Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

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Keep in mind, however, that comforting quotation of Emily Dickinson, There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away. By simply reading the thrilling travel stories of Richard Halliburton, we can imagine ourselves at his side scaling the heights of the Matterhorn or swimming by moonlight in the limpid waters of the Taj Mahal. Between the covers of a book there is no summit too high for us to reach, no place too distant for us to visit. To young or old, reading offers clean, intelligent, educational diversion. Pastime of monarch, statesman, student, and laborer, books afford a common fellowship to all. After reading in his own home such delightful accounts of the travels of others, who does not feel the urge to see these places of interest himself? With improved cars, well-built roads, and inexpensive tourist camps, travel lies within the scope of all. The tired business man may escape the grind of the office by taking short week-end trips to places of quiet contentment or to scenes of historic interest. Travel has been made most inviting as well as inexpensive. One finds it hard to resist the attractive circulars offering us unusual and interesting sails down the St. Lawrence to historic and quaint old Quebec, up the Hudson past colorful West Point, or to our beautiful and picturesque national capital. Short trips usually whet one ' s appetite for the longer and more ex- pensive voyages. These also should not be beyond one ' s reach. If a person really has the wanderlust, he will save every penny, cut down his expenses for that Western trip or longed-for European tour. The long anticipation only makes traveling more interesting. And how refreshing and educational is a pleasure cruise along the Mediterranean or a visit to the scenic splendors of the Rocky Mountain region. The beauty that one absorbs as he surveys the historic and romantic places of his home land and the lands of others is unsurpassed; the broadening and cultural effects of travel are immeasurable in comparison with the money expended. Following a hobby is still another diversion to occupy one ' s leisure moments profitably. This field has a wide range from collectors of stamps, early American pottery, old silver, antiques, autographs, books, even to the collecting of valentines and picture postcards. Let us examine the pleasure and profit that can be derived from some of the common hobbies. Perhaps the most common is that of stamp col- lecting. Such famous men as President Roosevelt and King George of England find great delight in this pleasant occupation. Mrs. Roosevelt, the President ' s mother, started her son in his collection at an early age. As a boy President Roosevelt was especially interested in travel and adventure. Somehow stamp collecting fitted in with his flair for geography and history. While thumbing the pages of his album, he early became familiar with the French centime and the English penny. He became acquainted, too, with national heroes and sacred emblems of foreign lands. During his strenuous public life the President has kept up his stamp collection, because he found in it a hobby which is capable of quickly distracting his thoughts from his [ 15 ]

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WE, the Class of 193 5, extend to you, our parents, the Superintendent of Schools, Members of the School Committee, teachers, and friends, a hearty and cordial welcome. To express our welcome in words is difficult, for they alone can never convey all that our hearts would say. On this glad day, however, we are pleased that we can share with you our happiness and joy. Let us discuss to-day a subject of great importance, not only to the graduating class, but to you, our guests. The topic is Golden Moments, or leisure time. In former years the laborer worked from sunrise to sunset. He was not granted sufficient leisure to develop his faculties, either intellectually or morally. To-day, because of governmental regulations, we face a condition in which there is more leisure for each individual in our community — in fact, often more leisure time than he can adequately handle. We, who are graduating to-day and who will, sooner or later, be among the vast number of workers in this busy world, must face this problem squarely. Are we going to waste this time in sheer idleness, or are we going to employ this new leisure in such ways as to re-animate us, to cultivate our minds, and to expand our lives in many untrodden paths? Is it not reasonable to expect that we should be frugal with this time, and not let it slip from us without some equivalent? If we endeavor to profit by these precious moments it does not necessarily mean hard labor; it means, rather, pleasant recreation. Let us now resolve never to waste our time, but to turn our leisure moments into golden opportunities. To-day we shall review only a few of these opportunities awaiting us. Reading affords a pleasant as well as an educational pastime. Those of us who do not have a home library will find a well-equipped town library which offers us many golden privileges, for on its shelves are many friends waiting to make our acquaintance. There stand our silent comrades; let us choose our friends wisely and together slip away into dreamland. Books preserve the personalities of the great heroes of all time — scientists, inventors, statesmen, and writers. So vivid is the characterization of our heroes that for the time being the reader can imagine himself searching diligently with Madame Curie in her laboratory as she works on the radium cure for cancer, or even scanning the heavens for new planets with the famed astronomer, William Herschel. Perhaps, through our acquaintance with such sterling characters, we might broaden our life interests and elevate our ideals in a way which cannot be accomplished by any other means. Certainly the world never needed diversion of the right sort more than it does to-day. Novels of all types, whether historical, realistic, or romantic, furnish us with stories that divert our attention, and show us how others deal with problems which we ourselves may have to face. The longing to wander in strange and beautiful countries has come in a greater or less degree to each of us. Ties of home, financial difficulties, our daily routine, prevent many of our dreams from becoming realities. [ H ]

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many burdens. Surely, we who have much more leisure time than he should benefit by his excellent example. Tennis, golf, swimming, gardening, and even hiking can be adopted as hobbies. These interesting recreations get us out into the open, relieve the monotonv of office work, and bring new and wider interests into our life. Extension Courses offered by the state open yet another field for those who wish to improve their odd moments. Although we are graduating to-day, we must not feel that our education has been completed. This is, after all, only the commencement. Some of us will go on to higher institutions of learning; others will have to seek places in the working world. Let us ever bear in mind that the world to-day demands educated people and that it is only the educated ones who rise to positions of importance. For those of us who will have to learn ' ' while we earn the state offers a wide variety of extension courses at places and times convenient for all. No one to-day can give the excuse that he is unable to afford an education. For the sum of five dollars he can enroll in any course from The History of Continental Europe or the Development of Art through the Ages, to Conversational French and Russian Literature. Opportunity is literally knocking at our doors. Many of us may deceive ourselves by thinking that we have no time, or that it may be too hard, or that one night a week devoted to this will be too taxing. Once our interest in the chosen course has been aroused, however, a new vista will be opened before us. and soon we shall be looking forward to the night spent at our course, or delving in the library for new information on that subject. As we review again the suggestions offered for turning leisure time into golden moments, a quotation of William Lyon Phelps comes to my mind. He has said, To be is to be in relations. He explains still further that to be means to be alive. One who is alive establishes contacts or relations with everyone and everything. The one who is most alive, the one who enjoys life to the fullest extent is the one who establishes the greatest number of contacts. Let us firmly resolve to-day that from now on, through our ever widening associations with friends, books, travel, hobbies, and more ad- vanced learning, we are really going to live — not wasted, discontented, poorly spent lives, but fuller, richer lives that present shining examples of useful- ness, nobility, and purpose. [ 16 ]