Bourne High School - Canal Currents Yearbook (Bourne, MA)

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BOURNE HIGH SCHOOL Page T wenty-one Lighted Windows Is there anything in life quite so cheerful as lighted windows? Prob- ably many of you have just taken lighted windows for granted and never thought much about whether they were cheerful or not. But if one should stop and think about them, he would realize how much lighted win- dows really mean to him. If you lived across the street from a house where no one lived, which you were accustomed to see dark ev- ery night, wouldn’t it be a cheerful sight upon looking out your window some night to see that house sudden- ly come to life, with light blazing through its windows? If your car should break down some night and you were forced to hunt for the nearest telephone, wouldn’t lighted windows, gleaming through the darkness, be the pleasant est sight possible to you at that time? A man coming home at night from his work feels contented and grateful when he comes in sight of his home and sees lighted windows welcoming him and assuring him of his wife or family, as the case may be, waiting for him there. While out driving at night don’t you like to see the houses by the road- side all lighted up? And seeing them, don’t they gladden your heart and give you the urge to peek inside? To me lighted windows signify home and loved ones therein. Doris Landers, ’41. Why?— Do you often wonder why this event or that one happened? If you haven’t you must be an extraordinary person. From baby days up all have asked why”. The great educators of the country are asking why”, scientists are asking why”, and we are asking why”. Of course, we all aren’t ask- ing for the same answers. If you stop to think, you will find that there are numerous questions that are unan- swered and numerous answered ones. Why do we eat? To help main- tain life in our bodies. Why do we go to school? (How many of us have asked that one! ) We go to learn, or to gain a knowledge of the three essentials readin’, writin’, and ’rithmetic.” Why do we have wars? Some peo- ple say it is because life would be too monotonous if we didn’t have wars, and others say that wars are caused by some greedy country which is never satisfied. As for unanswered questions we have many, such as Why do we have dreams?” — Why does the Gulf Stream follow in the unusual course that it does?” — and many others. An- swers are yet to be found to these queries but still that word persists in coming out. I firmly believe that when we stop using that word many of us will stop learning, and civiliz- ation will suffer, because that word usually spells Progress”. Louise Coombs, ’41. Explorers to the North and South Poles Men like Peary, MacMillan, and Byrd, all explorers to the North and South Poles, are to be honored. These are the men who risked their lives a hundred times a day to learn the secret of the long dark nights in the Arctic; to learn the secret of the Eskimo’s ex- istence — not to bring fame to them- selves, but that the world too might learn the secrets of the Arctic, so that the world need no longer ponder but be as familiar with that region as with any other part of the earth. Admiral Richard E. Byrd is one of the greatest Arctic and Antarctic ex plorers. In the autumn of 1928 Byrd set out with eighty-two men, four ships, and four airplanes, to explore the Antarctic, arriving at Ross Ice Barrier on Christmas Day. In Febru-

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Page Twenty CANAL CURRENTS When Words Fail Me Many are the times that in the quiet of the evening I have gazed at one of Cape Cod’s loveliest sights — a sunset — impressing upon my mind every detail of its serene beauty that it might leave a place of loveliness with- in me — the delicate gold or silver edged clouds and the perfect blending of pastel colors. Each time I have tried to express in sound what I saw, but words failed me. Again, many are the times in the early morning that I have risen and gone out into the sweet freshness that the morning’s awakening brings into the air, filling my being — feeling awake, alive! It would indeed, be a futile effort to speak. Often has a kind friend done a thoughtful deed and although I am grateful, I can only stumble over words of thanks. Sometimes when a friend is hurt through some misunderstanding, I have tried to right the wrong, but the things that I could say to help won’t come until the opportunity is gone. Scenes, people, and happenings seem to make not only myself but words inadequate. What do you do, when words fail you? Isabel Handy, 41. “Count von Luckner” or “The Sea Devil” by Lowell Thomas The Sea Devil’’ tells about a boy who loved the sea but whose father wanted him to be a cavalry officer in the army. The boy’s name was Count Felix von Luckner. His father told him never to come back home unless he was an officer. The book tells how he ran away to follow the sea, and of the hardships and the ad- venture he had. When the World War started he enlisted as an officer in the German navy, and later was given command of an out-rigger. He slipped past the British blockade and sank a lot of Al- lied shipping before he was ship- wrecked in the South Seas. One time a ship wouldn’t surrender. He rigged up some stove pipes to look like tor- pedo tubes and then told them to sur- render or else he would sink the ship. They surrendered. It was a very inter- esting book all the way through and I enjoyed it very much. Charles Aylmer, ’41. Music of he Future Music is one of our fine arts involv- ing the very human soul. But in the future music will certainly be given us by machines. We have already had an opportunity to observe this change during our lifetime. We have wit- nessed the development of the phono- graph, the player-piano, the radio, and numerous other mechanical means of producing music. The most ultra- modern music-making machine is the pianoforte, which is able to create music by blending electrical vibrations. Such a great orchestral director as Stokowski seems to be gaining inter- est in his Westinghouse-Electrical me- chanical orchestra. He, like many other conductors, realizes which way the future faces, and he has now given himself almost completely over to scientific research in mechanical music. Mechanized music has done tre- mendous harm to the musicians, who formerly played at theaters and dances. Do we want our national anthem screeched at us through a loudspeaker, coming from a little wax disc running in circles? There is great doubt on the part of music critics, and people who appreciate good music, whether the world will overthrow this tendency to a mechanical age in the world of music. Stuart Macdonald, ’41.

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Page Tu enty-tu o CANAL CURRENTS ary, 1929, he discovered new land, and naming it Marie Byrd Land for his wife, claimed it for the United States. The North was in Peary’s blood. For eighteen years he hoped and worked, returning time and again to the Polar regions, learning from his failures, and always paving the way for the final victory. His wife shared his ambition, and spent several win- ters with him in the Far North where their little daughter was born. The child was called Snow Baby” by the Eskimos, because of her white skin. The expedition which finally reached the Pole was the eighth which Peary had made into the Arctic reg- ions. They had all been of much scientific value. Peary had explored Greenland, crossing its northeastern corner in one of the most remarkable sled trips ever made, and had proved it to be an island; he had brought home the great Cape York meteorites, the largest in the world. He had sev- eral times attempted to get to the Pole itself without success. For his final success he received great honors from nearly all important nations, and the United States raised him to the rank of Rear Admiral. Phyllis Stockley, 41. A Civilized World We, in this world today, consider ourselves at the highest peak of civil- ization it has ever known. As we sometimes think it over, however, many of us would delete this state- ment. It is true that during the last hun- dred years we have had many great inventions and a remarkable age; yet in the time of Caesar and before, the people had constructed buildings of great architecture and had many things that were far more outstanding than some things of today. The Great Wall of China, the Roman buildings in rural England and in the city of Rome, the Pyramids of Egypt all are examples of this. There is one question we can ask, and probably never will we receive the correct answer, That is, ' Will some of the world’s great structures of today still stand two thousand years from now?” Another thing that in my estimation, proves we aren’t so highly civilized, and which may be the down- fall of civilization, is the failure of people to get along with foreign peo- ple in neighboring countries. Twenty-five years ago some of the nations in Europe, large and small, got into a conflict that grew into a World War. The reasons for this were greedi- ness on one side and ignorance on the other — not being able to see the other side’s viewpoint. So the nations fought. They claimed in Europe through propaganda that this was the war to end all wars”. They said civilization would, as a result, progress, and man- kind would benefit. Yet, here we are with twenty-five years elapsed and the beginning of a Second World War. The same nations are involved because of practically the same reasons. If the present conflict develops into another serious World War it will be a great disaster for civilization. It will take many long dark years to rebuild. John Viirre, ’41. A Step on the Stair I. Published in 1913 by the Bobbs- Merrill Co., Indianapolis. II. A story of life after death. III. The strange possibilities of life after death — the experiences of one who died but was restored to life — a e set forth with a peculiar appeal in this strangely sympathetic story. The central figure is a physician who is stricken suddenly, sinks rapidly and dies, just before completing his big discovery. The story hints, but does not state, that this doctor’s ' big dis-