Chicago Christian High School - Violet and Maize Yearbook (Palos Heights, IL)

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There is, I believe, innate in the soul of every human being a secret longing to be successful. And the strength and persistence of this longing is the spur that drives each one in the race of life. But what is success? It seems to me that success comes from a true sense of the values of things. It is characterized by an indomitable, conquering spirit, which never quits even in the face of ap- parently insurmountable difiiculties, that same spirit of which Browning sings: Then, welcome each rebuff That turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! Be our joys three-parts pain! Strive, and hold cheap the straing Learn, nor account the pang, dare, never grudge the throe! For thence,-a paradox VVhich comforts while it mocks.- Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail: 'What I aspired to be, And was not, comforts me: A brute I might have been, but I would not sink in the scale. This book is dedicated to a successful man, Mr. James De Boer. To be said to have been successful, in the true meaning of success, is one of the greatest tributes that can be given to a man. Henry Van Dyke sums up the whole matter in just a few lines of verse, which I desire to quote: Four things a man must learn to do If he would make his record true: To think without confusion clearly, To love his fellow man sincerely, To act from honest motives purelyg To trust in God and Heaven securelyf, HENRY D. HOLKEBOER +- -oz19- -o

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W E5 Let me do my work from day to day In field or forest, at the desk, or loom, In roaring market-place, or tranquil room, Let me but find it in my heart to say VVhen vagrant wishes beckon me astray, This is my work, my blessing, not my doom, Of all who live, I am the one by whom This work can best be done, in the right way, Then shall I see it not too great, nor small, To suit my spirit and to prove my, power, Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hours, And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall At eventide, to play and love and rest, Because I know for me my work is best. Henry Van Dyke ADRIANA G. HAMMEKOOL DEAR FRIENDS: lVIuch as I would, I cannot phrase, either in poetry, or in prose, the hopes I entertain for you, as well as did our beloved Longfellow in The Builders from which I make bold to extract these few stanzas: a Iu the elder days of Art Builders wrought with greatest care Iiach minute and unseen part, For the gods see everywhere. Let us do our work so well, Both the unseen and the seen, Nlake the house, where God may dwell Beautiful, entire, and cleani Build today, then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base, And ascending and secure Shall tomorrow find its place. Sincerely, J. W. SIETSEMA 14

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Q-7-we Q E:-c +-- --4 ,J- To THE CLASS or '24: Perhaps it was its very simplicity, perhaps it was the few letters printed in bright red, which here and there had found a place among its letters of sabre hue, perhaps it was the fact that my mother was wont to gaze at and meditate upon it as it hung on the wall in a frame that was already crumbling,-perhaps it was the pleading of the poem itself that first impressed me. Whatever its first charm may have been, the little poem has now completely captivated me, and often I have been able to forget that I bore the burden in accordance with its prescription. Thus I would like to pass it on. The path of you graduates will not always be rosy. You will meet with little trials and vexations as you go along. And yet you need not despair for you can leave your load of care right at the feet of OUR BURDEN BEARER The little sharp vexations And the briars that catch and fret, Why not take all to the Helper Who has never failed us yet? Tell Him about the heartache, And tell him the longings, too, Tell Him the baffled purpose VVhen we scarce know what to do. Then leaving all our weakness VVith the one divinely strong, Forget that we bore the burden, And carry away the song. -PHILLIPS BROOKS. HENRY A. SWETS. EPILOGUE TO ASOLANDO One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake. No, at noonday in the bustle of man's worktime Greet the unseen with a cheer! Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be, Strive and thrive! cry Speed! Fight on, fare ever There as here! As you go forth from the halls of this institution, may you return often to the great field of literature not only for a respite from the struggles of life, but also for the purpose of unshackling yourselves from the bonds of prejudice and tradition and keeping your minds unclouded and free from the repressive forces that bind the powers of inner compulsion. JOHN DE BOER. 16