Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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PAGE SIXTEEN THE SASSAMON other classmates in Iowa-Catherine Rear- don, owner of a large ranch at Oskaloosa. and Doris King, who was running a pretty little tea-room at Fort Madison. While we were out riding one afternoon, we came upon a movie party from Holly- wood out on location. To our surprise, we saw Beryl Sweetland among tnem. She was playing ingenue parts and was en- gaged to her leading man. She told us that Beryl Boardman, who had been an ar- tist's model in Paris, has also succumbed to the lure of the silver screen and was then in India getting material for scenes, costumes, and dances for her next picture. She had retained the popularity she had with us, for she was a great favorite with the movie fans. Another afternoon we took a trip down to one of the Indian reservations where we found Mary Lord teaching the Indians how to make baskets. She received her own training in this line from Miss Brennan at Natick High. Mary was married, but had tired of the gay society life and was spend- ing the summer on the reservation. Rowe Leavitt, she said, was living in Canada, and was giving instruction in writing love letters by means of a correspondence school. Vlfhile traveling abroad, Mary had met Ruth Wright who had been studying futuristic painting in France and Italy. Several of her art panels had been ac- cepted by the Royal Society of England. Peg LaVarge, who had been married. to a well-known baseball player not long ue- fore, was living in Brooklyn, New York. We urged Mary to return to Des Moines with us and that night we all sat about the open fire talking over old times. We drank a heartfelt toast to Auld Lang Syne and the class of '22 fthe best class 'Natick High ever hadlj And I thought- Doth not a meeting like this make amends For all the long years I've been wand'ring away? Whatever has been written shall remain, Nor be erased, nor written o'er again . The unwritten only yet remains to thee, Take heed and ponder well what that shall be. RUTH AMES. CLASS ORATION In the earliest days of mankind. when the earth was in a primal state of being, it would seem that the man that labored under an insurmountable handicap, for in his daily fight for existence he was pitted against animals superbly equipped for a life in which the only law was the survival of the fittest. Man's single asset was his brain, but this was sufficient to place him far above any of the lower animals. Through the power of thought he was able to gain a degree of safety which his phy- sical being never could have possessed oth- erwise. By no means the least method he used for protection was his power of expression and communication. Doubtlessly this was one of the principal factors in his gaining such as astoinshing pre-eminence over the other animals. As his need became greater, he devised other means of comunication than by voc- iferously calling through space to his com- panions. Chief among the earliest means of conveying information a greater dis- tance than the vocal range was the helio- graph, a sun reflecting device whose flash- es could be seen miles away. Many re- verberant implements were also used, and, after man had gained sufficient control over fire, alternating smoke columns were popular. Gradually as humanity became more civilized the most expedient way to communicate was by means of written messages, the speed of which depended upon the swiftness of the messenger. The world of culture was at this stage when the telegraph was invented. This inven- tion was such an enormous step toward perfection in news-conveying instruments that it has been retained to the present day. Next came the telephone, bringing a closer, more personal connection between the communicants. Its usefulness is be-

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THE SASSAMON PAGE FIFTEEN with the natives-only she wouldn't tell them! Still living up to her reputation as the quietest girl, I thought. It was a surprise to us all to ind that a radio concert had been planned as part of the evenings entertainment. It was still more of a surprise to find that we were to hear Irma Godendorf, the violinist, and Mary Adams, a second Paderrewski, loved by the public for her sweet personality. Both were European favorites, but tour- ing the states during the summer months. Mary Long, the famous soprano, had tired of grand opera and, at the time, was com- posing popular jazz music. But the real lion of the evening was Daredevil Dot Derrick, the foremost avi- atrice of the day. During my conversa- tion with her, I happened to mention the fact that I had for some time been plan- ning a trip to New York, so she urged me to go with her in her biplane, The Demon. I accepted immediately and we arranged to start the following day. As I was obliged to leave the gathering some- what early, I met only a few others but it made my heart sing to find that so many still loved the old class enough to come from all the corners of the earth to be present at her reunion. So, after seeing Daredevil Dot again and promising to meet her at the appointed time, I departed. The trip next day was exciting, for me at least, for it was my first experience in a plane, but we arrived safely a1 thi, land- ing place on the roof of the Ritz. Seeing that I had really enjoyed my flight in the plane, Dot suggested that I should accom- pany her on a short western trip to Iowa. Thus we parted, promising to meet three days later. I was to stay at the Ritz, so I hastened down to my room.' You can imagine my surprise when I saw Marion Schneider, almost the first person I had met in New York, and discovered that she held a position as dietitian in the hotel. She told me I might meet other friends while in the city, since Margaret Everett and Edna Fair were conducting a very smart childrcn's shop off Fifth Avenue, and that Blanche Copithorn, who had been our best dressed girl, was proprietress of an extremely fashioniable modiste's estab- lishment with Hilda Robinson as one of her most popular mannikens. Leaving the hotel, I started out to see the sights. It was on lower Broadway, I think, that I saw the small sign-Mary Leahy-Ladies' Beauty Parlor. Of course I entered and met this beautiiier. While I was there, Mary Forster came in, so we held a conference then and there. She told me that she was a French interpreter at the Immigration Station, but was soon to be married at the Little Church Around the Corner, by her sister, Hilda Forster, who was rector there. She had kept up her friendship with Willie Johnson, who, Mary said, had beeen all over the country lecturing, using as her favorite theme- How I Reduced Easily and Quickly or The Daily Dozen. After leaving them, I had heard that Marion Linane and Mildred Flumere were doing welfare work. My second night in New York, I was dining at the roof garden of the Ritz when I looked up and saw Marion Coleman at a neighboring table. As I hastened over to see her, I found she was with Mu- riel Sutherland. It semed that Marion, as- sistant-editor of a large New York paper, was interviewing Miss Sutherland, a fore- most scientist and inventor, who had re- cently perfected the non-luminous electric light. During the evening which we spent together, I learned that Alice Webster had married one of her many admirers, a Na- tick man, and had a charming home in one of New York's suburbs. According to all reports she was running her husband, home, and car in the latest aproved fash- ion. The next day Dot of the Demon came and we started for Des Moines, where we were to visit my old chum, Helen Hough- ton. Helen had married a college profes- sor and had gathered about her a group of enthusiastic young psychologists who were investigating the effect of the aura on the ego. She had also written a book on The Sublimity of Silence, which had been ac- claimed a great success. She knew of two MORSE INSTETUTE Llgnaqy 14 EAST CENTRAL STREET NATICK MA 01760

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THE SASSAMON ing demonstrated daily in the homes of millions of people. The wireless, invented about the same time, did not develop as quickly, but, as the years passed and a higher grade of proficiency was reached, national legisla- tion became necessary to control the jum- ble of messages fiying at cross purposes from the hands of an infinite number oi wireless users. The enthusiasm of these operators was boundless in the use of this instrument which sends and receives mes- sages not over a wire like the telephone and telegraph, but from the Very atmos- phere itself. At about the same time that radio tel- egraphy was achieving prominence, the radio telephone was first used. The chief difference between the iwvo instruments is that by radio telephony we are able to send and receive the human voice through space, while a sound made by a spark transmitter forming dots and dashes in ac- cordance With an international code em- bodies the connective powers of the tele- graph. The progress of the radio tele- phone was somewhat checked by the abil- ity of scientists to create a voice ampli- fier. It was not until 1912 that any de- cided approach was made toward the per- fection of the radio telephone, or simply radio, as it is called. Realizing the possibilities of an elec- trical phenomenon which Edison had dis- covered, telephone engineers began to ex- periment with his crude instrument and soon developed it into highly perfected bulbs or vacuum tubes. These tubes are used either as a modulator or builder of weak currents or as an amplifier. Although first used on long distance telephone ser vice, they were quickly adapted to me radio telephone and by constant experi- mental and development work messages were transmitted in 1915 through a space of 7,000 miles. The basic principle of the radio is the signaling through the ether by means of electro-magnetic waves. The length of these waves varies greatly, or can be made to vary greatly, and it is this tendency PAGE SEVENTEEN which makes it possible for radio experts when receiving, to focus or tune their instruments of waves of a certain length excluding all others. Without a doubt the interest in wireless a few years ago was great, but the pres ent radio craze has affected so many peo- ple that manufacturers of electrical sup- plies have refused to accept any more business until they catch up. The radio has been found so useful as a means of reaching the people that lec- tures, concerts, statistics, press reports and many other forms of education and enter- tainment are daily fiashed through space for the benefit of radio owners. There are endless possibilities for the radio telephone. Improvements have been so rapid recently that even experts find it difficult to keep well informed. With progress making such rapid strides what can we not expect in the future? Perhaps the greatest prophecy yet con- ceived is that the world's power may some day be distributed by means of the radio. Already so many heretofore impossible feats have been accomplished that even this seems possible. However, in spite of its many assets it is not expected that radio telephony will supercede the tele- phone and telegraph for the reason that far more privacy is possible in the latter named than through radio. It is indeed a far cry from the man whose long distance messages could be measured in feet to the present day when the voice can be cast throughout the length and breadth of the world. How our ancestors would marvel at the phenom- enal radio! Still in just such a fashion we may be taken aback by the message car- riers of the future. From past demonstra- tions of man's initiative what may we not expect from the next era? ARTHUR BUCKLEY. CLASS WILL We, the Senior Class of 1922, of the Natick High School, Town of Natick, State of Massachusetts, being of sound mind and