Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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THE EXPONENT 7 is just as proud of all her citizens today as she is of those of former days. Let us hope that the citizens of the future will be as worthy of remembrance. We of the class of 1920 wish to tell you people of Greenfield how much we appreciate your interest in us. We feel that during our school years you have been watching us and helping us. It always pleases young people to feel that their fathers and mothers and friends are vitally con¬ cerned in school affairs. And we thank you for coming here to-night, at a time that means so much to us. To you teachers we owe a great debt of gratitude for your patient, helpful work. You have not been simply teachers, but you have proven yourselves friends as well. Underclassmen, as we leave high school, you are coming on to fill our places. We have tried to be worthy of Greenfield High School. Will not you also try to uphold her honor? My Classmates, for the last four years we have been in high school. During that period our thoughts have ever been anticipating the time which to-night is realized. We have had many good times together, and we owe a great deal to dear old Green¬ field. Now no longer are we high school pupils. We are young men and women. And this is a time when men and women with pluck and abil¬ ity and stick-to-itiveness are wanted. Our country needs citizens anxious to work for her. Shall we not, each and every one of us, do our very best to fill our place? Now, as we go on into life, let us not forget our school, but always keep a place in our hearts for our own G. H. S. And let us carry with us those words that mean so much in whatever we do, “Loyalty, Honor. Scholarshin.” Ellen E. Pierce, ’20. CLASS SONG The Crimson and the Gold Tune: “The Orange and the Black.” I We are gathered now together At the end of four long years; We have had our fun and pleasure We have shared our doubts and fears. Now has come the time of parting May our hearts in mem’ry fold Loving thoughts of 1920 And the crimson and the gold. Chorus Here’s to dear old 1920! When time our fate unfolds, May we always stand together For the crimson and the gold! II G. H. S. we hate to leave you. Our friends and classmates true. As we journey on life’s pathway We will often think of you. Though our paths may be divided Pleasant mem’ries we will hold Of our days in Greenfield High School ’Neath the crimson and the gold. NORMA FOSTER.’ PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS OF WELCOME As president of the Class of 1920, I extend a hearty welcome to the parents and friends of its members, gathered for our class day exercises which precede the momentous oc¬ casion, better known as Graduation. The benefit which we have gained from the four years of study will be given an opportunity to reveal itself in the immediate future. The years to come will afford to the high school graduate more opportunities than any period before and the successful com¬ pletion of our four years of study only gives to the members of the Class of 1920 a firm foundation for the life work of each. We owe to the mothers and the fathers a debt which we can never repay, but we can show our apprecia¬ tion by making an overwhelming suc¬ cess of our life work. To the faculty and teachers our gratitude for their teaching can be shown by the constant use of the principles taught. Looking back over our high school course each can find flaws in what he has done and in the way he has done it. The next step in life gives to each a field of practice for what¬ ever knowledge he has. But wher¬ ever we go and whatever we do, there will always remain in the minds of each in the Class of 1920, three words which the Greenfield High School has impressed upon us—Honor, Loyalty and Scholarship.

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6 THE EXPONENT mate friend of Alexander Hamilton. About twenty years after the ‘Gazette” was started, it was bought by Col. Ansel Phelps. He also had a bookstore and published books. A story relates that once when Col. Phelps was in Boston, he saw a ship just arrived from abroad. He went on board to get news for his paper, when suddenly the ship moved away from the wharf. Col. Phelps thought he was going to be taken across the Atlantic. Rushing to the captain he demanded to be put ashore. The cap¬ tain said they could not stop. Final¬ ly, however, he explained to the col¬ onel that the ship was merely chang¬ ing its position in the harbor. As soon as they were at the dock. Col. Phelps hastened away, not waiting to get his news. At this time, too, Peter Sprague and George Mark came to town. The former was a very eccentric shoe dealer, and devoted a great deal of his life to attempting to discover perpetual motion. He was exceed¬ ingly kind-hearted and was accus¬ tomed to leave a sum of money with his grocer to be given to the poor. Mr. Mark was called “The Count.” He was a very fine sign painter, and considered himself an artist along other lines as well, but it is said that his sense of perspective was not very highly developed, and the results were quite remarkable. Some of his ' paintings now belong to Judge Franklin G. Fessenden. Some years later Mr. Henry W. Clapp came to make his home in Greenfield. He built the first town hall that the town had, and also laid out Franklin street. Mr. Clapp will always be remembered in connection with St. James Church. He was a de¬ voted churchman, and provided the stone and most of the funds for the present church building. Mr. Clapp was always very active in town af¬ fairs. And now we have come to a con¬ sideration of Greenfield during the Civil War. One has but to visit our older cemeteries to find on slab and stone names of men who lived here, and who made the extreme sacrifice for home and country. William B. Washburn was active in getting men to enlist. He was connected with several of the banks. He was deeply interested in the library association, and gave the building on the corner of Franklin and Main streets. He had a brilliant political career—was elected three times as Governor of Massachusetts; served in the Nation¬ al House of Representatives and suc¬ ceeded Charles Sumner in the United States Senate. Another citizen of Greenfield of Civil War times was Charles Dev- ens, for whom the Devens House was named. He was a well-known lawyer, and a major-general in the Civil War. Camp Devens was named for this Greenfield citizen. Associated in law with Gen. Dev¬ ens was Wendell T. Davis. It is said that when Thackeray was in this country, he found Mr. Davis the best after-dinner speaker in America. Also associated with the Civil War were Rev. J. F. Moors of All Souls Church, and Rev. Peter J. Finch of St. James. Both these men were chaplains during some part of the Rebellion. When they came to Green¬ field they became at once interested in the whole town, not confining themselves merely to their own par¬ ishes. Everyone liked them both for their cordial, pleasant ways.. Mr. Moors and Mr. Finch were especially interested in school affairs, serving for many years on the school board, helping to bring about many of the present conditions. One reason that the schools of Greenfield have been excellent is that the townspeople have always been interested, and many have devoted a great deal of time to this cause: The fact that the town is honored by having as citizens a chief justice of the superior court, an associate justice of that court, and that the Attorney-General of the common¬ wealth but a few years past made his home amongst us, speaks well for the higher education and uplift in our community. Time alone prevents mention of scores of men and women, judges, bankers, authors, politicians and bus¬ iness men, many living at the present time, who have left their stamp and imprint upon the life and reputation of the town. So we see that Green¬ field has had a brilliant past, and she

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V 8 THE EXPONENT • CLASS ORATION Conservation From the beginning of the great word war in 1914 to the signing of the armistice, one of the words most often seen in the papers was con¬ servation. Conservation of what? Meat, sugar and wheat. It affected all of us. I know it because I was forced to try to live and expand on less sugar, wheat and meat. Abaut the only unforbidden articles that I remember were fish, fruits, com meal mush and molasses. We all remem¬ ber the time when we were compelled to use peppermint candy in our cof¬ fee. Now peppermint candy is very nice in its place but dissolved in coffee it had the happy faculty of turning the coffee green. But aside from these homely meanings of conservation there is one meaning of greater and deeper significance, a meaning which only a few of our great men have truly known. The man best known to us perhaps is Mr. Hoover. He was re- snonsible in a measure for our lack of wheat, sugar and meat. But he had other plans. He was a world thinker, a man that thought not in terms of town, state or nation but in terms of the world. There are few men who have done this. Mr. Hoover ' s conduct during the war was most praiseworthy. As food admin¬ istrator he saw to it that our broth¬ ers across the sea received as much food as possible. We did not be¬ grudge it for we knew where it was going. We cannot help feeling that a man of Hoover ' s type would look well seated in the presidential chair. What is the thing that most im¬ presses a foreigner on coming to th‘s country? To him America is a land of riches unbounded, a land of free¬ dom and democracy. But when he has been here awhile what faults does he notice in us? Oh, you Americans are a wasteful people, you save nothing. That is a simple sentence in itself but for us it should have a deeper significance. Why is it that we are so wasteful? Because here among unparalled riches we have all that can be de¬ sired. In the family of nations America is the spoiled child who has all that it wants. We are a smart people but we are spoiled children. A spoiled child is cute but wears on one after a time. Let us be ex¬ ceedingly careful that we do not wear on the old nerves of the world. That brings up another point,—po¬ litical economy or political conserva¬ tion, as you wish. The majority of us are not politicians, so perhaps our judgment may be faulty. A group of ring politicians, called Senators, down in Washington have prevented our entrance into one of the most sagacious schemes ever invented to bring about political economy. What does that League mean to us? It means increased international con¬ fidence; and would tear down inter¬ national jealousies. We say we are a democracy and yet we let a bunch of egotistical aristocrats, called Sen¬ ators, run our government without check or caution. Thousands of taxpayers ' money have gone to sup¬ port an idle senate who have done practically nothing in the matter of legislation for the past three years. Oh, yes, I hear someone say, they passed the Volstead act, and re¬ turned the railroads and repealed daylight saving. Isn ' t that a fine lot of legislation? Something seems to be radically wrong with our po¬ litical system. Our old ship ' of state is nearing a very rocky shore. Let us watch and guide it ere it be too late. Now let us take up a few of our great champions of conservation and see what they accomplished. Washington was one of the great champions of political economy. He believed in economic peace and Puritan thrift. In the beginning our governmental plan was termed the Articles of Confederation. Under these articles there was not enough power given to the federal govern¬ ment, and such was the general dis¬ satisfaction that certain events ter¬ minated in a federal convention. At this federal convention an efficient plan of government was drawn up. Washington was president of the convention and Monroe the father of the plan. That plan is our pres¬ ent constitution. We are still using it. The second of our great cham¬ pions of conservation as I look upon them is Lincoln. I suppose in the