Malden High School - Maldonian Yearbook (Malden, MA)

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THE MALDONIAN (SUasa iftatarg Irene Hurwitz We have a past blit not a dark one. On the contrary, we have many highlights in our history, such as scholastic stars and athletic meteors. The moon, too, has aided many a Senior on occasion. So, you see, our History is a brilliant one with various il¬ luminations. The morning of February 3, 1922 was cold and rainy, but the new Freshmen of the school slept peacefully on in their trundle beds. Although even the Seniors had to arise at 7:00 o’clock, the Fresh¬ men had the wintry morning in which to sleep. WE were not required to be in school until the, afternoon. This state of affairs was due to the fact that the school committee had decided that we, the Class of 1926-A, had need of the entire building. Our class was the first to initiate the afternoon-school system. It was a new experience that the authorities were attempting and our class proved its merits beyond a shadow of a doubt. In spite of the fact that we were not due until one o’clock, by noon¬ time we had gathered in the Assembly Hall of the Malden High School as Freshmen of that awe-inspiring institution. We marched in, two by two, the little girls with their long hair and the little boys with their short trousers. Quietly, very quietly, we found seats in the auditorium and trembled violently when Mr. Jenkins stepped upon the platform to give us our first directions. He spoke slowly, repeating for us the, complicated instructions and assigned us to home rooms. From the first, the Class of 1926-A was high up in the life of the school. Our home rooms were all on the third floor. Our first day in Malden High School we spent in signing our names and writing the date countless numbers of times. The second day we wandered away from our haven, the third floor, and became entangled in the maze of rooms on the second floor. The third day we asked Mr. Jen¬ kins who the headmaster was, and the fourth day we were exhausted with over study. Little by little, however, our brilliancy began to gleam through the Freshmen exterior. We learned that 317 could be entered by a rear door, that Mr. Nash and Mr. Wilson were not one and the same person, and that football was played in the fall. We carried all our books home and listened eagerly to every word of the teachers. The last ranking period of the semester, Class I led the Honor Roll of the School. By June 1922 we were full-fledged members of M. H. S. Our first summer vacation while in High School, we spent telling everyone that we were going to school in the morning. Class II! In the morning! We felt ourselves all-important. We did not fear the Sophomores because during our apprenticeship in Class I, we had learned everything about the school. Again we were installed in third floor home rooms which we occupied with a special air of posses¬ sion leaving spit-balls and gum-wads in the desks to prove it. We carried home fewer books, report cards became a matter of course, teachers be¬ came less formidable, athletics became interesting, and we gained repre- Page 40

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THE MALDONIAN they stumble forward, silent in their agony, brave to the last, when worn- out nature gives way and they sink down one by one, till none is left alive, and only the still figures, lying face downward on the frozen snow, bear mute witness of how they had neither wavered nor faltered in their duty but had died, sacrificing their lives to science and the world. Again we turn to the story of Adolphus Greely and his band to see how men of such calibre take their difficulties. One of their number has written a most vivid account of their trip, in which we read that they, too, had abandoned their ship and were struggling forward on foot. Their situation was desperate. Any moment the ice might crumble under their feet and the sea swallow up the whole company. Their provisions were dangerously low, yet they danced and sang. Adversity in any form, no matter how sharp, failed to dampen their spirits. Again, we read that towards the end of the journey, provisions were so low that each man was allotted only fourteen ounces of food a day. For over a month they had been slowly starving on an amount of food for a whole day that a normal man could easily eat at one meal. For four, seemingly never- ending, more months they must suffer constantly from the sharp pangs of starvation, almost entirely in the long cheerless dark of the arctic winter. Yet, they did not give up. We, read how they accepted the fearful conditions of their situation without a murmur, buoyed up by their indomitable spirits, sure in their calling, and striving towards their goal. And so through the ages, the world has been inspired by these men, knowing no such word as “failure,” who have gone on, fighting against fearful odds, heart-rending disappointments, horrifying sufferings, al¬ ways with a steady conviction, striving towards the glorious achievement of their dreams, urged on by that same whisper which sent forward the explorer in Kipling’s poem, by its constant calling, “Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges Lost and waiting for you. Go!” Page 39

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EUNICE YOUNG Page 41