Hale High School - Pompositticut Yearbook (Stow, MA)

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Woman s Place m American Progress We hold the se truths to be self evldent That all men are created equal that they are endowed by the1r Creator wzth certa1n unal1enable r1ghts that among these are l1fe lmberty and the pur su1t of happmess For many years after th1s statement was wrmtten mto the Declaratlon of Independence th1s equahty was not beheved to extend to women G1rls were not allowed to attend school nor women college They could not enter profes s1ons such as law and med1c1ne and above all they had no vo1ce 1n the government exther nat1onal or terr1tor1al As years passed however women came to take a more pronnent pos1t1on 1n Amencan llfe When the country schools of the Un1ted States developed g1rls were gwen the same 1nstruct1on as boys At Troy New York Emma Wmllard after undergomg r1d1cule and persecutmn es tabllshed a c1ty endowed school that gave women the same educat1onal advantages as men W1th1n a few years Oberlm College opened 1ts doors to both men and women The effect was natlon wlde Even before the C1v1l War women were workmg hard for the 1mprovement of cond1t1ons 1n our country On a March mormng 1n 1814 Dorothea D1x V1S1ted the House of Correctmn at East Cambrxdge Massachusetts and went home that mght so shocked and terr1f1ed at what she had seen that she could not sleep What had shocked her so was the ghastly cond1t1on of the msane at the Ja1l They wore shackles the1r cells were dark a1rless and unheated and the walls shxmmered w1th frost Many wardens beat the mmates 1n order to obta1n sllence research she took her f1nd1ngs to the members of the Massachusetts leg1slature When con fronted wxth the shockmg evmdence they quxckly prov1ded for the f1rst hosp1tal for 1nsane patlents at Worcester From Massachusetts she went to Rhode Island Mame and then made her way throughout the Unlted States workmg unceas1ngly unt1l the phght of the mentally 1ll was vastly 1mproved On January Z1 1901 one of the most sensat1onal women 1n Amermcan h1story walked down the streets of W1ch1ta Kansas smgmg Onward Chr1st1an Soldlers She had a hatchet 1n her hand and when she reached Jlm Burns saloon she rushed 1n through the swmgmg doors As customers fled and the bartender ducked Carr me Nat1on threw beer bottles at the mlrrors and smashed 1n the heads of whlskey barrels w1th her hatchet In a few m1nutes the place looked as 1f xt had been struck by a cyclone By her f1ery and spectacular crusades she helped arouse the 1nd1gnat1on that made nat1onal proh1b1t1on posslble seventeen years later Dorothea D1x and Carr1e Natxon are but two women 1n a f1eld of thousands who have been and are workmg 1n the f1eld of soclal reforms Jane Addams as head of Chlcago s Hull House and Clara Barton founder of the Amer1can Red Cross devoted the1r 11ves to th1s cause day a vast number of women are employed 1n varlous flelds of welfare work The Umted States has produced many great wr1ters among them several women Harrlet Beecher btowe became natlonally famous for her 1nsp1r1ng novel Uncle Tom s Cabm whmch dep1cted slave llfe Everyone has at one stage or another read one or more of Loulsa May Alcott s books descr1b1ng the lxfe of average Amerxcan of the day These and a host of contemporary wr1ters have helped put our country on the hterary map , -O O . . ,, . . . Miss Dix set out immediately to better the condition of these mentally ill. After much , , . . . . . . 7 Y . . ,, . . . .,, E. . , . . . , . , . . . i To- . ' - - ' so Q ' 19

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W1th women takmg a more actwe part 1n everyday l1fe, the quest1on of extendmg suffrage to them became a nat1on w1de questxon, Lucret1a Mott and Elxzabeth Stanton were p1oneers 1n the woman suffrage movement and 1n startmg the ball rollmg As early as 1848 a meet1ng was held ln Seneca Falls New York to dlscuss the subject Ga 1n1ng the rxght to vote was however a long and severe struggle In 1869 the d1e was cast 1n Wyom1ng when women were allowed to vote In the same year the Nat1ona1 Woman Suffrage Assoclatxon was organ1zed and M1ss .susan B Anthony became presldent A steady carnpalgn was waged 1n the states L.1tt1e by lxttle the movement ga med headway Fmally m 1919 both houses of Congress passed the Nmeteenth Amendment to the Const1tu t1on and the f1ght was over The r1ght of c1t1zens of the Un1ted States to vote could no longer be den1ed by any state on account of sex Smce th1s great even women have taken an mcreasmgly act1ve part 1n our government Many have been elected to state or federal pos1t1ons One of our own representatwes from Massachusetts Edxth Nourse Rogers has spent much tlme workmg for veterans leg1s1at1on Recently Pres1dent Ehsenhower appomted two women to pos1t1ons h1gh 1n the government s functxon One Cla1re Booth Luce he delegated to be our off1c1al repre sentatlve to Italy and the other Mrs Ivy Baker Pr1est became the Treasurer of the Un1ted States Amer1can women played a role far greater than ever before durmg the Second World War They subst1tuted for men 1n the pos1t1ons at home and many thousands actually served m the armed forces They also performed unportant c1v1l1an defense work and were mvaluable as nurses for the S1Ck and wounded Amerlca would be vastly d1fferent today had It not been for the s1gn1f1cant contr1but1ons of women Young women graduatmg from schools or colleges today may look w1th pr1de upon the past ach1evements of Amerlcan women and gather 1nsp1rat1on to contmue m then' foot steps toward even greater progress Valedlctory Classmates As we look back over our twelve years of study we should never thxnk of them as wasted for through the pat1ent help and gu1dance of our teachers we have gamed knowledge Thls knowledge 15 v1tal to each one of us 1nd1v1dually 1n our pursu1t of happmess and prosperxty The past four years have been enjoyable ones on the whole We have st11d1ed together worked together and played together learnmg diferent lessons from books bw the same lesson of progress from small thmgs to greater ones Let us put th1s knowledge to good use Now we shall each go our own separate ways but all perhaps w1th the same end 1n mmd to acqu1re prosperlty Most of us w11l never become r1ch or famous m the sense we know It today but we shall all contrxbute 1n some small way to the progress of th1s nat1on and Progress 15 Prosper1ty OFFICERS OF THE CLASS OF 1953 Pres1dent George Maclver V1ce Presldent Jane Colby Secretary Sylvla Wanhatalo Treasurer Susan Cewall Student Counc1l Dav1d Crowell Adv1sor Mrs Kathleen Platt Class Class Class Class Motto Flower Colors Marshal Eleanor Pe ck Progress IS Prospenty Red Carnat1on Red and Wh1te 1ll1am Wh1tney 3 I ' l 1 o 1 . , V ' . ,. . . . . . - 1 1 ' ' . . . . . ' . . 1 s ' ' . . . .. . . , . . .. - U . , , 1 1 . 1 ' . . . 0 . . ' 1 1 1 9 . . . H, , , ,,.,x. . . 1 1 1 -- . 1 1 1 i ss . - -Q .-..-..- - ' ......--. Q-...... - .-.....-... O - ....... .