Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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10 THE SASSAMON more than all? Dear Schoolmates, our friends, you, who will take our places next year, be loyal to your high school and in so doing be loyal to yourselves. Be co-workers with your teachers and remember their beads are wiser than yours-their ways are best. Dear Iligh School, we may pass on tp other scenes of life, yet never can we forget the happy hours spent within thy walls. In the Garden of our lives we have planted rosemary for remembrance! Farewell! Miriam Eldridge. CLASS POEM Classmates we've all assembled here to- night To bid farewell to high school days now past, Ilut from us naught can ever break those ties Of faithful friendship made always to last. Through these years of toil and pleas- ure Spent in this our dear high school, llave we striven and won together Access to a higher goal. E'en as the shell brings inward from the sea The murmur of its void and unknown home, So may we now, the class, nineteen sixteen Bear worthy Natick echoes where we roam. Thus we stand this night of parting, Met before the opened gates, Now, we pass to paths of promise Where new life before us waits. And as we sadly leave our honored high school Grateful for the good we've learned therein, We thank once more, our teachers kind and good For garlands of success they've helped us win. Natick High School days are over, Farewell to them all we say, As to greater tasks before us Pass we through the upward way. Launched at last on life's broad sea, Ever let our motto be I serve. Esther Pendleton. CLASS ORATION AN ASPECT OF MODERN LIFE It is said of the ermine that it will often suffer injury rather than allow pol- lution to touch its glossy coat, but take away the coat and the animal is worth- less. VVe have ermines in higher life, those who love display. The de- sire to seem, rather than to be, is a fault which our age, as well as all other ages, must deplore. Sham is carried into every department of life, and we are being cor- rupted by show and surface. We are be- ginning to judge people more by what they have, than by what they are, we have too few Hamlets who are bold enough to proclaim, I know, not seem! Although reputation may in some de- gree be taking the place of character, yet the latter has lost none of its worth, and, now, as of old, is a priceless posses- sion, wherever found. Its absence and presence, alike, prove its value. Have you not at some time or other talked with those whose brilliant wit, piercing sar- casm and well framed sentences failed to conceal a certain indescribable something which made you distrust every word they uttered? Have you not listened to those whose eloquence dazzled, whose feigned earnestness incited in you an enthusiasm equal to their own, and yet, have you not felt that behind all this there was lurking a certain something that repelled the admiration which their genius at- tracted? That something is want of character, or, to speak more truly, the possession of bad character, and it shows itself alike in nations and individuals. Aeschines was one of the greatest ora- tors that ever thrilled a Grecian audi- ence. His masterpiece was his oration against the crowning of Demosthenes. It was a masterly production, well ar- ranged, excellently written and effective- ly delivered. Its merits were so great, that, when many years later, as an exile, he delivered it before a foreign audience, they were astonished that it had not won for him his cause. Nevertheless, it fell

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THE SASSAMON 9 some are to continue their studies fur- ther at schools or colleges, yet may we always be loyal and true to our Alma Mater. We have all received our ele- mentary lessons of life, the time now here when we are to test life for our- selves, but there will come to us from time to time echoes of the Past, sweet and clear, bringing back to us scores of memories. Our Commencement, how- ever, will be, I am sure, the happiest of all our memories. To our happiness, again we welcome you most heartily with the hope that this happiness of ours will prove a pleasure to you. Marguerite D. Whitney. VALEDICTORY Four years, four happy years spent in the pursuit of knowledge have flown by as if they were one, and now, at their completion, our hearts are filled with con- flicting emotions. Visions of the past Hit before our eyes. We see ourselves as we first entered high school, freshmen- small, frightened, yet proud of the fact that we had to go to school so early in the morning. As sophomores we were still more proud. We were no longer freshmen-we studied geometry and read Shakespeare. As juniors we looked down upon the lower classes and looked after them in a kind of big brother and sister fashion. And then we were sen- iors. Ah, seniors! There is music in the word. That blissful state, the goal of all attainment, when attained, to be en- joyed! What cared we for the other classes. We had passed through their trivial joys and sorrows and had reached the heights. We were monarchs of all we surveyed. Memories are sweet, sadly sweet often- times-we may not live them over again. Yet that is well, for it is far better to live in the future than in the past. As for the present,-all this is the present g the memories, the satisfaction of work well done, the joy of attainment, the mystery of the future. The future! Far more interesting than the past, or even the present, is the fu- ture. What are we going to do? What is going to happen to us? All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players, . l They have their exits and their en- trances: And one man in his time plays many parts, - So sang the bard of Avon, the gentle, wise man, who knew how to put in words the unfathomable things one thinks and cannot say. How can we know what will come? lt may be good, it may be evil, but evil or good, it will be great in proportion as we make it so by our deeds. We must cle- cide what will be our goal in life and choose the course we will follow to at- tain it. As with Bassanio, there are three caslcets before us to choose from, in one of which is hidden Happiness. The golden casket-that is wealth, the silver is fame, while the leaden one rep- resents a life, not famous nor rich, but full of utility to man. Happiness is not found for all in the same casket. There- fore it behooves us to consider wisely e'er we say, Here choose I: joy be the conse- quence! We are young. joy seems our natural lot in life. Into the world of busy, prac- tical men and women We will bring our ideals, our hopes, our enthusiasms. The part we play will be the messenger who brings good news and cheer and encour- agement. Of all our great store of en- thusiasm we will freely give. We shall love the world and the world will love us, we, who find, Tongues in trees, books in running brooks, and good in czferyflzing ! The future is pleasant, it beckons us enticingly. The present is fast becoming past. Why linger longer over our dreams and prophecies? Yet, Parting is such sorrowingf' l would say farewell 'till it were morrow. Our teachers, our schoolmates, our high school-we are going to leave them all tonight. Our teachers, who have done so much for us, who have made us what we are-how can we show them our appreciation? More is their due than more than all can pay. And what is our little compared with

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a THE SASSAMON I I like a chilling blast upon his hearers at Athens, because he was the hireling of Philip-in other words a traitor. Napoleon was one of the greatest gen- erals of all time. He swept like a de- stroying angel over almost the entire eastern world, showing a military genius which has never been surpassed. For a while he seemed to have robbed fortune of her secret, and bewildered nations gazed in silence while his success grew greater, until it seemed as if he would become master of the entire world. Nevertheless, although he was endowed with a perception keen enough to discern the hidden plans of opposing generals, he could only see one road to immortal- ity-a path which led through battle- fields and marshes wet with human gore -a path which led over rivers of blood and streams of tears that fiowed from orphans' eyes-a path along whose way the widow's wail made music for his marching armies. Now he is fallen, and over his tomb no mourner weeps. Tal- ent, genius, power, these he had, but character, he had none. But there are those who have both in- fluence through life and unending prais- es through death. There are those who by their ability have inspired the admiration of the people and held it by the purity of their character. It is often remarked that some men have a name greater than their works will justify. The secret lies in the men themselves. History but voic- es our own experience when it awards to' true nobility of character the highest places among the enviable possessions of men. Perhaps we could not find better illus- trations of the power and worth of char- acter, than are presented in the lives of two of our own countrymen. Their names will ever be dear to the hearts of the American people and will always be held in sacred memory. The truest tears of sorrow ever shed by a nation for its heroes have fallen on their honored dust. They were the father and savior of their common country. One was the ap- pointed guardian of its birth, the other, the preserver of its life. Each formed a character whose foundations were laid broad and deep in the purest truths of morality-a character which stood un- shaken amid the terrors of war and the calmness of peace-a character which did not allow either cowardice upon the battlefield or tyranny in the presidential chair. Thus did they win the hearts of their countrymen and prepare for them- selves a lasting place of rest in the ten- der memcries of a grateful people. Character is not the gift of fortune. In this at least we are not creatures of circumstances: talent may be the gift of nature, position in society, the gift of birthg respect may be bought with wealthg but neither one nor all of these can give character. It is a slow but sure growth to which every thought and ac- tion lends its aid. To form character is to form habits which are the very stand- ards of our lives. Either consciously or unconsciously we are doing this each day. There is character formed by our asso- ciation with each friend, by every desire of the heart. by every object toward which our affections go out, yes, by ev- ery thought whiih fiies on its swift wings through the dark recesses of the brain. We all know that repetition forms habit, and almost before we are aware. we are chained to a certain routine of action from which it is difficult to free ourselves. We imitate that which we admire. If we delight in stories of cru- elty and atrocity. We find it easy to be- come a Nero. If we delight in gossip, and are not content unless each acquaint- ance is laid on the dissecting table, we form an unenviable character indeed, and we must he willing to bear the con- tempt of others. But if each day we gather some new truths, and guard every thought and action that they may be pure. we shall form a character that will be a fit background on which to paint the noblest achievements. The formation of character is a work which continues through life, but at no time is it so active as in youth. At this time impressions are most easily made, and mistakes most easily corrected. It is the springtime of life. the season for the sowing of seed. There is no complaint if a neglected seed time brings a harvest of want. As little reason have we to