West Night High School - Echo Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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Essay Contestants NAME. SUBJECT, BERTHA HART. . . ......................... HHigher Idealx. ' EMMA FISCHER ......................... . .HFor the Honor and Glory of Cincinnati? M.mI :L t'YCanule. . .. ................ . . . T7710 Essence of Character? Oratorical Contestants NA M E. SUBJECT. jOHN .X, MVJUYNT ......................... MTIIU Xiglzf High School Cr'adualv. GEORGE W. BURNS. . ....,. ........... 7713 Signs of tire Timc. MICHAEL NELSON. ..................... Arbitration. WILLIAM FURTMI'ELLER ..................... Thc Value of Personality in Busincsx. 31

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respective Alma Maters the more prominent and there exists to a greater or less degree a little prejudice on the part of the students of both schools. HBut to-nightt fellow graduates, we are invited to pm the Night High Sch001 Alumni, a society which shall eradicate all prejudice, if any exists, and which shall keep ever alive the clear friendships that have existed during our school days, and shall bring us together to meet new friends, friends that traveled and survived a common, lifticult path, although not without its joys and happinessest and after all, this is the medium which strengthens the tie that binds the two sister institutions; and we sincerely hope that the alumni will find in us, graduates of 1911, members who shall at all times take an active interest in its affairs and shall do everything that will conduce to the general welfare of the only Night High School Alumni in the United States. 30

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Oration tlTHE SIGNS OF THE TIME. GEORGE W. B URN s. T is universally the case that those who have lived under a given condition for a period of time, and who are satisfied with things as they are, are not only adverse to change, but as a rule take a superfi- cial view of any indications of Change. This springs partly from incapacity to see, but more from unwillingness. At the time of the French Revolution, the nobility and land owners long refused t0 believe that there was going to be a destructive storm, and they were not fully convinced until most of what they had considered permanent was swept away. Whether, had they understootl the full purport of the early indications of trouble, they could have avoided the bloody upheavals that came is a question. Our own revolution is another instance. If King George and his adviaers, instead of supposing they had a few unreasonable rebels to deal with, had taken account of the forces at work beneath the surface, recognized the situation and consented to reasonable concession, they might have changed the course of history. Now History teaches us that one of the prime dangers to civilization has been its tendency to cause the loss of the manly virtues, and if we are to learn a lesson from the great upheavals of the past ages, if we are to have a progressive civilization, the men of to-day and 0f the future need many qualities. We need first of all, and most important of all, the qualities which stand at the base of individual, of family life, the fundamental and essential qualitiesethe homely, everyday, all important virtues. If the average man will not work. if he has not in him the power and will to be a good husband and father; if the average woman is not a good housewife and mother of healthy children, then the state will be in jeopardy. no matter what may be its brilliance of artistic attainment and material achievement That we are gradually approaching a change is evidenced by the spirit of political, social and economic unrest. While we may not like it and may shut our eyes to it, nevertheless there is an ominous sound in the land as Of physical workers protesting. At least. there is not the song of healthy labor, swinging its way along in good will and contentment, Some of the causes of this condition are evident. It is only within the past two generations that men have worked in masses within walls, and it does nut seem reasonable to suppose that, after centuries of selfetlirectetl work largelyin the open. humanity can 32