Carl Schurz High School - Schurzone Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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YOUTH EARS AND YEARS AGO, when Schurz High School was in its infancy, I was driving through Douglas Park early one morning between seven and eight o'clock. There was another Ford in front of me, doing about twenty miles an hour. I just nat- urally slid by that Ford at the rate of twenty-three miles per hour and was arrested by one of those putt-putt oflicers for speeding. The case was set for judge Jarecki's court. The judge said, What have you to say ?', I replied, Your honor, this little excess of speed is like old age. It creeps on us unawaresf' The judge, whose hair was just turning gray, said, 'KThe case is dismissed. Why mention old age in an article that pertains to youth? I wish I knew the author of the following quotation: 'KYouth is not a time of life-it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips, and supple knees, it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over ti- midity, of the appetite of adventure over love of ease. This often exists in a man of fifty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of yearsg people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm Wrinkles the soul. VVorry, doubt, self-distrust, fear, and despair-these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. 'AWhether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being's heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appe- tite for what next, and the joy and the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of your heart there is a wireless stationg so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage, grandeur, and power from the earth, from men and from the Innnite, so long are you young, When the wires are all down and all the central place of your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then are you grown old indeed, and may God have mercy on your soul. I wonder if, in your youth, a certain idea has been impressed upon you concerning the great inventions of the last century. Let us enumerate them: the telegraph, the steam engine, the Bessemer steel rail, the telephone, wireless, the automobile, the aeroplane, and the radio. You will notice that all these inventions have the tendency to bring people together more quickly, either in body or in mind. It seems to have llll

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WALTER F. SLOCUM, Principal

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been a continuous process, starting practically with the telegraph, the locomotive, and the Bessemer steel rail. Can we predict a further term in the series? As far as we know, all the forces and principles of physics that are involved in these inventions are at work in the human body. ls it too much to assume that we have a radio sending and receiving apparatus in that most complicated of all organs of the body, the brain? Are we nearing the time when the transmission of thought without spoken language can be absolutely demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt? Perhaps you who are dwelling inthe glory of youth will live to see this accomplished. When a copper wire is moved across the field of a magnet, a slight electrical im- pulse is generated. If a copper wire wound into a million turns is so moved, a million little impulses might be collected by a commutator and sent out over the wire as an electric current capable of being transformed into heat, light, or power. The earth is rotating in the field of the sun's attraction. There must be currents of electricity formed as a result, probably flowing around the surface of the earth or through the atmosphere. You may live to see the day when power is collected out of the sky, not through the burning of oil, not through the How of the waterfall, but just out of the sky. Why should so much power be given into the hands of human beings-why so much facility in coming together mentally and physically? It must be that an Al- mighty Providence has faith in the goodness of humanity to entrust it with such tre- mendous power. lt is easy for me to believe in the goodness of humanity, dwelling as I have constantly in the presence of youth. Hundreds of thousands of graduates, like you, are leaving the high schools of this country each semester With their optimism, their fine ideals, and their love of harmony. Witli a patriotism that is intelligent, that is honest, that is broad-minded, and that is born of service,', how can the world go Wrong? VV. F. SLOCUM. l12l