Los Angeles High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 10 text:

!)ro Walter A., Edwards ' ■cwPVii w Jn ! w»nm '

Page 9 text:

DEDICATION e, tlhe Wieiter Class of Ninteee Eliuiedred Thirty-Two, dedicate tlhis edition of the Blue and White Seirai-Ainimiuial to the ideals of Aociemt Greece, our heritage of today The vision of truth that they followed, The altars of beauty they raised, The torches of learning they lighted, The thoughts of wisdom they phrased — For these — their gifts, that through ages Have guided man ' s life like a star. We give tribute. And we shall remember Our duty — to carry them far. Clara Scott ■ «f ' »i 1V «»l¥W ' S T ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' - ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' V ' ' ' ' ' ■■ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ■ ' ' ' ' ' '

Page 11 text:

FOREWORD If we should ask ourselves what constitutes our present civilization, we should doubtless begin with an enumeration of the visible evidences of that civilization — our cities and their wealth, our factories and their products, our comfortably or luxuriously furnished dwelling houses, our varied means of transportation — all the material things which minister to our needs and our enjoyment. But we should quiclvly see that these are but a part and indeed the smaller part of our present possessions. Our larger wealth is intangible. It consists of institutions, customs, traditions, governmental sys- tems, artistic, religious and ethical concepts, scientific data and theories, discovered truth in all fields of thought, knowledge of the laws of nature and of human life, ideas, ideals. That this body of intangible wealth is incomparably more valuable than all our material possessions is obvious when we remember that the latter were produced but yesterday, are intended for the most part for immediate consumption, and when con- sumed will be readily replaced. If some sweeping disaster should befall our material wealth, our intellectual resources would enable us to repair the evil. We have been able to produce this material wealth because we had this intellectual equipment. Now the significant fact is that this great volume of intangible wealth is largely an inheritance from the past. Doubtless our own generation has made large con- tributions to it; and it is also true that much of what has come down to us is found to be useless and must be discarded. But when full allowance is made for both these elements, the fact remains that we owe the great bulk of our intangible wealth to former generations. Other men labored and we are entered into their labors. There is little exaggeration in the apostle ' s indignant question, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? We are the heirs of all the ages. But our inheritance, made up as it is of con- tributions from various peoples, and races, is to us an undivided whole. We are not concerned to disentangle the various strands and to trace each to the source from which it came. Nor could we do so in every case if we tried. The strands seem inextricably interwoven, and we often find ourselves unable to say of this or that strand that it is definitely the gift of this or that people. But in the principal elements of our civilization we easily recognize the characteristics of the races from whom they were derived, and in fact the historic line of descent can usually be traced with sufficient certainty. And in no instance are the characteristics more easily identified and the line of descent more clearly marked than in the case of the ancient Greeks. No thought- ful person can doubt that our debt to this people is very great, both on account of the endless variety and also the inestimable worth of their gifts to us. Some of tliese the reader will find set forth in the following pages. But if an attempt had been made to tell all that we owe to the Greeks, many volumes like the present one would have proved wholly inadequate. WALTER A. EDWARDS