Wethersfield High School - Elm Yearbook (Wethersfield, CT)

Page 16 text:

NOTRE ADIEU Il y a un petit sentiment de tristesse dans notre classe, car apres quatre annees d'amitie heureuse, nous partons tous, l'un de l'autre, et nous allons, comme on dit, chercher nos fortunes. Les uns vont travailler, et les autres vont loin dlici a l'ecole. Qui sait quand nous serons ensemble encore une fois? Dans une annee peut-etre rencon- trons-nous a une reunion, mais quels changements auront lieu parmi nous, quelles difficultes aurons-nous erencontrees et auron nous sur- monteesg et surtout, aurons-nous le meme sentiment de bonne volonte et dlamitie que nous avons maintenant? Personne ne peut dire, mais on espere que dans les annees qui viennent, nous penserons llun a l'autre et at nos quatre annees ensemble avec un peu de felicite et de regret. M-Florence Bill, '28, LES ENDROITS HISTORIQUES DE WETHERSFIELD ll y a beaucoup d'endroits d'interet a Wethersiield. Il y a la maison des Webb ou Georges Washington s'est arrete une fois. Cette ancienne maison est possedee a present par les Dames Coloniales et en are on peut la visiter. Llorme, qui a plus de deux cents ans, est un grand orgueil de la ville depuis beaucoup d'ans. Puis il y a l'ancien ed i fice de l'academie de Wethersfield ou sont la bibliotheque et les bureaux de la ville. Cet edifice qui etait une fois le lycee, endure depuis une siecle et un quart. Il y a aussi beaucoup de maisons anciennes et il y a encore beaucoup de familles dans la ville portant les noms des premiers possesseurs de ces anciennes maisons. -Mildred Hannum, '28, LA MAISON WEBB La maison Webb, une des maisons historiques de Connecticut, est situee dans la ville de Wethersfield. Elle est une grande maison blanche du style colonial, et elle est meublee partout a la vraie mode ancienne. Dans chaque corniere, il domine la vieille atmosphere coloniale de la paix et de la beaute. Cette maison etait possedee autrefois par Jean Webb, qui s'en est servi comme une sorte de taverne, mais quelques annees plus tard elle etait achetee par Les Dames Coloniales d'Amerique.', On se sert de cette maison maintenant comme une place d'interet et elle est souvent visitee par les touristes. Son orgueil supreme est la chambre ou s'est endormi George Washington. On dit aussi que dans cette maison M. Washington a fait son traite avec M. Rochambeau. -Dorothy Hartman, '28,

Page 15 text:

V I hitnriala THE SPORT OF KINGS It's glorious fun to sail, for thereis romance on the sea and every pleasure seems tame compared to the thrills afloat. To weary ones, who are tired of crowded highways and the same old scenery, there,s nothing finer than life aboard some salty schooner. I shall never forget my first experiences on ship. I was pretty green and scarcely knew starboard from larboard. The first time that I wit- nessed the stowing of provisions before putting out, shivers of delight ran through me, and I wondered what Fortune had in store. I saw visions of myself leaning over the rail, or being swept into the waves by one of the booms. Thus, when we had weighed anchor and were under sail, I prac- ticed grabbing the handrails and rigging in every precarious position I could think of, that I might be prepared for the worst. Happy days followed when I was ever under our skipper's patient supervision. I-Ie taught me the laws of the road, the use of charts, and the general navigation of the boat. I soon learned to sail her alone, and, as I sat at the wheel, I felt very cocky, indeed. There were all sorts of new things to do aboard, but when we were bouncing right along with scuppers awash, it was my greatest delight to stretch out on the bowsprit and watch her as she dipped gracefully into the brine, while above me the huge white canvas billowed with every jolly capful of wind that happened along. As the season passed, I encountered every kind of adventure imagin- able, and with disappointment, I saw the good ship hauled out for the winter. The love of the sea and sailing had gripped me in its talons and threatened not to lose its hold. Ye can have your steamboat racing, but gimme the run in a gale Of a well-geared, able schooner what is driven by snow-white sail, For I've known the thrill of a piling sea and the sky in a cloud-fleck'd gown And ten knots in a windbag when she's running her Easting down! Olive Symonds, '29. THE OCEAN The ocean seems to me a vast place of brooding mystery, seldom broken by the raw, shrill noises of man and his ingenious inventions. It is a place where I can dream, where imagination has no limitg a place where I can lie upon the sandy beach, basking in the sun and building my own castles in the air. It tends to breed in me the lust for adventure and ro- mance. As the ships pass by, - schooners, liners, square riggers-each carrying its own cargoes of wreck and wrong and shame, I have a picture line enough for any artist's brush, or tales strange enough for my author's pen. Truly the ocean is a giant magnet that draws me irresistibly to its sandy shores year in and year out, to dream and dream of things I shall do when I, myself, am a gentleman of adventure. -David Van Ausdall, '30. 4

Page 17 text:

WETHERSFIELD'S SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT IN THE LAST QUARTER CENTURY The history of school development in Wethersheld in the past quarter century is intensely interesting when viewed in the light of the present conditions and the probabilities of the future. Twenty-five years ago the school population of our town was two hundred and seventy-eight, and the school buildings were six in number. Four of these were single-room brick structures. The North Brick school had three rooms and the Center school had eight. These schools were situated in various parts of the town: one on Harris Hill, one on the corner of Welles Road, one on Broad Street, two on Main Street, and one on Hartford Avenue. The physical equipment was meager in the extreme, consisting merely of a bat and a ball for the boys of each school and nothing for the girls. The High School curriculum consisted of two years' work. The training offered was a general one and gave only a small choice of subjects. In 1927 there were still six schools, but only one of the four single- room schools was in use. In 1917 the Charles Wright School was opened on Nott Street. It has eight large schoolrooms and accommodates three hundred grammar school pupils. The Francis Stillman School on Hart- ford Avenue, our newest grade building, contains eight rooms, it also has the only gymnasium in Wethersield. At this time the North Brick school was closed. In Griswoldville a, four-room red brick structure takes the place of the old South Hill and Harris Hill schools. The population in the schools is now one thousand, three hundred and twenty, or an increase of five hundred per cent in twenty-five years. Our four-year program now offers a pupil training in these different curriculums: college-preparatory, normal, commercial and general. In 1903 there were no athletic teams representing Vfethersfield. Now we have a soccer-football team, a basketball team, a baseball team, and a girls' volley-ball team. Besides these varsity teams, each class has a team representing it in all of the above sports. These athletic games give each boy a chance to take part in some phase of physical training. Today the opportunities for education in Wethersheld, as compared with those offered a quarter century ago, are manifold. The standards of physical and mental training have been steadily raised. Next year our new eighteen-room high school will open, offering even greater advantages. In this world of specialization and keen competition, an education is a vital necessity. Wethersield should be able to provide the training that each pupil will need in his life work. From an educational view- point, rapid advances have been made in the last ten years. Ten years hence should find our school population doubled, our curriculum enlarged, our physical training improved, and our high school presenting oppor- tunities for development comparable to any in the state. -james Lawrence, '28.