Girls Latin School - Liber Annalis Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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g GirIgs'ggLati'ngSchoolg g gggg NHL THE WILL We, the members of the Class of 1937, being, we hope, of sound and disf posing mind and memory, do hereby make and publish this, our last will and testament. First, we direct our executors to pay all our just debts: to wit, sums owed to lower classmen for car checks and lunch checks, after-school sodas and candy. l'l'lix1: To Miss Fowle. we give, devise, and bequeath enough cod-liver oil to allow her to portion out equally to each member of the succeeding class one spoonful each morning of the school year. lMay this help to cut down the number of absenteeslj lllzkli 'lio Miss Stark, we give a pair of thickly padded ear-muffs with which to barricade herself each morning against the shrill voices of the heedless seniors in her homeroom. lWe wish to add that, when Miss Stark feels in the mood to Utake it, she may lend her valuable bequest to Miss Fowlej l'1'15M: To Miss Roper, in order that she may be spared the trouble of getting out of her seat and going behind each girl who translates, to see how many words the girl has written in her book, we are leaving a pair of opera glasses so powerful that they can, from some distance, discern any memory-refreshers. ITIEM: To Mr. Meserve, we bequeath a lens, ground especially to make acute angles that should be right angles look like right angles: isosceles tri- angles that should be scalene triangles look like scalene triangles: and squares that should be rectangles look like rectangles. We hope that those of our successors who have difficulty in distinguishing between the above sets of triangles will appreciate our efforts to help them out. CPage Fortyj

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Class of 193 7 cholera. Influenza plagued the whole world. From this epidemic alone three hundred thousand children in Czechoslovakia were made orphans. Many stories have been told of heroes in the World War. Some of them lived to receive their honors, but a great many were decorated after death. It is a fine and admirable thing to die for one's country, but somehow all compensa- tion is a little empty after life has gone. About twenty-five years ago there was a valiant young Bostonian who had done valuable mountain research for the United States Government and for the Canadian Government and was at the time serving under the American Ambassador in hospital service in the War. At last, under terrific fire, he turned his ambulance aside to save the life of a police dog on messenger service-and was killed. In recognition of the work he had done, the Canadian Government named a mountain for him, while the French Government did all in its power to compensate for his death by send- ing beautiful wreaths and decorating him with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. However, he was dead. No matter how. proud his family might be of their son and all the honors he had received, there was no bringing him back, and nothing could take his place. This is but one of many such cases. What poets, scientists, and artists might not now be alive instead of being buried in France under crosses which indicate that men once were and are no more! War goes on. There seems to be no stopping it for all our cries of futil- ity. Men are forever changing. and the gods of one generation are the demons of the next. Jeanne d'Arc led her army to victory and was burned as a witch for her pains. The world has long forgotten the war of the Greeks and the Turks which led to the bursting of a powder magazine on the Acropolis: but the Parthenon still stands, the beauty of its ruins merely suggesting its former majesty. It stands, though the men who built it and the men who ruined it are dust, to prove the utter futility of war. It will be long before the world forgets the War: but in time the memory of that, too, will fade away. Another conflict of world powers will come, more terrible than the last and with one great difference: not only will all able young men be destroyedg but by means of gas bombs entire cities will be wiped out so that even very few civilians will remain alive. When scientists bend every ef- fort to develop their inventions for the destruction of the world instead of for the bettering of it, there is but one conclusion. The world is becoming de- moralized. One can easily fancy the result of another great war. Culture, as we know it, which was born in the east, and through centuries travelled west. will finally collapse as it approaches the end of its circuit. Once more barbar- ism and savagery will rule: and then, perhaps, the human race will rise and start all over again. No one knows when the Day of Judgment will come. It may be in a year or it may not be for centuries. The Western Hemisphere is still young, and civilization has by no means breathed its last: but one never knows what may happen in the future. lt is only through education that destruction may be averted, that this forgetfulness of the world may be altered. Children should be taught in school, at home, and in church to realize and abhor the frightfulness of war. They should be brought up with that feeling so in- grained in their beings that nothing will be able to eradicate it. Then, per- haps, they will remember What happened to their fathers and profit thereby. We can only hope that future generations, with greater understanding and toler- ance than has been exhibited up to now, will unite in a common peace so that civilization may be saved from extinction. HELAINE F. KAPLAN' fPage Thirty-ninej

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C lass of I9 3 7 ITEM ITEM: ITEM: ITEM ITEM ITEM ITEM ITEM ITEM ITEMZ ITEM ITEM To Miss Griflith, we leave a set of English books based on mathematical terms, to be given out to those erring individuals who, in spite of her constant corrections, still insist that two and two is four. We have also decided that she would not shun one or two good heavy books to be tied to her waste-paper baskets, which are continually wandering away. To Mr. Williams, who has chosen to awaken his sleepy Monday morn- ing classes by banging books down on his own head, we feel it only our duty to leave a few soft rubber pamphlets to ease the pain. To this we add an inexhaustible supply of chalk, which he may throw on the floor to his heart's content, provided James does not offer any objections. To Miss Prichard, we leave one or two new peasant dresses and a nice shiny, black baton with In Deutschland Gemacht written on it, to be used in directing songs at the German Club meetings. To Miss Moreland, we bequeath a pair of silk shoe-lacings guaranteed to come undone now and then so as to necessitate her stooping over to tie them. We should all like to see her bend her back just once. To Miss Kelly, our cadet in science, we leave the proverbial rattle. CNever mind, Miss Kelly! You will grow up some day.j To Mr. Tobey, we leave some muscle-builder to be given out to those girls whose cabinet drawers stick, so that he will not have to get up in the midst of some deep meditation on higher chemistry to open them. To Miss Gerrish, we leave a box of magic powder which, when sprinkled about the room, will awaken her indolent pupils to the worth of work and of silence as valuable instrumentalities of progress. To Miss Lingham, we leave a model history student, who, with ample winding and the insertion of the correct record, will recite from memory the history home lesson. To Miss Cotter, since she insists on making her classes commit to mem- ory those frightful lessons in comfort Cbetter called discomfortj, we are leaving a set of automatic memorizers to be given to those members of the succeeding class who take French. To James, we give a pair of spats and a cane to go with that nice derby hat of his. To Mr. Hapgood, we leave a lock made especially to fit that lovely little Phi Beta Kappa key which dangles from his watch chain. To the Library, we donate one or two books that may be taken out and one or two more that may be kept out for more than one night, so that those poor unfortunates who have shaky memories may be spared those terrifying morning ordeals, explaining how they happened to forget their books. We also leave it a few water proof covers, so that those who do not carry brief-cases may take books out on rainy days. CPage Forty-onej