Elk County Catholic High School - Memories Yearbook (St Marys, PA)

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X vm If X 'fx 1714 W .,,,,- . . . ,W X, v , f - ' f 'LJ-1 4'- c - a-1- if? , -:isiqw The Value of Prayer N A COLD winter's night as the Blakes were sitting around the fire, they all clamored for a story from their Uncle joe who was visiting them. A story, he said, why, certainly, but what kind do you want? Any kind, answered Mary. All right, here is one that impressed me considerably when I read it a few weeks ago. High up in the Alps, nestled among the mountains is the small village of Sharing. Grand mountain peaks and beautiful lakes surround it making it always a picture of beauty and magnicance. -One of the most prominent families in Sharing, the Bert' rams, had arrived in this town twenty years previously. Richard Bertram, then a young man, had been sent there with his wife and baby daughter, by a prominent English concern, to make an agreement with the inhabitants to buy their art goods, for which the village was famous. He became a great favorite and the people not only sold him their collections but promised him all that they would make in the future. 'The company then established him there, and he soon became as one of the inhabitants. Two years had happily passed here when his wife suddenly took sick and before she could be taken to a specialist, she died. Richard Bertram was inconsolable, and grieved her loss constantly. From that time he was a changed man. He gave up the practice of his religion, in which he had always been a devout and pious worshipper, and shunned the companionship of his friends. He hired a housekeeper, to take care of his small daughter and left everything in her hands. He bothered little with anything or anyone, and became known as 'Old Man Bertram, the Crankf When Alice Bertram, the daughter, had grown to young womanhood she married and became the mother of a small son, who was her chief companion, as her husband spent a great part of his time away on business. Her father lived with her also, but he paid little attention to her affairs unless to criticize them. Alice had often tried to persuade him to return to his religion, but had only received a surly answer or no answer at all. One day while james Holmes, Alice's husband, was absent and her father was in one of his most cranky moods, the baby was taken sick and for almost a week was in a raging fever. Then the sickness conquered the baby's feeble strength and the 1nother's desperate efforts and killed the child. But Mrs. Holmes' sorrows were not to end there for that same day she received word that her husband was killed in an accident. For two days she was uncomprehending and could not seem to understand the grief that had befallen her. Her father, although he gave her no sympathy, silently watched her and wondered how she would bear this, her greatest sorrow. She had always told him that by trusting in God and by being resigned to His Holy Will, the trials and sorrows of life become lighter. The third day after these calamities had befallen Alice, she again took an active part in her housework and found much time to pray to God for courage and strength. In her prayers she always added a fervent petition for her father's conversion. One day he told her that he had formerly thought she was talking from inexperience when she told him to offer his sufferings to God, but now he was fully convinced that she had spoken sincerely, for had she not gone through a similar struggle to E

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,,N,.,..,,,. A 5? 1-fsss.?r.ts-5:15-as-eff.g1:yvl'www.ff, f' . .'.v'i'f5'f 5 '- - ' EL 69 in - U.. jx. I. , ' . in 'W ay i leading man of the United States of America, President Calvin Coolidge, when he said: Unless our halls of learning are real temples which are to be approached by our youths in an attitude of reverence, consecrated by worship of the truth, they will end in a delusion. The information that is acquired in them will simply provide a greater capacity for evil. Our institutions for learning must be dedicated to a higher purpose. The life of our nation must rise to a higher realm. There is something more in learning and something more in life than a mere knowledge of science, a mere striving for place and power. Our schools and colleges will fail in duty to their students unless they are able to inspire in them a broader understanding of the spiritual meaning of science, of literature and of the arts. If our graduates are not inspired with these ideals, our educational institutions have failed in their most important functions and the people will be lacking in true culture. J ' K Unless our scholarship, however brilliant, is to be 'barren and sterile, leading toward pessimism, more emphasis must be given to the development of our moral power. Our colleges must teach not only science but character. We must maintain a stronger, firmer grasp on the principles declared in the Psalms -of David and re- echoed in the Proverbs of Solomon, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. ' p y ' ' ' ' - jane E. scrum, 'za I L F. - ln Memory She was a kitten small, With fur so soft and fine And every time she strayed away, The mice had a jolly time. , She often watched in quet of prey, Or even a careless fly, And many a victim met its doom, When detected by her eye. One morning after running about, And nearly out of breath, A cruel car ran over puss, And so she met her death. -George E. Fischer, '28 ss - . e ii ,

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X n --' , 75, lvfv tsxvkjplh ' --- 7 W' ' - 'PQ xxx 'rf r ,.l? - .f ' JF ' 7,1e-- - Fm - sv 4 -gqx-ai 42' Y V f s q-r Q5-X! 'Q what his had been? But she triumphed over hardships and through them became more kind and helpful toward others. He soon made his peace with God and they again lived happily, loving each other more than ever. Soon the entire village knew them as, 'Those Kind Bertrams' who always helped others to bear their suiferings. And now, finished Uncle jim, you all see what prayers will do for a troubled and heartbroken person. ' - Bernadette Hagan '51 The Little Cottage It was just a cottage Hidden by some vines, Whose owner, it was said, Worked down in the mines. The occupants were six, The kind parents and four Hearty little children Who played at the door. One day while in their glee, Along came a car, One little dear was struck And hurled very far. The doctor soon was called, No faint hope was given, Her earthly hours were spent, She belonged to Heaven. For the grim reaper, Death, Had journeyed round that way And snatched one little life Ere the close of day. That cottage now has changed, Once so gay and bright, For one they held most dear, Has vanished from their sight. -M. M.