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

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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.

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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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16 THE ECHO Evolution When Grandpa started off to school, Each morning long ago, He tramped along a country road With younger folks in tow. Whistling in his simple glee He walked a mile and maybe three. And Daddy not so long ago, -When he was a little tike- With Aunty on the handle bars, Rode schoolward on a bike. Spinning down the village street As gay a sight as you could meet. When I am started off to school, Although it isn't far, I am very carefully wrapped And sent in my motor car. Now the Grandson of my Grandpa, I Think of my Grandpa's days and sigh. I see the past and I can see The future just as plain, When in his turn my boy Shall sail to school by aeroplane. Be it a-foot, a-wheel, a-wing, To go to school is just the thing. -William Ryan, 523. Jackis Return It was a cold night in the middle of December, and the snow was falling from the clouds in a great white fleece. In a lonely house, on a dark street of a mining town in Pennsylvania sat poor Mary. She was a tall, frail crea- ture who had lived alone for several years since the disappearance of her brother, Jack. All the time Jack Robinson was away, Mary had spent her time sew- ing and helping those about her, and on this very night she was making Christmas presents for some poor children who lived nearby. From time to time as she plied her needle, her thoughts shifted to poor Jack, and she prayed for his return. Every night she would pray to the Christ Child for the return of her dear brother if he was alive, and for the repose of his precious soul had he departed this life. On the day before Christmas while she was distributing a basket of Christmas gifts, she had dropped a package from her basket. She felt very sorry about losing it, and on her way home she looked and inquired for it, but to no avail. She did not mind the loss of the package, but she felt downcast because Little Georgie Flack would have to be disappointed. P14 Pk 24 Pls All the time Jack was in the army he had been thinking of his good sis- ter, Mary, but had not had a word from her in three years. It so happened that Jack was detailed to guard the coal strike district. Little did he dream he would find anyone he knew in the town. As he was making his way down the street he found a package lying in the snow bank along the path. He picked it up, examined it, and found that it bore the name Mary Robinson, 504 N. Salsbury Street. Could this belong to his own dear sister? It did not look like her hand- writing. He inquired the direction to Salsbury street after his watch was over, and went directly to the house. When Mary opened the door she exclaimed with ecstatic joy, The Christ Child has heard my prayer. -J . Raymzmd Murphy, ,252 Family Prayer We hear much about labor unions, social unions, all sorts of unions. Employers have organized, laborers have organized, wherever you turn you find an organization. Why? Be- cause men realize that as units they