Westtown High School - Amicus Yearbook (Westtown, PA)

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CLASS HISTORY a SAMUEL JOHNSON once said, “He who hath much to do, will do something wrong, and of that wrong must suffer the consequences. This observation may be taken to apply in this case, for in undertaking to write a history of so illustrious and extensive a class as 1924, some things will be said which may be in error, while some important incidents which should have been noted may have been omitted. Success in an undertaking has sometimes been said to depend upon the kind of beginning that is made at the outset. But if we have not been successful in our undertaking of making a fine class, it cer- tainly can be said by no one that it was due to our beginning, for the once curly-haired Hulme Brown was our first member. In 1912 he was enrolled as a full-fledged student and entered the distinctive class of 1st Grade. After struggling valiantly with the knotty problems involved in 2nd and jrd Grades, he was at length joined in the fall of 1915 by Virginia Wood. A period of three years elapsed before the gates again opened, this time to the tune of a musical laugh, and Sara Wright began her Westtown career. The fall of 1919 brought six new members, Edith Satterthwaite, Fairchild and Ellwood Houghton. Catherine Greer, Ingram Richardson, and Clayton Brown. We are not sure whether Ellwood had learned to balance things on his head at this period or not, or whether “Clayt had reached the height of his attraction to the opposite sex, but we are sure that Jack's “Dorothy-DoU” curls were admired by all, and that Speedro's laugh was just as infectious then as now. The next year, 1920-21, our ranks were swelled by a still greater delegation, New York's repre- sentative being Helen Bell, a thoroughly genteel person fated to win high honors scholastically; Ohio exerted itself to the extent of producing Doris Blackburn, noted for her amiable disposition and Horace Doan, who excels in the pole-vault; and up from the sand and desert of Texas came Francis Harvey. The East also yielded up from Pennsylvania and even such a primitive state as New Jersey, such highly res- pectable people as Billy Ewing; Ted Hctzel, our Senior president; Chatter Ely, Senior secretary; and Sally Leeds, the forecaster of Boardwalk Styles. A variously talented company entered the next fall. Hewlings Cooper considerably brightened our athletic prospect, and together with Lewis Barton attained the heights of the finals in the Elocutionary Contest. Ruth Biddle is another of the master minds entering this year who excelled along this line; moreover, she is our Northfield president and in her first class year held the office of class secretary. 29

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The other girls who joined us at this time were Marjorie Quigg, who has probably reached heights unknown to the rest of us in the art of talking fast; Amy Sharpless, who has succeeded Ruth Biddle in the office of class member of Student Council; and Sara Pennell, who has an absolutely unbroken record of failing to see the points of jokes. At this time also John Furnas braved the dangers of crossing the Mason and Dixon line and is now one of us. Dick Wistar was an applicant for culture at the same date, who after entering became noted for his elevated table conversation. Germantown entered at this time its representative, Jonathan Rhoads. By way of diversion we might add that Nixon Kelsey, unable to wait till fall, also joined us in our pursuit after knowledge. The school year of 1922-23 opened with every prospect of a favorable year, as shown by the entrance of twelve new members. Among them there were “Fran Heess, coming from the pure, uplifting hills near Eagles Mere; Dot Blair, a Media Miss, and Hannah Morris, who honorably bears the title of “Banana, and has won distinction as “Class Poet. Joseph Cox, an adherent to the South and the Demo- crats; Bill Miller, who boasts residence in West Chester; John Webster, our able Year Book Editor; Levis Phipps, George Sharpless, and Evans Carter were the additions to the east end. We must also mention that at this period Esther Green and Martha Jones, formerly of that section of our country termed the “West by common usage, entered together with “Sally Wilkins, loyal daughter of New Jersey. At last the fates willed that we should arrive at that golden age, when wc should earn the mystic, magic name of Senior. For years we had longed for it, hoped for it, pictured it, imagined it, imagined how we would conduct ourselves with majestic mien, how we would patronize the adoring younger students with easy condescension, how we would carry all the honors before us. Now at last we have attained. Perhaps it is not all that our fancy painted it in some respects, but perhaps it has a fuller mean- ing in other respects. Eleven new members are entered in the fall. Six of these were girls: Ellen Passamore, Mary Lane Charles, whose superiority we acknowledge in view of the fact that she has studied a year in France; Mary White, from “down in Ole Virginny ; Margaret Perry, who has attained the distinction of all A's more than once; Eva Marvin, a production of Kansas; and Alice Young, who along with Wilmer Bundy, does the honors for Barnesville. We were also glad to receive three other boys, Irvin Larson, “Dick Lane and “Roily Fansher. Our group is at last complete. No longer are we a straggling, struggling class. The spring term is here, we look forward to commencement with a note of sadness, which does not pass away. Our friend- ships mark the past we have known together, and hope gilds the future. New paths will open for us and new duties will fill our days. Let us strive to be our finest for Westtown and '24. 30