The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-03-31

school declamatory contest held at
Lamont last Friday evening with fly
ing colors, her two contestants both
winning gold medals, Miss Ruth Far
quhar being awarded the first medal
in the dramatic. class, and Brown
Caster the second prize in the orator
ical class.
The contest was held in the L. %.
rs. church, and it was crowded to its
utmost capacity. A special train was
run from Van Vert in the evening
which returned after the contest, and
it was we'll patronized with delega-
tions from Van Vert, Decatur City,
Leon and Davis City From Leon
alone there were about two hundred
in attendance, agent Ketcham selling
1853 round trip tickets besides a
number of one way tickets.
After music by the Lamont Concert
Band, and the invocation by Elder
Heman G. Smith, of Lamont, Prof
Reed, of Garden Grove, who presided
as chairman of the contest, announced
that in view of the large number of
contestants in the oratorical class,
there being seven contestants, it had
been decided to award three medals
instead of two as announced The
judges were Supt. c. j. Johnson, of
Centerville, Supt. Geo. P. Koebel, of
Mt Ayr, and County Superintendent
Eta ]. Rider, of Mt. Ayr.
In the oratorical class Miss Baalis
Halstead, of Van Vert, was awarded
first prize, her oration being "The
New South" She has a wonderful
strong voice for one so young and her
effort showed careful training. Brown
Caster, of Leon, won second prize
with Intervention for Cuban Inde-
pendence," with which he won first
place at the recent Leon High School
contest, and he was a close contest
ant for first place, many thinking he
should have had first place The
third prize was awarded to David
Williams, of Lamont, his Grafton be-
|yfng sFoussaint L'Ouverture. The
other contestants were David Rex
Bruce, of Garden Grove, Guy Hub
bell, of Grand River, Clara Thomp-
son. of Weldon, and Grayce Vanatta,
of Decatur City
There were five contestants in the
dramatic class, and Miss Ruth Far
qnhar, OF Leon, easily won first prize
with How the La Rue Stakes Were
Lost. She had an excellent selec-
tion and delivered it in most pleas
Ing manner and the award met with
the entire approval of the large audi
ence. Charley Riley,of Decatur City,
won second prize with THE Boat
Race and there was no questioning
of the judges decision. He has per-
feet confidence, a good voice and
shows much talent. The other con-
testants were Alma, CARRIER, of Van
Vert, Zelma Tharp, of Davis City.
and Meryl Warrington, of Garden
Grove, who all ranked high in the
markings of the judges.
In the humorous class there were
but two contestants, Miss Edith Fleet,
OF Lamont, being awarded first prize
with The Wooden Arm and Miss
Hazel Griffin, of Grand River, second
prize with "A Hoosier Romance
Splendid music was furnished dur
ing the evening by the Lamont Con-
cert Band, the Lamont High School
Orchestra, a ladies Octet, and a vocal
solo by Miss Lola Buckingham, in
structor of music at Graceland Col
lege.
The contest pleased everyone pres
ent. All of the contestants did ex-
ceedingly well, and while all could
not win medals. the training they re-
ceived is valuable to them in many
ways. The people all over the coun-
ty are taking decided interest in
these contests, as shown by the large
number who attended. The contest
next year will probably be held at
| Garden Grove.
The winners of first and second
prizes in both the oratorical and
dramatic classes were drilled by Mrs.
Marion WATSON, of Leon, and their
success is quite testimonial to her
ability as an instructor.