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

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THE EXPONENT 11 memories returned to us. The thoughts which make us smile and laugh are the guiding factors of life, since The man who frets at worldly strife, Grows sallow, sour, and thin; Give us the lad whose happy life Is one perpetual grin: He, Midas-like, turns all to gold— He smiles when others sigh. Enjoys alike the hot and cold. And laughs though wet or dry. There’s fun in everything we meet. The greatest, worst, and best; Existence is a merry treat. And every speech a jest: So, come what may, the man’s in luck Who turns it all to glee. And laughing cries, with honest Puck, “Good Lord! What fools ye be.’ —Joseph Drake. CHESTER OSGOOD, ’26. PROPHECY OF THE CLASS OF 1926 Scene: World Exposition at Paris, France, in 1935. The division of Mental Philosophy. Properties: A tent with a placard reading, “Madame Atwood of the United States—Specializing in Mental Philosophy.” In Paris on business is Bob Bur- rage. He sees the tent, wonders if this “Madame Atwood” is the Atwood person that he used to know and de¬ cides to investigate. He hands his card to the Secretary, who in turn shows it to Madame Atwood. Atwood: Taking card, reads: Burrage Tailoring Company, Creators of Distinctive Dress for Fastidious Men Offices in Turners Falls, Shutesbury, Paris. Atwood: Can it be Bob Burrage that I went to school with back in Greenfield? (This to herself before Bob comes in.) Burrage: Well, if it isn’t little Rae Atwood. Say, you haven’t grown much since High School days have you? Just think! Does it seem pos¬ sible that we have been out of school all these years? Atwood: Do you mean to tell me that you are in the tailoring business. Bob? I thought you would follow in the steps of Paderewski, the way you used to hammer the piano in G. H. S. Just think only a few years ago we were loyal rooters and mem¬ bers of Greenfield High School. See¬ ing that you have offices in Turners Falls you ought to be able to give me some news of the old crowd. Burrage: (Snatching Recorder from, his pocket, turns to the “Local Field” and reads.) “Miss Ethel Roby, formerly of this town, will make a personal anpearance at Pryz- by’s Theatre, at the showing of her latest picture in which she plays op¬ posite ‘Hoot’ Gibson.” (Lays paper aside). By the way—You remem¬ ber “Lum” Brest, our banjo shark? He’s leading a band at Shattuck Park. Frank Merriam and Clyde Galbraith run this famous hall, which is known as “Clydie’s Crystal Ball.” Every - dance must have its “Cop” and at ' that job “Bud” Hartwell is tip-top. Atwood: Through my various friends and as my work takes me to many different places I, too, know some G. H. S. gossip. “Jack” Des¬ mond, our athletic hero of many a game, is now the Coach at Notre Dame. He has not grown in stature yet but he is some coach, you bet. I can see Dot Moore so fair, with her kindergarten class gathered around her there. When these grow un and go to school, to them Annette Lynch will lay down the physical training rule. Annette, you know, took up this game because of suggestions from the coach at Notre Dame. Burrage: Speaking of school, Ree, makes me think of the revised facul¬ ty now in force at G. H. S. Isabel Morgan is Dean of Girls—Miss Childs having retired. Louise McCarthy in Room 28. is opening the “Spanish Gate.” In Room 17, “Ed.” Lamb is king of dates and laws supreme. Bernice Sargent in Room 5 is trving hard to keen English alive. While down stairs in Room 15 Agnes Wait is Latin queen. Harriet Salway in

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10 THE EXPONENT may not be blessed with perfect features—but that does not matter— if you make yourself possess a worthwhile smile. Abraham Lincoln, as you all know, was not a beauti¬ fully featured man, but it has been said that when he smiled or laughed he was actually beautiful. Not beau¬ tiful in the sense that his face or body was without a blemish, but beautiful in the expression of his true laugh. Laughter is a wonder medicine. Some doctors prescribe nothing ex¬ cept laughter for their patients. A half hour of laughter will cure a cold and there is no reaction as there is in many drugs. A good laugh relieves our minds from fear and wor . When we laugh we forget our worries of the daily humdrum life. There is a story told of a passenger ship which was torpedoed while crossing the English Channel. When the people on board learned that their ship was sinking, men, women, and children made a wild dash for the life-boats. This re¬ sulted in a panic. Above the noise a laugh rang out. The passengers turned and saw upon the bridge of the ship a boy convulsed with laugh¬ ter. He laughed and pointed at them, who now being shamed by the courage of the lad,, stopped crowd¬ ing and pushing, thus giving the crew time to restore order once more on the ship. The most successful men and women are those who know how to get along with their fellow beings. In fact, the biggest problem in busi¬ ness and society is in making people like you and making people feel kindly towards each other. Nothing oils the wheels of human relationships so nicely as humor. Abraham Lincoln understood! this when he saved many a critical situa¬ tion by the introduction of one of his famous anecdotes. Humor has its place in serious business life, and in social life it is a universal pass¬ port to popularity. No one can succeed over his first failure in life unless he can see the humorous situations in it. When the novice takes his first lesson in skating and succeeds in sprawling over the ice in m.ost ungentlemanlv ways, he never could succeed at all if he were not able to laugh off the preliminary “bumps’ ' . In business it is the same. In fact in every path of life the novice must learn to take the tumbles and “laugh them off” if he ever wishes to be a success. The actor and speaker know the true value of the laugh if we do not. Some men would give their fortunes to be able to control the laughter of their audiences. Good comedians have been frequently paid more than the president of the United States. Millions have been given for one good laugh in a play or scenario. What is laughter? This question has puzzled philosophers and sages for centuries. A great many types of answers have been given. Curry says “True laughter results from imagination, sympathy, courage, originality, incongruity, and a re¬ alization that error is absolutely ridiculous.” Irving Cobb says “We do not laugh to grow fat but laugh at other peo¬ ple growing fat.” We usually see a great deal of humor in the ill luck of another. A great many people do things be¬ cause they fear that they will appear queer if they do otherwise. When some one remarks “He’s a better man than I am” and another re¬ taliates with Gunga Din everyone begins to laugh, although most of them could not tell you whether Gunga Din was a new brand of shoe- polish or an Arctic explorer. The straw hat wearer is another one who so fears ridicule that he will not cover his head with a straw hat until May the fifteenth, no matter how hot the weather may be. Among the organizations which have been formed this century for the betterment of the world, is the Morning League of the School of Ex¬ pression. This is a band of students and friends of the School of Expres¬ sion who try to keep their faces toward the morning. The condition under which one may join is “to get up out of the right side of the bed, that is, stretch, expand, breathe deeply and laugh. Note the effect and consider yourself initiated.” The realities of life are deep. Only great length of time can shadow memories. Life would not be worth while if only the sad and unhappy

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12 THE EXPONENT 25 is making French survive. John¬ ny Murphy in 24 is dealing out prob¬ lems by the score. Atwood: All our old crowd seems to have turned professional. Lester Hodgen, now turned doctor, owns a hospital in Lynn. ’Tis said that it’s only a step to M. Taylor’s crematory, which is right next door to him. Marguerite Brown in a spotless white gown keeps Hodgen’s patients free from a frown, while Margaret Leith, Evelyn Chamberlin, Vivian Grant and Marjorie Church help the rest of those left in the lurch. Bernie Mil¬ ler is now training white mice as mascots for Coach Carl Johnson’s athletic teams, so nice. “Bernie” goes by the professional name of “Russell.” Burrage: To go on with profes¬ sionals, Pauline Mills of dancing fame has had many lights cast on her name as the director of a musical show. “Polly” Acker and Frieda Koonz grace the charming chorus row, while “Dot” Crosby does the Osgood wobble. (Chet is a profes¬ sional dancer now, you know.) I got a letter from Hunter the other day, he is out California way. He wrote that he met Rhoda Harper and Katherine Knight, who are mak¬ ing psychology students write. Atwood: (Casually taking up pa¬ per laid down). When I was in Greenfield I always used to read the advertisements first. Just to go back to old times. (Opens paper and reads). “Wanted: Neat and ex¬ perienced waitress for an ice-cream parlor. Apply in person. T. Con- draski. Successor to Gus’ Place, Er- ving, Massachusetts.” ’Hm, I won¬ der what the attraction is there? “Lost: One pair of trousers and one vest somewhere between upper Fed¬ eral street and the Greenfield Tailor¬ ing Co. Reward if returned to Clarence White, Manager.” I take it that “Whitey” is still in the tail¬ oring business. Burrage: Pve heard that Andrew Murphy and “Freddie” Kartcheske are the editors of this little sheet but I’ve never seen them on the street. The Gazette Courier has expanded now and has Madge Holbrook as its music critic, most highbrow. All the news from Millers Falls is written up by Julia Carroll, Lillian Phelps, Bessie Robinson and Margaret Bane, who are in the reporting game. Lucien Zschau is advertising editor. ’He gets many ads from the “Five Ten” which is run by Etta Gove, Evelyn Bagley, and Lucy Edes who furnish all the public needs. The papers sure have claimed a lot of the old grads. Atwood: Say, Bob, while here at the Exposition have you seen the “Tetreault Painting Show” with “Art.” sitting in the President’s row and Mary Orr, the bashful girl, dis¬ tributing samples of Tetreault’s “Splo-chy Whirl?” Dwight David¬ son, our chemistry wizard, invented this mess in a blizzard at Russell Nims’ school for delinquents. Burrage: Davidson a delinquent? Atwood: No, Professor Davidson. Burrage: Rae, guess what Anne Crowley is doing now? Well Anne is a physical training teacher, you know, and in her spare time she is running around in that sporty car that bears the initials “J. K.” Atwood: I am not in the least surprised for I always predicted that something would come of Anne’s moonlight rides on the lonely roads of Bernardston. She certainly picked a peach of a car, didn’t she? Atwood: Do you remember Phil Witty, old Greenfield’s fashion plate? Burrage: Oh yes! Carson’s living advertisement? What about him? Atwood: He’s surrounded by a bevy of beautiful mannequins in his shop here in Paris. He always was heavy on the ladies, you know. Ida Barber, Marion LaCroix, and Blanche Morris, fair, display his charming creations there. They tell me that Vere Hamilton really wakes up when these models display their wares, for he is a buyer now. Burrage: Mildred Powlitis and Cecilia Chevalier are doing their best to keep the candy business up to test. Their store is in Fred Schwartz’s new big block which tow¬ ers far above the old town clock. Harold and Evelyn Campbell have taken to their heels. They are away down in the Fiji Isles, booming real estate deals. “Doc” Hastings is their chauffeur dry. He makes the miles fly by, while Vivian Howard, Mar¬ jorie Kelley and Gertrude Chamber¬ lin do the office work within.