Waukegan High School - Annual W Yearbook (Waukegan, IL)

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Long, long be our hearts with such memories filled, Like the vase, in which roses have once been distilled, You may break, you may shatter the vase if you Will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still? E. Marie Carlson .50

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scattered between. Eighteen and a half pairs of eyes are blue, nine and a half pairs are brown, and eight pairs are gray. lVe are as a rule a class of very young people, the oldest being nine- teen and the youngest fifteen. The average age is seventeen and a half. IVe are a cosmopolitan class. About twenty-live of our class were born in Illinois. Others were born in Iowa, lVisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas, Canada, Sweden and British Guiana, South America. It is quite interesting to note some of the slang phrases. Four use, For Johnls sake 5 two, For Pete's sake? Others say, Bah Jove, it's a cinch, Hah! Hah! Oh Louie, My stars, Bless my soul, Depends upon how the wind blows, Mamma, pass the prunes, Heavens to Betsy, etc., etc. In attempting to show the general characteristics of the class, I decided this could be best done by the reading of the zo- diac. We are clear reasoners on subjects of a materialistic char- acter, capable of acquiring a iineteducation. Our minds are mainly engrossed in the useful. NVe are faithful, earnest, and proficient in whatever we undertake. VVe are already known as agreeable companions, good natured, happy, dignified and sensi- tive. Very determined, stubborn and natural conquerors. We also love literary pursuits and are inclined to be studious. Great adaptability, splendid memory, great physical and mental en- durance characterizes us. Ask the teachers for their testimony in regard to these virtues. Now for a few-we have only a few faults. 'We are jealous, being too easily influenced by members of the opposite sex. IVe have too great pride of personal and general appearance. lVe also have too great deference to public opinion. But with all our virtues and all our faults we love each other still. YV e believe that further chronicles will be written in later days of the deeds and achievements of our individual mem- bers. VVe believe that as the years roll by, the great statistic- ian-Time will record many substantial successes and many happy experiences for the members of the Class of 1906. But that other statician-Memory also will paint our years of asso- ciation here in the VVaukegan High School in bright and beauti- ful colors, for these have been joyous, precious years and the recollection of them will mean much to us, as we meet new friends and form new relations in life. 26

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Democracy and Education HE most striking and impressive of all movements of the century is the political development of that form of gov- ernment known as democracy. When the 19th century opened the theory that the government could be carried on by the collective mediocrity instead of the ruling few, was the laughing stock of Europe. The United States, hardly risen from the cradle, was regarded with a curiosity, partly amused, partly disdainful. How different a spectacle is presented when the 20th cen- tury opens! The United States has disappointed every foe and falsified th'e prediction of every critic. The governmental frame- work, constructed by the fathers for less than 400,000 people, has easily expanded to meet the needs of a mighty country twenty times as great. It has withstood the shock of the greatest civil war of all times, fought by men of high intelligence and firm con- victions. It has permitted the development and expansion of a government in which there is equality of opportunity for all, and where the highest honors have been thrust upon the plain people. Europe does not laugh now. lVhen Uncle Sam says that a certain speciiied thing must be done in a certain specified way, the other nations remember t.hat it is time that it was done that way. lVhy? It is because they think that the power is in the hands of the people. Because of this power, it is only natural that we should ask: 'fVVhither are we tending and what will be our ruin? Some think that our desire to keep peace in the world will be our ruin. Others talk about the yellow peril or the danger of expansion. Never. VVe could whip all the rest of the world, if we had to. The peril, however, that is facing the United States today is the ignorant voter and in connection with him the politicians, political bosses, graft and corruption of which the ignorant voter is the cause. The ruin of all democracies in the past has come within the democracy itself 5 and the United States does not seem destined to escape the common fate. The only hope which we have lies in the universal education of the people. Educate the people so that they all know what they are voting for, and 28