Walnut High School - Walnut Tree Yearbook (Walnut, IL)

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CLASS (With apologies to Longfellow) Have the dignitaries faltered? Have the wise men ceased to flourish ? So they say—but listen, people, Listen to my lamentations. To my tale of toil and hardship. For upon the road of knowledge Rough and harsh, and filled with anguish. We have faltered, we have staggered Leaving in our wake, dark footprints, Gory footprints, which to follow Is a task so great, so awful, That no one will dare to venture After us. to tread the pathways We have left. And now, oh people, Listen to my words of wisdom ; Listen to the way we did it. Long ago in twenty-seven, We so green, so young, so timid Grovelled on the path to knowledge, Quivered, shook, in palpitation When we heard the stately footsteps Of that dignitary noble Mr. Melton, stern and earnest. Trembled when we heard the jingle tvi the keys she carried with her Mrs. Glassburn, Latin teacher, Looked in awesome, diresome wonder At Miss White, our class advisor. And we took examinations But they left us maimed and crippled, For the things that we'd forgotten Were the things the teachers asked us. And alas! Too bad! We flunked them! Flunked them flatter than a raindrop, Flatter than a sheet of paper. Springtime came with all its madness All its calf’s eyes, and its lectures Taken duly at assemblies; When the firm, unsmiling visage Of our chief priest stood before us, Spoke to us in words of thunder, Chided us for making calf’s eyes. HISTORY Then came fall. Another school year. Saw our number slowly dwindling And we played the game of football Not alone upon the gridiron, But within the stuffy classroom, Were applied its rules and teachings And we hit the line before us, Faltering not, but pressing onward, Conquered all the petty forces All the foes we found before us. So we went the rounds of school life. I’lays and clubs, and operettas Claimed our stars; the glorious zenith They have reached; but on their faces Looks of anguish tell companions That they soon will tread the pathway Which all Seniors tread and like not. For it is the shaded pathway Of the soon forgotten Seniors. High school days are left behind us, Lays of joy, and fun and friendship. Days of toil, and tears and heartaches All are ended; all are over. Now we stand upon the threshhold Of a dim uncertain future And we know not what it harbors hat it holds for each among us. So we go, forever looking Forward, into mists of fancy In the dim uncertain future. Wondering if we’ll lose or conquer, When into the world we travel. V hen the dye is cast before us, Will we stand or will we falter, ill we make our lives successful So that others coming after May take us for an example For a living, breathing pattern? So we stand, afraid, uncertain Looking forward, yet still backward Hoping, fearing, dreaming, dreading For the future yet before us. For the past that’s gone forever. —A. M. Gramer, W. H. S.. ’31. Page ten 19 3 1