Waltham High School - Mirror Yearbook (Waltham, MA)

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10+ THE MIRROR . trance of our country into the war. No one had doubted that this time must come event- ually and most of us were glad that at last we could put aside poor excuses and be proud again of our nationality. Several of the boys in our class immediately went into the naval reserve, and others signed up for farm work. The lllemorial Day exercises this year were the most impressive and solemn in our mem- ory, for with the Grand Army veterans were our own boys in the uniforms of the army and navy. llloreover, the first lValtham High boy to lose his life in the war, Earle lVhittemore, one of our classmates, had died the day before at Commonwealth Pier. Grim war became more of a reality to us than ever before, and we realized, perhaps for the hrst time, that it meant more than just waving flags and wearing becoming uniforms. About this time llfliss Hall made cheery be- ginnings for the day by bringing Howers to school. One day she brought yellow roses which she distributed with great partiality to those who claimed an uncorrufptible faith in woman suffrage. Another day we girls were each given daisies, with orders to decorate boy's buttonhole as he came through the door. boys Strange how popular some of those proved to be. Some were almost fought over, and some haughtily declined the flowers on the ground that they contained numerous black bugs. Sometime before, each of the in- mates of Room 17 had brought ten cents, and now we joyfully watched the pretty pansies grow, and weeded them industriously-wheth- er they needed it or not. ' Soon it was June again, and to our surprise we found that we had survived the strain of upholding sophomore traditions and at last were Juniors. Early in the fall our class held its first meet- ing of the year and re-elected its president of the preceding year, but decided to conform to custom and elect a girl, Helen Smith, as vice- Football went from bad to worse president. this year. lllr. Fradd was coaching at Brook- after a season of crushing defeats, line, but the team pulled itself together for the annual game with Newton and played so hard and so like a lValtham team of old that Newton was stunned, and recovered only enough to win by one touchdown and a goal, in the last few min- utes of play, instead of piling up the one-sided score that they had planned. The year of 1917 was a busy one for the school. Besides the regular work, a Junior Red Cross was organized, and knitting-needles, which turned out splendid socks and sweaters were plied as industriously as the pens which turned out themes for Mr. Ward. The boys responded with true Americanism to the Y. haf. C. A. and Red Cross drives. One day many high school girls appeared in Red Cross caps and sold tags on windy street corners until they had filled their cardboard boxes and con- tracted severe colds. Other girls made count- less surgical dressings. The Senior Class sug- gested a school service flag, and the committee found the other three classes of the school as pleased with the idea as if they had thought of it themselves, and as glad to help. The result is a service flag of which we can be justly proud. A few of the older pupils turned four- minute speakers and did credit to their train- ing in Junior declamation. lllr. Boyd's annual entertainment took the form of a 'fSmileage Carnival, at Nutting's. Every one lived up to the name, and the pro- ceeds bought Smileage books for NValtham boys who were at Camp Devens. The next important event that broke the monotony of knitting and studying was the Junior Prom. The Senior girls, after a pro- tracted and very warm discussion, had decid- ed to wear middy blouses at graduation. The Junior girls, not to be outdone, urged plain simple dresses for the prom. For some rea- son, instead of our vice-president, our worthy president himself conducted the meeting in which this decision was reached, and was quite bewildered with the intricacies of femin- ine dress The prom was very successful, and the Juniors were duly thankful. Early in June the VVar Chest was erected on the Common and one day, on the stroke of twelve, all the school children in the city marched p3St the chest and dropped in a coin. lt was an unusual sight to see so many, many pupils, from wee kindergartners to tall and lanky seniors, assembled. To an onlooker it must have recalled the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. This was in the days before drill in the High School, and several boys who act- ed as marshals showed unsuspected military abilities. The Prom. was the last social event of the year and soon the last week of school had ar- rived. All the High School remembers the farewell fling of certain nameless members, of last year's graduating class. Three of the larg-

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THE MIRROR 103 HISTORY QF THE CLASS OF 1919 HANNAH ELIZABETH WEBSTER Four years ago saw the beginning of two momentous events-the great war was one, the class of 1919 was the other. Now both are almost at an end. The peace terms will soon be signed and in a few weeks our class will be graduated and demobilized. On a hot, cloudy morn-ing in early Septem- ber, almost four years ago, two hundred timid and somewhat nervous young children gath- ered on the steps of the old high school that had seen so many entering classes embark on their high school careers. The class of 1919 began its career more abruptly than former classes, since there was no real graduation for us at Asbury Temple, such as other classes be- fore us had always had, to help them to realize that they were at last through with grammar school and childish things. When the bell rang imperatively through the corridors we little children followed our elders to the assembly hall where the fortunate ones sank gratefully into seats and oblivion, while those who could not find seats stood, painfully conspicuous, along the sides of the hall. In due course of time the children were assigned to divisions and home-rooms, and at once proceeded to get acquainted with fellow freshmen and with the teachers. Some, indeed, became acquainted with their teachers even more rapidly than with their classmates, since they had to spend extra time with the teachers after school. The foot- ball games, with the freshmen cheering in true freshmen style and vigor, and the secret admir- ation of the popular football captain and his equally popular team, are the clearest recollec- tions ofthe freshman year. Who has forgotten the post-season game with Everett at Fenway Park, when we were so proud of our team that there was no sting in our 6-0 defeat? There were no freshman socials to brighten our gloomy days of study, but on the other hand, there were no class officials to harangue us for our possible lack of class spirit. In the spring the school turned out to Mr. Boyd's vaudeville given in behalf of The Mirror. All the boys particularly admired the remarkable female Caruso imported for the occasion, but after her last solo, Mamselle. Caruso took off her Wig, and lo, she was a boy! Not long after this ,Iune came, and without visible regret the freshmen left their freshmanship forever-if the teachers were sufficiently kind. Our sophomore year began during an epi- demic of infantile paralysis, and Room 16 was turned into a sort of quarantine where many a pupil spent a pleasant morning doing nothing but wait for the doctor to come and assure him that no germs lurked unawares. This year football was not as successful as usual. Many of our stars had gone out of our horizon entirely, and Mr. Dame had for- saken us the preceding spring, and departed to Lynn. In spite of the best efforts of Mr. Fradd, who proved to be the most popular member of the school while he was with us, we lost nearly as many games as we won. There was no mention of a post-season game, and we were almost convinced that our football career had reached the lamentable point where unfeeling people would speak of us as has-beensf' This year our class was formally organized, with the capable assistance of Mr. Burke. To establish a reputation for originality, and be- cause a little of freshman childishness still re- mained, the class broke all precedent and elect- ed a boy for vice-president instead of the cus- tomary girl. Herbert Starr was made our president and proved a wise choice. VVe were permitted one social this year, and the night our committee chose for the event was quite the stormiest one of the winter. Poor Miss Hall courageously started for the school, only to be disappointed, for her car was stalled in the snow, and after waiting half-an-hour for it to start again, she gave up and went home. lVIany others werefequally disappointed, but once at the school, the weather was forgotten. According to custom, the boys sat bashfully and firmly on one side of the hall while the girls sat hopefully and encouragingly on the other. But after the grand march and a stir- ring game of black and white the two sides became quite thoroughly mixed. At ten o'clock we were shooed out into the cold, cruel storm toward home. , VVith the coming of spring came the en-

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M. ,, N sv? 1 IJ 'W-few V , -,,.,,,. . ,. . ,, Z, his Q55 l gg? . g 0 . 1 f SENIOR CLASS PLAY Reed, Jessie encer, SP hel Et Estes, rd ffo ert Starr, Isabel Fulton, Cli erb H Hin, ivian , V rkin La unn, Edward D ncis fa ood, F YW yA CDI' hiting, H W 3.113 D ci. Ernest Gri