Woodward High School - Treasures Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

Page 12 text:

At that hour our thoughts Shall dwell on the legacy from God, wasted or preserved, as may be. If all has been lost save cleanliness of heart, then we can look into the glass of time unflinchingly, with brave and steady eyes. But if dishonor has been with us, then shall we shrink from the eyes that stare back at us, and furtively admit the weakness of the soul whose windows they are But that is for time to prove. To-day, we have gathered up our knapsacks, hlletl with precious knowla edge, we have our clean hearts, ambition, ideals and dreams, and hope beckoning us on. yet we linger a moment with the dear Alma Mater. N ever again shall we take our places at our desks, never shall we F116 with noisy acclaim into the yard of old Woodward. Here- after we shall be visitors only at this seat of learning, to be gazed at curiously by those who have succeeded us, just as we have gazed curiously at those who sat here before us. So let us take a tender farewell 0f the school that meant so much to us and means more to us now. Let us never, never forget.

Page 11 text:

EDITORIAL whee AREVVELL! W'e feel a tightening of the heart at parting from old VVoodwai'd and our class- mates. A mist we are prone to conceal veils our eyes as we shake the hands of our fellows and turn toward the new sun rising upon our lives. With mingled feelings, half regret, half hope, most of us prepare for enrollment in that stern school, the World, the term of which is for life, while the others will make further preparation for it in higher halls of learning. Here, at the Close of our high school life, it is as if we were the most important company in the world. To us it is no frivolous assumption that we are the company of companies; have we not matched together from childhood to youth. and from youth to the edge of manhood and womanhood; have we not been mothered by the one School, our Woodward? Is not that fact in itself enough to warrant our assumption and seal our comradeship? When we entered VVOOtlwai-d we were carefree, irresponsible boys and girls. Now we find ourselves facing Our responsibilities, for we have almost reached manhood and womanhood. 0111- mantle of citizenship being ready for our shoulders. Some of us may eventually Hy the banners 0f the great and wear the splendid plumes of the mighty. Others Of us Will march in the armies of the unknown. soldiers of life, with never a Chevron to mark 115 from our fellows, much less a shoulder strap or glittering epaulette. But whether we climb to the heights or pursue Our way through the valleys, we shall be brothers, sealed in nineteen thirteen, tender in our love to one another, rich in helpfulness. ever making allowances for mistakes. Yes, we shall all go our various waysl hopeful of achieving the goals of which we have dreamed, for we are tilled with the confidence of youth. It should be the happiest of times. for when a wise Providence fashioned humanity, it decreed that sorrow must enter largely into all plans for it; and pitying that which it made, it gave the estate of youth with the priceless dowry of clean hearts. ambition, icleals and dreams. Yet fondest dreams may be shattered 0111' ideals may be lost sight Of. as we march through the world and come in contact with deceit and frailties of human kind; failure and adversity may batter our hearts until ambition is beaten out of them. but as the boys and girls of lYomlward, 1913. let us keep the hearts that God gave us with 0111' youth, forever Clean and without stain. Some day in the future we shall Suddenly realize that the fire of youth is gone and that we are 0ch

Page 13 text:

THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION HERE is; no prospect more unfavorable to the human race, than the prospect of retrogression. Man will not have his present civilization de- teriorate, Coupled with this endeavor to sustain our culture of to-day, is the higher and nobler determina- tion to advance. Without this burning ambition for progress, without a deep desire for a higher moral, intellectual and industrial civilization, man is little or no better than a beast. Because of the blending of the fear of retrogression and the strife for progress, the human being stands as the emblem of mortal perfection of to-day. AS a natural consequence of this unique combination of two striking characteristics, mankind has taken special care in the education of its young. If we are to remain at our present status of civilization, those of the rising generation must know at least as much as their fathers, and if mankind is to advance the children must be trained with greater care than their parents. At various times in the existence of the human race there have been different ideas as to who should be educated, as to who are to be the banner bearers of civilization. Formerly the upper classes were revered by all and were regarded by all as those upon whom the future of mankind depended. So we find that in olden times, and, in fact, up to a short time ago, only the children of wealthy and opulent parents were educated. But gradually there has come to mankind a new spirit, the spirit of democracy. Wre have come to realize that the great strides in civilization are due, not to the efforts of the blueebloods and opulent, but that our civilization advances because the masses pro- gress. We have found that as long as the masses are mentally unable to follow their leaders, civilization does not move forward. Socrates preached about high forms of the Deity, but his contemporaries, being of an inferior education, could not grasp the idea. The prophets of ancient Israel advocated a state of society which even we to-tlay hold as ideali But the people Of those times were poorly educated and unable to realize the truth of the prophetic or Socratic doctrines, and what was the result? Civilization was held back and years were wasted before the common people reached that mental state where they realized the truth of the preachings of past reformers. We are now seeing how civilization has been retarded because the people have not been properly educated, and we have