Grove High School Class of 1919 ~ Senior Class History Page 1

THE history of our class, proper, goes thru all four years at Grove. A mere tabula-
tion of the happenings: the joy and the laughter, the dew of tears that our Senior
year held, could not begin to tell of our class. We have been a united body
from the first year. One unusual thing is that we have never had a "fuss" or serious
disagreement.

We members of the present class have often laughed at the memories of our first years.
We came to Grove in all stages of slimness, thinness, skinniness, plumpness, fatness, shortness,
longness, "bobbed" hair, curled hair, braided, straight; and in every kind of garment your
fancy can picture. And the first two weeks we played "frog-in-the-middle!" The general
disdain of the Seniors, the careless curiosity of the Juniors, and the ceaseless "showing-off"
of the Sophomores did not take away a bit of our "spunk," but we realized that something
was wrong! The boys proved their prowess in the contests of paper wads, and were rapidly
becoming men of the world by surreptitiously "cutting" chapel, once in a great while. Oh,
delicious dissipation! The girls usually had the lawful amount of clothes on; the boys dis-
carded'as much, usually, as they were able, under the stern censorship of the maternal eye.

The first days at classes were vast fun for the others. A body of Freshmen would assemble
by a door; and, headed by an adventurous member, would stand in parley; then pass hurriedly
to the next room, the gait of the party being a bad cross between an ambling trot and the
Scout pace—fifty steps walking and fifty steps running. Their uneasiness would grow when
they were continuously turned away from the wrong doors. Several minutes after the class-
bell had wrung, they would charge into the right class room at a mad gallop. The teacher,
taking into consideration our tender years, was generally merciful. To be elected to office
in class meeting was a fearsome honor. Yet, this was where our class organization started.
We waded into the uncertain depths of social waters. Our intentions were good, anyway,
in that matter.

The Sophomore year was marked by little change. Some of the girls put up their hair,
and began to see a dim and faraway promise of manly beauty in masculine snub noses and
freckles. The boys began to wash their necks and ears without being told to.

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The most interesting year of our school term came when we were Juniors, when we had
our "Odd" and "Even" wrangles. Our Junior class and the Freshman class were the Odds;
the other two classes were the Evens. Valiantly we strove, with our dear Odd yells and songs.
Our allies, the Freshmen, were "bricks!" We mean nothing sacreligious, but we honestly
believe that when Gabriel sounds his celestial trumpet, if he'll just play a few measures of our
Odd song to the tune of "Old Time Religion," the '19 class will rise in a body and sing the
Evens down! The Evens were worthy antagonists. They fought back as hard as they
could. The funerals we had, burying the Spirit of the Evens! And the Resurrection they
had! It was a perfectly nice resurrection, only the "ghost" that was hidden behind the
tombstone got so hot sitting against the radiator that she had to come out before her time!
The pale GREEN AND GOLD on the lights up Grove Boulevard tell of the frantic and unsuc-
cessful efforts of the Evens to "down" the GREEN AND GOLD. The climax came when the
GREEN AND GOLD floated from the topmost spire of Grove - one of the highest points of
West Tennessee. Our little pals, the Freshmen, were not forgotten - their scarlet and black
hung a little lower down. One of the features of that Junior year was the girls' basketball
team of our class. Many a disagreement of the Odds and Evens was carried to the basketball
court, and settled there - to the utter discomfiture of our rivals.

The last year, and, everything considered, the best year, was the present senior year.
We were as nearly perfect in organization as was possible for a class to be. The "Senior"
feeling we so eagerly expected to experience came only after hard and earnest effort. Our
class meetings, for the transaction of business, were of almost daily occurrence. One of the
most serious questions of our Senior year was that of the Student s Council.

Our class has been one of democratic composition as well as one of democratic tendencies.
Very few of our members have not been with us the full four years, but they are true followers
of the GREEN AND GOLD.

Our "good-byes" are said to Grove, and each other, and we close this book with sincere
pledges of our love for our dear '19 class and the GREEN AND GOLD, until our class reunion
in five years from now, at Grove.