Eau Claire High School - Beaver Tales Yearbook (Eau Claire, MI)

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NOT EVKNING, BUT DAWN. HEN we meditate upon various events of our lives, there is not one among us to whom the mere mention of the words, “New Year’s Eve”, does not recall some vision of a most treasured or loathed |memory. Moreover, perhaps no two of us would picture the same aNj J] things. It is then that meetings and partings, sorrow and gladness, past and future, loom before our eves. Then some of us think of the Past Years, others think of the opening of the New Year, and still others of the New Years to come. But hriends and Classmates, did vou ever stop to compare the Evening of the Old Y ear with the Evening of High School life? Those of you who did have some idea of the Dawn of new era in the lives of those who on Commencement night cheerfully turn toward whatever future Fate has in store for them. Allow me to picture for you the contrast between the Evening of the Old ear and the Dawn of the New Year. In one picture far away in the South West the sun is going down. It has sunk lower and lower until it’s red lips have kissed the cheeks of the calm Pacific. The glory of this sunset has filled air, sea, and sky with light and shadow. In the next picture the midnight of the Old Year hasv anished. The New Year is ushered in representing a faint beam of sunlight slanting forward and falling in a Land of Promise. Can we not truthfully say that for us, too the dawn of our new life is as a beam of sunlight in a Land of Promise of the future? 'Truly one gate is closed but another to a better pathway is opened. 'The New Year for us represents a great stairway that leads upward for an infinite number of steps. We have taken the first step now and there is no turning back; nor should there be any standing still. I he thoughts that I have tried to express here may be clearly summed up in the words of Butler, when he said: “Life is before you! From the fated road Ye cannot turn. Then take ye up the load, Not yours to tread or leave the unknown way, Ye must go o'er 7, meet ye what ye may. Truly we may meet countless difficulties. But if we look back over life’s pathway we will find that with each succeeding generation opportunities, especi- ally those for girls, have grown greater. The fact that a considerable majority of pupils in American High Schools today are girls makes it hard for us to realize, that three quarters of a century ago a girl was not expected to have more than a grammar school education and was not permitted to obtain a degree from any important college. There were times, too, not many years ago when boys and girls, working under the same conditions and doing the same amount of work as an adult were not paid even half the wages thatadultsreceived, andat thesame timethey were kept from getting even a grammar school education. 'These times, thank fortune, are past. They are merely shadows of the Old Year. Whether the future shall be a “Millstone about our necks,” or a “Diadem on our brow,” is for us to decide. The obstacles of a few centuries ago have been removed and the present century promises to be one of human improvement. We have been given a chance through the great sacrifice of our parents and for their sakes it is up to us to make the most of each passing moment. They are looking forward to the time when we shall win and we will not disappoint them. All life is a preparation for greater things. Those things which seemed so Sixtrtn

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LUCYLE PALMER “Not by her size, but by her disposition is she judged. Class President ’21 V'ice President ’22 Assistant Editor of Maroon and White ;22 Ncotrophean Literary Society ’22 Library Staff ’21— 22 GERALD WILLIAMS “He would talk, I ord, how he would talk! Basketball 20 Junior Earce ’21 Assistant Business Manager of Maroon and White ’22 Neotrophean Literary Society ’22 HAZEL BLR NS “Man delights me not Vice President ’21 Campus Editor of Maroon and White.... - [22 Neotrophean Literary Society... 22 ETHEL MITCHELL “Duty is her motto Literary Editor of Maroon and White 22 “Pals” Literary Society......... '22 Valedictorian..................... 22 Fifteen

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important in the past seem so unimportant as we climb up to higher things. We have only one life to live and we want to do our best with it. The question of life is not, however, “How much time have we?”—for each person has all there is. The question is rather, “What shall we do with our time?” If we do not do the work we were ordained to do, it will forever remain undone. In theannalsofeternity there will be that which we should have had. A person may work in the dark, but some day, light shall beam upon his labor. Although he mav never with his own lips declare the victory complete, some day others will behold in his life’s work the traces of a great and thinking mind. How true are these words of Emerson, “Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do some feat impossible for others.” There are no two of us with the same kind of work or the same opportunities. Some of us pass quickly up to fame; others struggle bravely through countless difficulties; and still others seem content with the shadows of the Old Year. With this thought in mind that God put us in a place abounding with oppor- tunities that we are capable of filling, many difficulties that beset our careers can be conquered. As long as we live we shall have a task to do. 'I hat we are alive today is positive proof that there is something for us to do. As Doctor Trumball says, “On what we do today may depend the success and completeness of our entire life’s struggle.” Why not then today if we have not already chosen, choose some goal toward which we may strive to w'in success in the future? We may never reach our ideal in life. It may keep floating on before us. But the sailor never reaches the Northern Star, yet without it he may never come to port. The dawn of his success was reached by following the beam of sunlight that pointed to the Land of Promise. Likewise, we, as individuals, may never reach our ideal in life, but still mere striving for it will help to avoid many stumbling blocks along life’s pathway. We may look up to it, as, “a lamp unto our pathway,” to guide our footsteps, as the beacon from the far-off lighthouse serves to guide some sailor home over a stormy sea. Classmates, as we face the Dawn of the future, whatever the Evening of the past might have been, let us remember that diplomas are merely stepping stones to the greater success of the pathway that leads upward toward our goal. “ And then only the big world shall praise us. And only the big world shall blame; Tho’ we work for the joy of the winning. And climb up the pathway to fame; For each in our separate calling Our separate thoughts must express. As we follow the gleam as we see it. To the goal that to us means—Success. IVe are leaving our High School forever. With the dawn of a new life in view. Yet we pause awhile before going And silently bid you adieu. —Ethel Mitchell Stvsntfrn