The High School 'Hookey' Tradition
Defying the school board, 400 Tacoma high school boys plan to strike on Washington's Birthday to spend the day at 'Camp Weinerwurst.'
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In open defiance of the board of education, four hundred high school boys will absent themselves from their studies Monday, Washington's birthday, and will go to Camp Weinerwurst to observe the day. Several launches have been chartered and a hundred pounds of weinerwurst, bread and other eatables have been provided for the occasion, in accordance with the custom set by previous classes at the school. The announcement of the day's jaunt comes as the result of a statement by the school board that, inasmuch as the day is not legally a school holiday, it could not declare it such. The schools receive nine cents each day for attendance, and, if a holiday is granted, the board says, several hundred dollars will be lost. For several years, with the exception of February 22, 1908, the boys of the school have played 'hookey' on Washington's birthday, presumably to show their reverence to the father of his country, and have gone in launches to 'Camp Weinerwurst' on the opposite shores of Commencement bay. According to the school authorities the lads who fail to appear at school Monday will become involved in serious trouble.
“The schools receive nine cents each day for attendance, and, if a holiday is granted, the board says, several hundred dollars will be lost.”
This story highlights a century-old tension between institutional bureaucracy—prioritizing daily attendance funding—and student agency. It serves as a reminder that Tacoma's student culture has long balanced rigorous schooling with a fierce tradition of local independence.
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