The High School Prophecy

A large audience assembled at the Central School building last evening in response to invitations issued by the scholars of the High School, the occasion being the annual reunion of the scholars and graduates of the school. One of the spacious school rooms had been tastefully decorated with flowers and evergreens, and seats had been arranged for the benefit of the school. The room was comfortably filled, and on the platform, which had assumed a very stage-like appearance, were seated those who were to take part in the exercises of the evening. Shortly after 8 o'clock, the exercises were opened by prayer by Rev. J. T. Walters. This was followed by a piano solo by Miss Hattie Gouch. The young lady acquitted herself admirably, rendering a difficult selection with an ease and grace which was charming. An oration on 'Self Help' by E. C. Burrows was next on the program. It was filled with deep thought and sound conclusions and was well delivered. Miss Belle Vrooman entertained the audience with 'The Importance of Little Things.' Her subject was one which has been made the text of many a learned discourse, but the young lady handled it in a manner which left a need for no further argument. William Hano recited 'Paddy's Excelsior,' one of the many parodies on Longfellow's beautiful poem, with telling effect, bringing tears of merriment to the eyes of each and every one of his auditors. Perry Judson read 'The Fall of the Gladstone Ministry' in a calm, philosophical and statesmanlike manner. Then came the 'Prophecy'—to which the destiny of the members of each class and of the High School as a whole is forecast. This was a scene reminding one forcibly of the appearance of the Wierd Sisters in Macbeth, except that the number of the wierd ones was increased to six, the parts being taken by Misses Florence Stowell, Carolyn Lake, Hattie Gouch, May Fonda, Alice Clarke and Nola Cowden. It must be acknowledged that the young ladies played the witches excellently well. The future was tore to shreds by their trembling hands, and the fragments were held up before the eyes of the audience with a distinctness that might have been horrible, if it had not been relieved by a dash of jolly fun.