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

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THE EXPONENT 9 If you have a liberal educa tion, your life is worth 9 1-3 times as much as if you had only a high school education; 215 times as much as if you had only a common school edu¬ cation; and 817 times as much as if you had no education. Of the notables in “Who’s Who,” out of 10,000 men con¬ sidered successful 7,700 have had a college training. There have been 352 times more men with university train¬ ing in the House of Representa¬ tives than with no university training. There have been 530 times more men elected to the U. S. Senate with a university train¬ ing than without. Let us consider the losses that come to the boy from whom four years in college are withheld. One of the greatest is the valuable lesson of team work, of playing, studying and mixing with other fellows. It is never a good sign when a father says with some pride that his boy does not care to mix with a crowd; it smacks of a self-centeredness and a living too much within oneself that are never the best for a boy’s fullest develop¬ ment. A boy must mix with other boys and live in his age, and with those of his age. He does this of course at high school but he is far¬ ther along in age when he reaches college and is apt to get out of mix¬ ing with other boys at that period of his life something that he fails to se¬ cure at an earlier period. Furthermore, the friends whom a boy makes during his college period are to be enduring and very valu¬ able to him in following years. That one forgets much of what he learns at college admits of no question but the friends and pleasant memories of ideals and views exchanged during college days are never forgotten. The lack of a college education means, too, a loss of that most valu¬ able asset of college opportunity, sys¬ tematic mental training. It is the quality of thinking which most strikingly differentiates the college graduate from the noncollegiate man. Of course it is taken for granted that the boy has tried for, and se¬ cured something from his college years. He will get mental training in business to be sure, but it comes more slowly. The mental training which a boy gets from his college work makes for brushing away ques¬ tions and going straight to the heart of a matter. Undoubtedly the busi¬ ness man also acquires this but as a young man he lacks at the begin¬ ning whereas the collegiate man comes to his business career with it. There is much, too, in the develop¬ ment of his inner, mental, and spirit¬ ual resources which can be absorbed in college and brought in to business life. A man of affairs needs this if he is to be broadminded in his dealings with his fellows. The cultural back¬ ground which a young man builds up during his college days will be in¬ valuable to him when the materialism of the commercial and professional world comes upon him; he will have resources which interest him outside of his immediate job. What a man accomplishes by rea¬ son of his collegiate opportunity is, of course, entirely a question of self. There is no questioning the fact that there are boys at college who have no business to be there and whose places might to advantage be filled with more worthy material. The boy whose sole idea is to get by in his studies, whose chief aim is to make this or that team and who considers the time spent at college a hardship rather than an opportunity is—allow¬ ing for a certain amount of natural feeling of this sort—an encumbrance to his college. On the other hand a boy who accepts college with a cer¬ tain degree of earnestness and does his best in his work can not help ben¬ efiting by it for as Professor De Witt, president of Bowdoin college, has aptly said, “A college training will help a young man to be at home in all lands, to count nature as a familiar acquaintance and art as an intimate friend, to gain a standard for the appreciation of other men’s works, and the criticisms of his own, to carry the key of the world’s li¬ brary in his pocket, and to feel its resources behind him in whatever task he undertakes, to make hosts of friends among the men of his own age who are to be leaders in all walks of life, to lose himself in gen¬ erous enthusiasm and cooperate with others for common ends, to learn manners from students who are gen¬ tlemen and to form character under professors who are Christians.” This is the offer of the American College for the best four-years of your life. GARDNER DAVIS, ’25. IVY ORATION WHAT OUR HIGH SCHOOL STANDS FOR We, the class of 1925, are about to leave this beautiful building to go on to a higher institution of learn¬ ing or go out into the world into the different fields of life to seek our fortunes. We have been in this build¬ ing just one year, but even in this short time it has come to mean a great deal to all of us. The build¬ ing in all of its newness and with its many advantages is one of which we are very proud. Four years ago as Freshmen we had no such building to attend. We were required to go to school in the afternoon and as long as we had this schedule the Freshmen did not come in contact with the upper classmen. The old High School did not have a gymnasium in the building as it was so crowded that we needed all the floor space we could obtain; conse¬ quently, the gymnasium was given up and the room was made into class¬ rooms. Then we had no cafeteria where we could buy our lunch. In our new building we have special study rooms which we did not have in the other. The students were re¬ quired to study in the assembly hall or recitation rooms and because of so many distractions little studying was accomplished. These are just a few of the many advantages that this beautiful new building has over the old. School always has meant and al¬ ways will mean a great deal to us because it is at school that we learn many of life’s lessons, we make some of our truest friends and we have many experiences which will benefit us through life. Knowledge gained from books, while very essential, is not the only harvest gained from our school career. Just what does our high school mean to us? Is it merely a building which we are required to attend or does it signify something greater? Doesn’t our school motto—Loyalty, Honor, and Scholarship—express what our school stands for? If not, why do we have such a motto? Have we always lived up to it? I tear come of us may often have forgotten to, yet it would be well for us to keep it in mind. The first word in our motto is loy-

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8 sed over the sun, or perhaps it is an eclipse. Out from the distance comes that dread monster, “War”. It snatches us and keeps us tight within its grasp so that none may escape. After the first shock we seize our weapons and a long “Reign of Terror” endues. Everywhere war carries devasta¬ tion, disease, and death in its wake. The countrysides that were formerly so prosperous are now ploughed with great holes and trenches, and the little homes, once the pride and de¬ light of their owners, are razed to the earth. The lofty edifices are only heaps of worthless debris. Even the children play no more, but drag their thin, sickly bodies about with fear and dread. Thousands and even millions lie sick and dying. In answer to the world-wide call that “Angel of Peace”, the Red Cross nurse, comes forth. She tries to sooth their strick¬ en souls as well as their wounded bodies. But the stamp of the war is upon them and it is with difficulty that it can be erased. War is stronger than peace. Even when the larger nations are on friend¬ ly terms, some small nations have controversies. There has always been war, ever since God created man. The human being has a rest¬ less spirit, and he is constantly striving to obtain something more. It is contrary to the laws of nature to be satisfied with what one has. Man must have what he goes after whether he obtains it by fair or foul play. From such a circumstance, mayhap there results a killing. But what happens when one nation is jealous of another? War, and the killing of thousands of innocent peo¬ ple just to satisfy man’s greedy de¬ sire. But he is never satisfied; hence we have always had war. It has been said by certain European thinkers that war is the normal condition of things and peace a mere necessary respite. With the development of science the world can not stand another such war as was started in August of the year nineteen hundred and fourteen. It will mean the destruction of the present nations of the earth or per¬ haps the ultimate annihilation of the human race. Any disturbance pro¬ duces something like chaos through¬ out the world. For this reason there has been a universal movement for peace. American Peace Societies and the THE EXPONENT like have been formed to promote the interest of international justice and fraternity. They have a large and influential membership. Similar organizations exist in Europe. The first movement of an inter¬ national character in the direction of bringing about a permanent condi¬ tion of peace between the nations was a conference held in eighteen hundred and ninety-nine at the Hague, Holland, at the suggestion of the Czar of Russia, to consider what could be done in the way of reducing the armaments of the nations and inducing them to settle their differ¬ ences by arbitration instead of war. The most important result of this conference of the nations was the establishment at The Hague of a Permanent International Court of Arbitration, which settled amicably a number of international disputes. A second conference was held at The Hague in nineteen hundred and seven. However, The Hague Tribu¬ nal was unable to settle the larger disputes, and at about the time a third conference was planned, the greatest war in all history broke out. At the peace conference which fol¬ lowed the European war a plan for a League of Nations was incorporated in the treaties of peace with Germany and her allies. But the United States had to make a separate treaty of peace with Germany, as she was not willing to join the League of Nations. There was also a Conference on the Limitation of Armaments at Wash¬ ington in November, nineteen hun¬ dred and twenty-one. But can we be certain that every nation is faithfully carrying out the disarmament propo¬ sition? In addition we have the World Court, but this too the United States is unwilling to use. Conse¬ quently, as none of these methods can be considered very successful, and it is not human nature to have peace, I think war will still exist CHRISTINE FORTIN, ’25. CLASS ORATION THE AMERICAN COLLEGE AND SUCCESS At this time of year boys and girls all over our country are graduating from high school and turning to face the problems of life on a larger scale than ever before. The foremost problem confronting these boys and girls at this period in their careers is whether or not they shall continue their education in a higher institu¬ tion of learning. This is a very im¬ portant problem and the solution of it may make or break many a young man or woman. Whenever the question of a col lege education is brought up there are always those individuals who point to some of our great historical characters such as Abraham Lincoln and say that a college education is not necessary. It is true that a col¬ lege training was not necessary to success in the days of Lincoln, for civilization had not assumed the high degree of development then that it has today. In those olden days few men were fortunate enough to have a college training. Today thousands of young men are graduating every year from colleges all over the country. Hence the standards by which a man’s fitness is judged have advanced tremendously. There are others, however, who ask the question, “Would our great men have accomplished more had a collegiate training been theirs?” It would be more possible to give a sat¬ isfactory answer to this question if it were put: “Is a college education preferable?” It is impossible for us to say what a man would have ac¬ complished had a college training been his, but v e can predict with a degree of certainty what will hap¬ pen in the future to the non-colleg- iate man. We know that in this age of rapid advancement and progress a good education plays an important part in making a man a success or a tailure. In fact, statistics show: That a liberal education mul¬ tiplies the value of a life career over a common school and high school education by 9 1-3. Over a common school educa¬ tion by 215. Over no school education by 817. If you have a common school education your life is worth 3 8-10 times as much to the world as though you had no education. If you have a high school ed¬ ucation, your life is worth 23 times as much as if you had only a common school education and 87 times as much as if you had no education.

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10 THE EXPONENT alty. What does it mean to be loyal to our school? Doesn’t it mean that we should stand back of any school enterprise—the Exponent, the games, and entertainments which our school puts on. I think that this is just what it implies. We should support our school paper by writing poems and stories. There has not been enough support for this paper and we should always show the editor and his staff that we are ready to do our bit towards making our school pa¬ per successful. Then we should go to as many games as we can and cheer for the fellows on the teams. It inspires them and helps them to be the win¬ ners. Any team can play better if it knows that it has the support of the students back of it. We should be on hand to go to the fair and stand loyal to G. H. S. by cheering our best so that we may win, the banner or the cup or both. The pres¬ ent graduating class has always tried to be loyal and it is their de¬ sire to leave as good an example as the former students have. The second word of our motto is Honor. Have we always been hon¬ est? I think that I may say that the majority of us have. Honesty should prevail more than anything else in our class work and examinations. It is here that we are tested. Our fel¬ low student may crib and get away with it but that doesn’t make it any the more honorable. It is up to us, therefore, to show that we uphold our honor on every occasion. We should look down on a person who cannot be trusted. By doing this, we would soon show these few students that we stand for honor. The last word of our motto is scholarship. All the pupils in the high school should be working hard and earnestly for high marks and scholarship. There are two or three in every class that stand high but we should have more competition. It would be a great deal more interest¬ ing if the marks of many pupils were all about the same average. Then we shouldn’t know who the valedic¬ torian and salutatorian would be. It is a great honor for any pupil to reach this goal so we all hope that there will be more competition for these two honors. Our school also stands for friend¬ ship, for many of our life-long friend¬ ships originate in the high school. Since one of the essentials of friend¬ ship is thoughtfulness and apprecia¬ tion of the other person’s point of view, this is what we should try to icultivate. There is no other school in the surrounding towns that is any better than ours, for the one we attend is, we consider, the best. It is up to us, therefore, to show that we are loyal to our school at all times, and that honor and scolarship are two of its qualities. Greenfield High School has stood and always will stand for its motto—Loyalty, Honor, and Scholarship. As the class of 1925 depart from this beautiful building as alumni they will always remember their high school days and the distinction of be¬ ing the first class to graduate from this building after attending it during the school year. I sincerely hope that the future classes will find the .same inspiration that we have found here. MILIA E. BALLOU, ’25 CLASS HISTORY OF ’25 Oh, now good friends lend us your ears, Now lend us all your ears; We’ll tell you true what we did do In Our Greenfield High-school years. Listen, my friends, if you’ll survive We’ll tell you the history of class ’25. We entered as freshmen in the year ’21 Expecting to have a whole lot of fun, But soon we found out, that with les¬ sons to learn The midnight oil we at times had to burn. Class officers soon engaged our at¬ tention, A few of whose names right here we might mention! Chet Burnham, as president, guided the class; His co-partner was Elizabeth Alberti, the lass. Then Chet was succeeded by Francis Flynn Who for three years pleased all by that cheerful grin. Roy Wheeler followed Varney as guardian of coin (It takes lots of money to ket j) a class goin’). Sometimes we earned pennies by selling of candy; Every one wanted some; it tasted so dandy. Miss Ellen Fiske kept the books for four years And as every one knows we had but few fears. When we get a breath we’ll tell some more, We’ll tell you all some more. When we get a breath we’ll talk you to death, While we tell you all some more. Our Freshman Reception was attend¬ ed with glee By hordes of small Freshies you could trot on your knee. But instead of the trotting we gave them some time, With cartoonist Parker who showed ’em his line. But all of them wanted to get to the dance, So we took out the seats and they started to prance. ’Twas voted by all to have been a success; But ah! the next morning the hall was a mess. When it comes to athletics our class is right there. We began Freshman Year at the old County Fair, And were well represented by Wood- lock and Zschau; ’Twas Woodard got “G” tho’ no one knows how; All the four years at this same county fair These three young athletes each did his share. Again in the fall when football came ’round A number of Freshmen came out with a bound. For the last couple years, ’24 and ’25 The following men showed they were alive: Woodlock and Mills, Osgood and Zschau Were there all the time in the big pow-wow! Burnham and Dudley, Warner and “Mac”, Each showed he had some strength in his back. But for basketball we are sorry to say, Not a person came out, to the coach’s dismay. Miss Johnston, however, secured a girls’ team, (When seen on the floor they sure were some scream.) When baseball arrived very early that spring