Central Catholic High School - Echo Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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.. . -.+1rpg- 8' CENTRAL CATHOLIC- HIGH SCHOOL, ECHO ' 1642, and was buried in the Church of Santa Eroce, the Panthenon of Florence. Pope Urban VIII. sent his blessing to console him in his dying hour. Those who knew him intimately regarded him asa genial companion, but he did not make many friends, or rather he did not keep many, because he lacked sufficient tact to keep himself out of difficulties, into which he was driven by his satirical tongue. COLUMBUS DAY. fBy Joseph Wilkinson, '16.'j Over four hundred years ago there . et sail a daring mariner from the little port of Palos in Spain. He believed that by sailing westward he could iinda new route to the Indies, and perhaps discover new countries. As you know, he did not find a new and shorter route to the Indies, but discovered a continent, where he planted the standard of the Cross. Little did he then know that his name and his fame had become immortal, that a grateful nation would select the day on which he discovered America, as a day for jubila- tion and gratitude, that many states of that nation would proclaim it a legal holidayg that an appre- ciative people would pay homage to his memory and -his deeds, that a great Catholic Society un- der his patronage would devote its best efforts to the advancement of religion and good govern- ment. In gratitude to him who added this fair conti- nent to the civilized world, the State of Indiana calls upon us to commemorate the great event which took place on October 12, 1492. If there is any day in our glorious history which deserves commemoration it is Discovery Day-the day on which every country and every people were of- fered a refuge from tyranny and religious perse- cution. Warped must be the mind and small the heart that would refuse to honor the 'great dis- coverer because he held a different religion, be- cause he was a pious Catholic. But, thank God, there are not many who have such warped minds and such narrow hearts. Every man who is a Worthy citizen of the Land of Libertyoconsiders October 12 as a sacred day, a day on which jus- tice fthough tardy justice it cannot but bel should be offered to the name of Christopher Columbus. p , , ,J Not until a few years ago was-Columbus Day celebrated to -any great extentf The city of Bos- ton started the active celebration, by the parading of all Societies and lodges and people of every na- tionality. This celebration was adopted by other large cities. Its influence spread. Today, our people of every nation-Americans, English, Ger- mans, French, Irish, Poles, Italians and Chinese- take an active part in paying tribute to Columbus. Yes, he is honored from pole to pole, from east to west. The voice of justice cannot be suppressed, it will call out until the end of time, Columbus, a continent is your monument. S f Like many other great men, Columbus had a poor chance to acquire knowledge. His parents were poor, and he wasforced to leave school at the age of fourteen. But he did not quite study. He took up navigation and astronomy. His be- lief in a spherical world grew Q stronger. He longed to give tangible proof of it. Time and again he was turned down, but he clung to the old maxim, Try and try again, until he suc- ceeded. His life after his discovery was for some time a pleasant one. Glory's sun shone on him but for a day. We might expect to see aman who had performed so great a deed, honored by all while he walked on earth. But such was not his fate. The possessor of fame has many enemies, and Columbus was no exception. He died-died a prisoner and in chains, May 20, 1506, at Vallado- lid, Spain. , j Such was the mournful end of the man to whom we have dedicated October 12. His youth was one of poverty and perseverance, his manhood one of struggle and achievement, his old age one of sorrow and afflictiong but his whole life was the life of agreat man. To him more than to any other may the words of our greatest poet be ap- plied: , ' Deeds of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us , Footprints on the sandslof time.

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CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ECHO is CATHOLIC SCIENTISTS. ' 'gf fBy H. C. Wiener, '1'6.J I.-Galileo. Galileo, the great Italian philosopher and as- tronomer, was born at Pisa in the year 1564, of a noble Florentine family. He received a good education, and at an early age distinguished him- self as a musician and mathematician. He then took up the study of drawing and paintingg and it is said that it was his love of drawing that led him to the study of geometry. His parents de- sired him to study medicine, but having little suc- cess in this, 'he again returned to mathematics. , He was but twenty years of age when he made a very important discovery by observing the swing- ing of a lamp in the cathedral at Pisa. Noticing that the oscillations of the swinging lamp were of equal duration, he inferred that this principle migh tbe used to measure time correctly. How- ever, it was not until iifty years later that he used this theory in the construction of an astronomical clock. I - In 1588 he wrote a treatise on the center of gravity in solids. This met with such success that he received a lectureship in the University of Pisa and was looked upon as a modern Archimedes. The following year he demonstrated the fallacy of the theory that falling bodies have velocities proportional to their weight, by letting fall un- equal weights from the top of the famous leaning tower at Pisa. This discovery made such a revo- lution in science that we now consider it as the starting point in modern science. Very simple laws and formulas for falling bodies have been deduced from Galileo's experimentg and it is lit- tle wonder that we call him Founder of Experi- mental Science. After much work on gravity and gravitation, the great scientist turned his energy to astronomy. In 1609ihe made his first telescope, which had a magnifying power of thirty. 'With it he discov- ered the mountainous character of the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the ro- tation of the sun and th? spots on its disc. He also discovered that the moon was not self-lumin- ous as was then supposed, but that it owed its illumination to reflection of light. Such work in astronomy led him to discuss the teaching of Copernicus,-that the sun, not the earth, is the center of what we call the solar system. Many already believed the doctrine of Copernicus, but the greater number of schools and scientists still held the older doctrine. Galileo W-HS S0 SfI'0I1g in his support of the Copernican doctrine that he drew upon himself the hatred of many scientists by accusing them of ignorance and advising them to go back to school and learn something. It was these men that forced himito leave Pisa and seek the seclusion of Florence. This opposition caused Galileo to go' a step farther than a scientist should go. At Padua he ventured to declare that in Scripture there were proposi- tions which were false in the literal sense of the words, that even in matters of solemn dogma the forms of expression were sometimes inexact, out of due regard to the incapacity of the popular comprehension g and that in all natural questions philosophical argument should have more Weight than mere scriptural declaration. Cardinal Baronius answered this bold declara- tion, saying that the Scripture was given to men to teach them how to rise to heaven, not how the heavens were made. The Church had no ob- jection to the Copernican Doctrine as long as the Copernicans did not attempt to use Scriptures to prove it. A Council of the Church condemned the doctrine as ,contrary to Scripture, but it did not condemn it as hersey. The doctrine did not in- volve faith or morals 3 and it is only in teaching faith or morals that the Church is infallible. , Galileo still continued his scientific Work. He proved that all bodies, even invisible ones like air, have weight. We now know that the weight of a body is due to the force of gravity acting on it, that if some gases rise upward, it is because they are replaced by denser ones. We owe this knowledge to Galileo. To him we also owe the proportional compass which is now used so much in advanced drawing. While teaching at the Uni- versity of Padua he invented an air thermometer. He had studied the expansion of solids liquids and gases, and because gasses expand most with increase of temperature, he made a narrow glass tube with a bulb at one end, and placed this vertically in a vessel of water. When the temp- erature fell, the air in the bulb contracted and the water ascended the narrow tube. His last astronomical discovery was made in 1637, when he discovered the moon's diurnal and monthly librations. In the same year he became blind. For some time he had been suffering from a disease in his right eye. The same disease now impared his left eye, and blindness was the result. The misfortune of deafness was also addedbto his declining years. He died January S,

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X CENTRAL CATHOLIC .JAMES WHITCONIB RILEY CBy C. A. Harkenrider, '16.J Other poets may soar above you, You keep close to the human heart. In the above lines Henry van Dyke gives us the reason for Riley's honored position among the poets of our country. But you mayask: Why is James Whitcomb Riley Hclose to the human heart? If you have 'never lived in Indiana, but have patience enough to listen to a Hoosier school- boy, I shall tell you. I On October 7, 1849, Riley first blinked at day- light as it came peering through the windows of a little log cabin in Hancock County, Indiana. Here he grew up, a boy whose head- was iilled with dreams of what the future held in store for him, but nevertheless, a boy who wasted none of the golden moments of boyhood. Here he swam in the old swimmin' hole or lay on the bank listening to the song of the 'stream as it glided lazily by. Here he listened to the stories of the Raggedy Mani' or to those witch ,tales about which he speaks in Little Orphant Annie's. His imagination was fed on these tales, and also on the prose poetry that iills the pages of the Arabian Nights. He preferred to sacrilice the delights of a feast on ginger cakes and candy, for the pur- chase of a book of poetry,'fDivine Ehnblennsf' The great affliction 'of his boyhood was a freckled face. His playmates designated him as Spotted Face, little realizing how much he felt the sting of his nick-name. One day, however, his heart was gladdened by the sight of a certain bottle in a drug store window. On the lable were the magic words: Sure cure for moth, tan, freckles. etc. But the price was fifty cents-an impossible one for him. He was determined to get the bottle, but how? A few days after, his father sent him down town to get some sugar-fifty cents' worth, and gave him the .money to pay for it. though it was customary to have such articles charged up. Young Riley was consistent and charged it up, all right, exchanging 'the fifty cents for the freckle-cure. W On his way to school that morning he sought a secluded spot and applied the sure cure gen- erously. Then he started off for school with a light heart, feeling sure that the freckles would be gone when he got there. As soon as he entered the school room there was a general uproar. His face had a regular lemon color, for he had read 'HIGH SCHOOL ECHO , 9 only half the directions and did not see the words, Wash off immediately with salt water, etc. It was too late to wash off now, but the cure was ef- fective-'he lost his lemon skin-freckles and all --before three days. So much for his boyhood. As he grew to riper years, he began to think of the future. He could do many things, but he could not work In his discouragement, he sent some of his poems to Longfellow. A poet knows a poet, and so Longf fellow encouraged Riley, and had the pleasure of seeing the Hoosier's first volume appear- The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems. Volume followed volume, until Riley became ian- other Longfellow. V And now, that you have listened to me.thus far, I shall let another Hoosier poet praise him. ,Here is the postlude of the Indiana Odei' for the Pana- ma-Paciiic Exposition by the Rev. Charles O'Don nell. C. S. C.: A s Postlude: K To Indiana's Poet. James Whitcomb Riley. Lo, o'er the fields at home now sinks the sun, And with the crickets' hum t The tinkling bells of cattlehhomeward come Familiar tell The dim, tired land another day is done. U And my song pauses for a last farewell D To you, and greeting unto one h , II. NVhose ears Have caught, how many, happy years, . The murmurs, of the music of our speech, A Whose tongue ' ' I 4 ' Our simple days with kindred art has sung, And kept silence where no word could reach. .Him by whose Brandywine . . g 5 First strayed in childhood days thesefeet of - mine, I ' i Brother and friend, m I I hail him as our State's sufficient pride And give him part- , Wliose words, deep-springing from a people's heart, N Home-gathered there abide- In glories of a day that has its end, L As has at length theiiiiigering song ,Qfione Who brought'his dreams to thee, O City of the Sun!