North Andover High School - Knight Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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THE GOBBLER 19 4 1 specialized training for each subject that one wishes to teach. Nursing, too, has be¬ come a very specialized field. There are surgical nurses, medical nurses, nurses for doctors who specialize in throat and nose treatment, public health nurses, head nurses in hospitals, schools, government buildings or business organizations, and army and navy nurses. Many girls take a shorter training course and become technicians, dieti¬ tians or social workers. Nursing is no longer dull and uninteresting. Women’s ambitions have extended to theology, law, and medicine. Perhaps the fact that generous scholarships are available in the theological schools to men, but not to women, may explain the small number of women students in the divinity schools which are open to them. Women lawyers who have suffered greater handicaps in establishing a practise than women doctors — apparently we are more cautious about our money than about our health — have made great headway in the past ten years. Women have been successful in art, dramatic work, music and writing. Some women felt safer writing under the nom dc plume of men as did George Sand and George Eliot who were both women. In the commercial field, women stenographers out¬ number by far the male stenographers. This may be because women are more effi¬ cient than men, but that is a matter of opinion. Today women may become beauti¬ cians, air hostesses, buyers for large stores, policewomen, librarians and they have even invaded politics. Some women have rather unusual occupations. One woman in Hollywood raises spiders and rents them to movie companies. Prescribing for sick fish is the occupation of Miss Ida Millen. By merely looking at the eyes of a fish, she can tell what ails it. Mary Hirsch likes to train horses and has proved herself an able jockey. There are many, many more, too numerous to mention. Our aspirations have been inspired by such great women as Florence Nightingale, Jane Addams and Madame Curie. Those who have vision and foresight can see that gleam of opportunity that lies ahead. So, when we hear about the thrills and adven¬ tures of the “good old days’’, these lines of Tennyson’s will make us realize that we were not born “fatally late.” “So, young mariner, Down to the haven Call your companions Launch your vessel, Crowd your canvas, And ere it vanishes O’er the horizon, After it, follow it, Follow the gleam!” BARBARA P. DEARDEN j 24

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19 4 1 THE GOBBLER SALUTATORY WERE WE BORN FATALLY LATE? When we hear our parents and grandparents speaking about the “good old days”, many of us pity ourselves and feel that we were horn fatally late. We think, “There aren ' t any new lands to he explored, or frontiers to be opened and there aren’t many more things that can be invented. Yes, perhaps we were born fatally late!” But first, let us look at the advantages offered to women today as compared with those offered in the nineteenth century. After the Civil War, a woman’s place was in the home and there she remained, except when invited out by a man. The only occupations available to women of gentle breeding were those of school-teaching and nursing. Women probably became teachers because teaching was the one occupation which tied in closely with the life of the home and because for a long time it was felt that no special preparation was needed. Nursing was another occupation which tied in quite closely with the home. However, there were no regulations as to how long a nurse should spend on one case, the pay was not too good, and the work was usually the same monotonous, routine drudgery. Women also worked in shops, factories, and large stores from seven-thirty in the morning until nine or ten at night and for this health-ruining work received approximately five dollars a week. I do not mean to say that women have never been anything hut housewives, nurses or teachers. There were empresses and queens, women physicians and women writers, even before the nineteenth century, but they were regarded as very unusual. Such women felt themselves superior to other women and didn’t encourage the belief that there should be more opportunities for women in general. For the past fifty years women have fought to gain a place in the business and professional world. Suppose a girl and her brother went on a hike. The boy, whom convention had clothed more sensibly, wore long pants and high boots, and plunged on ahead unhindered by the underbrush. But the girl, who wore the tradi¬ tional skirt of women, was hindered by briars and brambles. This same condition is true in women’s fight for a place in the world. Some of the brambles the world has placed before women are the ideas that: the woman who works outside her home loses social position; she lessens her chances of marriage; she does not take proper care of her home. All these statements have been proved false by statistical studies. A study was made of one hundred professional women, who had homes and chil¬ dren to take care of. Their attitude was that because of their professional training they have higher standards for their homes and as a result have more successful homes than they would otherwise have. The single woman who works is made inde¬ pendent of all her relatives. In the nineteenth century a girl, who didn’t care to get married (or didn’t have the chance), and who didn’t care to become a teacher or a nurse, had to depend on some generous father or brother to support her. Women who have reached middle age and find their children are able to get along without them, can and are entering commercial, industrial and professional work. Now let us look at the occupations available to women today. Women are still be¬ coming nurses and teachers, hut how different it is now! ()ne has a choice of teach¬ ing in kindergarten, grammar school, high school or college. It is necessary to have 5 O the Principal, to the faculty, to parents and friends, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the Class of 1941, to extend to you all, a most cordial welcome. 23

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19 4 1 THE GOBBLER CLASS ESSAY YOUTH WILL SHOULDER ITS BURDEN w E present-day youth find our lives cast into a world of astounding vicissitudes, many of which have as their basisgreed, hate, and jealousy. Sandwiched in be¬ tween the two greatest and most diabolical wars of all history, we become the victims of the subsequent social and economic dislocation. Pessimists are inclined to the attitude that civilization is disintegrating, and that before long mankind will he confronted by another epoch similar to the Dark Ages. G. K. Chesterton once wrote that there are two ways of looking at everything — the sun is either rising or it is setting. The youth of today prefer to think of the sun as rising. We can see that the night has been long and dark, full of illusions of false dawns, and that the present hour appears darkest of all. In this hour, we must fortify ourselves with the thought so aptly expressed by Longfellow, “The darkest hour pre¬ cedes the dawn: the lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.” It is the duty of each one of us of the younger generation to do his part to keep the lights burning on this earth. Four main problems confront the youth of today — education, health, recreation, and employment. I will discuss them briefly. Our education must be both general and concrete. We will need specialized train¬ ing in our field of endeavor. Industry and business require skilled, efficient workers. Various agencies have been set up to assist in the training of American youth. The National Youth Administration trains many and gives them practical experience in their respective lines. The American Youth Commission conducts regular surveys, and reports its findings to the various governmental agencies dealing with the prob¬ lems of youth. All this is being done to help American youth find and establish itself. After obtaining a substantial education, a youth then turns to his chosen field in search of lucrative employment. In the last decade of depression this became a very distressing and perplexing problem. Fortunately, industry is now on the road to re¬ covery, due mainly to our defense program. While this is a temporary and welcome palliative, we have learned from experience that it is not a healthy situation. Eras of artificial prosperity caused by wars are like houses built of cards — they quickly fall apart with the first adverse gust of wind. New industries and fields of opportunity are continually being opened up. We must, therefore, be quick to see them, to train youth to take advantage of them. In this way they can take their proper place in the world’s social and economic struc¬ ture. However, education and employment without recreation do not constitute a whole¬ some life. Youth requires plenty of relaxation from the tedious routine of study and labor, for “all work and no play” actually does “make Jack a dull boy.” Wholesome recreation helps produce a healthy mind and body. Baseball, bowling, dancing, and motion pictures are but a few of the many beneficial types of recreation. Placing these before the public has grown into a business of tremendous financial propor¬ tions. Parks and public playgrounds, both local and national, have been built to en¬ courage a spirit of play. Health classes, clinics, and school health inspections all serve to safeguard the health of youth. 25