English High School - Blue and Blue / Record Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 24 text:

Masters Emeriti CHARLES J. HAMLIN appointed Sept. 1924 — retired June 1956. 32 years a member of the Romance Language Department. DEANE S. PEACOCK appointed Sept. 1931 — retired Sept. 1956. 25 years member of the History Department. “What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth.”

Page 23 text:

The sudden death of Mr. Gifford constituted a distinct loss to both the faculty and student body of the English High School. During his twenty- eight years of service here Mr. Gifford endeared himself to countless thousands of students. His warm personality and keen interest in his students’ problems made him not only their teacher but their friend as well. Horn and raised in Provincetown, Mass., he re¬ ceived his B.A. from Clark in 1918, and later re¬ ceived his Ed.M. from Harvard. He taught at Attleboro High School and then transferred to Belmont High where he taught for eight years. In September of 1929 he came to the English High School where he remained for the ensuing twenty- eight years. Frederick O. Gifford

Page 25 text:

■M| ND what of teaching? Ah, there you have the worst paid, and the best rewarded, of all the vocations. Dare not to enter it unless you love it. For the vast majority of men and women it has no promise of wealth or fame, but they, to whom it is dear for its own sake, are among the nobility of mankind. I SIN G the praise of the unknown teacher. Great generals win campaigns, but it is the unknown soldier who wins the war. Fa MOUS educators plan new systems of pedagogy, but it is the unknown teacher who delivers and guides the young. He lives in obscurity and contends with hardship. For him no trumpets blare, no chariots wait, no golden decorations are de ' creed. He keeps the watch along the borders of darkness and makes the attack on the trenches of ignorance and folly. Patient in his daily duty, he strives to conquer the evil powers which are the enemies of youth. He awakens sleeping spirits. He quick ' ens the indolent, encourages the eager, and steadies the unstable. He communicates his own joy in learning and shares with boys and girls the best treasures of his mind. He lights many candles which, in later years, will shine back to cheer him. This is his reward. k«. OWLEDGE may be gained from books; but the love of knowledge is transmitted only by personal contact. No one has deserved better of the republic than the unknown teacher. No one is more worthy to be enrolled in a democratic aristoc ' racy, “king of himself and servant of mankind.” HEHRT VAH DYKE.