Westfield High School - Weather Vane Yearbook (Westfield, NJ)

Page 26 text:

THE 1929 WEATHER VANE 3fuU jnllu luiiqht he scentch, auh fair hth sift j s mu' fnr lnugl}ily giusts aitb fierce ear mm ter fitt. — S'penscr If x the days of Chivalry the order of Knighthood was greatly desired. But the youth who aspired to the honor had to undergo a long and difficult apprenticeship. First as Page and later as Squire, he received a fine and rigid training, not a small part of which led to that indefinable Spirit of Chivalry which cannot be gleaned from books. In the years of this schooling he had many opportunities to show skill in arms and manliness in character until, at last, after some special feat of valor, he acquired the title, honor, and sacred trust of the Knight. This reward brought privileges. The Knight became the judge of his equals and inferiors; he took precedence over those beneath him; and he claimed innumerable rights of his class. Moreover, he inspired the loyalty and service of others. With the privileges, however, came obligations to God. to men. and to his lady. He journeyed afar and jousted with the knights; he strove to obtain the excellencies of each celebrated champion; he learned chivalrous behavior from the lords and ladies of many courts; he held before him an ideal toward which he strove constantly. May not the Senior be compared in some degree to the Knight? First like the Page, he entered school, young, inexperienced, but eager. Then like the Squire he persevered as a Junior. Always he served well the Lord of Study, acquiring judgment and learning, and tilting on the battlefields of Caesar and in the courts of Cicero. He also gained something less tangible than knowledge, but more important in building character—the Spirit of W. H. S. At length by a ‘‘special noble feat of valor,” a final examination, he achieved the Senior order. What privileges came with that attainment! The Senior took precedence over others in choice of seats and possession of full-length lockers, and monopolized the most distinctive entrance to the scene of his triumphs and defeats. His opinion, for the first time, seemed of importance in weighty matters. But his position was not to be enjoyed without effort. He had many arduous duties, not the least of which were the presentation of a speech in chapel, the performance of a play, the contests on the athletic field, the composition of an informative dissertation, and the compiling of a book of his deeds. And ever he kept before him the ultimate goal toward which he was working, treasuring it as the Knight treasured his ideal. [16]

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§ntinr (Class nf 1(123 OFFICERS William Gordon ...................................... President Constance Houghton ............................ Vice-President I Kan Harry ..........................................Secretary Adolph Ulbrich .......................................Treasurer AI VJS )RS Miss Alice Pklton Miss Mary Colley Miss Dolores VV. Bordner Mr. C. Blair Rogers D8]