Bucyrus High School - Bucyrian Yearbook (Bucyrus, OH)

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PRIMITIVE MAN llHas man always been man, or has he gradually developed from some less highly organized animaIPli is the question upon which so many philosophers have wasted their lives to advance theories. Perhaps the most noted of these is that of uNatural Selectionll by Charles Darwin. That is, all animals are the results of slow changes of nature from not more than live progenitors and that all plants and trees of an equal or less number. That by the gradual and slow changes of nature one animal has been born with a slight advantage over another in its means of securing food, in the development of certain muscles; and by far the more important in the advantage, it is better enabled to es Tips its enemies, while those less favorably equipped are an easy prey. Thus we have HNatural Selection by means of WThe Survival of the Fittestfl It is by this very slight change continuing through thousand of years inherited and advanced in each offspring that man has come into existence, that he at one time was without erect stature, but crawled upon his hands and feet, that he had the general appearance of a monkey, that he was endowed with the instinct of seeming danger and that he had no mode of conversation but merely a bark or grunt. This, by Darwirfs Theory was the early condition of man, and from these forms he has gradually risen to his present state. Now let us look at a theory which is just the opposite, that of the Duke of Argyll 0n KlPriineval Man. That is, that man was a separate creation, that he 'as alvays man and nothing else. This theory is carried to Genesis in the Scripture which treats of the creation of man independent of all other creations. But how the variations of complexion, language and intellect, which lead those of the same color to congregate and form nations so distant from each other? Why were there so many different languages if all were descended from the same parent? These questions and others like them are the points which lead to different theories. But one thing these nations have left behind by which we tan determine with some accuracy as to their antiquity, and that is their relics, carvings, and temples. In Egypt was found a temple which bore a picture representing negroes in bondage and by the hieroglyphic translation of this picture the time was found to be nineteen hundred years before Christ, showing that man must have existed long before this period in order to become well enough educated to print, paint and carve. If these carvings and paintings were completed three thousand eight hundred and eight years ago, when then was the beginning of a change of man lowering into some animal as is Darwiifs theory? But each can have his theory until a proof is given which leaves no doubt or room for a supposition. Each can have his belief and each is right. 23 WALTER R. BEALL Alpha Zeta Bradwurster Mgr. Class Base Ball

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STELLA V. BARTH Philomathean Ragus Girls H. S. Orchestra HISTORY iTFrom history,N as Sir Walter Raleigh says, tlwe gather a policy no less wise than eternal, by the comparison and application of other menls fore-passed miseries with our own like errors and ill deservinngT History is the root of all science, and is the product of careful study and observation of malfs existence as far back as the era in which Adam lived until the present day, written in chronological order. The earliest history that we get, is taken from the monuments of Egypt and Assyria which were found buried many feet in the earth, and which give us slight hints of what our prehistoric ancestors did, in regard to war, custom and art. The next history that we get is from the Old Testament of the Bible, but the real artistic form of history we get from the Greeks. The Greeks were the first historians and remained unsurpassed. The world never deviated from the lines laid down by them until this century. History is divided into three divisions, Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Ancient history is history taken as far back as can be traced to the fall of Rome in 476 A. D. Medieval history extends from 4-76 to the discovery of America in 1492 and Modern history extends from that time until the present day. The Field of history is so far restricted to its subject that only the doings of a community possessing organic life can possess it, and must be treated in regard to its social, moral, religious and governmental conditions. The history of a country depends a great deal on its geographical position. Countries having the healthiest Cli- mate to live in furnish the greatest history to the world. It produces the healthiest people, therefore the brightest and most far-thinking. The coldest and nnhealthiest countries have no important history connected with them. History may deal with the past development of human affairs, as a whole, or with some special phase of human activity as Political, Ecclesiastical, Geological 0r Natural history, but whatever way it deals with the activity of a country it deals with the development of that subject traced as far back as can be. History is something that is constantly changing, and the more a country develops the greater will be its history. In regard to modern history, we are nearly overwhelmed with the mass of new materials and discoveries which have been launched upon us. Take for instance the influence the modern inventions have 011 history. The wonderful locomotives, firearms and means of spreading news over the world has changed the mode of fighting in battle so greatly that the side hoping to win, must show the greatest skill in inventing. This age can not boast of such laurels as our ancestors won in the fields of antiquity and the middle ages. Modern ages have won their victories by weight of metals more than by skill of commanders; not saying that the commanders of Our day have not skill, but that they have no occasion to display it. Nevertheless the human interest attached to the history of matfs development will always exist, and will continue to instruct and Console mankind to the remotest generation. 22

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DOES POETRY BELONG TO THE LESS HIGHLY FRED,K F. BLICKE Philomathean Bradwurster H. S. Orchestra Asslt. Editor, llBucyrianll DEVELOPED NATIONS? Is it true that poetry is the production of nations when in a state of unprogressiveness or non-development and that it flourishes best when the country is in this Condition? Or on the other hand is poetry merely the mark of manis intellectual or material progress? . , Let us assume that poetry belongs to the state of development and progressiveness. If such is the case, then today we must look to the worldis prosperous and intellectual nations for our poetry. We all know, however, that in the last Efty years no really good poetry has been produced by any nation. And indeed any reader of poetry would scarcely think of elassing poetry in the same age with steam engines, automobiles, wireless telegraphy and flying machines. Let us leave out of consideration the advanced age of civilization of the present and look over the past years when America was an undeveloped stretch of land on this side of the Atlantic, and note the sentimental age in which our grandfather's lived. Among their associates were such men as Lincoln, VVebster and Clay, whose powerful oratory gave them world-wide fame. An objection may be made that oratory is not poetry. It is not accordingr .to the literal understanding of poetry but the oratory of these men is found to be full of poetic expression and sentiment which shows that both the poet and the orator are inspired by the same surroundings. Whittier and Longfellow produced their greatest works in the early part of the nineteenth century when America was still classed as an inferior nation. Going still farther back to the time when America was mostly back woods, we find such men as Patrick Henry, John Adams and others, whose powerful and forceful elocution is too well known to commen:C upon. Let uS look at the condition of literature In Europe when that continent was in an unprogressive state of develop- ment. VVe Find in the early condition of England examples which show that its greatest poetry was composed when that nation was in an undeveloped state. We notice that almost the first utterance of the rough, rude, uncultured Teutons who inhabited England at an early date is poetry. Homeris Iliad, one of the immortal productions of Grecian literature, was written in the midst of unsettled warfare and when the countries of Greece were in a constant turmoil. Burns, Scotlandls greatest poet, lived and wrote when that country was in a state of degeneracy. In conclusion to the above facts Shakespeare, whose works stand today pre-eminent in the literary world, lived in a period called the Golden Age of English Literaturef, This period occupied the sixteenth century, when England was but poorly developed and when it was a rare thing for a common person to be able to read or write. Milton also wrote in one of the dark ages of English history. It has been shown that all of the worldls greatest poets wrote in times which are not noted for their brilliant his- tory, but rather in times when the country in which they lived was either at a standstill or in a state of degeneracy, and as this progressive world of today has failed to produce any great poetry we therefore conclude that poetry is the production of nations when in a state of less highly development. 24