Central High School - Aglaia Yearbook (Manchester, NH)

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ar ' WW' THE ORACLE Now, can you blame a pupil for ask- ing, What good are Report Cards?', ROBERT PRESTON HUMAN I am the blessed Yet I hunger, I whine, Greedy for more- A mean, mutinous mind. I'm the anointed, Oil is wet on my brow, God's disappointed, I break every vow. I am the power, Will of the machine, See it devour All God-written scheme. I am the human: If humanity be I, Close kin to the ape Does humanity lie. ELLEN XVATSON GETTING ACQUAINTED Every few minutes, as I write, an au- tomobile dashes by-going somewhere. Every few hours, a huge black and orange airplane thunders over my head, carrying mail and passengers between Boston and Montreal. From a distance I can hear at regular intervals a passenger train rumbling by, twelve or fifteen cars carrying people from where they were to where they will be before long. The traveller is everywhere. The peo- ple of the world are rapidly getting bet- ter acquainted. Before long, if we have money enough, we can be whisked from Moscow to New York in fifty minutes, the journey being just as safe as plodding behind an I was back in ,49. Safer even, because were obnoxious Indians in those day. Travel, just to admire and to see, w. be of great help in getting rid of the bis and hatred between peoples which hav come down from the beginning of civili- zation. As easier methods of travel are found, and the peoples of all parts of the world begin to know and understand and make allowances for one another, that mutual acquaintanceship will start civilization toward permanent and wholesome peace. I believe that acquaintanceship brought about by travel is more effective in the cause of world peace than a hundred years' worth of Mussolini-Laval meet- ings, Washington and London naval pacts, Briand diplomacy, Borah-ism, and Huey-ism. FRED KALIL GARDENS Gardens, riotous and formal, delight- fully carefree and just as delightfully prim, quiet and fragrant as an old pot- pourri, lavish and colorful as a sunset, are getting their first start in April. Cro- cuses are pushing their way through the softening earth and daffodils are prepar- ing to burst into the sun. So many kinds of gardens can be made that every girl with even a small plot of ground can find one that suits her particular taste. In fact, a clever gardener may have all sorts of flowers during one year in her one tiny plot, from cool, stately irises in the spring to gay, flamboyant dahlias in the fall, with candytuft and hollyhocks and morning-glories and snapdragons in be- tween.

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THE ORACLE trising and shaking hands with shmanj: 'lYes, you will declare the ry same thing when the time comes. OLGA Kouiunrs A REMINDER I Strife wages o'er a wasted land, Panic, Discord dance hand in handg Terror creepeth from mouth to mouth, From dank north to marshy south, Thunderbolts lay low Village, town, and massy hold. The earth convulsed, a mighty roarg Satan in horrid majesty rides forth! II Vile seeds of Erebus do spring, To humble abode destruction bring. In wayside inn dwelt cheer, With tales bold throughout the year, Till made foul with seeping lies, Weird chants and devilish cries, O humble hearth, that sheltered in warmth, Neighbor's troubles, need, and want, Till made dark its divine light, Despoiled in carnal might. To humble head sing thy creed IO treacherous, ignoble deedfj To bloody wine doth change the stream Of lofty thought, to horrid dream, To fix in candid eye a feverish hate, To curse with loathsome fate! III Bursting nature groans in pain, Splendid figure battles in vain! Go forth, a glorious plea, Valiant Greek at Thermopylae! To stay, to stay, to kill, to die! KOIQ, gallant youth, without a sigh!j To stand alone, bleeding, torn, KOIQ, cursed day he was ever bornfj His weary head raised to the sky, Sendeth forth a piercing cry, Then in eternal rest Lies broken o'er uncovered breast! PAUL PERRAS REPORT CARDS What good are Report Cards?',--a question often put forth by a pupil. The teacher will promptly reply that the purpose of the card is to give the par- ent an idea of the grade of work that his son or daughter is doing. The pupil interprets this card as a weapon in the hands of the teachers, which is used about four times a year to arouse discord in his otherwise happy home. This card may bring down upon the unlucky offspring the wrath of his fa- ther, the well-meant advice of his mother, and the everlasting snickering and sniveling of his older brothers and sisters. Woe unto him who does not bring home a card with passing grades. He is forbidden to go to the movies. He is for- bidden to go to dances. He is forbidden to play football or baseball. He must be at his books unceasingly. He can't move away from them without hearing his mother ask him if his lessons are pre- pared, and when he is lucky enough to get to the back door without his mother's hearing him, his older sister calls out, johnny, does mother know you're go- ing out? This agony for the pupil continues for about a month and then slowly dies down. At last he is back in his old habits when those unbearable, poisonous, dzczg- tive Report Cards are again distribu:c:t in school.

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iw 1 I8 THF! In England, everybody with even the smallest patch of land cultivates a gar- dcn. Flowering hedges line the country roads and lilacs bloom in tiny yards. That is what makes travelers speak of the beautiful English countrysidef, That is what inspired Alfred Noyes to s'ng, Come down to Kew in lilac time, and Shakespeare to write some of his loveliest lines. In Shakespeare's own Stratford-on-Avon today, as in the days when he lived there, around even the little thatch-roofed cottages, there are patches of quaint English garden flowers. And the garden of Anne Hathaway's home in Shottery, to which the poet used to walk at dusk through fragrant fields, is filled with bergamot and mignonette and larkspur that are mentioned in so many of his songs. A garden is one of the most satisfying things in the world to own, to point to and say, Yes, I planted that and tended it myself. It's really mine. It is worth every bit of work and care that is put into it. If you are fortunate enough to have plenty of ground, you may, of course, have more variety than you can in a little patch. It is not wise if you are an inexperienced gardener to begin on too big aiscale at Hrst. So limitation of soace may be a fortunate thing rather than a hardship. If you do not live in a house with a back yard, perhaps one of your friends does, and perhaps she will lcnd you a few feet of ground for a gar- den or let you share hers. Or, if you live in the city, have a window-box garden, which is a hundred times better than hav- ing none at all, and can at least provide you with little nosegays for a tea-table. Yes, April is the time to think about gardens and to begin the joyous task of O R ACLE making lovely things grow where there was only bare brown earth before, and to look forward to the time when there will be blue and yellow and pink blos- soms glowing in the summer sunshine, and the refreshing odor of sweet alyssum and the spicy smell of cinnamon pinks blowing in at your window. VASILIKE SPANOS FOR GIRLS ONLY Oh, don't ask her. She is such a bore! Doesn,t it make your blood boil to hear someone make a statement like that? After all, everyone hasn't the distinction of being classed in the category of Bore Today it is generally acknowl- edged, after reading innumerable pamph- lets and vividly illustrated advertise- ments, that any girl can be popular - simply by acquiring a school-girl com- plexion for her boy-friends to admire, and individuality of dress that will make her girl friends jealous, the pep and vital- ity to keep going from eight in the morn- ing until twelve at night, plus a dynamic line that is positively guaranteed to bring the stag line on the run. For the benefit of my dear readers I shall endeavor to indicate in two classes the vast number of unpleasantries that accompany popularity. Firstly, it is a known fact that popular girls are con- tinually being sponged upon by friends whose popularity is of a lesser denomina- tion. When a particular girl friend of yours has a particularly important date coming to call on her, she will bring him to your house to be entertained. Much later in the wee hours, when you lie ex- hausted in bed, it doesn't seem credible that the misguided male in question has