Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - Mohawk Yearbook (North Adams, MA)

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ADDRESS TO THE UPPERCLASSMEN The advice to the underclassmen I'm sure is gratefully received. But may I remind you that the misunderstood sophomores are no longer underclassrnen? We are about to enter the sacred realm of the upper- classmen. Even the freshmen's rank has been moved up a peg. In short, we are not so insignificant as we were in September. Only by the light of your guiding lantern, dear upperclassmen, has our path been pointed out to us. Had it not been for these shining examples would the sophomores know exactly how clean the city keeps the nooks and crannies of the post- oflice steps? Would the freshmen know exactly how many inches long Main Street is? By the way, Little things affect little minds. Perhaps Disraeli should have added a P. S. saying that this excludes upperclassmen. This would help us a great deal next year. Yes, upperclassmen, the path of life at college is life as life . You know, -just one happy song. But you optimistic lassies with your degrees within a stone's throw forget the ruts in this royal road to learning. Why bother with pessimistic ideas on a festive occasion like this? As you have said, life is no longer compared tritely to the well-known journey, that struggle, that climb, but there are still roads to be traveled. Modern traf- fic is confused and confusing, and we of the well known younger genera- tion are learning to drive safely and skillfully. We do not carry a torch. but we are at the wheel, whether it be in a Model T or Rolls-Royce. Betty Ncylund '38 CLASS SONG Oh Alma Mater, grand and dear, We'll soon leave your halls. We've spent happy hours here And now as we pause, Fond mem'ries come drifting Like clouds thru the sky, Conquests, dream 4, and ambitions And joys gone by. Farewell, dear Alma Mater, Our glad voices sing. With praises unending These cherished halls ring: And, as we pass onward, These joy-tinted days Will not lessen our feeling 'Tho rosy the way. . U Dm nth, Dupcll pugc fu'r'nfy-Him'

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ADDRESS TC UNDERCLASSMEN Today I'm not going to tell you about life as a journey, life as a struggle, or life solemn with standards to maintain and lofty goals to achieve. I'm going to tell you about life as life. I'll not even pretend that this is the last time you are to see me. Consequently, if I make any broad sweeping statements now, next year you can see for yourself if I invalidate them. Perhaps you are wondering what the topic life as life means. It's really very simple, the aspect of it that I shall discuss today. It just covers your life up here at college. We all know that college life isn't a simple one, neither is it so very diflicult. We all have our ups and downs, times when things don't go along so smoothly as we would like to have them. However, sometimes we make mountains out of molehills, so to speak, and let little things get the best of us. Remember that it has been said, by Disraeli, that Little things affect little mindsf' Of course, this doesn't apply to you. Everyone knows what great minds teachers and students have. You never wail and moan about too much work to dog you never grumble and fret about trivial matters. Other students in other colleges do that, but not you. You like all your teachersg that is, to a certain extent. But certain- ly, you are not like some grammar school and high school children who think of teachers in the same category as policemen, jailors, or judges. You think of them as your friends, desiring to help you, to enrich your lives with knowledges they have acquired and which you as yet have not had a chance to assimilate. Your life up here need not be burdened and thwarted by petty argu- ments and jealousies. You can practice ahead for good citizenship by sup- porting wholeheartedly your club and class officers. Of course, you wouldn't dream of staying away from any social function, and you just beg for the honor of being on the clean-up committee after a dance. As for academic matters, you give credit where credit is due, and don't be- grudge your friend a higher mark than you. Is it not almost disconcertingly likely that the way we act up here .vill strongly influence the direction our characters will take when we are but of college? A degree is not going to work a miracle and make us over. Why not see to it that right now we free ourselves from the childish habits if small-mindedness, petty jealousies, silly quarrels, and unfair growling ind grumbling. In our life up here we have a mixture of duties and pleasures in con- iection with lessons and teacher-training, athletics, and social activities. Jet us try to take the bitter with the sweet and be what we think We are, nut usually aren't, broadminded. Catherine Shea '37 page twenty-ciglzt

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Ave Salve Vale! Hail, salutations, farewell! What a world of meaning can be read into this brief phrase. In these three short Latin words a whole lifetime could be summed up. Ave, Srzlve, Vale! If a person who was nearing the close of life should utter them, the emotion expressed in his voice might tell us the story of his life, of its heights and depths, its possible growth out of a fruitless, drab existence into a vital life, a life more rich, more abundant because of those heights and depths. We are still young, but surely in this same way the three years of college student's life might be elucidated by an interpretation of the words ''Hail-salutations-farewell1 For the junior class these words have a special significance. They have not merely been said by us, they have been lived vitally by us, in the sense that they express how we have felt during these past three years. We entered this college, and in so doing entered upon a new type of life. This was our Are! At first, perhaps, the answer to our bright Hail seemed just an echo, a reflection of our own thoughtlessly hopeful youth. We expected a cheery Salve in response. Perhaps some of us heard just the neutral echo, a sound devoid of significance, merely to be heard and forgotten, but most of us heard a sober note hinting of the struggles and difficulties to come. In it were undertones of disappointment as well as over-tones of hope and promise. We sensed a challenge and were unwill- ing to be happy on a minor note, to avoid the struggle, to miss the possible triumph of the full diapason of success. As we progressed in knowledge and education we knew the meaning of that Salve. It was the greeting of the present--the echo of the past-- a greeting to the joys and sorrows, the mistakes and achievements of our school life. We are all individuals. Our pasts have been different, our futures undoubtedly will be divergent ones, yet our presents are comparably sim- ilar. We came together from widely dissimilar communities and families, with varying educational background, but we all came for a common pur- pose, the securing of an education so that we in turn might transmit that education to others. In obtaining that goal we have shared for three years a wide variety of experiences which, although we have kept through them all the mould of our own individualities, have served as a mortar cementing us together. As graduation time draws near, that murmur of Saline seems to have risen to a peal of joy, joy in attaining a portion of our goal, joy because it is good to be young and to be the center of attention, joy in the praise of our parents and friends who are concerned with our progress. And mixed with that emotion is another one, harder to define, yet deeply felt. It seems to be an intermingling of curiosity and expectancy, of doubt and hope as to what the future holds. Indeed we hear another salutation, Vale, which is not merely a fare- well to the past, but hail to the future, for most of us to another year of college, to real attainment, to another year of life which will bring work and play, laughter and sorrow. Today is not a day for unhappiness. We graduate tomorrow-yes-but it is not the end of college. It is a spur rather to greater effort in the future. pugw llzirfy