Wellsboro Area High School - Nessmuk Yearbook (Wellsboro, PA)

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markets, in the complicated affairs of the present, that we no longer see the funda- mentals of life itself. We have skimmed over the surface of things, we have so much of the surface and so little of the elemental qualities of recreation, education and religion, while we apparently know more generally, we practice less essentially. We have so wrapped ourselves in physical values, in bodily pleasures, in material concepts that we have lost the inner meanings of life, the spiritual, the eternalg we judge everything by how big, how fast, or how much. A civilization on this basis cannot last, we must learn that life and culture may be beautiful in their simplicity. We take too much for granted, we have lost our ability to struggle, to strive, to apply. We have become so standardized that we submerge our individualities in the machine and in that limitation we have lost that pioneer spirit so needed now. The American today is like the Roman of yesterday, he has everything and yet has nothing. Yet I see hope in civilization. I see a million striving, conquering, exulting Americans, conquered but unconquered. And while civilization stays primarily the same, no matter how dark the day or perverse the circumstance, man struggles on to the betterment of the race. I see a future in which we, as a part of this great civil- ization, play a role, a very decisive one, and no matter how small we appear, we really do affect the world. We can: help share its burdens, we can struggle together to- wards its goalg we may explore within ourselves and progress inwardly to the center of truest ideals and values as well as outwardly. I see hope in a nation that reveres the beautiful, where science can create a telescope to look into infinity, I see hope through world peace, I see the youth of to-day, youth bubbling with vitality and courage . . . Yes, I do have faith. America ,land of joy and sorrow, resound to the call of freedom, exult to the joy of life, America,-surge on! HE ensuing editorial needs some apology. It is a hopeless, satirical, untruthful, conglomerate hodgepodge. It will probably jar on Miss Fischler's sense of har- mony. The only excuse for its existence is for the benefit of those students who never want to read anything but foolishness. Here is hoping they get what's coming to them. To others, proceeds at your own risk! O. L. S., '35. THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF AN EDITOR. UCH is said about the many trials and struggles of the teacher, etc. The teachers do have it hardest, true. May God bless 'em. 'Ihcn too, much '4Hot Air is expended by the student body as a whole on how they have to study at home each night for exams, etc., etc., etc. Well, amidst these numerous impreca- tions I feel entitled to inform the World of my own various worries, that is, if I can squeeze them all in. Hence some writings from my diary of the events of only one hectic day. Rouse myself at 8:00 fUp late the night before, of coursel, guld down break- fast and dash off to post office to mail letter to engraving company. Have to stand in customary line for stamps. Would they never hurry? Lovely day, Mr. Postmaster. Lovely, Mrs. Tweedlebottomln Oh--Postmaster!- -- and so on for some time. Would they never --I cough. One stamp, please. I puff up the hill, and stumble into school, throw my junk into locker and make a fifty yard dash for my room as the bell rings. Miss Fischler eyes me with her crit- ical stare as I land in my seat. Page Twenty

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N publishing this book we have tried to show the true objectives of our modern school life with its numerous activities, literature, art, and humor. This publication is not the product of any one individual but rather the re- flection of the entire school, depicted during its various phases, in which all of you have a part. THE, SENIOR FACES LIFE. HE Senior has now reached the culmination of a certain stage of development,- his youth: four years of work, struggle, and play. He is faced with that fascinating yet impenetrable mystery,-Life! What is he to make of himself? How is he going to get along with the other fellow? How readily is the individual going to adapt himself to the pace of civiliza- tion? These are a few of the questions the Senior is confronted with, a few of those which he will have to meet in the near future. The answer is left to the Senior himself, who now, provided with the tools, is theoretically prepared to face life. He has been coached in his economic and moral obligations to the world. He has been provided with the best in literature, science, and mathematics that education can offer him. Whether or not he is to overcome these innumerable problems depends on his ability to apply the knowledge he has acquired. Knowledge in itself is of little importance unless it benefits humanity as a whole. He is sure to meet these questions but will be solve them? The Senior must realize his position in life, that there lie before him wonderful experiences. Yet he who has sincerely tried to take advantage of his educational opportunity is prepared, for each day is a model of life itself. If he has met his problems squarely at school, he is just as apt to keep up to this standard when he goes to face the world. Let us face the world with the same vigor and buoyancy that most of us looked forward to our first day of school. We are but preparing for a much vaster education. 'Soon we shall again become studentsg let us apply our knowledge, let us conquer that which lies before us. O. L. S., '35. CIVILIZATION ADVANCES? MERICA,-surge on! You hum to the cadence of roaring machines, screaming rivets, throbbing dynamosg you speak with the voice of wireless, telephone, radio, you travel at the speed of the auto, the streamlined train, the airplane, you quiver to the pulsating rhythm of to-day. Civilization advancesg the old dies. America,-land where vast plains of prairie grass once waved, where only the trail of the Indian penetrated the solitude of the forest, where surging rivers roared unheeded through deep canyons,-you have built great towers of stone and steel,- you have laid broad highways of concreteg you have raised gigantic dams to calm the relentless rivers and make them yours. America,-you have changed from the age of the carriage to the automobile, from squalid slums, to model tenements, from the log school house of yesterday to the steel and concrete schools of to-day, a school beyond your fondest dreamsg from waltzing to jazz.--yet that is the tempo of to-day. Speed! Power! Progress! We are proud to live in an age of progress that destroys the past yet brings glory to the present. And yet in our mad rush of civilization, have we not overlooked the subtle reali- ties of life sincerely lived? We have become so engrossed in machines, in stock Page Nineteen

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Skip chapel to work on Nessmuk. Try to get poetry organized. Come of it well--we won't go into details. Have typing test first period. So nervous I can't do anything. Sure I fiunked it. Get excused from study hall to take snapshots. Butch would break camera, so we troop down town to have it fixed. He buys me some candy to bribe me to keep still. Seventy pieces of peppermint! QI hate the stuff, and of course he keeps won- dering why I don't eat more.l Sh! It's a secret! Snap buildings from different angles. No, we weren't crazy. Try to take picture of Glass Works but the watch- man thinks we are spies and chases us out of there. fWe didn't even want their telescope!!!J Back to school for five whole minutes of literature, all tired out. I think I am goin to catch--, cold. The bell rings. Down to cafeteria, for lunch. What! Spanish rice again? Force it down. Dash up to 213 to do some extra tpying. Too nervous! Why do I always hit the Q's for A's? Go to library to do part of home work. Pestered by Seniors handing in their baby pictures. Am expect- ed to exclaim with joy, Ain't they tweet! QThe homely mugs!J Bailey comes at one o'clock and takes pictures all afternoon. No one will stanrl still and everyone complains about something different. A Why aren't we having the pictures outside? I didn't even know we were having our pictures today! When's the Junior Prom going to be? Nerts! Why do we have a Nessmuk anyway? Gussie wants pictures taken inside. The editor says no. Who is the head of this, anyway? It looks as though they were going to fight it out. Pandemonium! In- surrection! Chaos! No one wears a coat who is supposed to. I am stripped of clothing to dress Rexford for Glee Club picture. More pictures! Four o'clock! Out at last! More baby photos. StaH' meeting in the ofiice. Customary row ensues. Adviser and editor end up in tense argument. Editor continues to tear hair, shout, and make a further fool of himself. Meeting over, I grab books, plunge down town, see printers, visit Bailey, go to library, and dash homes for supper which I eat as rapidly as possible. fDo you wonder Why I am so thin?J Go up to cheer at basketball game. I must show my school spirit. Be patriotic! Get a sore throat for my efforts. We lose! Home to work on poetry and editorials. Don't feel in mood. Chop at a few block prints. To bed at 12:30 a. m. Can't sleep, too much noise next door! Rouse myself 8:00 a. m. and gulp down breakfast and rush off to school. Do you wonder why I am going insane? O. L. S., '35. Enough is enough! The End. Epitaph! Oliver Smith, editor-born, 1918 finished, 1935, at Danville. Page Twenty-one