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

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14 THE Trifles fAn Essayl There are many writers who lay stress on the fact that great events often follow from trifling causes, that what to most people are seemingly trivial and paltry things are in reality seeds from which great consequences spring. Other writers, however, take an opposite stand and declare that such a view is ridiculous. For my part I am rather inclined to join the ranks of those who place emphasis on the importance of trifles, W e b s t e r has somewhere said, Great events happen seldom and af- fect few, trifles happen every mo- ment to everybody. We have but to stop and reflect a few moments to realize the truth of these words. Do not little things often happen to us, things that seem of no consequence? Yet they have an effect on us, either for good or for evil. Things that the world considers great rarely happen, and when they do occur they are gen- erally the result of insignificant causes. History bears testimony that such is often the case. We are all familiar with the story that tells how a great battle was lost for the want of a horseshoe nail. No nails could be had to shoe the horses, conse- quently the unshod horses could not enter the conflict, and the battle was lost, and all for the want of a horse- shoe nail. We remember that Rome was saved by the cackling of geese, and that a lantern flashed to Paul Re- vere the news that the British were advancing on Concord. These were trifling things, yet they caused inci- dents that have furnished material for history, and they show what great events from little causes spring. How many poets and painters there ECHO are who have given to the world pro- ductions in literature and art that were begun by inspirations caused by seemingly small things. We are told that Walpolels The Castle of Otranto had its origin in a dream, and we remember the story of the disgusted artist who threw his paint- smeared sponge at an unsatisfactory painting of a mad dog and produced the result that months of labor and thought would not express. Science is also indebted to small matters for many of its discoveries. Did not Newton hit upon the law of gravita- tion by seeing an apple fall to the ground? There is no trifle too small to be of service. Those who pay no heed to little things and who are prone to ridicule the importance of trifles, forget that it is the drops that make the ocean, and that the grains of sand form the mountains. An acorn is apparently a useless thing, yet from it may spring forests of giant oaks, a second is a trifle, still a certain writer has said that the seconds make eternity. It is the petals that give form and beauty to the rose, every leaf on the tree plays its silent part in nature as means for producing shade, each blade of grass has its place in the system of created things, each single star that studs the sky gives its light, feeble though it be, and adds beauty to the heavens. There things in themselves are trifles, but upon them hinge important measures. Take the petals from the rose, strip the trees of their leaves, root up the grass and you make spring and sum- mer a time of perpetual drearinessg snatch the stars from the sky, and you rob night of its attractive beauty. If in nature everything, no matter how small it may be, has its allotted

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THE ECHO 13 First Christmas In America In the year 1492, the first celebra- tion of Christmas on the Western Hemisphere occurred. Christopher Columbus and his crew were about to land on the shores of Haiti when one of the ships, .the Santa Maria, ran upon a rock and was wrecked. The sailors would certainly have perished had it not been for the kindness of the natives of the island. They sent out rude boats to rescue Columbus and hispmen, and were successful in bringing all of them safely to land. Columbus and his companions sank on their knees and thanked the Sac- rificial Victim of the Holy Cross of Calvary, while the natives danced and sang the praises of the unknown spirit, adored by the pale-faced strangers. This happened on Christmas Eve, 1492. The Indians pitied the unfortunate paniards, and lodged them in their uts for the night. Not satisfied with these kindnesses toward the great discoverer and his followers, the In- ian chief caused a great banquet to e held on Christmas Day and to it he ordially invited the famous naviga- or and his brave sailors. To honor he guests still more, the great chief ade his principal warriors act as ervants on the occasion. -Edward Kdllmyefr, ,23. In the Mountains . Nothing is more pleasant on a hot ummer afternoon than a trip hrough the mountains, especially at hat altitude where the balmy air of n evening is always present. I was trolling from our camp in the ockies to take an afternoon to my- elf. This is quite a foolish thing for ne to do who is not used to the passes. I proceeded nicely until turn- ing too sharply in response to a call, I lost my balance and fell some feet into a crevasse. After gaining my foothold I surveyed the surroundings. To the right the wall of the cavern was higher than I, but on the left I could see the neighboring hills and beautiful waterfalls. I could ob- serve at ease the great limestone for- mations, the stalagmites and stalac- tites that had formed ,in the open- ing. Looking above I discovered that I was about a hundred yards from the snow-line. From the strata and the smoothness of the stones I could tell that the cave was comparatively new as the agencies of erosion and denuda- tion had done little work upon them. Below I saw a few cottages, with no one around them. For the moment I felt like Maximilian I, of Germany, as he stood on the narrow ledge, far removed from the followers of the chase, and no one near to help. I soon found a way out of my dilemma, how- ever, and once more gained a pass which I thought would lead me back to the tavern where I had been stay- ing. The sun was just wheeling its course homeward and flooded the en- tire valley in a sapphire haze. The red and blue of the sky above seemed to blend into the purple mist below. There seemed to be a union of the clouds and the earth. The deepening shadows soon enclosed the valley in a dark pall, and reluctantly I hurried home, leaving the soundless moun- tains to await the coming morning. -Robert WSZLGZZQT, '23. Prediction: There will be fewer windows broken this year. An old pane cost fifteen cents, while the new ones cost six dollars. Ask Mills about the truth of this statement.

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THE ECHO 15 place, so also in our lives every aiair, however trifling it may seem, plays its part and leaves some effect upon us. We have often been told that it is the little things that count. Let us never despise small matters for they are of the greatest consequence and make up the happiness or misery of human life. -Edwin O'NeilZ, 223. A Good Listener Wherever we go or in whatever po- sition we find ourselves, we are al- ways expected to act as gentlemen. In other words we must be polite. And no matter how stiff or how bor- ing the rules of etiquette may seem, we can always derive some good from their observance. This is particu- larly true in our social relations either with our fellow-students or in public gatherings. A respectful reticence while others are speaking, and a visible interest in what they have to say, should be prominent in our behavior under the circumstances just mentioned. When we are engaged in a conversation we should remember that even if the subject does not interest us personal- ly, it does interest those who are dis- cussing itg and out of regard for them it is uncharitable as well as unman- nerly to make them conscious that their conversation is uninteresting to us. What I have said about private con- versation applies to public speech as well. Let us bear in mind that no matter how dry the subject is, the speaker is doing his best to tell us in a pleasing way something that he be- lieves will interest us. Moreover, there are those in his audience who are trying to get all that he has to say, and who will be distracted by our lack of interest. What then is the rule which will make us good listeners? Merely place yourself in the speaker's posi- tion, and then follow the Gospel maxim: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Psychologists tell us that to tear a piece of paper into shreds, and then throw them on the lawn, and then to pick them up is a good exercise for developing will-power. To my mind, to sit patiently through an uninterest- ing speech, or to listen to a conversa- tion to which we would rather not listen, is a much more profitable means of attaining the same end 5 for no matter how dry the subject may be, we can usually learn something from the talk, and if we carry away nothing else than a stronger will and the resolution not to be equally unin- teresting when we ourselves are the speakers, we shall not have spent our time in vain. -Julian Kochi, '22. Christmas On this day hearts will know no bounds, oceans will melt into noth- ingness and space will be annihilated, and around the Christmas tree of our youth we shall gather and around the crib of our boyhood. Young hearts will beat the faster as they are gathered back to the bosom of the family 5 those in the midst of life will hasten home with joy and yearning, and even the old feeble will totter back with silver locks and dim eyes to be children again for at day. And those far away in sorrow and mourn- ing will lay aside their grief as they kneel by the crib of Bethlehem, and will breathe a fervent prayer which the angels of God will carry back to the old home and mothers. ' -Selected.