West High School - Hesperian Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

Page 15 text:

Ode lo Bessie When Bessie looms before our eyes We listen in suspense, We clutch with trembling hands, our chairs, We strain our ears, intense. At first the limpid tones melt soft, Then warm in melody. Then tremble, quiver, rise and fall Like larks above the lea. Then louder, louder swell the notes! The pillars tremble, fall. Blust’ring, they rush thru the door, Fly, roaring down the hall! At last the crashing thunders cease. She mourns for faint hopes sunk, We grieve for friends long lost and dead, We grieve for friends who flunk. O Bessie, such thy power is To move us, dull, alas! We bless thee for that princely gift, (For the time you take from class.)

Page 14 text:

The Formal Opening. THE evening of September twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and eight. West High School was formally opened to the public. Lights beamed from the windows of every room. As the guests entered they were welcomed by members of the faculty. Then a Senior boy or Senior girl, in festal dress and with badges marked “Reception.'' offered to personally conduct a tour through the new and spotless wonders of the building. From boiler room they went through courtyard, through rooms A and B and remotest recitation rooms, even fire escapes were tested. The guide, with half fearful assurance, often said, “this is to be the literature library, this is to be the chemistry laboratory, these are to have lockers, but.”—the but was lost in the crowd that filled the auditorium to overflowing. Here green and white banners and green and white programs announced the new colors. Here was heard the long eventful history of the location, the august speeches of senators and superintendent, here, too, fond elders listened to Genevieve Griffith’s violin and Mildred Borom and Bessie Fox in vocal numbers. The program closed with the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner. In this way did West High take her place among the high schools of Minneapolis. Ten

Page 16 text:

Llljmilj Hesperian Committee Harry Evans Olive Bell Marjorie Mortland Rolf Veblen Marion Trask Nancy Brewster Percy Fuge Marie Cheney Margaret Wiiited Business Manager. Ralph L. Goetzen berger Twelve