The Mena weekly star., 1918-05-30
H. 5. GRADUATION
 WAS GALA EVENT
Auditorium of Presbyterian Church Profusely Decorated in Flags and Patriotic Emblems-Governor
 Brough's Earnest Address.

The interest of Mena folks in mat ters educational was splendidly at. tested Thursday night when the large auditorium of the Presbyterian chure h was completely filled with parents teachers and friends of the members of the class of 1918 of the Mena High school, the occasion being the grad nation exercises of the class. In har. lnony with the spirit of the times. the church was decorated with flags anJ bunting of the National colors and a profusion of roses and Bermuda lilies and still more appropriately in har. mony with the present day conditions the Union Jack and the French Fri Color were given place beside the Red, White and Blue, and more ap- propriately still, in the center of the stage was displayed a service flag with two stars in honor of Hubert Knight and Harold Ravenscraft. two members of the class of 1918, who few weeks ago, after completing their school work, enlisted in the service of Uncle Sam. As background in the rear of the stage, between two U. s. flags was displayed the service flag of the Mena schools containing 47 stars to which several more will be ad- ded when the boys respond to the call next Monday. The one note of sad ness came at the thought that the one
 gold star in the service flag was
 placed there in honor of Frank B
 Fried one of the students of the school who had given his life as a sacrifice on the altar of his country.
 It was an inspiring sight as the members of the class, accompanied by the members of the school board. the superintendent, c. K. Wilkerson, Dr. |. W. B. Long, and Governor Charles H. Brough, the speaker of the oc- casion, marched to the platform, and as they remained standing, the audi ence joined heartily in singing "Amer- ica," with Miss Maude K. Board as accompanist. An earnest and compre- hensive invocation was pronounced by Dr. L. w. B. Long, pastor of the First Nj. E. church
 Miss Ida Keller, the salutatorian of the class, used as the subject of her oration, "The Growth of the English Parliament" starting with the begin ming of the English government in the tenth century, and tracing the develop men thru it's successive stages to the point in the nineteenth century when the parliament came under the con trol of the common people and then on down to the present time when in the English government "the king has no real power, but only serves as a national unit in negotiations with oth- CT countries, the government being carried on by the ministry and the parliament of the British people,
 A vocal quartette rendered by the Misses Freda Riley, Miriam Smith, Naomi Pryor and Tressie Bullion met with hearty appreciation by the au- dienee.
 Miss Miriam Smith in giving the class prophecy announced that for ages prophecy or the forecasting of future events has been thing of great mystery, and as it had fallen to her lot to predict the fortunes of the class of 1918, she invented meth od which proves more efficient and &C., curate than any before used Instead of simply prophesying the future, she claimed to be endowed with mystic power which enabled her to grind out the future, thus conserving brain power, a most important factor. Starting her mill, she ground out the chief characteristics of her classmates and from this grist came the story of the future, the uniqueness and origin ality of the prophecy holding the at tention and interest of the class mates and audience.
 Miss Hazel Mitchell, the valedictor- ian of the class, had for her subject, Wilson, the Champion of Democ- raey." The general theme of her or ation was that in every age certain