Boston Latin School - Liber Actorum Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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l is l JOSEPH LAWRENCE POWERS Head Master TO TI-IE SENIORS: In passing from school to college, you are finishing one stage in a process of self-determination. You have been able to plan for your own future, so as to make yourself whatever your ambition, your ability, and your industry may determine. It has made no difference who your parents are, where they were born, how much money they have, or what religion they practice. In saying this, I am thinking of you, not just as Latin School boys, but as American boys. For every American boy has thc right to go as far as his brains, his industry, and his character will take him. That is true in America-and nowhere else. You have taken this situation for granted, together with the many other immunities and privi- legcs you enjoy, thinking of them--when you have thought of them at all-as your natural rights. But they are not natural rights. They are benefits which have grown out of our democratic form of government. Just as we give little thought to God's gifts of air and light and water till some catastrophe deprives us of them, so we never fully appreciate the safety, the freedom, the services, and the opportunities with which democracy has surrounded us until we find ourselves in serious danger of losing them. Now, rights entail duties. Democratic privileges are not just something' to be enjoyedg they must be preserved and defended, or they won't be enjoyed for long. They are so essential to our way of life that we are ready to sacrifice anything-even life--to save them, for ourselves and for those who will come after us. Do not be thrown out of stride by war hysteria. I counsel you to go calmly about your plans for college. The war will leave this nation, as well as the present belligerents, faced with tremendous political and economic problems. You, and boys like you, are the people who will have to deal with them, and the solving of them is going to tax the best-trained minds your generation can furnish. To sacrifice education now would be to let the nation's life insurance lapse. Four years is a long period, as history is made today. Much may happen in that time. God for- bid that you be called to take up arms. But, if war should come, and you must face it, you Latin School boys will play your part as Latin School Boys of other days have played theirs. The history of your school is a long story of loyal service and devotion to God and country. Whatever may lie ahead, in war or in the troubled years to follow, you will, I know, prove yourself worthy of your Latin School heritage. Page Tlairleerz

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1635-BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL-1941 1635 1636 1636 1645 1 649- 1670 1708 1709: 1734 1 748 1 760 1775 The Boston Latin School, founded to nurture the youth of Boston town in the classical studies, had its first sessions at the home of Schoolmaster Philemon Pormort. Our big brother, Harvard University, was established. Philemon Pormort left Boston to give vent to his ideas on freedom of religion. The position of Master of the School Went to Daniel Maude, who conducted classes in his own home. At long last the first schoolhouse was erected for the purpose of housing the Boston Latin School, on what is now School Street. joyful indeed was Mas- ter Maude to move the class out of his home. 1670: A rapid succession of masters, among them Woodbridge, Woodman- sey, and Tompson, all found the Latin School boys too trying, and the fifty pounds a year salary all too little for so prodigious a job. Ezekiel Cheever, one of the most es- teemed headmasters the school has ever known, took up his rule in the Latin School. Latin School education was truly begin- ning to show proht, for, on this date, Nathaniel Williams, graduate of the school, became headmaster. At long last the salary of the head- master of Boston Latin School was raised . . . to one hundred pounds a year. John Lovell, the pride of Boston par- ents and the terror of its youth Ces- pecially the boys of B.L.S.j, now ascended to the headmaster's position. The Boston Latin School has now moved to a bigger building on the south side of School Street. james Lovell, son of john, and an ardent patriot, became Usher , Le., junior master, at the Latin School. He and his Loyalist father sat at opposite ends of the classroom and voiced opposite senti- ments to the pupils. News of the Revolution caused john Lovell to dismiss the school with the classic Words Deponite libros, and hie off to the war with his son .... Under the Lovells, school was called to order at seven A.M. in summer and Page Yhuelve 1778 1812 1814 1828 1836 1844 1851 1876 1902 1910 1920 1929: J eight in winter. Five P.M. was the dismissal hour, with the two hours be- tween eleven and one off for lunch. 814: Both Samuel Hunt, who reopened the school after the Lovells, and Wil- liam Bigelow, who took over the 1805, found the post-Revolution Latin lads too much for them. More and more have Bostonians begun to appreciate the Latin School. A bigger building was necessary to house all the boys. It remained for iron man Benjamin Gould, now appointed headmaster, to place a check on the rebellious ruffiians of the School. This he did very ably, and the misdemeanof mark remains to this day an institution of B.L.S. After Gould's resignation, Frederic Leverett, of Leverett's Latin Lexicon fame, took up the gauntlet. He was followed by Charles Knapp Dillaway. Epes Sargent Dixwell, to whom we are indebted for the School Library, began his Headmaster's term. Again to new quarters, this time on Bedford Street. Francis Gardner, Dixwell's successor, was a vigorous but fair man. In spite of his protests, however, a rather absurd curriculum was imposed on the school, aiming at l'General Culture. Dr. Moses Merrill was responsible for the present curriculum of the Latin School. He remained in office until 1901. V An able scholar and a perfect gentleman now took up the reins, Arthur Irving Fiske. He was beloved by both pupils and masters, and ruled without friction. Fiske's successor, Henry Pennypacker, was not only a scholar, but an athlete. He was truly a man's man. The beloved and esteemed Thomas Pat- rick Campbell was our next Headmaster. and kindly rule, the as never before and scholastic rating. It to the Latin School Under his genial school prospered lost none of its was a deep loss when Mr. Campbell resigned to become Assistant Superintendent. It was in this year that our present Head- master joseph Lawrence Powers took over. Let us hope that his rule will continue to be as successful as it has been up to this moment.

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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Mr. Edwin F. A. Benson, Head Front Row fleft to rightlz Messrs. Dunn, Russo, Hobbs, Benson, Head, Marson, C. R. Taylor, Sands. Rear Row: Messrs. Collins, F. C. Cleary, Callanan, Finn, Brickley, A. L. Taylor, O'Kee fe, Neville, Sheehan. LATIN AND GREEK DEPARTMENT Mr. Henry R. Gardner, Head Front row fleft to rightla Messrs. Cray, Wilbur, Glover, Gardner, Head, O'Calla- han, G. Cleary, Wenners, Marnell. Rear Row: Roche, Hopkinson, Sullivan, O'Brien, Dobbyn, Dolan. O'Donnell. MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT Mr. Elmer R. Bowker, Head Front Row Cleft to rigbtl: Messrs. Fitz- patrick, Fitzgerald, Faxon, Bowker, Head Cannell, Lucey, Cheetham. Rear Row: Messrs. Falvey, Klein, Grefsch Dobbyn, Doyle, R. F. O'Brien, Hennessey Kozodoy, Gilbert. FRENCH DEPARTMENT Mr. Max Levine, Head Front Row ileft to rightl: Messrs. Ar- nold, Levine, Head, Pike. Rear Row: Messrs. Bourgeois, C. S. Fitz- gerald, Pennypacker, Scully, Van Steen- bergen, McGufHn.