West Philadelphia High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 25 text:

THE RECORD 1918 25 At this time the most exciting meeting of the Class was to be held. The purpose of this meeting was to elect a Record Staff, the Play and Dance Committee, the Honor Men, Class Prophet, Class Historian and Class Poet. The election of the Record Staff was held first with the fol- lowing results: Albert F. Dagit, lfditor-in-Chiefg Harrison K. Sayen, Business Managerg Edmund F. Burke, XVarren Reeve and Edward Stafford, Associate Editors, The Play and Dance Committee was elected as follows: Owen Sixsmith, Chairmang Harrison K. Sayen, Business Manager, Zimmerman, Sullivan, Rosenbloom, Bauer and Reid. As Honor Men the following were elected: Samuel Friedman, First Honorg Harrison K. Saven, Second lflonorg Joseph Tlauer, Third Honor, Zllld Albert F. Dagit. Fourth Honor. lidmund F. Burke was elected to Write the prophecy, Robert D. Fulmer to write the history and Wfarren S. Reeve the Class Poem. Now four years have been completed. Although all of us are anxious to leave, still it is not without a tinge of regret that we realize we are no longer students at NVest Philly High. To Mr. lleyl and all the faculty with whom we have come in contact, we want to express our gratitude for the work they have done in our behalf, and we hope the Class of February, 1913, has established a goal which other Classes may strive to attain. ROBERT D. FULMER. idx lfini h ix K l PXS:? , 'iii Q . ., ft - D - C - , of..-n A

Page 24 text:

24 THE WESTERN 1' - - , 1 -7 .,,-if 52 as - :, , , , ., r' 4l 1 i -.' J . A, 'V ' . ' , Q , .V ' Q :ga given the chance, and on May 16, 1917, we held the banquet, our first social event as a Class. We held it at Kugler's, and needless to say it was a success, and every fellow who was there enjoyed it. Mr. Mahoney spoke to us and drove home some good, sound truths, mingling with it his enjoyable Irish humor. Mr. Gregson also spoke and firmly upheld Mr. Mahoney's idea of manliness. Various other members of the Class were heard from and after an evening of pleasure we dispersed to our homes. We had made good, upholding the honorable name of West Philly, and had acted like men, not yaps, as Mr. Mahoney ex- pressed it. Now we have passed over another half year of our High School life and still a half year more and then-yes, now we can look forward, in our Freshman Year it was almost hoping against hope. Yet on looking back, how insignificant those three and a half years seem and how quickly they have passed by. We still had our Washington Trip and Senior Play and Dance before us. Many were the efforts and much the energy expended by our com- mittee to obtain consent for a trip to Washington. Our Principal and his Cabin-et rigidly opposed it because of the numerous reports of misbehav-D ior on the part of some West Philadelphia students on former trips. Finally consent was secured, but only under very strict ruling, and every- body felt rather gloomy. Even though there was a feeling of regret, yet some began to hope for better things, The Washington Trip was not necessary, it was only a matter of precedent, why not substitute some- thing else ? Various rumors were going around of donating the pro- ceeds of the Senior Play and Dance to some patriotic purpose. This report was not mere idle talk and at a meeting it was definitely decided to contribute the money to the Red Cross or to some other organization which was doing work for the benefit of the Boys in the Trenches. Since the Washington Trip was to be taken by the A and B classes at the same time, it was necessary for us to consult with the B Class about what they were going to do. In order to accomplish this, we had a joint meeting of the two Classes and Mr. Mahoney and Dr. Par- tridge both spoke on the need of the Red Cross. Each put the situation squarely before us and asked us how we would like to be over in France and to hear our School fellows had done something which would help us. After quite a long discussion, it was unanimously decided to donate the proceeds of the Play and Dance for some patriotic service.

Page 26 text:

i l3l'llfQQ 2 X .p, N . 'A I' , M 7- TN f f ts. ,lt ll iiiiit l ll, rltwilli ' 'wr l' x Z T G M i ' -f1L-Dmitr i ' 7 ifbimf V . 'Seiji ' -.i It-ies-hf. t.1Pe1-aa' - M S l stood in the mire of the trenches, awaiting the signal to go iv? Si U 9 -gg over the top, the shells of our own artillery whistled overhead and exploded above the German lines. The morning was dark ,I and stormy and a dreadful suspense set the nerves of the men on edge, Even veterans have been known to grow frantic under the strain of the few minutes before zero hour, and it is no wonder that this battalion of rookies fresh from the training camps were striving to turn their minds from the thoughts of approaching death. Our offi- cers, men who had gone through this experience before, had advised us to think of anything but the horrors that lay before us. To keep my mind from weakening under the tension, T turned 1ny thoughts back to my old days at XVest Philly. l fell to wondering what would be the fate of my classmates who were serving in this war and from that l. began to speculate on the future destinies of the fellows who had graduated with me a few months before. Then came the sound of the Captainls whistle. The arm of the lieu- tenant was raised above his head and at this signal, the whole line as one man climbed over the parapet. Uur own barrage protected us from the fire of the enemy infantry and the Hunls artillery had not yet gotten into action. As we walked onward with steady step our barrage was lifted and our shells began to fall on the German second line of trenches. The artillery of our foes began its deadly work. The report of our shrapnel bursting over the German lines, was supplemented by another sound, louder and close at hand. There would be a whizz, a crash and part of our advancing line would be covered by 26