Fitchburg State University - Saxifrage Yearbook (Fitchburg, MA)

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Foreword Americans! To all the world that signifies A daring and progressive race To which we lay proud claim. But long before our forebears crossed the seas That lay between their native hearths And the vast wilderness which is now ours, Our red-skinned brethren lived in beauty here, l-lere lived they in contentment and in peace, 'Seeing divinity in everything. l-IEN our forefathers anchored off these coasts, they were met by the first Americans-the lndian. In spite of misinformation written about him, he had much which we need today. lt is par- ticularly fitting thatwe as teachers should better acquaint ourselves with his many fine qualities, and lead our children to a better understanding of how our modern life has been enriched by these first American trail blazers. . l-le had courage which helped him fight battles and face hopeless odds. Self-control, self-restraint, and self-denial are the bulwark of spiritual power and these he possessed to a marked degree. The Indian has contributed to the world's progress by faithfulness to duty and devotion to a trust. l-le faced hardship and danger with eagerness that thereby he might develop courage and strength. l-lis health of body and mindand soul, his spirit of democracy, his philosophy, his fine physical and mental poise, his simplicity and naturalness, his silence and serenity in the face of annoyances, his utter lack of pretence andthypocrisy, we should strive to emulate. I I-le commands our respect for his achievements in the fields of invention, art, law-making, engineering, building and botany. ln his symbolic song, romance, poetically descriptive names, the unstudied eloquence of hisoratory and the sacredness of his religion we find inspiration. l-le was a heathen but a reverent one, and his reverence was real. The keenness of his powers of observation is re- markable. ln fact he knows more about plant and animal life than do our trained naturalists. lf only every teacher could read nature as did the redskin, feeling as he did that everything in nature is an expression of God! The young people of today, through the Boy and Girl Scout movements are learning much of the wisdom of the first American and we, too, should partake of the good which he can give us and be tolerant of his shortcomings. - r The Indian faced unutterable hardship and difficulty but he did not flinch nor draw back. May we who are about to go out to face life remember and follow this courage and perseverance so symbolic of the little rock-breaking Saxifrage, which in its turn typifies the spirit of our college. PAGE SIX

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Dedication OR thirty-seven years have the children seeking wisdom within the portals ofthis collegebeen inspired and helped by those men and women whose lite work it is to ,help others. The standards Alma Mater has set have been exacting but there have been men and women on her faculty who have been more than equal to the maintaining of those standards - men and women who have been able, year after year, to instill the fineness of themselves in the souls of their charges. . The class of '33 feels that it is a real privilege to dedicate its book to two of the people who have thus contributed the fineness of themselves unfalteringly to the college since its beginnings. s No student has lever left Miss l3erry's classes without sensing strongly the value of faithful unceasing hard work or without ap- preciating her untiring efforts to leave with her charges something besides mere knowledge of music, something that will carry through for the rest of our lives - the something that we know asluinspirationf' Mr. Smith is never satisfied with knowing that his' pupils are thoroughly' grounded in scientific knowledge. l-le spends as much time and painstaking effort to get atm our innerselves as he does in imparting technical information. l-lis also is the heaven-sent gift of inspiration ' ln appreciation of our having two such real teachers with us, we gratefully dedicate our book to them. PAGE FIVE

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