T H E CHEM AW A A M ERICA N
PA G E 4
THE RIGHT, A N D THE WAY, TO BE H A P P Y
(C o n tin u ed from pag e 1)
th a t we enjoy, friendships, love and affection— all of
these are sim ple th in g s, yet w ithin them lies h ap p i
ness, as nearly as we can come to finding it. H a p p i
ness is som ething we m ust take as we go along, w hen
it is fresh like new ly cut flowers.
T here are a considerable num ber of th in g s, such as
im pulses, which are good for today but not tom orrow .
T oday is the day to say the kind w ords and to obey
the generous im pulses th a t stir your h eart. H elp
yourself today to grow larg er, broader, hap p ier, m ore
useful, for “ put-off” happiness and “ p u t-o ff” good
deeds do not k eep—the good in ten tio n s w hich are in
tended to be p u t into effect at some fu tu re tim e usually
spoil.
W e should be happy as we go along, w ith a full u n
derstan d in g or pledge w ith ourselves alone th a t w h e th
er we are successful or unsuccessful in any p articu lar
und ertak in g we will at least be happy as we go along,
th at we will not allow a n y th in g to rob us of our rig h t—
our inalienable rig h t— to be happy each day. W e
should resolve th a t we will not allow any accident or
incident or condition, how ever try in g , to in te rru p t the
natu ral flow of our sense of well being, com fort and
happiness. Rem em ber th a t yesterday is dead; to m o r
row is not born; the only tim e w hich belongs to you
is the passing m om ent. If we are to get the good
th in g s th at belong to us here we m ust ex tract the
sw eetness of each passing m inute w hile it is w ithin o u r
reach.
CHEM AW A H ISTO R Y
In 1895, M r. T . W . P o tte r, th en su p e rin ten d en t at
Chem aw a, purchased th e first black bear th a t called
ChemawTa his hom e. Mr. P otter got the cub from a
man at Siletz, O r., paying $8.00 for it. T h e cub could
not go w ith o u t a nam e so he was dubbed “ J a c k .”
N ot long after th is the Chem aw a baseball team was on
a trip to S co tt’s Mills, .northeast of here, and there
they secured another cub, called “ J o e .” T hey were
kept tied to a tree all the tim e and they became very
cross and Jack nearly killed one of th e boys. B o th
cubs were killed. T h u s ended our first black bear pets.
In 1898 Mr. P o tter again gave his atten tio n to the
bru in problem and secured three cubs from som eplace
south of Salem — Maggie and Jean ette m ak in g two-
th ird s of th e bear fam ily. T h e other bear, w hen
three or four years old, crawled out of the pit (a t th at
tim e located on the site of our present tennis co u rt)
by th e aid of a ladder someone had left in th e pit when
cleaning it. N early all the boys at school gave chase
in the woods ju st east of the au d ito riu m . T h e bear
was very fat and in the excitem ent of the chase it be
I
cam e overheated and died shortly after. T h is left the
two bears, M aggie and Jeanette, alone.
“ S am pson” was th e n ex t to join our bear fam ily.
H e was secured in E u re k a, C alif., by A ssist. S u p t.
Cam pbell in 1905. So, alto g eth er, Chem aw a has o w n
ed six bears. I t is figured th a t M aggie and Je an ette
are each 26 years old and th a t Sam pson is aged 19
years.
[T h e above ta lk was m ad e in assem b ly la st w eek by G e o rg e
P h in n e y , and it m ay be co rrect, b u t th e w rite r of th is believes
th a t S u p t. C h alcraft, w ho succeeded M r. P o tte r as s u p e rin te n d
e n t a t C hem aw a, to ld him th a t h e (S u p t. C h alcraft) p u rch ased
one of th e bears from a m an n ear S ilv erto n , O r. Of course we
m ay be m is ta k e n .—E d .]
OUR ST A N D IN G
C om paring our school w ith others, as to the p e r
cent of failures, Mrs. Iliff, our P rin cip al, presents
some data on th e P ortland high schools w hich gives th e
percent of those stu d e n ts m aking the passing grades.
F o r the year 1920-21 th e pupils of our n in th and te n th
grades, earn in g passing grades, was 82 percent, w hile
those of th e Benson P olytechnic was 86 percent;
F ra n k lin H ig h School 84 percent; H igh School of Com
m erce, 81 percent.
T h e report on C hem aw a covers the n in th and te n th
grades only, w hich corresponds to the first two years
h igh school. M ore failures occur in these two grades
th an in the eleventh and the tw elfth, because poor
stu d en ts become discouraged and drop out w ith o u t
en terin g the higher grades. T h ere are com paratively
few failures in th e tw elfth grade, for a pupil is keen
to finish w ith his class when he once enters the senior
grade. T h u s, it will be seen th at C hem aw a com pares
very well w ith the P o rtlan d schools. I t is said, how
ever, th a t the Jam es John H igh School passes 92 p e r
cent of its stu d e n ts w’ho take the finals, and th e
L incoln H ig h passes 91 percent.
ITEM S FROM THE TRADES
P ain ters are again at the Small Boys’ H om e w o rk
ing on the stairw ay. T hey prom ise us more ex terio r
p ain tin g if the w eather holds good
A t present th e carpenters are building a nice lot of
lockers at the Small B ovs’ H om e. T hey have received
some new b itts for th e surfacer at the shop and are
doing some nice w ork at sm oothing lum ber at present.
Since the 5th of F eb ru ary the boys have repaired
over 80 pairs of shoes in the shoe shop. It is dem o n
strated that even though they have no in stru cto r th e
detail is g ettin g out the w ork. W e com m end those
boys.
T he m asons have been studying concrete, excavating
and form s in class the past week. T h ey are quite in
terested . T hey are still at w ork on p lastering in the
various buildings and expect to get the most of the re
pairing done soon.
Good news has arrived for the boys of the tailo rin g
d ep artm ent w ho have been w ithout an in stru c to r for
some tim e and who have continued to w ork on th e
uniform s and clothing in general. T he good news is
th a t M r. Jam es is to re tu rn to th e d epartm ent on the
first of M arch. T h e boys are glad to hear it and all
em ployees join in th eir joy at th e news.