hope that in the future as in the past the class of 1904 may be first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of its countrymen.

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12 HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 1904. CLASS HISTORY. I T WAS a motley array of manners and intellect that presented itself before the south door of the old High School four years ago and was allotted the seats in the rooms assigned the Freshmen. It is not a particularly distin- guished class in appearance, yet what an abundance of en- thusiasm and ambition gleamed from those sixty odd pair of eyes. But what has become of that great throng? Alas! only a meagre dozen remain to tell the tale of the difficult march over the shoals and pit-falls of H. S. life. There is nothing in this world that insures success so much as self-confidence and industry. In this the masculine element in the class showed itself to be pre-eminent by brav- ing the trials and labors of the Latin course. Well have they been repaid for their self-sacrifice by being initiated in- to the mysteries of tineas ’ wanderings through the lower world. And, warned by Dido’s sad fate, we trust that not one of the Latin Quartette will ever be the cause of any maiden’s wandering along the wild sea shore with a willow wand to waft her lover back over the sea. No. Strange to say the heart smashers are all in the English or the German course. The life of the Freshman is not all peaches and cream. Even on the first day of his arrival some of his high ideals were shattered and his sense of importance suffered a sad eclipse by the severe administering of the initiation exercises, when the time honored barrel-stave in the hands of a sturdy upper-class man furnished amusement for all except the luck- less urchins who were being initiated. Although the young ladies of the class were exempt from the indignity, they were made to feel their utter insignificance in numerous other ways. Well, let it suffice to say that they bore it with true Stoical philosophy and resolved to even up in the future. The Freshman mind is not a well of truth and depth, but runs chiefly to fun and mischief. Although this particular class gave promise of producing some strong and original intellects, too much could not be expected of them at this time. One little incident will serve to illustrate this. A some- what corpulent young man was one day spied by the congre- gation of Freshmen, who, on the school-house lawn, were dis- cussing with equal enthusiasm such topics as Talmage’s ser- mons and the Corbett-Fitz bout. The subdued and pensive air of the man in question attracted the attention of the group and just as his broad back was disappearing in the doorway

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14 HIGH SENIOR-SOPHOMORE PROGRAM, Tin ESDAV, DKC. 4, 1903-Cbiu tm i. P»oc.h m. 1. Song— Leigh Lawrence Rudolph Bartholomew Genevieve Baum Jennie Dalrymple 2. Debate— - V. H. S. Octette Rebecca Bartholomew Grace Salyer Arthur Hall Ray Lawrence Senior Class Resolved, that the labor unions are more detrimen- tal than beneficial to the laboring man. Affirmative. Negative. Gordon Norris Auretta Agnew Rudolph Bartholomew Ross Brown Lucy Ray George Stanton Judges: Prof. Hugart, Mr. Skinkle and Mr. Miller. 3. Solo— ----- Genevieve Baum 4. Recitation — ... - Bertha Tofte 5. Cornet Solo — - Marine 6. Decision of the Judges — - Prof. Hughart 7. Piano Solo— Mabel Ray 8. Debate— - - Members of the Sophomore Class Resolved, that love originates in the heart and not in the soul. Affirmative. Negative. Mr. Snooks Mr. Squirrel Mr. Gooseberry On both sides. Mr. Clutterchump 9. Piano Solo— Myra Thomas 10. High School Notes — - 11. Solo— - - - - Jennie Dalrymple 12. Recitation — .... Adah Maxwell 13. Piano Solo— - - - - Genevieve Baum ANNUAL 1904. CURRENT EVENT Cl.TTI. On Monday, November 9, 1903, the members of the Soph- omore class met to discuss the project of organizing a High School Literary Society. , ,. A few days previous to this Miss MacQuilkin had dis- tributed in the English class, some papers called the “Little Chronicle.” This paper, so it was discovered, might be ob- tained much cheaper if we subscribed for it as a club, so the subject naturally arose of forming one. . , We were not sure of just what nature it should be, but after much deliberation it was decided that we should discuss current events and the present day literature at every meet- ing. Our work had not yet been outlined, but with this ob- ject in view we called a meeting of the class, and finding all in favor of it we organized and at the same meeting elected officers as follows: Neil Arvin, president; Eugene Eaton, vice president; Verna Duggan, secretary; Adah Maxwell, treasurer. , , At the next meeting we decided that we should be known as the “Current Event Club.” The meetings were now held every two weeks and every other one was a business meeting. Before long it seemed necessary to draw up a constitution. This was done by a committee and, with a few changes, was accepted. , , , At the program meetings there is the usual business, re- ports on new books, international and local current events, music and occasionally a report on the life of some person who is before the public at present. We have had one debate which was quite a credit to the club. The question was: “Resolved, that German is more beneficial than Latin.” Those on the affimative were: Adah Maxwell, Eugene Eaton and Neil Arvin; negative: Jennie Dalrymple, Ethel Burkhart and Harry Doege. The arguments on both sides were excel- lent, but the judges decided in favor of the affirmative. The membership when the the club was organized was about twenty-five and now has increased to thirty-four. ' The Current Event Club is not a temporary affair, but we hope to have established one which will stay with the High School. We are encouraged by the faculty, who urge us to continue the work which we have so earnestly begun. A MEMBER.