Hartford High School - Hartford Key Yearbook (White River Junction, VT)

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Salutatory Address THE HOAI) WE TAKE The Road We Take! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It is hackneyed, but still applicable and still significant especially so to us in the twentieth century, when there are so many roads. The graduates problem is, which one? Robert Frost, one of our New England poets, expresses this theme in his poem, “The Road Not Taken.” “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I----- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Which road to take or which not to take does make “all the difference.” As we look before us tonight we see many highways and byways branching off. Some are rough and a dark cloud hangs over them. There is a signpost on each, but it is blurred and indefinite. One may read SUCCESS (perhaps in twenty years) or another FAILURE, or that one, DEATH! Which is for me, Which for my classmates? Oliver Wendell Holmes compares us to young colts entering a race—the race of life with the “winning post a slab of white or gray.” Our parents will be watching the race with tear dimmed eyes for they know what lies before us. Each has vowed to give his son or his daughter a better start than he had. Each has tried to direct his boy toward that coveted road which leads to SUCCESS. As they see us tonight about to begin the race they, like us, begin to doubt whether our shoulders are broad enough and our limbs strong enough to carry the burdens we must carry. There are, however, certain principles, that, if followed, can make our respective roads easier and more enjoyable. These notable words of Ralph Waldo Emerson come to mind, “There is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; . . . there is always another dawn risen in mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep.”

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One great evil, however, is brought by specialization. A complex and delicate machine, such as the modern economic system is, is easily thrown out of gear. A change in the taste of consumer may plunge a whole industry into depression. This is offset somewhat by the wide range of choice that is steadily opening to us. As incomes expand there is a correspondingly wider margin to spend on luxuries. In bringing this problem to the fore as I have done, I have naturally had in mind the particular stumbling blocks in the paths of us, the Seniors. It is natural that we think mostly at this time of ourselves and of the special problems we face. Yet we find time here to think of those who have helped us to find our way this far, who have given us every aid in all our difficulties. I speak now of the members of the school board, who have so wisely guided our measures of the teachers of Hartford High, who have done their part so very well, giving their best to us of our parents who found no trial too hard, and who gave so much that we might arrive at this great moment of our lives. We also turn to those who are to succeed us and who are to find problems to face, even as we are now facing ours. I speak of the Junior class. Will the Junior President please step forward. Mr. President, your class now takes over the duties we leave behind us. With this robe we invest you with a symbol of scholarship, loyalty, and dignity. Wear this robe with the consciousness of the high rank it brings you. Always be mindful of the duties and obligations it places upon you. Wear it with a pride that comes from knowing you have earned it and always carry the sense of responsibility it brings you. W itli the passing of the Senior key to the Junior class comes the realization of the finality of our days here. With this key go standards of loyalty and faithfulness which we Seniors have striven to uphold. It is our wish that you maintain these high standards as we have done our best to do. We, the Class of '38, express our best wishes for the fulfillment of all your desires. May all your undertakings be successful and may you always keep high the good name of Hartford. Classmates, a final word. Although this is probably the last time our group shall be present in its entirety, and though this parting brings many regrets, we can look back on many happy years. It is up to us now to go out and make for ourselves and for Hartford High, names it will be proud to claim, names that will live in the annals of its history. As someone once said, “Life is what we make it.” Our schoolboard, teachers, and parents have done all that they can. The rest is now up to us. We either scale the highest rungs of the ladder or we are trampled under. The future lies before us. Greet it with a smile. Makie Louise De Roche.

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The failure of modern youth to recognize the possibility of a “lower deep” is one of the causes of the economic and social unrest of this twentieth century. Young people who have not had the best of fortune have developed a feeling of defeat, an attitude of despair. They think that there are no more worlds to conquer. 1 hey believe that everything has been discovered that there is to discover. 1 hey know that they are a defeated generation defeatism at its worst. Emerson’s philosophy is still true. The chance of discovering new things is as boundless as the universe itself. Nobody has gone to Mars yet. No one has penetrated the deepest waters in the ocean yet. Nor has any one dug his way to China yet. If anyone says there is nothing left in the world let him build a rocket ship and journey to the moon. We haven’t beaten the cow yet and there’s plenty to be learned. It would be superfluous to discuss the need for cures of infantile paralysis, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, and other dread diseases. Nor does one need to mention that crime presents one of our biggest problems. It would be utter foolishness to say that air travel does not need some doctoring up. There are many ways, indeed, which lead to success and a happier life. 1 he attitude with which we face tomorrow means much if we wish to succeed. It makes a difference whether we take defeat with a smile or a frown or whether we have due faith in our ability. Sir Thomas Browne states that “Every man truly lives, so long as he acts his nature, or in some way makes good the faculties of himself.” He should, in other words, resolve to put his own special abilities to some good use. History is but a record of glorious people, of great men and great women, who have made “good the faculties of themselves.” There is Madame Curie who, in spite of defeat and despair, did much toward the cure of cancer with radium. '1 here is Admiral Byrd, probably the greatest modern explorer, who has lived up to his high ideals and who has discovered new worlds in a world already thought to be thoroughly explored. They, like many other lesser mortals, may have had their moments when they turned wistfully to thoughts of the road not taken. But at least they have had the satisfaction of knowing that the way they chose was worth all the struggle and sacrifice, the heart ache and the heart-break that the road of life so often requires for those who would truly succeed. Lowell describes the ascent of the path that leads to ampler fates in his tribute to Abraham Lincoln. “And every turf the fierce foot clings to, bleeds.” 1 here are many roads that lead to ignoble ends. Not all have fame and wealth awaiting the traveler. We shall find, however, that if we keep it a friendly road and that if we persevere in aims that are good, happiness and success should await us at the end of the way. Which road shall be yours, classmates? Which shall be mine? Coi.i-.amek Martin Abbott