Waltham High School - Mirror Yearbook (Waltham, MA)

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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

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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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106 THE MIRROR est boys reverted to former days and appeared in Buster Brown collars and flowing ties. The two biggest wheeled the third member of the trio down lVIoody street to the school, in a baby's perambulator. How sweetly innocent and infantile the youngest of the trio seemed, with his bouquet of flowers for teacher, and his little sailor hat! Then Roland Lenaerts drove his wonderful jitney to school for the last time, and we put away our books for the sum- mer. Vacation went only too swiftly, and we met on the steps of the High School last September with the dignity of staid and serious seniors. XVith the ease of fixed habit we settled down to our last year of High School with no loss of time, determined to make the most of what remained of our school life. Qurlpresident and vice-president were re-elected and the other of- ficers chosen in true parliamentary fashion. The class games furnished the only football for us this year, but for the first time in its history, 1919's team won the championship of the school. lVIaybe it was the waving feather in lXfIr. Lindberg's hat that changed our luck! lklilitary drill took the place of gym work this year and under the guidance of lwr. Goodrich the boys were initiated into the mys- teries of corporals and top-sergeants, squads and companies, setting up drill and signaling, commonly and aptly called wig-wagging. The drill is a very good thing, in its way, but it is to be hoped that next year Waltham will have a football team that will not rival an onion as a tear producer, when it really should be a reason and an excuse for cheers and un- musical school songs. November 11 was the most remarkable day of our whole school career. For once, calm, composed, conservative VValtham was fairly wild with joy. No Fourth of July was ever like Armistice Day. Informal parades roamed the streets from early morning till late even- ing, with all kinds of noise-producing instru- ments, from the dishpan borrowed by little son without mother,s permission to the musical claxon of the big automobile. Boys started to school and ended by joining someone's parade: while the faithful few who actually went to school were amply rewarded by being dis- missed almost at once. In the evening the whole town united in a single tremendous line of march, and the High School was one of the units. It was a day of proud rejoicing after a year and a half of fearful war. The Senior Dance, just after the Armistice, was a brilliant affair and for the first. time in nearly two years the High School girls ap- peared in nne feathers and glad raiment. Much of the success of our socials has depended on 'our hard working committees and we appre- ciate our good fortune inhaving such efficient chairmen. Un the day of our return from the Christ- mas vacation, the whole class was shocked and grieved to learn that one classmate would nev- er return with us again. Elsie Frye, probably one of the most talented girls of the school, loved and respected by teachers and scholars alike, had gone on. Editor of the Mirror, she had just completed the first issue, the only one which came out under her direction. Not until she had gone did we realize what it meant to see empty the place of one who rare- ly was absent from school even for a day. It was for ourselves, and not for her, that we grieved, for we knew that she had gone with no fear in her heart. In February lXfIr. Boyd gave his annual en- tertainment, this year a home-coming recep- tion to the boys of VValtham,High who have returned from the Great Adventure. The one act play, given by lNIiss Caldwell and Mr. Dwinell, was a horrible and discouraging warning of the possible Hooverism in store for us in the future. A short time ago the Senior class held a so- cial, a character party. By some unknown pro- cess, even the boys were persuaded to dress upl' this time, and the social was a credit to the class. Unly one lamentable accident marred the evening, lXfIr. Burke appeared with band- aged throat and hands the next Monday, be- cause the flash-light powder, with which he was about to take a picture of the party, had exploded. The Senior Play Committee had decided on Charlie's Aunt as 1919's contribution to Waltliam High's reputation for really good plays. The cast was chosen and ' splendidly coached by Miss Tibbets. Mr. Larkin ap- peared in a totally new but captivating role. He was Charlie's aunt from Brazil, where the nuts come from, you know -until the real aunt appeared. A better cast couldn't have been found, and the play did justice to the coach, to the class and to the school. ' Now we have nearly reached the last of our schooldays. We have only a few more les- sons in Virgil and only a few more halting