Colebrook Academy - Clipper Yearbook (Colebrook, NH)

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y FREEDOM QF WQKSHIP What do they defend when they defend America, the hard-shouldored young men of our land? They are fighting for things simple and dear . to them--above all, a nfreedom of religion H In 1620 the Puritans came to America with a determined faith, and this unshakable conviction--that God was marching beside them in both peace and war--gave d e Puritans the strength they had to have to carve the first powerful American commonwealth out of'the,wilderness of New England. , I ' 'J fqfi It is good to be an Americana no choicer heritagercould be given to any man. His birthrightfincludes a majority of the things for which they will'evcr be realized.:1 ' ' g1'j,a , Q ,Aff ,I 4. ' All great wars bringxwith them some sort of spiritual revival. Whengwe are at war, material things must be sacrificed. yMen.then,grope for spiritual things as the only available alternative. ,If we look hack over the last two hundred years, we find that we infthe United States became conscious of an nAmerfean dream.N We visioned a vast continent to be opened up to the,repressed-and oppressed of?other lands. We ment far toward making that dream comeltrue. However3'if history teaches anything, it is that no natieh is great and no nation is strong unless its people are imbued with as active, living faithii We need to hayf this shared by theymany millions who live their liyesfwith regard for the fact that He ls'the Way, the Truth, and the Life., Facts about the oppressed,peoples in Europe are.known only too well. Protestants, Catholics, Jews--one and all--are herded like cattle before the Nazi murder machine for committing a hugh crime--that df worshiping as they please. In the midst of war, fury, and hate, we should not let ourselves forget that we in America still have the free- don to worship God unmolested. W,. f The Puritan spirit speaks from the pulpits andlhearts of Americans todayg the official statements of American leaders are filled with it. Indeed, President Roosevelt might have been speaking'for the Puritan Fathers when he closed his first radio address of the war37on December Q, 1941, with the words that our.cause and our hope wereHfor Wliberty under God,W - If 'A ' J. Walker '45 FRE BDSM FK OM WA N T I ' Every country in the world lacks UFreedom from Want.N This isfone of the four freedoms which Hitler and the Japs are planning to destroy in America. We must break those plans. Of course, America is the least affected by the lack of material things, but we are beginning to get accustomed to going without more and more. Many things that we wear, eat, drink, and use in everyday life are rationed. We are beginning to know what it means to go without butter, meat, and many luxuries that we -g4-

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'S 2 ' 52 'YZ-ei , 2-ff Winl ,izgf 'i':-T21 f 1 ,, , , '!5Z?, '.Ac - .7 a o ' ix w 1 Q., -Q I J V My l ' , If f Www X. ' . C7 sf iff. , ,gf ...LDCJJXIJ Or :Mate Down t ' ugh the centuries freedom of speech has meant the free- ing of the tongue from tyrannical ntongue-tiers.N In the last three centuries, years of radical ideas and back-to-nature philosophy, free- dom of speech has been looked on as a nmustn and taken for granted as a natural function. At present it is an ideal which the United Nations are fighting to restore to oppressed nations and preserve for all future generations. As freedom of speech is regarded as a nmustn, it is therefore necessary that it be guaranteed in some measure. In ancient Greece freedom of expression was construed to mean accordance with the ruling regime. Socrates drank the hemlock because he believed as we today that man's speech is dictated by his conscience and not by one man. The first significant outburst of man's clamor for free speech culmi- nated in the signing of the Magna Carta on the banks of the Runnymede. The few barons who made King John nsign away his kingdomn did not realize the influence it would have on future English generations. This document has been nwrittenu into England's law and reaffirmed by so many sovereigns that it is a principle no true Britisher would do without. It was this influence and the feeling of complete democracy in tht colonies that prompted the founders of this country to include in the Constitution the clause, NCongress shall make no law abridging the fax dom of speech.H These men may have been impetuous in their actions, but, like the shrewd Yankee, their guarantee had to be in writing. This amendment to the constitution has served the people of this natio to the present. It has been affirmed again and again but never so strongly as by President Roosevelt, who said that there shall be ufreedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.n If this country is to long endure as a land of the free, freedom of speech must prevail. The shipbuilder would not build if he didn't have a spokesman, or MRosieH would not rivet if she couldn't chew her gum and nwagn her tongue in peace. Truly, if this freedom of speech were not guaranteed, our country would no longer be the poet's, nSweet land of liberty.N , A Parker Hicks '43 -25-

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X Americans have long enjoyed. The government has been quite lenient in its establishment of our point rationing system. We know not how for- tunate we are to have such great nFreedom from Want.n Picture yourself in all the different war zones. At Wake Island, in the Solomons, and other strategic places in the Pacific many of our soldiers have suffered from the lack of wholesome food. Many of our boys have lived on horse meat. Our fighting forces in Africa have gone without food and clothing to fight for the freedom we love. We must fight equally as hard on the home front. Does every American citizen appreciate the liberty found in America? Think of those countries in Europe and Asia--Russia, Great Brit- ain, France, China, and the other smaller European countries--who have sacrificed everything to fight those who plan to conquer the world and destroy our democracy. Americans, we are next. We must continue to buy war stamps and bonds to help fight those who aim to destroy this freedom. We must continue to help Russia, Great Britain, and China to our utmost limit and stop such cruel treatment in this supposedly modern world. Many people oppose Willkieand his sympathy for the Russians. The' think he is exaggerating the conditions in Russia. If we had been through what Russia had, we would appreciate help. How many people in the United States oppose the Lend-Lease Bill? Every box of food that we send to Russia, Great Britain, and China is a step towards victory. We must not grumble at our slight food shortage,but work all the harder in our victory gardens to raise food for ourselves and our Allies. We must not think of ourselves but cooperate with our Allies and work together as one strong fighting force. One rope pulling in one direction is better than two ropes pulling in opposite directions. Lei us Fight! Fight! Fight! to preserve uFreedom from Want all over the world. - Richard Annis '43 FKEEDQM FROM FEAR Fourth . . . Freedom from fear all over the world. We here in Anurica do not fully know what significance the above sentence really bears. We do not have to run all of the time to escape the bombs which the Nazis and Japs are forever trying to hurl down upon us. Today when we go to work, we can walk along without having to be on the alert for the roaring of a great number of planes overhead, wondering if we are going to reach the air raid shelter before one of those bombs becomes fatal. It is true that we have had air raid drill and blackouts, but the evil has as yet been left out of the picture. We can put our children to bed at night and know that they will have a sound night's rest. We do not wake up in the middle of the night hearing planes roaring and children crying, shaking, and cling- ing to us and not knowing whether they will ever play again. It is with a deep cry of anguish that the mother in England, Russia, and the -25-