Fostoria High School - Red and Black Yearbook (Fostoria, OH)

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22 THE RED AND BLACK FOR 192 Message to Graduating Class EAR FRIENDS-Members of the Class of 1927. Over the gateway of an ancient school in England is carved this motto: Man- ners Makyeth Man. I would like to change this motto to read Admirations Makyeth Man. It is an extreme statement but deeply true. We live by our admirations. If those who have the guidance of youth could control their admirations, they could con- trol their character. I talk to a young man or a young woman l am not so impressed with what they my or what they do as I am by the person or thing they admire and the passion which they evince for their admirations. You are in the process of becoming the man or woman whom you hope to be and the man or woman will be determined largely by your admirations for certain deep things of life. There are certain great fundamental sanctions of life to which we must give our unfailing loyalty for they are sanctions which are eternal in their values. I trust l may help you in this message to realize something of the importance of having worthwhile objects of admiration in your lives. May I suggest three-truth, beauty and goodness which if made the objects of sincere, loyal devotion will make your life commanding and your influence supreme. It was Lincoln's devotion to truth and goodness that caused him to tower over our great land like a Collosus. What is it makes the Lincoln memorial near Washington one of the sacred shrines of America? It is not its beautiful, white marble columns, it is not its pure classic architecture. No, it's the inherent greatness of the man which our nation recognizes and honors. His integrity and leadership represent all that we hope democracy Will sometime be. Pick up the great shell, the Gettysburg Speech, and listen to the echoes of great ideals that are deathless. There is a legend in ancient My- thology that Hector took his little son Astyanax out to the gate of Troy and said, Oh, gods, make my son greater than his father. Thus showing his faith in the deep things of life. It is a great thing to find something bigger than you are, and it is a great thing to believe in it. The road to the summit lies over that hill and you will never attain to what you can be or ever achieve what you hope until you climb. The poet Keats, with his imperishable dreams of beauty, the beauty that is more than surface deep-life- deep-Well illustrates the influence of the power of devotion to the admiration of beauty. His was a life built about a great passion for beauty in nature, life, music, art and literature. Over a century ago there was a group of Oxford men of brains, personality and power who studied the Greek Testament so profoundly that there came out of it a commanding passion to go up and down England persuading men to a life of good- ness which changed the whole English nation and likewise affected even America. The great leader of this movement was John Wesley. I trust that you with your dauntless, eager youth, boundless resources, fine idealism will build your life around some supreme admiration. Light your hopes for a new dawn, ask for the torch and gird your loins for the great calls of this new time with its manifold opportunities. I cannot chart for you the skill necessary for the work or vocation which you will enter. I can only point out to you a few of the unfailing guides that will insure the richest experience, and the .23.

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THE RED AND BLACK FOR 192 truest success. lt takes steadiness, firmness, vision to hold steadfast that the bigger things may be accomplished. It's the home base only that counts a run. We all need ideals great enough to master us and to sweep us in spite of ourselves. There is always a downward pull that would keep us in the lowlands, off the high places, and falsely, bid us be contented with a little life, with little deeds in a little street of a little town but O, youngmariner, Down to the haven And launch your vessel, And crowd your canvas. The leaders of America for the next thirty years are all born. Every president, every general, every judge, every prophet, every writer of great, big books, every big man who will serve and save the country is now alive. And as there were giants in the days of old. so there will be giants in the days to come. And these days belong to you. The silver voice that is to peal out over the whole nation is being prepared, never fear. Will you say the big things are meant for other young people-that the leaders are the chil- dren of only favored circumstances, that no one really big comes from a small town? The reverse is the verdict of biography and the history of our own city. Little did our community realize back in 1880 that there was a modest lad in the high school working at his tasks so well that later he became one of the world's greatest Astronomers. Nor back in 1886 that a boy from an humble home was dreaming dreams which were later realized when John Quinn became an eminent lawyer in New York City and interna- tionally known for his Art collections. There are plenty of magic boxes in your own hands if you could only discover them. Life that requires fine men and women richly spreads before you materials for the making. May you not allow the lofty peaks of rugged virtue, courage. nobility and purity ever to be levelled to the plane of medio- crity or lower living. Who is the young woman capable of making a great home? lt is the one who saves herself for one supreme emotion. The young woman who gives herself lightly from one fascination to another looses the power to build a great home. Keep the perfect whiteness of your life gloriously splendid. Be willing to accept the austere ideal of the great highway of life and at the same time have the glow of friend- liness for those who are in the other highway. We should give our personal gifts to our city-our integrity, our loyalty, our service. There may come out of this class some leader capable of loyalty, decision, high morality that may play a great part in the fu- ture of our city or in the larger affairs of state or nation. So let us come back to the final word-what are we going to admire? Are we going, like Lincoln, to love truth, justice and honor, or like the poet, Keats, to love the beautiful in art, music, liter- ature, and nature, or like VVesley to love goodness? Suppose you all wanted to make beautiful things, to think and to say beautiful things, and suppose all the vast army of young people who go forth from the high schools of our great commonwealth this year would want to make beautiful things, to think and to say beautiful things, what might not happen to this land of ours? Very sincerely your friend, A MISS lVIcDERMOTT .24.