Canandaigua Academy - Academian Yearbook (Canandaigua, NY)

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THE ACADEMIAN Rebirth Perched on the window sill of my room, the same dainty robin red-breast chirps out his annual Spring Song. Across the street the same gnarled cherry tree- bursts into startling pink bloomg and in the corner field, the tra- ditional shout of Home Run breaks into my reverie. Everything is the same, isn't it? The familiar sights, sounds, and smells which have heralded the spring since time began-on the same street, in this very room. It is the same. And y-et, there is a feeling that all has ended-these joyous days, those free days. Yes, free from worry! Ever since that early September day in 1929 when I started school as a lively six-year-old, until now, I had spent my summers in absolute ecstasy, knowing that when fall came, I would once more go back where I left off. But this year, it will be different-it will be the end-I feel lost. Gloomily, I glance down at my desk, where lies open a small Websteris Inter- national-to the c's, commanding, com- measure, commence-why, that's what I am going to do in a few weeks. After it, stands the definition, to begin, to start out, that odd. I had always thought of commencement as the serv- ioes held in June, which would end my school-life-an ending, rather than be- ginning. But here it is-right in Webster's In- ternational Dictionary, which can cer- tainly be called dependable - com- mencement, the beginning, origination. Of What? What am I going to do in the fall? Go to college, if possible. Leave home and all its connections to enter strange buildings, far from h-ome, making new friends as I go. Is that a beginning? Is that a New Life ? It could be, I thought, beginning to see daylight. I wouldn't want to stay in high- school all my life, would I? Feeling safe, taken care of, and out of things, would surely get boring after awhile. One would get an urge to get out and do things, an urge to get into the rush and tear with the rest of the world, an urge to make one's own way and not to be taken care of-ever again! Suddenly, I realized what college and going away would mean to me. I would have to fight for my peace in a new world, fight for friends, too, and for re- spect. It would mean being in a strange place and perhaps many a wet pillow after a lonely, home-sick night. But it would also mean entering upon new seas, worlds to conquer, and most of all it would mean commencement. Perched on the window sill of my room the insistent robin red-breast chirps away, across the street the pink blooms on the gnarled cherry tree seem lovelier than ever! And on the corner block I heard my brother shout 'Noth- er home-run. But this time it all seems different-ther-e is a new element in it. I feel as though I have discov- ered something new and wond-erful. I am just beginning to live! -Gwenn I. Newell Solace So many times has mortal man, in agony of soul, 'Grieving o'er the loss of on-e held dear, Sought to rend the veil between the living and the dead, Not realizing that comfort is so nearg In bitterness and suffering does he weep, While pain and sorrow so heavily weighted lie, In blasphemy and hate -does he protest The power of a God who lets them dieg Ah! Puny human, wrapt in bleak des- pair, Convinced that life no longer can be sweet, The spirits of the dead around you press, And still in spiritual communion can you meet, They strive to enter in and soothe your anguished mind To give the solace that you seek but cannot Und. -.Ann Wolverton Gwenn Newell seems to have had a change of heart, it's Art now . . . There is one thing that annoys Virginia Poole no end, and that is the proper way to say good-night to that certain one . . . Maybe Chopper could help her out . . . We hear that the object of Connie VL D.'s affections comes way from Rochester . . . Jack Smith seems to be foot loose and fancy free. I-Iere's your chance, girls

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First Prize-P. T. A. Prize Speaking Contest In the large room of an old home- stead in Virginia, an old lady sat slowly rocking back and forth. Sh-e was waiting for her grandson for he had promised to com-e to see her. Suddenly, the door opened and her grandson walked in. He was tall and strong and the old lady watched him with pride in her eyes. Come in, my son, she said. Take the low stool by my feet. Her grand- so nobeyed her order smilingly. Now I have something to give you. I hold it in my hand here. Tell me, what do you see? Why, nothing, grandmother, her grandson replied, There's nothing in your hand. I thought that would be your an- swer, the old lady smiled wisely. 'But now, let me tell you a story, and then I think you will change your mind. Listen carefully. About three hundred years ago to- day, a young man landed at Jamestown, Virginia. He was among a group of people who intended to make their homes in the new world. As he walked along the dock he caused quite a flutter among a group of women who were talking there, and also the men cast envious glances in his direction. And now let us look ahead in our story a hundred years or so. We lind the great-grandson of this same young man. He is young, only about ten years of age, but as he grows older he begins to see the bitter hate between the American Colonies and Great Britain. And now we find him outside the town bulletin board. He is reading a Proc- lamation just pasted there. The crowd is wild with approval of what they have just read there. Listen, here are parts of it: 'We hold these truths to be self- evident: that all men are cr-eated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unallenable rlghtsg that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to se- cure these rlghts, Governments are in- stituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- erned. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.' THE ACADEMIAN Then came a long list of grievances against the King. But th-e young man dldllb need to read those, he and every- one else knew what they were. His eyes travelled onward-'Thse United Colon- ies are and of right ought to be, free and independent states,' and finally to the end, 'And for the support of 'th.s Declaration, with a firm reliance upon the protection of Dipine Propidence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lipes, our fortun-es and our sacred honor! The young man fought in the war -between the American Colonies and Great Britain, and when the war was over, he returned to his home, and he gathered his children about -him and he said to them: 'My children, your father has fought in a great war. He has fought with hundreds of other men for the same things-freedom, the right to live and be happy, and while you have life in you, I want you to remember that you are an American, that it was a long and bitter struggle but We won in the end. And now, each of you must promise to uphold America in anything she does,' and they all solemnly prom- ised. And that, my son, continued the old grandmother, is what you must prom- lse to me. Now do you see what I hold in my hana? No, you can't see it, you can't feel it either. But you can hear it. The mountains anh the valleys re- sound with it. It's a strain, an Amer- ican strain surging against yocr ears until you can't shut it out. And, it's the same thing that makes you stand up straight and take your hat off when you see your flag pass by and hear the strains of your National Anthem. Yes, my son, there are those who do not stand up straight and bok reverent heads to their Country's Flag. Pay no attention to them, my son, they are false, the unbelievers. Heed them not. And that is what I'm giving to you, America, your country gained for you by your grandfathers. And now will you promise me? The young man sprang to his feet. Yes, grandmother, I will promise you. I will promise you that I will uphold America in anything she does. That I will keep up the old traditions, those which make America the wonderful country she is, and that as long as I live, I shall be glad that I am an Amer- ican and that I live in this, my coun- try, America. -Elaine Kerskie

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Louis Pasteur In a small village of France on Dec. 27, 1822, Louis Pasteur was born. His childhood was not in the least out of the ordinary. He was merely a careful, plodding boy in whom no one took any particular interest. One day, as part of a crowd that had formed outside of an old blacksrnith's shop, he heard the fateful sizzle of a white hot iron on human flesh, and the agonizing groan that followed it. The groan had been emitted by the farm-er Nicole. He had been terribly mangled by a mad wolf. Nine-year-old Louis ran from the crowd, d-own the street, to his home. Long after the incident, the sound of that iron and that tortured groan remained in his memory. We cannot truthfully say whether this in- cident had anything to do with his later discovering the cure for rabies, but we do know that whenihe started to find th-e cure, the haunting cries of those victims were still in his brain . . . Many years had passed and Pasteur was now a man, impatient, immodest, and impractical, but for all that a genius. He had already discovered many important things. His patient and loving wif-e, without doing or saying much, was indirectly responsible for these finds. She loved him, as some- one put it, Even to the point of under- standing his work. Pasteur was then working on the ori- gin of microbes. Scientists for many years had asked this question, and he was determined to find the answer. He began on an experiment to find out whether yeast plants came from the air. However, when boiling some yeast soup he realized he was also heating the air, thus changing it. But how to heat the yeast soup without doing likewise to the air was the question. Finally, an old drugglst named Balard helped him out. Why not, he suggested, have a flask the air could get in, but the mi- crobes which stuck to the dust particles could not. Marvelous, exclaimed Pasteur, real- izing at once the ingeniousness of the idea. Balard left, and Pasteur pro- ceeded on with the experiment. In a half hour's time, Balard returned. There was Pasteur, pleased as Punch. eyes shining-the experim-ent had worked! Quite a few years later, after many successes, Pasteur, still terribly ener- THE ACADEMIAN getic, was working on an experiment to cure animals of a dread disease called anthrax. He knew that if he could give them a little of the disease, but not enough to make them ill, they would forever be immune. After many ex- periments on cows and chickens, he found that letting the microbes age, dulled their intensity, therefore, inject- ing a small amount of the old microbes did exactly the job he wanted. It was hard to prove this to an unbe- lieving world, so, when asked, Pasteur readily agreed to stage a public demon- stration. Forty-eight sheep, two goats, and several cattle were injected with the poisonous vaccine. Although Pas- teur had felt quite sure of himself be- fore the experiment, after having done that rather terrifying thing, he became increasingly nervous. But when two o'clock came the next day, and he and his assistants went down to the field, the experiment had worked out per- fectly. Needless to say, many who had hitherto ridiculed him, profusely apolo- glzed. Shortly after this, Pasteur began working on a cure for rabies. He thought of injecting a serum into the dog's brain, but decided it would be too painful. Roux, his faithful helper, knew better, and, against his master's wishes, did inject a serum into the dog's brain. As he expected, t-he dog died in a few weeks, but even Pasteur admitted he had lived long enough to serve his pur- pose. He then set about a plan to dull the serum, and, after long experiments, he found that placing part of the spine of a rabbit, dead from rabies in a germ- proof container for fourteen days, did the trick. Pasteur had now found the cure for rabies. He hesitated to start innoculat- ing on humans because, indirectly, he might cause the death of someone. As he said in a letter to a friend: I am much inclined to begin on myself-in- noculating myself with rabies and then arresting the consequences . . . He finally 'began on humans when a young child, gashed in fourteen places, was brought into his laboratory. He soon realized the boy would die anyway, so no chance would be taken. The serum proved successful and the child lived. Louis Pasteur is acclaimed through- out the world as one of the greatest scientists that ever lived. He was never a modest man, but we can EASILY forgive him that when he could make such discoveries as he did. -Carol Ostrow