Hamilton High School - Hamiltonian Yearbook (South Hamilton, MA)

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The Hamiltonian 7 showing him through his realm. They came to a magnificent house, wath beau- tiful gardens and lawns and an abundance of flowers. In fact, everything about the place spelled happiness and contentment. “Who lives here. Saint Peter?’’ asked the visitor, and was surprised to hear the name of a woman who had done menial work in the man’s house down on earth. At the far end of the street, off by itself, stood a shabby, dilapidated, ill-kept house ■ — hardly more than a hut — in striking con- trast to the lovely place they had just visited. “And who lives here?” was the ne.xt question. “You will live here,” said Saint Peter. “Me! Why should my servant have such an elaborate house while 1 live in this undesirable place?” “Well,” answered the good Saint, “We did our best with the material sent ahead.” Which one do you think had attained success ? To me, that man is truly a success who puts service above self, serving others with no thought of material gain for himself, and being tolerant with those not in ac- cord with his ideas and practices. May I illustrate this with a portion of a poem by Sam Walter Foss? Let me live in the house by the side of tlie road Vhere the race of men go by. The men who are good, the men who arc bad. As good and as bad as I ; I would not sit in the scorner’s seat. Nor hurl the cynics ban, Let me live in the house by the side of the road And be a friend to man. George Arliss, famous star of the stage and screen, remarked, “A desire to work hard for the sake of doing a good joh leads to happiness. An ambition for power and money leads to discontent.” People who have tlie use of large amounts of money often consider themselves successful. But are they? Does money bring happiness? Not always. For instance, take Scrooge in Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.” He had a sufficient amount of hoarded money but was he happy ? No, because he had a guilty conscience and only after he was shown the way to true happiness did he realize that it was secured through the spending of his money for the benefit of others. Happiness in j ' our life work is synony- mous with success. To reach the top of the ladder means hard work and it may take years to accomplish, but once you are there you possess something which no man can ever take away from you — success. As the old saying goes — “Pluck, Perseverance, and Honesty spell Success.” Our constantly changing conditions in life demand that he who would win must meet each change with all his powers alert ; with a push he opens the door of opportunity and every new condition is a challenge which arouses all of his energies. Success, then, engages all of one’s efforts and should give to one true contentment, happiness, health, as well as a fair share of wealth. Class History TN September, 1931, a group of awkward, unsophisticated freshmen climbed, with faltering steps, the stairs of Hamilton High Scliool to the ninth grade. We looked ahead with pleasant anticipation of the good times we were to have and, although our four years of education did include good times, it also included much hard work. We entered the ninth grade in what was then called the South School with Mrs. Ramer as our home room teacher and IMr. Spalding as our principal. One of our first activities was to hold a class election. The officers elected were: President, Robert Smith; Vice-President, Richard Peale ; Secretary, Margaret Sargeant ; ' Freasurer, Alice Stone. d ' he Student Council System was inaugurated into our school and three members were chosen to represent our class. On October ninth, the seniors held a party for the freshmen — and what a party it was! Blindfolded, we were led through the earthly Hades and received sufficient humiliation to make us realize that we were not quite so important as we had thought we were. But, know-

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6 The Hamiltonian often remembered. Born in London in 1614 or 1615, Cheever was educated at Emmanuel College where he received a classical education that fitted him for his life work of teaching. In 1637 he came to America where he began his teaching career, teaching at New Haven, Ipswich, and Charlestown, thus making a consid- erable reputation before becoming master of the Boston Latin School in 1670. He taught for thirty-eight years, receiving as compensation the use and possession of the school house and sixty pounds or $300 per year. He required very strict discipline in his classes, and his pupils learned to tell when his temper was about to escape him by his habit of stroking his long beard as the danger point drew near. In 1708, after seventy years of teaching experience, thirty-eight of which were spent at the Boston Latin School, Cheever died and was universally mourned by all who knew him. He was buried from the schoolhouse, honored by the presence of the governor, justices, councillors, min- isters and others whom, with their fathers and grandfathers, he had taught with vigorous use of the rod and rule. And now, considering the circumstances and data which I have given you, compare the early American school, of which the Boston Latin was an example, with the modern American school. Compare the early American school teacher, Ezekial Cheever, for example, with the modern school teacher, and you will better under- stand the progress which cities and towns of the United States have made in the great work of educating their children to enable them to govern and care for them- selves in the future. ■ — John Peabody, ’35. SUCCESS: WHAT IS IT? S uccess is that elusive element for which each one of us is striving. It is the objective of every student and the aim of evervone in life. The question, “Success: What is it?’’ brings as many answers as there are minds to hear it. Upon the answer depends the trend of one’s life work. Success is nothing tangible. It cannot be sold or inherited; and, to the most of us, it is as evasive as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. To your next door neighbor, success perhaps means fame. He considers himself successful if he heads some large organiza- tion. If he occupied a position of less importance, he woidd think of himself as a failure. In reality, his broader views, wider sympathies, and deeper insights, make him a great success. Working for fame alone does not bring true success. Young people of today may think they know where the road to success lies, but when they start out in their quest of it, they realize the error they have made be- fore they complete the first mile. Book-learning brings to us the wisdom and experience of others, hut it is only a means to success. People may he most deeply learned and yet be very unsuccess- ful in every day living because of an in- ability to apply their knowledge. By his own efforts. Abraham Lincoln rose to the highest position his country had to offer. He knew no language hut his own. He had a very slight acquaintance with the world’s literature, onlv a general outline knowledge of the world’s history ; he never studied music. Art and other numerous advantages were practically closed to him. Yet in spite of all this he was successful. Why? Because Lincoln’s perseverance was of a striking qualitv. He kept at every enterprise he started until he had reached his goal. He never worked for the monev reward, or for the honor he might achieve, hut because he desired to accomplish what he considered best for humanity. Good health is the foundation of all possible success in life. Affect one and you affect the other. The successful life calls for sacrifice, self-control, moderation, and poise. At all times it is necessary to have the unhampered use of all of one’s powers and one’s intellect. IMaterial suc- cess should not he our only goal. There is the story of the man who died and went to heaven. Saint Peter was

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8 The Hamiltonian inj; it was an initiation party, we were sports and took all that was handed to us though not without a murmur. In March the entire high school was transferred to the new high school build- ing, and in the new school Aliss Hagglund became our home room teacher. Only one thing disappointed us, the fact that we could not give vent to our revenge on the freshmen class below as the initiation was not considered vise in our new school build- ing. Later in the year, we presented a class play entitled “Burglars,” which was one of the numbers of a play contest con- ducted by Air. Spalding. We held our first social in the Town Hall with Aliss H agglund and Air. Alalone as chaperons. .At the end of the year, we were proud to be the first Junior High students to be grad- uated from the new high school. In our sophomore year we entered Airs. Boyd’s home room, with fear in our hearts because of the rumors of her strict discipline and lengthy English assignments. At our first class meeting, we chose the following officers: President, Robert Smith; Vice- President, Gordon AIcCullock; Secretary, Katherine Cracknell ; Treasurer, .Alice Stone. This year our class was somewhat thinned out but we had two newcomers, Grace Powers, who came from Wenham, and Esther Roll, from Winchester. Two of our sophomores, Grace Powers and Helen AIcCarthy had the distinction of being chosen for the Senior Play. AVe also welcomed into the faculty Air. Progin as the manual training teacher and athletic coach and Aliss Barker as the domestic science teacher and girls’ athletic coach. Both the girls’ and boys’ athletic teams were more successful this year so, as a grand finale, we had a social in the Audi- torium with the athletic coaches as chap- erons. This year the college and commercial divisions were separated in their English classes. This was a great advantage to both divisions as each could now advance more rapidly without hindering the other. After much discussion, we finally chose our class rings which were made of yellow gold with the head of Hamilton riveted upon a green agate background. Thus, we came to the end of the sophomore year, looking happily ahead to the activities of the junior year. September found the class of 1935 in the junior year under the supervision of Air. Alalone, our jovial Erench and Latin teacher. W’e were sorry to have Air. Spalding leave but his place was ably filled b ' Air. Payne. Air. Branch was also added to our faculty this year. At our first class meeting, we selected for officers: President, Robert Smith; Vice-President, George Dunn ; Secretary, Katherine Crack- nell ; Treasurer, Hhelma Alann. Alem- bers of the class were also selected to rep- resent us in the Student Council and Rob- ert Smith was elected the Vice-President of the Council. Now came the big event in every junior’s life, — the Junior Promenade! It was held on .May eighteenth, and proved to be one of the most beautiful “Proms” ever pre- sented by any class in Hamilton High School. Our matrons were Airs. Arm- strong, Airs. A I ann, Airs. Dunn, and .Airs. AIcRae. At the latter part of the year. Air. Payne called the mothers of the juniors together for a meeting to decide whether or not we would take the Wash- ington trip when we were seniors. The result of this meeting was that all those who wanted to go could earn their own money individually. At the close of the year we had another social for the boys’ and girls’ athletic teams with Aliss Barker and Air. Branch as chaperons. After dec- orating the .Auditorium for the senior class graduation and reception, our activities closed for the year. in September, 1934, we entered the senior room with Aliss AlacRae as our class advisor. There were many changes in the faculty this year. A I iss Barker had resigned and Aliss Featherstone took her place. Air. Progin’s position had been filled by Air. Bowdoin. In Air. Branch’s position we found our present coach Air. Walton and later Aliss Hagglund joined the matrimonial ranks and her place was taken by Aliss Ready. AVe were sorry to miss among our class- mates Robert Smith and Alice Stone, both of whom had held class offices. AVe sin- cerely hope they will return to Hamilton High and thus swell the ranks of next year’s graduates. When it came time for the election of our class officers, we elected the following: President, Alfred AIcRae; A ice-Presi-