Agawam High School - Sachem Yearbook (Agawam, MA)

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(conservation he first white men came to this country expecting to find great wealth in minerals, but instead they found a greater wealth of fish, game, and forests, and, consequently, food and shelter. We have all read how the pilgrims managed to survive the hard winter by partaking freely of Nature’s stores, and it is interesting to know to what extent they used these stores. Some families lived almost wholly on venison, and for their hides hun- dreds of deer were ruthlessly destroyed by their system of fire hunting. They used to light a circle for miles around and as it burned into the center the result was a wholesale slaughter of game and destruction of wood. At this time deer were sold for a sixpence. Turkeys weighing thirty pounds, which came in flocks of hundreds, brought only a fourpence, and pigeons which came in flights that darkened the sky and broke the limbs of the trees on which they lighted, sold for a penny a dozen in Boston. There was an abundance of game birds including pheasant, partridge, woodcock and ducks. Captain John Smith and two companions at one firing of their inferior flint- locks, killed one hundred and forty-eight ducks. This may sound like a big story, but it seems highly probable when you consider that these magnificent flocks were sometimes a mile wide and seven miles long. Rabbits and squirrels were so numerous that they became pests, and many towns offered bounties on them. Pennsylvania paid a bounty of three- pence a head on squirrels, and in one year took in six hundred thousand heads. All the surrounding bodies of water teemed with fish which furnished food not only for the colonists but for the whole world. The settlers used to scoop the fish out of the brooks in pans or kill them with a stick. Horses fording streams would crush numbers of them. In one cast of the net the governor of Virginia caught five thousand sturgeon, some twelve feet long. Lobsters six feet long and weighing over twenty-five pounds were caught at Salem and in New York Bay. Fine cod weighing a dozen pounds once sold for a twopence. Shad, which now bring a dollar, taken from the Agawam, and Connecticut rivers, were sold two for a penny over in Springfield and they were frowned upon, at first, as inferior food. Men hired by the farm- ers of this valley stipulated that they should not have shad for dinner more than once a week. But when it gained a better reputation, it was estimated that there were fifteen hundred horses a day at South Hadley Falls to be loaded with salmon and shad. And now because of the pollution of the rivers they no longer come up to Agawam. 1 he forests not only gave wood for fuel and building, but also contrib- uted huge stores of wild honey and gallons of pure maple syrup. Moreover these forests were, are, and will be the homes of our fish and game. As the colonies made inroads upon the forests, their depletion resulted in the deple- tion of game. And as the population doubled, the demands also doubled. As early as 1698 farsighted men began to legislate game laws in their assemblies and though it was impossible to completely enforce them, they [I4l

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rence Houlahan, vice-president; Audrey Phillips, secretary; and Paul Fer- rarini, treasurer. In the operetta, “Windmills of Holland,” many of our talented class- mates were given prominent parts, in which they covered themselves with glory. Preston Leonard, as Hans Hertogenbosch, in his band selection, and the vocal duet by Emily Burnett and Audrey Phillips, have been recorded by the “Howler” Recording Company and now are sold at Woolworth’s Five Ten Cent Store. Here are the records. The next event of much importance was the Senior-Junior Kid party. It was hard to play the part of kids, but we did manage to dispose of some of our dignity with the help of lollypops and funny caps. Here’s a flash- light of Paul Ferrarini dressed as Santa, coming in the gym window. Some of our class are naturally gifted with a sense of humor of which they are totally unconscious, especially when making such remarks as these: Ferrarini declares, “All slaves born at the age of 25 will be free,” while Doris Stedman asserts, “At this time both Lincoln and Douglass were run- ning for a seat in Congress.” There must have been a crowded house! Vivian Brown declares, in French class, “She had flaxen eyebrows almost black.” What color do you call it? Perhaps our sense of humor has been increased by our English instruc- tor for she remarked one day, when discussing Johnson and his wife, “Mrs. Johnson had children old enough to be her sons.” By the way, our class will always regret that we couldn’t get out to Mabel Johnson’s place to see that old heifer she writes about. Here’s a picture of the cast of our Senior play, “The Charm School.” See Houlahan in the front row as the leading man. He surely showed us how to handle the unruly bunch of girls made up of Edith, Doris, Rachel, Ellen, and the two Vivians. We can hardly blame Phyllis Letellier, our leading lady, for falling for the Greek god. We won’t forget Dorothy Skin- ner and her “Isn’t that stupid of me?”, and Mary Holmes with her unusual dignity. Houlahan was well supported by Preston, the noisy young lawyer; Frank Consolati, the frivolous dancing teacher; Ccsan, the love-sick account- ant; and Paul Ferrarini, the man behind the moustache. And now for the Prom. We were the honored guests of the Juniors. Here’s a snapshot of the tastefully decorated stage. To the typewriting and shorthand contest Marion Blair, Vivian Brown, Caroline Cascella, and Hazel Marsh carried the name of Agawam. This contest was held by the Connecticut Valley Commercial Teachers’ Association at Brattlehoro, Vermont (Miss Button’s state). We note she started to learn to typewrite in September. Maybe she had visions of a free trip to her native state. We understand she has reached the speed of fifteen words per minute. This is our Class Day book with a beautiful copy of our school ring on the cover. Esther Stebbins was a peach to put so much work into it. This publication is a new venture and, while it is modest, we are very proud of it. Thus ends Volume I of the history of the Class of 1927 of the Aga- wam High School. May Volume II, yet to he written, which will deal with our history as alumni, be even more interesting and worth-while than the one which we have completed. r 3i Hazel M. Marsh

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formed a background for our game laws today and renewed the spirit of conservation, created by the economical Indians. It is a long leap from the time the Indians roamed in this vicinity to the present time, and the facts are correspondingly arresting. We use enough wood each year to construct seven boardwalks, twenty-five feet wide, from the earth to the moon, and we are turning out railroad ties at the rate of three a second. As a result the income from our forests amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Only two-fifths of the original supply of timber remains, and it has been estimated that only about two- fifths of the original amount of game. Though we no longer rely on game for food and on skins for clothing, we sell millions of dollars’ worth of furs each year. In six of the surrounding states the annual kill of deer is about thirty-five thousand. Consider its worth at twenty cents a pound and you will have over a million dollars. Hut are we just a money-loving people who count only on commercial values? What would childhood be without the stories of the bears and the woods? Where can you find a better place to spend your vacation than among the trees, getting closer to Nature and enjoying her health insurance? If we are to continue to enjoy Nature in this way, it is up to us to support the policy of conservation. There are extremists in this issue as there are in every other. Some people arc in favor of abolishing all game laws, resulting in the extermination of game, and ending the argument, so they think. Hut they are thinking only of themselves. What of the future generations? These people would be no better than weasles, killing for the mere pleasure of it, and the result of this policy would be the same as in the case of our buffalo. In order to see one of these shaggy animals now, we have to go to Forest Park, whereas not long ago millions roamed over one- third of this continent. The other extremists desire absolutely no hunting, fishing, or trapping. Can they be considered red-blooded men and women? They forget the boy, and all men are bovs, say the women — the boy who likes to match his wits with the fur-bearers, who thrills at the tug upon the fish pole, who glories in the excitement of the chase. The supply of wild life is a heritage of nature and a gift from God, and it is ours to use as long as we use discretion. Let us endeavor to conserve and enlarge this supply. Theodore Roose- velt said that the conservation of our natural resources was the most impor- tant problem before our country and this problem is even greater today. To be a real benefit this policy of conservation and game propagation must be carried out in a sane and just manner. Much is said about the wonderful conservation system of Hritain. It is wonderful for the rich who have acquired all the hunting and fishing grounds. Hut what of the poor fellow who has the same love of sport? He resorts to poaching and gets a long prison term. Today even in our country, wealthy sportsmen are buying large tracts of land for private preserves. This is not the kind of conserva- tion which we, as Americans, wish to see practiced. Already our national government has done something in the line of a constructive forestry pro- gram by purchasing large tracts of wood land and by reforesting water sheds. This good work cannot be carried on rapidly enough, however, to make up for past years of wasteful lumbering and to prevent catastrophies like the present flood of the Mississippi. Ry this very policy of forest pres- [15]