The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-06-14
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE
PUBLIC EYE

Continued from Page One)
were served from corner booths hung
in ribbons Of the respective class
colors. At the tables were the fol-
lowing young ladies'. From the Sen
Tor class, Annette Padham and Edith
Simpson. From the junior class
Lovisa Currier, leila Demo. From
the sophomore class, Rachel Roy and
Pauline Cloutier and from the fresh
man class, Pauline Reppetti and Mil
dred Lancaster.
The graduating exercises will occur
tomorrow, Friday evening In the
opera house at which time the pro-
gram will be presented as announced.
The speakers are being drilled by
Miss Pauline Eaton Oak. The Alumni
banquet follows the exercises OF the
evening in Grange Hall. One OF the
features of the Alumni meeting will
be an effort to obtain a scholarship
fund by the Alumni association and
Principal Leighton will speak on this
topic. The plan is to raise $1O,000
the interest to be used In putting
some worthy student thru a high
school
The POSTMASTER will be Sherman
N. Shumway and among the speakers
beside Mr.. Leighton will be A. X. But
Ter. A five-piece orchestra directed
by J. A. Kendall will furnish music.
There is every indication that there
will be large attendance at the ban
quet and one of the finest reunions
ever held is being anticipated.
The Baccalaurate exercises In the
Opera House Sunday night were
splendidly given and were much en-
joyed by the large number who were
present The high school orchestra
furnished the music and Reverends
George Merriam, H. L. Nichols and
George Loring Thurlow participated
in the exercises of the evening. The
address was delivered by Prof.
Herbert c. Libby OF Colby College
in his usual splendid manner. He
said:
II were to choose text appropri-
ate to the very simple message | am
bringing you tonight, 1t would be:
II count not myself to have appre-
hended; but this one thing do,
forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, | press
toward the mark for the prize Of the
high calling of God In Jesus Christ"
am speaking primarily tonight
to the members of tho graduating
class OF the high school, to little
favored company OF boys and girls
citizens Of Skowhegan four years Of
high school training under teachers
who have given of their best that this
little favored company might face the
work of life equipped with the armour
OF which Paul wrote In his letter to
the Ephesians.
Now this evening am going to
continue to do what their teachers
have been doing all during their
school life: am going to ask them
four simple questions. And then
am going to do the very astounding
thing, something that has not been
done for them during their school
life: am going to answer the
questions for them. II Is hound to
be the easiest examination they ever
took--not at all like some examina-
tions that will face you later on.
Question One Is this: Have you
by study and comparison, discovered
just what the spirit Of the age Is In
which you live? 1t is trite to say
It but iidisputably true, that you have
been born into period OF time that
may rightly be called the most re-
markable since tho beginning of hui
man existence. Search back through
the long wonderful years OF the past
and you will be amazed to discover
that the gre(. lest advancements in
science and In many other depart
ments of human activity have hoen
made IN a period of time dating back
not more than hundred years. In
other words, take away the past hun
dred years--wipe them from the pag-
es OF the worlds great book Of ac-
omplishments--and you will find
yourself surrounded by all the crude
beginnings of the old pioneer life. That
this truth may be brought home
pointedly to you, let US consider just
one OF these departments. that OF in
vention.
Six thousand years ago on the banks
OF the Nile, in northern Africa. the
Egyptians first made use Of the papy-
rus plant upon which to record the
words of men. Now It took thous-
ands OF years to bring this discovery
within the range OF important COM
mercial use. Just imagine tho stretch
of time, II you can, from the days of
the Egyptians and the papyrus plant
down to the days in 1700 A. d. of
Benjamin Franklin and his first print
ing press. 1t took six thousand
years to produce that old handpress
which young Ben Franklin used for
his first newspaper. Now let your
minds leap forward and size up the &C
complishments of the last hundred
years. As a single idea of our pro-
gress in this one invention / need
no more than mention that today, in
the United States alone, approximate
ly $4,000 newspapers and periodicals
are being printed in at least ~ diff
ercnt languages. Use your pencils
for moment: 1t would take one
person, IL hours a day, for nearly
1000 years, to read at the average
rate the papers published In the pnit-
"a Il l. VN-.- = ~ L.