Brown Preparatory School - Brownian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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REV. HOWARD H. PROUSE Principal YOU ARE DEMOCI-tACY'S FUTURE Twenty-two years ago the United States entered a world war with the slogan Make the World Safe for Democracy. But in spite of the blood shed by our American Youth of that day and the victory that was said to have been won for Democracy, propagandists of contrary ideals have succeeded in making the very name of Democracy a by-word and a hissing in many parts of the world. Every class of students that graduate from any school or college in our country this year have an opportunity, as well as a burden of responsibility, that should stir their enthusiasms and awaken their loyalties. Because each student represents the product of American Democracy, he must understand that his personal reaction toward life will increase or decrease the respect that the rest of the world will have for the ideals of his nation. You who are about to graduate from Brown Preparatory School are not merely going .on to college or a career, you are helping to determine the fate of a nation. If you and the majority of others like you show yourselves worthy of freedom to act according to the dictates of your own conscience and sense of duty as well as of privilege, you are striking an invisible, but forceful blow against the exponents of regimentation and totalitarianism. But if you look upon your college as a gentleman's club, your chosen life's career as the best means to improve your own interests at the expense of the interests of other people, and your government as a benevolent Santa Claus with an inex- haustible pack, you will have labeled yourself an enemy to Democracy. I have confidence in you, and I believe that you realize your own future is in the balance, weighed with your desires and determination to be the best that it is in you to be. But I want you to realize that Democracy is also in the balance, that your future will help to determine your nation's future. More is at stake now than you or I dream of. lt will be a pleasant reflection for us of the faculty of the school from which you are graduating to know that we may have had a part in awakening you to a larger sense of personal respon- sibility, that you may have a larger share in vindicating our national system. ll

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DR. A. LYNN MYERS Principal YOU ARE ALUMNI NOW After the commencement exercises, the members of the Class of 1939 are a part of the large body of alumni of Brown Preparatory School. Most of the members of the class will go to college, the rest will enter real life at once. One of the regrets is that we do not get to see more of our alumni after graduation. Now and then we see news items about certain ones in the newspapers. Within recent months we noticed that one was elected to Con- gress, another, after twenty-five years of service in the Legal Department of the Philadelphia Electric Company, was given a testimonial dinner, attended by over three hundred persons, who are prominent in the company and in the city, another was elected as General Counsel of the Philadelphia Inquirer , another was on the list of Honor Students of Lafayette College. Naturally, such favorable news about our alumni gives us a great deal of satisfaction. We expect to hear favorably in years to come from the Class of 1939. Although economic conditions in recent years are not as favorable as they used to be, and there is a great deal of pessimism about, the opportunities of success for youth today are still great. Some maintain that we must have a planned economy instead of a free economy, socialism instead of democracy, communism instead of capitalism, if the majority of the people are to attain the abundant life. On the other hand, modern psychology informs us that man is not a help- less cog in a machine, but can be as self-reliant today as in the past. It is estimated that ten million people have read Gone With the Wind. So many have read the book, no doubt, because Scarlett O'Hara is an example of personal triumph over social insecurity. Neither war, disappointment in love, scandal, nor starvation discouraged her. She remained self-reliant. Whether one is endowed by nature with one talent or ten talents, a desire to make most of one's self is all that is necessary. Such a person is a success. 10

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VALER11: BROWN REV. CLARENCE MARTIN CHARLES HENRY HILL fRiponJ PROUSE AB. CUniv. of Pennaj Mathematics I-LB. CUniv. of Delaware? History, English A.M. iUrsinusJ Mathetiatics Languages EDITH E, SYKES CHARLES WILLARD NELLIE WALTER AB, CBryn Mawr! EDMANDS lDrexelIr1stitutel French, Spanish 1'x.B. fcldfk Univl Secretary Mathematlcs CDay Schooli 12