Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

Page 16 text:

I4 THE ACADEMY BELL into our heads. You have been very patient and helpful. XVe have always felt free to come to you :for help, know- ing that it would be given gladly. You have watched over us and tried to make the way as smooth as possible. Now we are going out from under your care and we want to tell you how much we appreciate the help and inspi- ration you have given us. Undergraduates. we, the Class of 153253, are leaving Ifryeburg Academy forever, and we bequeath our places to you. You will step into them and fill them capably. we feel sure. VVe are handing you the torch and you must carry on in our stead. Above all, be sincere in everything you do, persevere in your work, and you will have no regrets when you leave. And now, my classmates, I turn to you. Today is our day of days, our greatest day, for it is in all probability t e last time that we shall all be together. VVe must make the most of it because before we rialize it will have slipped from us and we shall be waiching the sun rise on tomorrow with its glorious p1'om'se. Tonight will see us scattered to the four winds of fate, and if per- chance any of us meet again it will be under different circumstances. Even after these exercises are over the part- ing will begin, and so we must grasp each golden moment as it flies by and p'ace it in our treasure-chest of memo- ries. Dear classmates, shall we ever forget the days we have spent together in old lf. A.? No, as long as memory lasts, even though we never see each other again. each of us will always think ten- derly of the good old times at F. A. Although it grieves me. the time has come when I must say farewell, Gladly I would talk on and on and keep back the dread moment, but it is inevitable. It must come! And so farewell to you, my classmates and comrades! As we go forth into our new life, each in a dif- ferent direction, each to a different vo- cation, let us make a solemn vow never to forget the class of N123 of Ifryeburg Academy, what it has been in the past, what it is in the present, and what it will be in the future. LILLIAN SWAN. OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS. All forms of nature are interesting but none appeal to me more strongly than b'rds. They are useful, teach many lessons and add greatly to the joy and beauty of the world. VVho does not feel a thrill of pleasure when he awakes some morning after a long dreary winter and hears the bluebird singing in the tree tops? Qr what could furnish greater entertainment than to watch the Purple Finch wooing his mate? I have seen this gaily dressed suitor with wings spread, crest lifted, cir- cle round and round his lady-love, sing- ing his sweet song resembling that of a canary, as he waltzed and bowed, try- ing to win the admiration of his plainly- dressed and rather indifferent compan- ion. How dull would be the woods and fields were it not for the bright colors and joyous songs of the cheerful little birds! Longfellow said,

Page 15 text:

THE ACADEMY BELL 13 looking again we find that there is no end to childhood, only the beginning of youth. Thus it goes down through the ages. Next in consideration is a mountain trail. The beginning is just like walk- irg on level ground. for the slope begins very gradually. ln fact. it is so simple tliat you th'nk, My, this is easy! I'll soon be at the topfl llut that is a great mistake. For at first slowly, but finally very quickly, the trail begins to get steeper and rougher. Sharp rocks are strewn over the path and the roots of trees jut out into it at unexpected places to trip you disastrously. The trail be- comes still steeper. You stop to rest frequently, saying to yourself, This is1i't going to be as simple as I thought, but l guess I'll soon be theref' Perse- verance and the determination to reach the top prove to be good incentives for climbing. At last you arrive at the high- est peak. XVhat! you exclaim, star- ing ahead, there no end to this trail? However, after the first glance around, you become oblivious of all else but the glorious panorama spread before your eyes. Azure skies, huge, blue moun- tans with their peaks and ravines, and far away a glimpse of the valley with its farms and villages. Certainly it is a sight well worth the long, hard climb. Before you start back, take another look at the trail. Isn't there really any end to it? Vtlhy, so there isn't! 'It just continues and merges into the trail that leads downward on the other side. Now, I come to the best trail of all- the trail that we as a class have traveled for four years. lt has been a long trail, but we have passed quickly over it. Let us make a short resume of it. We were rather timid as we started because the path was strange and we did not know what new dangers might be awaiting us around the next turn. or what pitfalls might be underneath our feet. But nothing direful happened to us, and as we passed along the way we walked faster in proportion as our confidence increaseld. Obstacles were constantly being thrown in our way, but by dint of hard work we overcame them. XVe became stronger and braver with every step we took. The difhcult places were always broken up by easy pleasant ones before they became irksome. The temp- tations were many, but we passed them by without yielding, As seniors we have continued our triumphant march, sweeping all before us till we have reached this final victory-what seems the end of the trail. llut even as there was no end to the other trails which I have mentioned, so there is no end to this one. Rightly were these exercises named Commencement, for that is what they are, the commencement of new things, the dawn of a new life. Honorable Trustees, it is to you that we owe the privilege of attending Frye- burg Academy-a privilege that we have enjoyed for four years. Before we leave we wish to thank you for the op- portunities you have offered us, for the interest you have manifested in us. Speak- ing for my class, I thank you and bid you farewell. Teachers of Fryeburg Academy, you have labored long and diligently with us, trying to infuse a little knowledge

Page 17 text:

THE ACADEMY BELL 15 Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these? Do you ne'er think who made them and who tauglt The dialect they speak, where melodies Alone are the interpreters of thought?'l Scientists have studied and classified thirteen hundred species of birds. They are found all over the world and are of a great many forms and colors. Compare a humming bird with an ostrich, a swal- low with a penguin, and the wide varia- tions in structure and habits is brought forcibly to the mind. Strange as it may seem, it has been found that the widely divergent types descended from a com- mon reptilian ancestor. There is much evidence to prove this, but the most con- clusive is furnished by the discovery. in llavaria, of several specimens of remark- ab'e fossils-a reptile-like bird having teeth. Thus the different kinds of birds, like the different races of men. have been molded by climate and conditions of life into the various types. The habit of a bird determines largely the form of its feet. bill, wings and tail. The swimming birds have developed webs beiween the tees: the bill of the hum- ming-bird enables it to reach its food through tulies of deepest flowers. The woodcock, who thrusts its bill into the mud for earthworms, has acquired the power of moving the upper manible indelqendently of the lower one, thus us- ing it as a finger to draw out its food. lts eyes after generations of looking backward for enemies while its head is down have come to be placed far back on the head. The greatest number of birds depend chiefly upon the protective coloring of their plumage for defense, and the more closely they harmonize with their sur- roundings the more likely are they to escape the watchful eyes of their foes. The female requires the better protection, for in the great majority of cases she builds the nest, covers the eggs and cares for the young. The mother oriole needs to reflect in her feathers the olive green, soft grayish brown, and yellow of the leaves. twigs and sunlight among which she lives. After the family cares are over, the bobolink changes his black, white and buff suit to a winter one of streaked brown like his mate, because they will go south and live among the brown grasses and sedges. The bittern looks more like a stump than a bird as he stands motion- less in his marshy home with his neck stretched upward. Arctic birds turn white in winter so they will match the snow. Our birds are divided into about thirty- six families. Some of these families are large, while in some we have only one representative-as in the case of the hum- ming-bfrd. There are five hundred species known, but only one, the ruby-throat, comes to us. I do not know how many species of birds we have, but at my home I have identified one hundred eleven. XVe know how much beauty and music birds add to their surroundlngs, but do we realize the real usefulness of them? Longfellow must have or he never would have written the Birds of Killingworthf, Entomologists have estimated that in- sects yearly cause a loss of upwards of S7tJU,tJolb,lJ0tJ to the agricultural interests of the United States. XVere it not for