Brattleboro Union High School - Colonel Yearbook (Brattleboro, VT)

Page 9 text:

CLASS ESSAY Vermont's Heritage HERE is a little state up in northern New England, a -I-place which is dear to you and to me. To outsiders, it may seem lonely and deserted, but to us natives, who un- derstand its varying moods, its very ugliness is beauty, its ribbons of roads winding through green wilderness lead to fascinating fairylands, and the swish of the winds through towering pines is a remembered solace. A patch of blue sky thrown over a green-covered mountain-Ven mont! The very soil of the Vermont hills seems to characterize the writers whom she has produced. A certain sincerity of purpose and unswerving ambition and zeal have made them famous, worthy to be called Vermonters, and proud of their title, They have served their state well, and deserve to be called the salt of Vermont , the very core and heart of all its beauty, they stand symbols of the towering strength and goodness of its people. The life of Daniel Leavens Cady is characteristic of the lives of many men of that period, but he achieved a success which few writers of that time dared hope for. His life itself was not very spectacular, he himself was not a spectacular personality. He was born in 1861 on the western slope of Ascutney Mountain, and was reared. ac- cording to the standards of the day, attending the public schools of the district, and graduating from the University of Vermont. He started writing verse wholeheartedly after his retirement in 1912. Not only has he boosted the reputa- tion of the state in this way, but he has also encouraged and helped other writers by furthering the advantages of the state for Vermont writers. Of all Cady's collections of poems, Rhymes of Ver- mont Rural Life is the most popular, because it is the most appealing. Many grandfathers and grandmothers, even fathers and mothers can remember. The iron brown bread spoon, so old It showed the iron ore Right through the tin, was number one Behind the buttery door.', Cady has written innumerable poems about Vermont, in fact, his poems are primarily Vermont folk ballads. He could not be called a famous poet according to poetic standards, but he has created a poetry typifying a section- Vermont. Many of his poems are collected in such books as Stray Breaths of North East Song, Maize and Milk- weed, and The Hill of Benningtonfi Reading Cady's poems is like opening the heart of an old native Vermonter and reading the thoughts inside- simple and touching in their simplicity. His poems spring from a heart Welling over with love for his native state and its people. Each poem is a fond tribute to Vermont. Cady's poems have many examples of poetic restraint -he says so little and yet means so much. Only the real Vermonter, and a skilled poet, could write the dialect so intelligently and not make it appear overdone. But he does exactly this. He uses the old dialect, but he uses it so effectively that you can well imagine an aged grand- father speaking in that voice to his grandchildren. Cady's poems are for the most part memories, memories that escape the brain of the average person, but are forever in the heart of a true Vermont poet. For who but a true Vermonter could write this of an old pantry? Each thing was on its proper nail jest where it ought to be, Or else stood back upon the shelf Like grandma's Hyson tea. The poems of Cady and those of julia Caroline Ripley Dorr show a vivid contrast. The life of Mrs. Dorr was a poem in itself. She lived very happily with her husband and children, living intensively every minute of her life. Although she was born in South Carolina in 1825, her surroundings afterwards were predominantly Vermont. She attended school in Vermont, was married in and lived in Rutland, and here it was that her writing career began. The most predominant quality in Mrs. Dorr's life was her ability to keep her vivid, rich personality, every- body loved this handsome womanstall, with dark eyes and hair which were inherited from her French mother. Her poetry is a perfect reflection of her life-rich and beautiful. She believed that writing was no substitute for living, so she combined both very effectively. She wrote poems, short stories, and novels, but her favorite medium was the poem, and this is the one in which she gained the most recognition. Some of her sonnets are very beautiful, with the philosophies well expressed. When Dreams Departn is one of her most famous sonnets, expressing an age-old human truth: For dreams they are the very breath of life, The little leaven that informs the whole, Wine of the gods, poured from the upper skies, Manna from heaven to nerve thee for the strife. Fetter thy dreams, and hold them fast, O soul! When they depart, it is thyself that dies. Her poems are not of a section as Cady's are of Ver- mont, but are world-wide. She did not write so much of the Vermonter, as she did of his qualities, perseverance and courage. Someone has said of her If poetry is a revelation of

Page 8 text:

6 THE DIAL ruptcy and antitrust violations, crimes on the high seas, frauds against the Government, bribery of Government officials, robbery of national banks, Mann Act violations, kidnapping, extortion and certain kinds of racketeering. During the fiscal year 1934 the Division secured 93.81 per cent convictions in all cases investigated and brought to trial. Convictions averaged about ten a day for the year-3,531 all told, and the sentences added up to cover 5,000 years-which is time enough in which to read a lot of newspapers. Fines totalled .?5773,000, and property recovered amounted to 31,117,000 Eighteen million dol- lars was saved the Government in war risk insurance. In addition to its own investigations, the Division acts as a clearinghouse for much valuable information. The identification unit receives 2,500 fingerprints daily from 7,000 sources in the United States and abroad. Identifica- tion service is furnished at no cost to police departments and other agencies. Figures are usually pale, lifeless things, but how suc- cessfully the fingerprint bureau idea has been impressed upon law enforcement ofiicials in the decade since it was started! The 800,000 cards used as a basis have grown to 4,500,000. Scotland Yard has only 500,000. The num- ber of separate law enforcement agencies sending in prints has increased from 987 to 6,277. Not only the 48 states, but 49 foreign countries are contributing. In 1924, 87,000 fingerprint cards were received, in 1933, more than 500,000. But the figures that really tell the tale of the deadly threat to crookdom are these: in 1924, a posi- tive report as to a previous record could be sent back from Washington on only 17 per cent of the cards received, in 1934, the percentage had risen to almost 47. That means that on approximately every other fingerprint card sent in today, some information can be returned re- garding the past life of the prisoner. In addition to the regular fingerprint file, there is a file of single fingerprints of 3,500 of the more notorious kidnappers, bank robbers and extortionists. The value of this new system is immediately evident when the fact is known that under the regular classification it is impossi- ble to ascertain whether the prints of two or three fingers found at the scene of the crime-latent prints, they are called-belong to an individual whose card is found in the Bureau file. And rarely does a crook leave prints of more than two or three fingers, if of that many. From the main file of master prints, the cards of these 3,500 foremost public enemies were taken, and from these, separate prints of each finger and thumb, a grand total of 35,000 cards, were made. Now, if a major crime is com- mitted by anyone of these 3,500, and he is so careless as to leave the print of just one finger tip behind him, his identity can soon be learned from Washington, and that's half the battle. This special file is now well organized and will grow greatly beyond the 3,500 present total. But that's only part of the story. At the same time that this select list was being especially honored by a tenfold classification, certain information was being gathered about the criminals-height, weight, build, complexion, eyes, teeth, race, dress, and so on, a total of 21 separate features, with their various subdivisions. A numerical value was arbitrarily given to each physical characteris- tic, thus enabling them to be compactly tabulated, like census records, by punch marks on small cards that carry corresponding numbers. All this sounds a little compli- cated, it must be confessed, and a card bristling with numerals, with a score of the numbers punched out, looks even more bewildering. But that compact, perforated little piece of cardboard gives a very detailed description of a man, and in a form that can be handled quickly and accurately by machine. There is no questioning of the value of this file. A partial description has been obtained of a certain suspect in connection with a crime. The police have reason to be- lieve that a member of an important gang, whose record the bureau has, committed the deed. Perhaps they have half a dozen identifying marks-he was tall, heavy, blond-haired, lame, he had ruddy complexion and pro- truding upper teeth. Operatives check these off on a blank provided by Washington. Six holes are punched on a card at the bureau, an electric button is pressed, and this six-holed card is tallied against the 3,500 cards on file. The result is a small handful of cards that have the six characteristics in common with this new card. Of course, none of these cards may refer to the man wanted, but then again, one of them may do so. A full description and photograph of this handful of possible culprits is then sent back to the police. Can they identify one of them? That is their part of the program. The Division prides itself on the speed with which identifications can be made. In order to hold suspected persons in jail, to keep shyster lawyers from springing them, all inquiries are answered within thirty-six hours, or less, by mail, air mail, or telegraph. In the past, one of the major difiiculties encountered by the police was the lack of a scientific laboratory of the highest rank. In 1932, the Division established its techni- cal laboratory, whose services should be available at no cost to all law enforcement agencies desiring them. It has the latest equipment, such as the comparison micro- scope in which the images of two separate bullets are brought within a single eyepiece, the binocular micro- scope for the examination of handwriting, typewriting, and other specimens, the ultraviolet lamp for the de- tection of invisible inks, colorless stains, and the like, special cameras for photographing fingerprints on ob- jects, and chemical apparatus for the examination of blood stains, or for qualitative or quantitative analysis. A complete collection of different kinds of paper, water- marks, tire tread patterns, bullets, and gunpowders is be- ing gradually built up. The analysis of hairs and fibres is an important part of the work, and such minute substances have helped to send more than one person to prison or to the electric chair. The evidence against Bruno Hauptmann fConzinued on page 211

Page 10 text:

8 THE DIAL life, she was herself her greatest poem. Beautiful, spon- taneous, courteous, and gracious, she was cast in the mould of Vermont's mountains, regal yet friendly. Turning from poetry to prose, we find Dorothy Can- field Fisher heading the list of Vermont novelists. Al- though Mrs. Fisher was not born in Vermont, but in Kansas in 1879, she is classified as a Vermont writer, and Vermont is proud to own her. What state wouldn't be proud to own such a famous novelist and such a brilliant personality as Mrs. Fisher? She now lives in the ances- tral home of the Canfields at the foot of Red Mountain in Arlington, Vermont. Her books have been many, among which are The Squirrel Cage, The Bent Twig, Understood Betsey, and The Brimming Cup. All Mrs. Fisher's books are guideposts to a full, rich life. She tries to make the world understand its own and she attempts to point out a better way. She has an understanding personality, and this knowledge of human nature is echoed in her books. They are full of common-sense philosophies-philosophies which can be easily understood. She is a modern writer -not radical, but conservative, an idealist at heart. She writes of the modern American, the person whom you meet every day on the streets of our cities and towns. Her books are concerned with their family lives, with their complexities, with their joys and sorrows. She analyzes the situation, and explains the way in which they meet the petty catastrophies and the major tragedies. Psychol- ogists explain that it's always interesting for a person to read about himself-perhaps that is the reason for the tremendous popularity of Mrs. Fisher's books. Her books are your lives analyzed, they are so real, so applicable to the modern American. Probably Mrs. Fisher has received many inspirations for her books from Vermont, and Vermont is proud to be worthy of this honor from the hand of one who can say: Not to envy other people is an inheritance rich enough, but Vermont adds to that treasure the greater one of not being afraid. It seems incredible, in our modern world, so tormented with fears about its safety, that a whole stateful of people have no ground for ap- prehension, but that is true. The Vermonter is so used to the moral freedom of not dreading anything that he is hardly conscious of it. It is the breath he draws, this lack of fear, it is the marrow of his bones. Without a doubt, one of the greatest poets of America is Robert Frost, who lives in Vermont. Frost, like Dorothy Canfield Fisher, was not born in Vermont, but in San Francisco in 1875. However, he has lived in New England since he was a small child, and in Vermont for many years. He, too, loves Vermont, for in his collected poems titled New Hampshirei' he says, New Hampshire is one of the two best states in the union, Vermont's the other. His collections of poems are many, his first, North of Boston, sold over twenty thousand copies. His as- cending popularity is registered in the increased sales of his poems, until, now, his newest collections have tre- mendous sales. Among some of his latest volumes are New Hampshire and West Running Brook. His latest collection, called A Further Range, came out on May 29th, of this year. Frost's poetry is like an open door to a nature which few people have ever glimpsed. His description is explicit, and this is a surprising fact, for he writes very simply and in very plain language. Many of his poems are a conversation with the reader. You sense instantly that he is a part of that which he writes. He loves it, whether it be an empty cellar hole, a birch tree, or a stone wall. Frost is a realist in his poetry, yet he is a romantic realist, if such a thing can be. He loves reality, the common, every-day things, like mending a wall, or picking apples, yet he loves beauty too, and it is in these things that he finds beauty. There are, said Frost, two types of realist: the one who offers a good deal of dirt with his potato to show that it is a real one, and the one who is satisfied with the potato brushed clean. I'm inclined to be the second kind. To me, the thing that art does for life is to clean it, to strip it to form. Frost does not write entirely of Vermont, his poems could apply to any part of New England-and this quality makes a poet greater. The thing which makes his poems doubly interesting is that there is no sermon to them-the moral is barely implied-they are beauty in simplicity. What could be more beautiful, and yet so simple, as Frost's The Birthplace. A dozen girls and boys we were. The mountain seemed to like the stir, And made of us a little while- With always something in her smile. To-day she wouldn't know our name. fNo girls, of course, has stayed the samej The mountain pushed us off her knees And now her lap is full of trees. One of Robert Frost's contemporaries, Walter Hard, also lives in Vermont. Walter Hard is perhaps truer to the type of native Vermonter. Unobtrusive yet friendly, unsophisticated and unaffected, Walter Hard is just plain Walter Hard! His poetry is just what he thinks-there is no sham to it-itis all there in simple language. He captures in words the emotions of the Vermonter-his smiles and his tears. He pictures anything from the meeting of the Ladies' Aid Society to the dance at the Grange Hallmpictures them vividly, sparing all necessary details. Hard's poetry is beautiful for its sim- plicityg it is only the skeleton of the real thing, yet you understand at once everything he wants you to know. The titles of Hard's books smack of Vermont- Salt of Vermont, Some Vermonters and A Mountain Llfl- fCan1inued on page 421