The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-01-31
MidWinter Exercises at the
High School.
II. A. McNeal Imparts the Final
Warnings.
THE REPUBLIC
Hesitated to G;Se the Scholars
Cheap Advice.
Like Offering Them Presents OF
No Value.

The midwinter class of the Topeka
High school graduated last night, ana
70 young people received their sheep
skins tied with blue ribbons 1t took
them four years of hard work to win
then. and it required but an hour or
two for the exercises which eliminated
I their efforts to have begun and ended
There was nothing unusual about the
exercises The rules and regulations
that are always followed on such occa-
sfons and which have been established
by precedent alone were carried out
The girls were dressed in White ana
the boys in black. The assembly room
was decorated with class colors ana
the air was perforated with class yells.
All was enthusiasm, patriotism ana
good feeling. Except with some or the
more sedate of the class whose SchooI
days end with their High school diplo-
ma the occasion was happy one
without a mar. To the few who re-
allied more or less the responsibilities
soon to be placed upon them, II was an
hour of trembling as they stood upon
the threshold of a serious life and an
evening Of melancholy. For it is hard
to break the ties of school years.
There was a touch of sadness in the
minds of the class for one member who
began the work with them, who studied
the same geon etry, pored over the
same Latin lessons and who dug away
at the same grammar, was not there 10
graduate He was Resell Manahan,
and he fell while fighting with the
Twentieth Kansas in the philippines.
There is a bronze tablet on the wall in
the hall of the school building placed
there by the graduating class in his
memory.
The class was told the usual things.
Stein berg's orchestra played an over
ture- There was the usual hum of
voices and patter of feet in time to the
music. Then there was the hush during
the benediction offered by Dean Kaye,
nd Ha hffzf ad yEh
quartette sang
Sup Davidson was in the center Of
the semi on the platform He re-
sembled the interlocutor of a large min
strel troup. The seni-circle was made
up Of the following graduates: F1OSsie
Mira Burge, Mary Elizabeth Butterfly,
Wayland Campbell salutatorian, Ray
Arthur earle, valedictorian, Frederick
Charles Clark, Cora Bee Clough, Anna
bell NJ. Cook, James Lee Cottren, Ada
Gertrude Disbrow, wilma Edwards,
John E Ekstrom. Alma May Gobrecht,
Mabel Grosch. Bessie Galena Hawkins.
Ethel May Hummer, Albert Alvanus
Miller. Euis Luther Morgan, Archie
Raymond Mulholland, Olive Beatrice
Owen. John Franklin Rightmire, Grace
May Slayton, Elsie Bernice Smith,
Martha Ann Spurlock. Charles Stein
berg. Isabel Vansant, Howard B.
White.
Mr.. Davidson introduced the speaker
who was to give the finishing touch to
the four years of high school work by
imparting condensed advice. 1t was
good, logical and cheerful In part Mr..
NcNeal said: ct have met a few grad
yates who seemed to have sufficient
general information to enable them to
get under shelter during a rain storm,
to ache when they were hurt and to re-
frain from taking the second bit of a
persimmon-but that seemed to be near
" the extent They disa greed widely
from Webster and other lexicogra pliers
in the matter of spelling. They could
not construct a sentence properly. They
could not write legibly. They could not
correctly figure the interest on a prom
issOry note when partial payments had
been made. They could not keep a set
of books. How they managed to get
through and secure diploma was a.
mystery. but presume if the ponies
they rode through the course could have
been found. the saddle marks would
have been evident I assume that none
OF this class have gone through that
way. 1 hope not but 1 do not know.
The maker of an address to a grad
uaing class generally assumes that
role OF an advisor but hesitate to take
this position for the reason that gra-
tuitous advice is seldom needed and
some times resented. I confess to a GER
tam repugnance to the person who
comes to me with an assumption of
superior wisdom and tries to pour ad-
vice into me as if were an euptv
pitcher l hesitate to give advice be
cause 1t is so cheap that it seems al
most like offering a present of a glass
breast pin or a brass ring Even Rus
sell Sage freely gave away nearly two
columns of advice during the late
Christmas holidays and then presume
he murmured to himself. as he gripped
dollar until the proud bird of freedom
on one side squaked with pain and
the Goddess of Liberty whose ina ge
and superscrfption adorns the other
side shed tears of agony. 1T is more
blessed to give than to receive
Il assume that these tea cheers have ia
ken you over the training course to get
You ready for the race YOU must run
They haven't, I trust, simply been en-
deavoring to pump into you a certain
amount Of algebra, geometry and Latin
but they have tried to train you so that
You will have action and courage and
all the things that you win need in the
race This is all the preliminary train
ing that some of you will get Some
will. presume. taken further training
at college but for some the race is
nearly on. the signal bell is about to
be tapped and the first and last race for
You will begin.
Skilled horSemen have found that it
Is great advantage sometimes to know
the track over which they are to speed
their horses. There are places in most
tracks that are heavy and these places
tire the horses and lessen his speed.
There are places that are uneven if the
driver knows just where the heavy