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

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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-

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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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BOURNE HIGH SCHOOL Page Twenty-three co very” was a cure for cancer. The doctor thinks, as he is dying, of his childhood life, of how he and his mother had been so dear to one an- other, and how they had fought pov- erty in a strange land all through the years of his youth. He yearns to see his mother again (she had died years before ) , and then he does see her, and they speak to each other, using the same terms of endearment that they had used forty years before. His mother leads him out of the hospital room and as they are passing down the hall he sees the night nurse drop a letter as she attempts to put it in her pocket — as the unopened letter lay upon the floor he could plainly read the sentences contained within, de- spite the stiff envelope and a flap of blank paper! A young house-maid coming towards them had left a door open behind her. The doctor looks downward, seeking his bare feet. There is nothing there! His mother hurries him out of the hospital and they rise above the city; the man feels all pain, discomfort, and tiredness leave him. She tells him that death is not at all what she had ex- pected, that his father and sister are there, and others whom he had known and loved; that dying does not transform people, It helps us, but it doesn’t change us into angels, as we used to think. This is but a step on the stair.” He asks if there is punishment for things done on earth, if the slate is wiped clean, and she answers him — ' Yes, dear, but it is the same hand that writes on the clean slate. Our- selves are our reward and our punish- ment; and we can’t escape ourselves.” They pass indistinct forms, of which he can distinguish only one, that of a little boy who at one time had been lame but who is now run- ning and jumping. In the distance his father and sister are waving and bless- ing him. but he cannot see them. His mother tells him that she does not know whether there are angels and that she knows very little of anything religious — We need faith here as much as on earth.” The son learns that they do not stay there because it is just a step on the stair which they leave as they left the life below; but joyfully and not in fear, for each step is higher on the stair.” His mother tells him they must part, only to meet later on, but that he may stay where he is or go back and finish his work. Sacrificing his own, wishes, he decides to return to the life below. His next experience is in the hos- pital room where he again feels the weight of his years and the ravages of his illness. After three weeks of convalescing, he tells the story of his discoveries in the life after to an old friend of his, another doctor, who supposedly had saved him from death, and proves it by the nurse and the letter she had lost. He told her where she might find the letter and while she is searching for it, he writes down the first few lines that he had read while the letter lay upon the floor and gasses them to the other doctor. The nurse returns with the unopened letter in her hand, he asks her to read the first few lines and tell them to the other doctor. She does this, saying that the author of the let- ter had died very soon after she had lost the letter. The doctor finds the written lines coincide with what the nurre tells him. and then he has to admit the man’s soul must have left his body, and that his experiences in the life after must have been true. Although my ideas are not in ac- cordance with some set forth in this story, I enjoyed reading the book very much and would recommend it as a thought-provoker to any adult. John Wilson ' 40