Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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HiG ki SS CHoOor ANNUAL. ness of the High School. You will be alone; you will not have the companionship of your fellow students. There are the best young people of our land in our High Schools, and these help mold the characters of one another. At home, you will not have the laboratories in which to test statements made by scientists, and where you may ascertain for yourself the knowledge of certain truths. You will not have access to the library, and consequently will not have a chance to read the views taken by great men of allages. ‘The companionship of your fellow-students, the laboratories, and libraries, all form more than half of your education. David Starr Jordan says that, ‘‘each of us owes much to the college, its libraries, its lab- oratories, its professors, but something of the power of each, as teacher or as student, has been given by each to the others.”’ ‘The educated man has the courage of his convictions,’’ and is able to stand by those con- victions. He does not join a party or a church just because his father and mother belonged to it, but he sees things as they really are, and helps others to see them thus. Again we quote Mr. Jordan: “I said just now that you cannot put a $2000 education on a $50 boy. This has been tried again and again. Itis tried in every college. It fails almost every time. What of it? It does not hurt to try. A few hundred dollars is not much to spend on such an experiment. But what shall we say of a man who puts a $ .50 education on a $20,000 boy, and narrows and cramps him throughout his after life? And just this is what ten thousand parents in Cali- fornia to-day are doing for their sons and daughters. ‘Twenty years hence, ten thousand men and women will blame them for their shortness of sight and narrowness of judgment in weighing a few paltry dollars, soon earned, soon lost, against the power which comes from mental training.’’ ‘‘For a man to have died, who might have been wise and was not, this,’’ says Carlyle, “this I call a tragedy.”’ The objection is made by some that educa- tion unfits children for work. ‘This is a mis- take. Education is not a scheme to enable men to live without work, but to enable men to live to advantage—to make every stroke count. Some see no advantage in an education be- yond a grammar school. Many of these with- out requisite training enter the professions. Hence we have such crowds at the bottom of the ladder of every profession. Few there are who are qualified to take high positions. A proper education will make you one of those few. It will give you influence among a class of men whom you could not otherwise reach at all. The more you are educated the more your individuality shines forth. It is strengthened by reading the thoughts and deeds of great men of all ages and climes. Education strengthens us in mind and character. It teaches us to find for ourselves some of the great truths of nature. The educated man is better able to help his fellow man, and, ‘‘know- ing whither he is going,’’ he is able to show others the way. Of him, as of Goldsmith’s ‘ Villiage Preacher,’’ may be said: ‘‘And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies; He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.”’ IML, JB, “We, OO. ee = Wild and Cultivated Flowers uf Madera County. ae “Springing in valleys, green and low, And on mountains high, And in silent wilderness, Where no man passeth by ; Our outward life requires them not, Then wherefore had they birth ? To minister delight to man, To beautify the earth.’’ There was no particular reason why the earth at the time of Adam should be literally strewn with blossoms. ‘They were of no par- shi og

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High School Annual. ViOlea IT: MADERA, CAL., JUNE 20, 1808. NO. I. Poem. aS When Time's restless wings, in the cowrse of things, Shall have left our youth behind ws, Having completed then owr three score and ten, On this mundane sphere assigned us, In the reflective stage of peaceful age, Some trifle will remind ws Of the careless ways of high school days, And the congenial ties that bind us. Well recall the store of mythical lore, The Latin texts that confownd ws, Our eager swésestions on scientific qwes- tions, And how new theories astound us; Some praise well earned, or a neglected pace wnlearned, : And the plight in which it found Ws; With an aged sigh we'll see tn our mind’s eye The things that now suwrrownd us. Well picture Sierra’s peaks in the clouds, Wrapped in the folds of their still white shrouds, The vast and fertile plain arownd ws, The distant buzz of the old planing mill, And the blast of its noon-day whistle shrill, That from our tasks wnrbound us. Memory, happily, is not always just true, The eye looks pleasantly on the retro- spective view ,— Our life’s hard lines, and frequent rowgh places, Time’s brush towches softly, and gently effaces ; But Memory’s vocation is a late consola- tion, providentially left ws, When Time’s measured length, of youth and strength has bereft us. So well take the hard lines, along with the pleasant, And the rowgh places along with the snvooth, We'll live our lives in the living present, And leave gentle memory, our old age to soothe. —Ernestine Cowghran. June brd, 1598. Why We Have a High School. ar “The world turns aside for the man who knows whither he is going.’’ The High School is an important link in an education which will have for its result the knowledge of “whither are we going?”’ On the ladder of learning there are three landings—the Grammar School, the High School and the University, of which the High School is the connecting link. With some it may be the last link in their education, but even these should strive just as earnestly for the laurels of good scholarship as those who expect to enter the University. Remember, whatever you are, you must have made your- self, and a well spent school life is one of the greatest helps to all good things. Learning’s ladder must be climbed round by round. Every lesson must be learned and every day’s tasks accomplished as they present themselves. ‘Thus, beside the book lore which we attain, we learn to be systematic and de- cided. We receive mental training which is of great use to us in whatever station of life we may be. ‘This is the training needed and re- quired to enter the University. If you do not have it you will always feel the necessity of it. Some may say, ‘‘why can we not study at home and receive the training there?’ You may receive it in a measure, but not in the ful-

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ime of then fed man ant ts ll dey, the wa . Tue if Mat hy the se tery © of 10 Pr to thes | HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. ticular use, there being only one person to enjoy them, but the blossoms gladdened his heart. And as we watch the flowers on the plains of our county flourish, we realize, as did Adam, that a watchful eye cares for them. Like a mother tucking in her babe in the cradle at night, so carefully and silently was the opened earth closed and gently pressed around the little plants. Every leaf seems to have a distinct pattern; each flower has its own shade and shape ; no two are the same; each has a distinct concep- tion. Flowers are the daintiest bits of God’s handiwork. Longfellow has called the flowers ‘The stars of earth’s firmament.’’ (God has written many aud wonderful truths in the stars that shine above us, but not less in the flowers beneath our feet is there a revelation of His love. Flowers grow about us everywhere; some to tell us Spring is here, others, their petals filled with dew, stand like Ruth, amid the corn. California has been said to be the paradise of wild flowers, though poets have not yet written of blossoms of this new land as they have of the primroses and daisies of the old world. From March to May the valley and foot- hills of our county are gay with wild blossoms. In the higher regions the flowers come later, after the snows have gone. The wild flowers of California and espe- cially of the San Joaquin Valley, seem to de- light in massing themselves in great patches of color, especially in yellow and purple, so that in flower time, the country looks like a great crazy quilt. There is not one place in the State where lilies are not found. The daintiest lily in our county is the Mari- posa, sometimes called the butterfly tulip. “Tike a bubble borne in air, Floats the shy Mariposa bell.”’ This flower is found in purple white or pale gold. The base of each of three petals is marked in soft shaded colorings or velvety spots and stripes, being guides in these as in other flowers to show insect visitors the way to the flowers’ nectar stores. The joy and pride of every Californian is the brilliant flame-colored poppy, the chosen State flower. Botanists call it Eschscholtzia, but many of the early Spaniards gave it a much more heautiful name of Capo-de-Oro or Cup of Gold. ‘ Thy satin vesture richer is than looms Of Orient weave for raiment of her kings; Not dyes of olden Tyre, not precious things Regathered from her long forgotten tombs Of buried empires, not iris plumes That wave upon the tropics myriad wings, Not all proud Sheba’s queenly offerings Could catch the golden marvel of thy blooms. For thou art nurtured from the treasury stores Of this fair land, thy golden rootlets sup Her sands of gold—of gold thy petals spun ; Her golden glory, thou! on hills and plains, Lifting, exultant, every kingly cup, Brimmed with golden vintage of the sun.’’ The abundance and brilliancy of the poppy in early days was so great that fields of these gorgeous flowers seen on mountain-sides by passing ships gave to certain regions the name of ‘‘Land of Fire.’’ The pretty little cream-cups belong to the poppy family as do many other species with long golden threads of stamens in their satiny cups. To the great family of sunflowers belong the marigolds, daisies and the beautiful chrysanthemums of our gardens and you can always know any member by the many flowers packed closely together on one head. The mustard, the tramp of the plains, belongs to the domestic family of which the cabbage, turnip and radish are members. It is now found in both city and country, crowd- ing out more worthy plants. It has some old- fashioned relations also in the wallflower and candy-tuft of our gardens. We have noticed that each blossom has four petals spreading out somewhat in the form of a cross. Of all the flowering plants the rose family