Bucyrus High School - Bucyrian Yearbook (Bucyrus, OH)

Page 31 text:

VQUEEN VICTORIA No other sovereign of England was better known or held in higher esteem than Queen Victoria. She was the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. From the time of her birth nothing but honor, loyalty and devo- tion were paid to her. Although there were possibilities of her not becoming queen, people always spoke of her as their future sovereign. i When she was about a year old her father died and her mother, although a foreigner and unaccustmned to the ways of English living, remained in England, in order that she might be able to bring up her child according to the laws and customs of the English people, whom some day she might govern. Victoria's study began when she was about four years old. At first she cared nothing for her books but later she took great interest in them. ' When Victoria was eleven years old she was told she would be queen. At this time the king was very sick and at his death the Duke of Clarence would ascend the throne, and Victoria would succeed him. Victoria kept her thoughts to herself and even her mother did not know how much she was dreading a life on the throne. When William IV ascended the throne a bill was passed which provided that she should come to the throne before she was of age but that her mother should rule with her. Victorials time was now all devoted to study and travel for the Duchess believed the best way the future queen was to know her country was to see it. The next year the princess and her mother spent much of their time in their yacht and the king was annoyed, for wherever they went they were greeted, not only with speeches, but with the firing of guns and he insisted that it was not legal and should he stopped as that honor was due to him alone. Victoria was a little over eighteen when she came to the throne and at this time a bill was passed which gave the House of Commons more power than it had ever had, so that the queen had much indirect influence but little direct power. When Victoria was twenty-one she married her cousin, Prince Albert. Victoria brought about a number of reforms, among them the most important ones being, the Postal Reform, the Repeal of Com Laws, Free Trade and the Repeal of Window and Newspaper Tax. Prince Albert died in 1861. In him the nation lost an earnest promoter of educational anal industrial reforms. In 1897, the Queen celebrated her Diamond jubilee and by this act the common people were led to know their ruler better than any other sovereign. Queen Victoria died in 1901, her death being partly due to the grief and anxiety caused by the Boer War. 27 GRACE D. DIMON Philomathean Ragus Girls

Page 30 text:

CLEO J. DE LASHMUTT Philomathean Ragus Girls MUSIC the rustle of the leaves in Summefs hush, When wandering breezes touch them, and the sigh That filters through the forest, or the gush That swells and sinks amid the branches high, lTis all the music of the wind, and we Let fancy float on the Aeolian breatth The right to like or dislike music or a musical composition without giving a reason has long been regarded as CO- existent with human freedom. Music has been a sort of Cinderella of the Arts, sometimes observed, incidentally admired, but generally treated as of no serious importance in the presence of her favored sisters, Paintingr and Poetry. No one, 'who has not at least learned the difference between a pen sketch and a water color painting, presumes to pronounce an opinion on the merit of a picture; so it is with a musical composition-no one should judge a selection unless he has learned the difference between a Massanet production which refreshes the intellect by its appeal to your feet and one of Beethovenk masterpieces Music is rationalized emotion and must be heard to be appreciated, the same as a picture must he Hrst seen to be appreciated. Have you ever stopped to think how music really influences you and what emotions it calls forth? It soothes the sad, encourages the helpless, enlightens the whole world, and causes things to appear in a more beautiful aspects Let us turn to the church on Sunday morning; there are prayers, a sermon and the InusiC-the choir begins to sing. Does not this arouse in you the purest and loftiest of emotions? VVhat emotions are aroused by that martial funeral dirge? An almost suHocating feeling of sadness and sympathy, associating with the mysteries of the Great Beyond. This really is one value of music. In a literal sense it brings all Heaven before our eye, and recalls and discloses eternal truths and relations. . Is not the slow, beautiful wedding march of Lohengrin a sort of sad farewell to the maiden, which however, soon breaks forth into a happy futureeof wedded bliss. Then there is 'the stirring music of the brass band, and of the street piano. All of these play upon our different emotions, but music influences everyone in a way that nothing else can do. However, most people have vague and unsettled ideas as to the expressive power of Music, and in looking for something which does not exist, they fail to hnd that which does. This vagueness arises from three causes; first, ignorance of the true nature of musical expressiveness; second, ignorance of musical history; third, foolish Criticism. Music is an art which expresses moods, and it expresses them with detiniteness, eloquence and inHuence. Many who are ignorant of music try to discern in it the cause of moods, and that is just what music cannot tell us. Bulwer says, llMusic once admitted to the soul becomes a sort of spirit and never dies. It wanders through the halls and galleries of the memory and is often heard again, distinct and living, as when it first displaced the wavelets of the airfT And in the words of Shakespeare, llThe man that hath not music in himself, and is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, strategems and spoils. Let no man trust himf, 26

Page 32 text:

WILLIAM A. GARDNER Philomathean Foot Ball, ,06 and lo7 Basket Ball Bradwurster Member Sr. Debating Team Athletic Edi, iiBucyrianli PATRIOTISM tDelivered on Washington's Birthdayl In commemorating the anniversary of the birth of so noble a man, naturally our thoughts revert to one of his greatest Characteristics, his devotion to his country his patriotism. He seems to have embodied in his actions, thoughts and life, the sentiments of Martyn, who said, iiMy country claims me all, claims every passion; her liberty henceforth be all my thought; for her my life Iid willingly resignili A manis Country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers and woods, but it is a principle, and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. It is the love that moves a man to serve his country by protecting its rights, by defending it from invasion and by maintaining its laws and institutions. Patriotism is like the family instinct; in the child it is a blind devotion, in the man an intelligent love. It is a love that is absolutely unselfish, for it was not his olive orchards and almond groves that made the Greece of the Greek; 1101' was it for his apple orchards and potato fields that the farmer of New England left his plow standing in the furrows and marched away to Bunker Hill and Saratoga, but for the love and devotion he bore to his country. True patriotism is not that excitement which is caused by public danger, and which a few months of active cam- paigning will entirely destroy, but it is something which is so deeply rooted in character that it will endure until death. It is patriotism that makes the true statesman to whom a country owes its welfare, for it is seen throughout History that a country has but little infiuence upon other nations when an unselfish patriotism is looked upon but as the enthusiasm of youth Which will gradually pass away with the coming of maturer years. The man who is born in this country is born to a patriotic regard for it. His mission, without doubt, is to increase the love of liberty and to maintain his country in the position in which it now stands, as a protest against absolutism; opposing freedom to feudalism and slavery. These men are truly patriots, who in times of danger march off amidst the rattle of the drum and the martial music of the fife, with the determination to die, if necessary, to protect their Country. These are not the only patriots, how- ever, for even now, many are showing their love of country by protecting its laws and institutions, whose devotion is complete, and who in Civil life show as great bravery as do those who face the cannons mouth. A large percentage of our dangers are domestic, not international. American citizens would do more good7 and live more in accordance with the principles of true patriotism if they would constantly keep before their eyes a clause contained in Washingtonk Farewell Address, iiTo provide institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, developing an enlightened public opinion; to perform the duties of American citizensf, Or perhaps even better than this, the words of Webster, ilLet our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And by the blessing of God, may that country become a vast and splendid monument, not . of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration, foreverf,