Franklin K Lane High School - Senior Echoes Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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A I-IIGI-I 1 ls SCHOOL BOY'S MEMORIES I was five years old when my falher boughl our firsl aulomobile, and imme- dialely il became in my eyes a lhing of greal beauly. I was free lo climb up high on lhe greal cushioned seals and look oul al a seemingly differenl world lhrough lhe greal windshield. I was al liberly lo lake lhe round shining wheel inlo my hands and prelend I was driving 'lil my hearl was lull and I was lired. The aulomobile look us far and wide, and I loved il very dearly, nol only for ils beauly, bul for lhe parl il had in making me happy. Il look us lo magnificenl beaches where lhe waler was bolh calm and rough as you liked il. The beach mosl vivid in my memory is Jones Beach, lhal beauliful example'of man's accomplishmenls broughl logelher wilh Nalure's beaulies. ll was lhere lhal I learned lo swim and lo love lhe ocean. I remember begging my falher lo slay lale unlil all lhe people had gone and lhen lo walk along lhe quiel beach Iislening lo lhe incessanl splash of lhe waves, looking oul lo sea, lhe unending sea. How many limes we wenl lhere I could nol even underlake lo slale, bul each lime was an advenlure in ilself, a period in which I Iislened lo and saw beauly as il was, unchanged, pure, and wholesome, lo my lhirsling young spiril. There was a golf course lo play in and all sorls of olher sporls lo engage a young boy's inleresl. Tennis, shuffle board, and even archery were some of lhe many paslimes in lhis heaven. When I was lired of lhese, lhere was lhe ocean again calling wilh ils splashing waves, pleasanl wilh ils cool breezes, deep wilh a deplh which is yel unlouched. All lhese lhings held an irresislible inducemenl for me, an inducemenl lo lhoughl, spirilual and profound. I lhoughl of lhe sea and whal il was or whal il meanl by ils incessanl pounding, ils unseen deplh. I looked behind me and lhoughl of lhe land of which I had seen so lillle. I I lhoughl of lhe land and whal il was wilh ils deep valleys so green and ferlile and ils snow capped mounlains so high. Whal was all lhis lo me as I lhoughl, whal did il mean lo me? ll meanl Nalure, and lo me Nalure meanl Beauly iusl as alive as any person l have ever known: Beauly so dislincl and real in every characler lhal I was overwhelmed and frighlened lo lhink whal I mighl have missed if I had nol discovered il. Yes, discovered-lhal is my inlerprelalion of whal il was lhal happened lo me. I feared because I saw lhal I could have gone on lhrough lile seeing lhis beauly and yel laking il for granled. I feared because I had come so close lo losing il forever as I realized lhe people aboul me had Iosl il. They senl piclures home of sighls lhey saw while lraveling, bul whal did il mean lo lhem? Jusl some landscape, iusl anolher phase of Nalurel ANalure was lo me more lhan lhal: il was every conceivable kind of beauly. ll was more lhan landscape: il was lhe hidden beauly of lhal landscape: il was a bird singing: il was snow falling and grass growing: il was a boy fishing and a beauliful flower in a girls hair: and il was lhe sky in all ils glory of blue, lhe clouds and lighlning and rain and lhen lhe sun shining brighlly down on lhis mass of earlh which was Nalure. ll was all lhis, and il was a boy's hearl, searching for beauly and finding il suddenly, unexpecledly, all aboul him so splendid lhal he could nol believe whal il was in his power lo see. I saw, and my spiril knell down in profound gralilude for having been allowed lo see lhis magnificence. I saw, and I cherished whal I saw in any form il came lo me: I cherished whal olhers lhoughl common, for I saw ils beauly. William Neslor 26 SENIOR ECHOES

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REMINISCING Now ThaT we are abouT To graduaTe, we begin To look back upon Tour years oT sTudy, hard work, and yes, even a liTTle Tun. These are some oT my mosT vivid memories. FIRST TERM lmmediaTely upon enTering Lane, mysTerious whiTe cards were shoved inTo our hands. We soon discovered ThaT They were S. S. cards, and were prompTly insTrucTed in The besT manner on how To decode Them. This was The Term we Took Civics and were TorTunaTe enough To geT Mr. Rubinow as our Teacher. We accompanied him on his TrequenT iaunTs abouT The ciTy beTore These were disconTinued because oT The danger oT air-raids. On Columbus Day, he Took us To WesT PoinT where we viewed a TooTball game, and goT a chance To see The CadeTs up close! SECOND TERM We were now civilized, and could look down wiTh a superior air aT Those awkward Freshies. ThaT was The Term we were TirsT inTroduced To MaTh., and awards in The aToremenTioned subiecT iusT Tlowed like wine. We, also, goT our TirsT TasTe oT Physics in General Science Il, which, we musT admiT, was noT alTogeTher unpleasanT. THIRD TERM We had To geT acquainTed all over again, Tor The Junior-highers were now in our midsT. We had Two new subiecTs added To our programs This Term: General Biology and Spanish. We Took Spanish, because we had been Told in our earlier lives ThaT iT was very easy. All ThaT you have To do, we had been Told, is To puT an o on To The ends of all English words, and The resulT will be Spanish. lEx.: English-ship: Spanish-shipo.l we were quickly disillusioned, however. We also soon learned To be cold-blooded, cuTTing up Trogs as we did in Biology. Mr. Nagler allowed some oT his more ambiTious sTudenTs To progress To The poinT where They were permiTTed To dissecT whiTe mice. FOURTH TERM This was The Term aT The end of which we received our TirsT TasTe of The aTrociTies of a RegenTs Exam. BuT, beTore This, however, we were To have our picTures Taken Tor The ReporTer because we were able vicTory gardeners, well vicTory gardeners anyway. Mr. Nager remarked in This issue of ThaT illusTrious newspaper ThaT The Garden Club had pulchriTude, buT no muscles. We ThoughT ThaT unfair, because we considered ourselves The aThleTic Types. FIFTH TERM We were glad To reach This grade, because, Thank goodness, Tor The TirsT Time in our long careers aT Lane we no longer had To Take ArT. When we elecTed Chem- isTry, we ThoughT ThaT iT probably would be easy, because we Tound Biology so simple, buT how wrong we were. SIXTH TERM By now we were already immune To The suffering caused by mediTaTing abouT The RegenTs. BuT, we ThoughT discreTion was The beTTer parT of valor, and decided againsT Taking The ChemisTry RegenTs. We also sTarTed To go To The G. O. meeTings during This semesTer. SEVENTH TERM Our English Teachers inTroduced us To Shakespeare, and we goT a considerable dose of iT, buT, in The end, we enjoyed iT-well mosT of us did anyway. We came x JUNE 1945 27 v 9 ,J