The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-26

w W LIZ III VI lllO
second year of our school page.
Last year, many of you will re.
member, we went through all the
pages and picked out those stories,
biographies, poems, and assorted
pieces which we considered the best
of the crop.
1t was Jul intention to do the
same for this page, but a review of
all the work you have done this, the
1939-40 school term, changed our
mind. First, we found that we still
had a number of excellent stories
left over from previous collections,
and we felt it imperative that they
be printed. Second, there is SO much
really great work which has appear
ed, long and short pieces alike, that
it would take more than this one
page to reprint them.
And finally. we would hate to have
the responsibility of choosinb what,
in Jul opinion, was the best, when
there has been SO much even bet
ter than last years prize winners.
We have before us, for example, a
long account-it would run t w Q
newspaper columns in length-of
P%inocchio's life. 1t was written by
| Cynthia Johnson, of t h e sixth
grade, Forest Hills. We haven't
printed it because of lack of space,
but it is one of the outstanding ex-
hibits of work turned in during the
year. The opening paragraph, given
below, indicates the brilliance with
which it is written.
"One beautiful night, long ago., a
weary traveller named Jimmy eric
ket slipped under the door of a little
house and hid in a warm corner Of
the hearth. He was in the shop of
a wood carver named Geppetto. The
The old man was still at work. He
was making a puppet, the figure of
a little boy. 1t was small and round
and cute, but with a long and point
ed nose such as you never saw On a
little fellow"
Sunday, November -, u page
carried a story by Charles Lee Hart,
Grade 6, of William Hooper school,
we believe. 1t is as well turned out
as any editorial to be found by pro-
fessional writer's:
There are many people thinking
today about that November d a y
twenty-one years ago when firing
ceased and the world welcomed what
they hoped and thought was perma-
Lent peace. There has been much
discord in the world since. Much de.
struction and ~bloodshed. And still a
large part of the world is bearing
arms today. We r thankful that
our own United States has remain
ed out of it. We believe we have the
best country in the world and each
of us should try, not only to keep it
so, but to improve some of our pre-
sent conditions. I believe it is the
duty of every boy and girl in the
United States to help keep ours the
best country in the world"
1t was a humping plea in No
vember, today it is a stern warning.
We wish space allowed the re-
printing of a number of Betty Jean
Marshburn's poems. There was one
about pumpkins carried a few
weeks ago which made the senses
tingle with its light charm a n d
gaiety. Betty Jean is an Isaac Bear
student.
Utterly frank, ab%sorbingly inter-
esting, the autobiographies of the
Forest Hills seventh graders turned
into one of our most discussed fea-
lures. The children told of their lives
and their early years of conscious
ness, their education, parents, hopes
and ambitions with real writing and
real charm.
But there were hundreds of stories
carried just as interesting! Carolina
Beach's writer's, for example, were
constantly writing up events of the
day, of history. of "Unsung Heroes,
of history and all of those things
which filled their day and their
thoughts.
The same can be said of every
school in the county. Tileston, to give
another example, wrote with enthu-
siasm and surprisingly good skill
about Gone With the Wind" the
Civil war; their book reviews have
been intriguing enough to enc this
reader to the library for some Of
the stories they told us about.
The school publications this year
have been so much better than last
hiatt a comparison would be cut Of
order. AS a matter of fact, t h e
young writer's have shown so much
improvement over last year-in Sc
lection of topics, variety of approach,
treatment and understanding-that
we cannot help but feel a warming