Hale High School - Pompositticut Yearbook (Stow, MA)

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there have been certain ideals to which our forefathers adhered traditions that they were will ing to live for fight for and in many cases even die for Their first and foremost concern was freedom of the mind freedom to think without fear freedom to act in accordance with their considered Judgment They did not look first for ease comford and convenience They believed fervently in the right to work to enjoy the products of their own labor and to receive accord ing to merit These are the foundation stones of what has become known as The Promise of America The inhabitants of the first thirteen colonies had to fight for their independence But they were determined and the Revolutionary War resulted in American independence These thir teen states sought to survive without the benefit of a central government There were men in Massachusetts as in other states who believed that to Join a Federal Union was to surrender much liberty in order to get along with the members of the pact Unfortunately a civil war had to be fought to settle final arguments We have a growing concept of the one ness of the world We are commg to it by the knowledge that the nations of the world are dependent upon one an other not only for prosperity but also actually for survival Here in America we have a system of free constitutional government Under that system we have gained the greatest religious freedom the greatest political freedom, the greatest agricultural freedom the greatest labor freedom the greatest industrial freedom ever known by any people We have the greatest productive capacity of any nation We have the best system of highways and railroads the finest schools and colleges we have the highest living standards the highest wages the best working hours and mcomparably the best working conditions of any people anywhere on the globe The poorest of our people live better than the moderately well to do or even the wealthy in most countries we wish and vote for whom we desire There are places where the people don t have these privileges In America when workers go on strike a meeting is called and terms are discuss ed In Russia a firing squad ends all strikes almost before they start In the United States if a man wishes to leave his Job for a better one, he leaves In Russia he has a choice of two things He may remain on the Job or he may take a trip to Siberia Only a short time ago some of the Boston papers carried the story of the displaced person who, upon his arrival in America. told of his mother s last request before he left Europe She asked that her son never write to her from America This woman, an inhabitant of a Russian controlled country lived in con stant fear that the Russians might find out about her son in America That would mean certain death for this mother America is the land of golden opportunity, and we must keep it that way This has to be done by the sweat of our brow and by the energy and initiative which the good Lord has given us President Conant of Harvard once said One of the highly significant ideals of the American nation has long been equality of opportunity Our educational system our political institutions and our social ideals form a closely interwoven pattern Equality of opportunity could be realized only in a political democracy it would have meaning only in a competitive society in which private ownership and the profit motive were accepted as basic principle Opportunity still knocks and will enter still if we give it half a chance We, the class of 1949, are graduating from high school at a time when the world is un settled. We, the youth of today, are the leaders of tomorrow. We cannot be certain what kind of a world we face today, or what kind of a life hes ahead. But one thing is certain. We are not going to be bored: and because we are Americans we are not going to be afraid. Marjorie Gray 16 . . . ' . . . - . . , . . , . . . . . , . . , . . . . . , . . , . - . ' . . . . I . - ' . , . . . . I I I . I l U . . . l . . . l 1 . . I . . , . S . . . . ' . ' . . . . We may attend the church of our choice, choose the school we want to go to, work where . , . . , u p . . D . . . . , . ' . . . D . . - . . . . O . , . .

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SALUTATOR' Teachers Parents Friends and Schoolmates Iwonder if it is really necessary for me to try to tell you in wcu 1 now uly glad we are to have you with us tonight We are very young and inexperienced mt ways of the big world with which you are so familiar and yet we have already learned how .xseless ords rea are when they try to express the deepest feelings of the heart We could not poss Jly put our thoughts into words and in any degree make you fee as we do Sf why shoul we try? And yet men and women who know what it means to be wanc' rers ov r f face of th earth tell us that there is no sweeter word in the English language tl' n the :Orr Welcome And w really do want to say it to you and to say it in the rxght way Words are elastic Of themselves they may be very rr ll and apparently woi hless but stretched out to the full extent of their capabilities they rr y be made to cover far more than we ourselves realize It really depends so much upon the motions that call thenf forth Some times our words may sound exaggerated and seem to try to say mo than our I arts may really prompt Again we may find words far too weak to convey to our friends he emotions that are flooding the innermost recesses of our being This is the position in which we find ourselves tonight To you this may we a pleasant occasion To our parents and relatives, it is an hour of pride and ffectxon t s our teachers, an hour of mingled Joy in our success and regret we trust over the necessary parting To us this is a great occasion, a red letter day one of the b lghtest spots in our l ves and it is bound to live in our memories forever And so dear friends I am not going to try to say Welcome at all Instead we are just going to put forth every effort to prove to you how m ich we thank you for coming to repay you as much as possible for the pleasure and pride yo ir presence brings to us by saying or doing something that will make you feel that you hav not ome altogether for nothing Of course I do not dare to promise you that w will do well We cannot tell that yet No one can ever be sure how things are going to turn c ut But I do promise you, on behalf of every one of the class, that we will do our best to make you glad you came Vith this one aim ever in our minds I thank you once more for coming, and 1 xtend to you in the name of the class our most grateful and sincere welcome THE PROMISE OF AMERICA The people who came to America originally came from all the other countries of the world They had one characteristic in which they differed from those who remained That was to tear themselves loose by the roots from their homes, their low ed ones, and their native lands to come to an unknown continent come because they loved freedom more than they loved security They longed for freedom accompanied by thrift and ha dship and toil, rather than a mean security with submission to overlords Our ancestors brought with them, not only the desire to find here a place where they could worship as they saw fit, but also, ideas about the kind of governxnent under which they wished to live. Even before they landed at Ply-mouth, the Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, their plan for self government. Since that very beginning of that democratic society 15 ' . 1 1 - ' ' ' ' -f Q.: ' Pw- . . . . . ,Q . . , :uf , . 2 . . , x . , . A , . , . 'L B 7.22 8 . . . ., ,, IL . V .. 13 . . . . g . . 3 P '. 'L I . . . . N . . 'L 0 C - . ' . E 2 . . , . I . O I . . . . . . . . . . . . . b o 1 . . . . . . ., . . o I 9 . . . . 1 - 1 o 1 . . . -. I . I . . 1 I ' 1 . . . . - - ,, ,, sa n - 9 1 - - o . l . 1 . . . . . 1 . . . AI 1' ., - 1 . L . I R o o . . Y . V J , - . ., . . . . O 'I . . V . J 1 . 0 J . . . . . . . . . . D U . . v . . D - . . . . . . . A . . . . C

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CLASS PROP!-IE C Y The year, let us say, IS 1959 The time IS sprmg late spring, Imlght add It IS early evenmg, and the cool mght axr IS slowly replacmg the dry heat of the day and brmgxng w1th lt the sound of the many creatures whlch have laxn dormant through the day The place IS a little whlte vme covered Quonset hut ln an extremely mmute obscure town lost somewhere back 1n the wllds of central Massachusetts I thmk the natlves refer to xt as Stow, or somethmg quxte slmxlar As we slzp up to the house and peek through the fxrst lxghted wlndow we come to we see a comfortably furmshed room with bookcases and flrearms almost completely covenng the walls, and there, seated xn a soft easy chalr before the f1re a short fat fellow, h1s nose qunte burled m a book Could we but see behmd that volume, we mnght recogmze the famllnar v1s age of that gay romantzc of old Hale Hlgh me I had sat there for some tlme, my thoughts roammg from the book ln my lap and at last I could stand It no longer I threw the book as1de fllcked on the televlslon set, and sank back m my cha1r to allow the set to warm up My career as a soldzer of fortune the fortune bemg the two fifty I recewed for each weekly meetzng of the Natxonal Guard I attended was ended when they xnstxtuted maxxmum walst measurements as well as chest measurements I have, therefore, for the last fxve years, been a c1v1l englneer c1v1l to all elderly women, and engmeer on that broken down ccrrnrnuter whxch stlll plies between Hudson and Boston A p1cture slowly materxahzed on the televlsxon screen The scene was a magmflcent same renowned phllanthropxst who had made h1s fxrst mxlhon back m my old home town Upon the stage in flowmg wh1te dresses was the All Glrl Orchestra wxth 1ts mcompar able musxc But walt a mmute, one of those fa1r maldens the one seated at the concert grand looks a b1t awkward ln that evenmg gown Gad that s no falr maxden, xt s that talent touched classmate of mme from old Hale Hlgh Ralph Smlth Wlth the surprise of seexng my old compatrlot for the first t1me ID years came the rea son for my restlessness Why sure It was the sxxteenth of .Tune the tenth anmversary of my hzgh school graduatlon Sparked bv thzs realxzatzon my mmd was shocked mto the fact that ten years ago after the commencement exercxses, the Class of 1949 had solemnly promxsed to reumte at a. party wh1ch would be held on the tenth annxversary of that momentous occasxon Ten years we estzmated, would glve us ample txme to foul up our lwes The clock showed that the party was but an hour and a half away so I hurriedly rolled out that rather battered 40 Chevy and took off I was met at the door by the prearranged hostess of thxs affaxr and found to my delxght that I was the fzrst to arrxve My hostess was that same female who had kept the boys of our class so busy beatmg to death all the harmless llttle msects that chanced to hght upon her desk I later learned that she had been appointed recently professor of entomology xn the Umverslty of Massachusetts This could be no other than Eleanor McColl Rxght here and now Iwant you all to take notxce of my use when spealung of the gurl our class of the names which were glven them by thexr parents If I trxed to prophesy at thus 17 concert hall which I immediately recognized as Creelman Hall, recently established by that ' ' , ' . ' s IH