Fort Fairfield High School - Northern Light Yearbook (Fort Fairfield, ME)

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NORTHERN LIGHT duties of his position. A liberal education widens the range of a 1nan's ability to render such service and to appreciate more fully the Wholesome things of life. Many people misinterpret the life history of some success- ful men who, they claim, reached great heights without much education. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and others are cited as examples. The Word education literally means the art or process of becoming learned or well informed. According to this defi- nition both Ford and Edison are educated, not in the broadest sense, of course, but as specialists, as men well informed in at least one branch of human knowledge. It is safe to say that either Ford or Edison would tell you that he might have reached even greater heights and rendered even greater serv- ice to humanity had he possessed a liberal education. Business men say that, all other things being equal, the young man or woman With a good education far surpasses the one who has not received such training. This is true, even when the work in school has had no direct connection with the work to be done. It is the submission to discipline, the mastery of difficulties, the self-confidence acquired in pur- suit of an education that makes the educated person more efficient. An educated body of citizens is one of the greatest assets of any nation and particularly of a democracy. p ' G. T. B.. 'za 8

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NORTHERN LIGHT LITERATURE Good literature should be one of the most important things in the life of all the people. Efvery man and woman that has scaled the heights of success can read and does read the lead- ing books and studies the important problems of the day. If they did not read, where would they be? No further than some common peddler. That is how they have found a space for themselves in the world where they will be able to remain as long as they live after once achieving this place. Every person, who wishes to do something to help humanity, reads and studies. No one is ever too old to learn. If a man has ally ambition Whatever he will study and he will read every- thing he can ind. We learn when we read and learning is the road to success. He will follow the example of those men who have distinguished themselves above the rest of the world and will hold them as his model. The reading and thinking class of people is the class that brings more knowledge to the world. l Ruth White. '30, THE VALUE OF AN EDUCATION In the commercial world the value of a good education is thought of in terms of what it will bring on the market. The net cost of a good educationiis the total amount paid for it. The difference between these two sums in a prosperous busi- ness is called the net gain. These thoughts are suggested by the title: The Value of an Educationf' The net gain of an education is not so easy to reckon, although men with a genius for computation have given us figures to show its actual value in dollars and cents. If money were the only measure of success, we might look no farther for the value of an education. The results, however, do not stop at increased power for money-making, desirable as that may beg they lend color to almost every act of life. Who can measure the value to him- self of the ability to appreciate good literature and good music, of a knowledge of foreign languages, of an understanding of higher mathematics, of an insight into the mysteries of science, of the ability to explore other fields of learning? Much of the legitimate joy of living comes from activities outside the sphere of one's regular work. Much of the benefit to society which a man may render comes from services that are not demanded of him by the 7

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NORTHERN LIGHT Literary Department SPELL OF THE FOREST .The soft White flakes fell noiselessly from the gray sky. The great whiteness was everywhere. Its snow was heaped three feet deep over the floor of the forest and each evergreen was heavily laden with its carpet. The silence was unbroken except for the steady seep-seep of the snow, or occasionally by a heavily laden bough dislodg- ing its burdensome mass. I I stooped in the shelter of a huge fallen spruce, unlaced my webs, shook the snow from my person, and after scooping the snow away down to the frozen moss I built a small fire of dry cedar and soon was meditating in the drowsy heat reflected upon me by the protecting spruce. From my warm shelter I could gaze out into the snow- filled air of the dim forest. -No animal life could be discerned except for the occa- sional swift passing of a snow-shoe rabbit or a momentary glimpse of a red squirrel whisking down the trunk of a neraby tree. 1The loneliness of the forest was oppressive. There was no sign of life, no sign to show that human foot had ever trod on this Wild spot. There was only an occasional movementg perhaps the gentle swaying of the boughs or a swirl of wind- blown snow in an exposed place. The spell of the forest! It caused me to shiver and glance around, and I felt more secure with the big spruce trunk at my back. 3 The solitude hung heavily over me and I refrained from moving, fearing the sound of my own motions. I call it fear, yet it was not fearg it was rather an awe, an awe caused by the loneliness, fby the solitude of the place. An awe for the majesty of Nature and its elements. Thus I sat until I sensed a chill in the air and glancing down beheld the black ashes of the forgotten fire which had long since died away. Quickly rising, I hastily replaced my webs and left the forest and its broken spell just as the dim grayness of dusk was turning to the black of a starless night. Ivan Bodge, '28, 9