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

Page 12 text:

6 THE EXPONENT SALUTATORY Friends of Ireenfield High School: It is the custom of the graduating class to express its appreciation to those who have sacrificed and made possible this : oment, when we leave behind, forever, our high school days, and step forth into the world, young men.and women. 0 b, the class of 1921, following this ' long established custom, feel that the best way to show our sin¬ cere gratitude is to extend to you, our fathers, mothers and friends, the most cordial and warmest of wel¬ comes tonight. FAITH IN AMERICA Following swiftly the hour of Vic¬ tory, those glorious days of joy and gladness with their hope of a new and better life, came a breakdown in the morale of the peoples who had been engaged in the great conflict. As we look about us today, we see a world torn and troubled, grop¬ ing for a way back to light and op¬ portunity. True, it is the period of reconstruction, yet there seems to be no reconstructing. Even here in America we find ourselves halting instead of going forward. In our midst are depression, discontent and unemployment. We wonder what is to come of it all. What will America be ten years from today? What is to be our course at home? What is to be our conduct among the nations of the world? In our hearts we know the an¬ swer. America will continue to guarantee life, liberty and the pur¬ suit of happiness and be the leader and supporter of an advancing civi¬ lization. Now our problem is to determine the course of action that will get us on the right track to accomplish this end—then “full speed ahead!” That course of action will spring from a firm faith in America—her ideals, her traditions, her institu¬ tions; for it has been the indom¬ itable faith in these ideals, tradi¬ tions and institutions, a faith tested in peace and strife and made secure forever on the bloodiest battlefields at home and abroad, that has made America—and all she stands for to¬ day. If these then are to be our guide posts it will be well to stop and ask ourselves, what are these ideals, tra¬ ditions, and institutions? Go back to the very beginning. What trought the Pilgrims here? What did they want? Was it a thirst for gold, a passion for adventure or for dominion? No. Loyalty to truth and to duty as they saw it brought them to the rocky shores of a wild and savage land. The next great step was the Dec¬ laration of Independence, holding forth that all men are created equal and that life, liberty and the pur¬ suit of happiness are the inalien¬ able rights bestowed by God upon all his people. The republic was well launched under the guidance of George Wash¬ ington, whose advice and hope was that the North, East, South and West would ever be firmly bound togeth¬ er. In the progress and develop¬ ment of the one lies the progress and development of them all. And in our relations with the nations of the earth he would have us exert our in¬ fluence, not for one nation, but for the good of all nations. American ideals, traditions and in¬ stitutions so well laid, gathered strength as the years went on and were made secure in that next great ordeal—the Civil War. There is much that we can take to heart from this bitter struggle. How clearly those patriots of yester years perceived that their first duty was to preserve the institution of popu¬ lar rule, of national solidarity, that the institutions of this country were good and worthy of being preserved to keep the union a power for the advancement of America and human¬ ity—“that government of the peo¬ ple, by the people, and for the peo¬ ple, shall not perish from the earth.” It was the same in the more re¬ cent war of the free peoples against

Page 11 text:

THE EXPONENT 5 CLASS DAY Greenfield High School June 29, 1921 High School Lawn Nine O’Clock PROGRAM Music by High School Orchestra, Address of Welcome, ELPHEAGE V. KIROUAC Class Oration, The Duty of the Individual in the New Age. RUSSELL P. JONES Class Poem, REBECCA S. EBERLEIN Ivy Oration Pioneer Women Educators B. CONSTANCE LOVELL History of the Class of 1921 Freshman and Sophomore Years, CATHERINE F. HAMILTON Junior and Senior Years, HOLLIS D. BILLINGS Class Prophecy, EDNA CHRISTOPHER. ROBERT J. RIST. Presentation of Class Gift to G. H. S. Planting Ivy by Class of 1921. Ivy Ode by The Class, Words by MILDRED A. STILES, ’21 Class Officers President, Elpheage V. Kirouac Vice President, Edna Christopher Secretary, Irma L. Winslow Treasurer, Madeleine E. Field Assistant Treasurer, Donald L. Perry CLASS MOTTO Da dextram misero. Officers Elected at the Annual Elec¬ tion of the Student Activities Society for the Year 1921-22 President: Sam M. Cameron, ’22. Vice President: Louise Hunter, ’23. Secretary: Marguerite Cowan, ’23. Treasurer: Paul Bittner, ’22. Senior Directors: William An¬ drews, ’22, Tom Nims, ’22. Junior Director: Merrill Parten- heimer, ’23. Sophomore Directors: Francis Al¬ berti, ’24, Leonard Thompson, ’24. Basket Ball Mgr.: Linwood Sam¬ son, ’22. Assistant Basket Ball Mgrs.: Mal¬ colm Cameron, ’23, Wadsworth Croft, ’23. Baseball Mgr.: Harold Smith, ’22. Assistant Baseball Mgrs.: Robert Hall, ’23, Edmund Sullivan, ’23. Track Manager: Richard Camp¬ bell, ’22. Football Manager: George Cor- siglia, ’22. Assistant Football Mgrs.: Frank Merriam, ’23, William O’Neil, ’23. Business Manager of Exponent: Eustace Merrill, ’23. Assistant Business Mgrs. of Ex¬ ponent: Roland Reed, ’24, Philip Stearns, ’24. SCHOOL NOTES On June 10, the Senior debating team, Miss Eberlein, Jones and Tjar- nell, with Billings as alternate, won a fine debate from the Junior team, O’Hara, Bostley and Magoon, with Feldburg as alternate. The subject was, “Resolved, that labor unions, as they exist today, are beneficial to the American people.” An en¬ graved loving cup, given by the Eng¬ lish department, was presented to the Seniors at the decision. On May 27, at Washington Hall, the Juniors managed a very success¬ ful “Prom.” The hall was very at¬ tractively decorated. The music was furnished by Curley’s Orchestra of Hartford. The Sophomore class has not been in the public light much this year, though well represented in the honor rolls and in athletics. In the latter, Merz, Brown, Cavanaugh, Parten- heimer, Corless, Powers and Vickery have taken part. Vickery did well in football and started well in base¬ ball, but had the ill luck to have an attack of appendicitis which kept him out of the game. The Freshmen have the longest honor roll of any class. This, of course, speaks well and we hope they can boast of the same during the rest of their course. In athletics, they have had Jan- gro, Richmond, Kauchinski and Thompson, Jangro being especially proficient. On the evening of the Junior-Sen¬ ior debate, the Freshman English Division presented two scenes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The players were Ralph Davis, Donald Roberts, Robert Clifford, George Voetsch, William O’Hara, Francis Alberti, Stephen Long, Arthur Lynch, Leonard Thompson, Lucy Sawtelle, Louise Donley and Theresa Shaw.

Page 13 text:

THE EXPONENT 7 the autocracies of the world. Ameri¬ can ideals and institutions were menaced and Americans valued suf¬ ficiently their heritage to cross the seas and fight. They gained the vic¬ tory for their country and won for the defeated the opportunity of es¬ tablishing free institutions and mak¬ ing the people supreme. Thus the America of yesterday points the way for the America of today. America meant everything to our forefathers. Our debt to them can never be discharged. It is for us and those after us to maintain for this people the high estate which has been established. With a firm courage and in the rugged principles of faith and duty we must carry on —for faith and duty when mated to courage form the most solid basis upon which the greatness of any na¬ tion can rest. Let our patriotism and zeal for America be as passionate in these days of peace as it was in war. We must cultivate that same singleness of purpose that characterized our war actions. Let us guard well our institutions and resist radicalism. This does not mean the strangling of progressive thought or resistance to the expansion of our constitution but it does mean resistance to any change in the fundamental Ameri¬ can principles. And need we fear the present? No. America is too big, too strong, too energetic, too young, too re¬ sourceful, too rich to fail! The world is looking to America as leader. America cannot and will not shirk this responsibility. And faith in America does not mean a narrow existence. On the contrary she will go out and do her share to work and build, but she will work and build in an American way. By this, I mean the fri ad of all peo¬ ples, of all nati s, having no favorites. Of late years we have been, in¬ dividually and nationally, pro-every- thing but pro-Am rican. Instead of progressing along the straight roadway of Americanism we have taken unknown detours, lured on by brilliant rainbow vis 1 ®. In our contact with internal malism, leagues to enforce peace, European traditions, policies and aspirations, our minds have become confused. By becoming violent partizans of one or another European nation we have illustrated perfectly the truth of George Washington’s observa¬ tions when he said that nothing is more essential than to exclude per¬ manent, deep-rooted hatreds against particular nations and passionate at¬ tachments for other nations. In their place just and friendly feeling towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or fond¬ ness is in some degree a -slave. It is a slave to its ill will or its af¬ fection either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. What we need in America today is what we voiced ardently during the war but never were-—one hun¬ dred percent American! Let us have one hundred percent faith in American ideals, traditions, and institutions. Let us be one hun¬ dred percent American at home and abroad. Let us say as did a great American, “I shall know but one country. The ends I aim at shall be my country’s, my God’s, and Truth’s. I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American!” REBECCA EBERLEIN, ’21. VALEDICTORY We, the graduates of Greenfield High School, in the class of 1921, take this opportunity of thanking you, the people of Greenfield, for your interest in our welfare, as it is manifested by your presence here tonight at our graduation—a time that means so much in our lives. We are especially grateful to you teachers whose guidance and care we have been fortunate in having and whose interest in our well-being has been ever before us. My classmates, ever since we en-