Bolivar Central School - Gusher Yearbook (Bolivar, NY)

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28 BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL BLIZZARD” brew worship but in chastisement for repeated revolts the Romans laid waste the city and sent those Hebrews who were not slain into exile. At length the descendants of Abraham were scattered to the different parts of the country and mixed with the other peoples of the world. However, some of those Hebrews still cling to the simple faith of their fathers with a strange devotion and loyalty to this day. There were men who held high place in history by their work during this time of so many troubles for the Hebrews. They were not statesmen nor warriors but were called prophets. They were great teachers of morality, charity and justice. They preached against idolatry and sought to take the people from the worship of idols to the worship of the one God, Jehovah. In spite of the fact that the people were often led away from the worship of one God by the influence of foreign religious ideas they always came back to the worship of one God which they could cling to in perfect faith. We must judge of the real character of the Jewish religion, not by the practices of those who departed from it, but by the teachings of those who were its highest expounders, Moses and the prophets. In these great teachers we find the true idea of Monotheism. This is not simply the idea of the Egyptians, that there is one God higher than other gods; it is the idea that there is only one supreme God. Another feature of the Jewish religion was the fact that it was closely linked to morality. Religious worship and moral duty were regarded as two sides of a complete life. The history of the nation was a constant, struggle against false ideas of religion and false ideas of morality. When the priests were carried away with the idea that religion consisted simply in rites and ceremonies and tliv kings were seeking the pomp and luxury of the East and the people were falling into wickedness and idolatry, it was left to the later prophets to become the true ex pounders of religion and the moral law. The ancient Hebrews made little contribution to science, produced no new order of architecture, did nothing in sculpture, but did make real contributions to religion. Their literature with them was simply a medium for the conveyance of religious instruction and the awakening of devotional feeling. The old testament in the Bible is taken from the Hebrew people. Mostly all of the literature of the Hebrew people is in the Bible. We should also remember the Apocrypha, the Talmud and Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish in connection with Hebrew literature. The Hebrews have a great influence on the civilized world by their religion and writings so we must assign to this nation a high place among the historical people of ancient times. The sources from which 1 obtained the data for the history of the Hebrew people are as follows: The Bible; Ancient History for Colleges and High Schools by P. V. X. Myers; Outlines of Ancient History for the Use of High Schools and Academies by William C. Morey; Ancient Peoples, also by William C. Morey; Gibbon’s History of Rome, volume I, by Edward Gibbon, Esquire; Rollin’s Ancient History, volume IV, by Charles Rollins.

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BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL “BLIZZARD” 27 of his close friends, who supplied him with the celebrated cedar of Lebanon and also with the Tyrian architects, the most skilled workmen in the world at that time. He also huilt other sumptuous palaces of beautiful architecture and adornment. lie built Hoots on the Mediterranean sea and Red sea for the purpose of extending commerce with Egypt and the East. He amassed enormous wealth by sending ships to the most remote regions of Asia and Africa and appropriating the wealth that they brought with them on their return. Tadmor, a city built to be used as a sort of caravansary, was built to facilitate the overland trade of the Euphrates valley and other regions. Tadmor was built in the midst of the Syrian desert. This wealth and glory was purchased at the price of his nation’s honor as he impoverished his subjects and entirely disregarded the laws of Moses. The Hebrew kingdom became practically an oriental monarchy as did Babylon. He married an Egyptian princess and that was partly what caused him to adopt eastern habits and customs. The wisest king of the East was Solomon, he was versed in botany, being acquainted with all the plants and trees that he could possibly learn about. He was witty as is shown by his proverbs. Tt is said that he had seven hundred wives of all different nationalities and religions. Tn the end Solomon became a worshipper of idols and thus turned the whole kingdom against himself and also prepared a way for the dissensions and wars that followed after his death. He used all of the country’s resources and left it nearly bankrupt. When Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, became king the people begged him to enlighten the heavy taxes that his father had enforced. Rehoboam refused to do this so ten of the tribes, all except Benjamin and Judah, revolted and took Jeroboam as their king. The ten tribes which were in the north were called Israel, with Samaria as its capital, and the two tribes in the south under the reign of Rehoboam, with Jerusalem as its capital was called J udah. lien these are torn in twain it makes them an easy mark for the monarchies in the neighboring districts. The kingdoms are so destined to he ground to pieces by the larger kingdoms. During the time these two kingdoms are in existence, they do not accomplish much. These is a struggle going on between the two religious parties during the time Israel exists for a period of about two hundred and hftv years. The worshippers of idols light for their religion just as the monotheistic people light for their religion and neither party gains anything in the conflict. At last Israel fell into the power of the Assyrian king Sargon II and he took them to Nineveh where they are simply lost in history. A few of the poorer class of Jews remained but not enough to unite and accomplish anything. During this time the kingdom of Judah was also having religious dissensions but existed for about four centuries. A line of eighteen kings ruled Judah until Babylonia began to extend west and Judah had to acknowledge Babylonia’s superiority. Nebuchadnezzar then destroyed the kingdom and carried the captives away to Babylonia. Afterwards, however, they were allowed to return to Jerusalem as subjects of Cyrus, the Persian king. Cyrus permitted them to restore the temple in Jerusalem for worshipping their God. Thus Jerusalem again became the center of He-

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BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL BLIZZARD” 29 Harry S.: Who was the best track man whoever lived? John K.: Give up. Hairy: William Jennings Bryan. He ran for thirty years without a stop. In Ancient History Class. “I have heard,” said Prof. Witter, ‘‘that Babylon fell, and Nine-vah was destroyed, and—” Someone in class: ‘‘Tyre was punctured.” Miss Brown: This is the third time you have looked on Velma’s paper. Paul Husak: Yes, she doesn’t write very plainly. Mac: Have you heard the new tango song? Florence M.: No, what’s that? Mac: Tangonna Rain No Mo’. “The sweetest girl I ever kissed,” Said gay young Malcolm, “Used powdered Instead of talci Gladys: I see here in the paper where a man working at a slaughter house dropped sixty feet and wasn’t hurt a particle. Stella: How was that? Gladys: They were pig’s feet. Keith Perry: A fellow just told me I looked like you. Howard Root: Where is he? I’d like to knock his block off. Keith: I killed him. They sat on the porch at midnight, Their lips were tightly pressed. The old man gave the signal, The bulldog did the rest. John M.: Mary just gave me a mean look. “Fat” Ward: Gawan! You always looked that way. Olive: Can you dance? Paul: Half way. Olive: What do you mean? Paul: I can hold on but I can’t move my feet.