Hodgdon High School - Aurora Yearbook (Hodgdon, ME)

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The Aurora Page Nine willing to sacrifice their selfish desires for the good of their community and fellowmen. We need citizens who live up to the golden rule seven days of the weekg who lift a hand to the other fellow. Now, in every address that I have heard or read, the graduating class is made to believe that the world is their oyster which with their sword they shall open , and pick and choose that which they desire. Then I have watched the true results, and in almost every case, the dreams and hopes were un- realized, and the lofty castles reared with so much confidence went tumbling to the ground. The great artist in embryo, need- ing only time and opportunity to become one of the world's masters, was shining as a sign painter in his native village. The future poet, or novelist, became a reporter on the daily paper. The great opera star was leading the village choir, the great pianisrt was given piano lesson at fifty cents an hourg the future actor was teaching school, the great toe-dancer was conducting a private dancing school, the interior d-e- corator was working in a candy factory, at the minimum wage, the potential movie actress was conducting a beauty parlor, and the civil engineer was glad to accept a job as plum4ber's assistant. Afnd so, one dreamer after another h-ad fallen from the fairy pinnacles upon which they had exalted themselves. But this is a too pessimistic view. Let us look at it from another angle and judge if these people were failures. Were they able to accept responsibility? The answer decides whether or not they were failures. There is another class of people needed by this country, and every other country. The kind who are willing to accept responsibility instead of running from it and shirking it the moment it con- fronts them. The schools, at this time of the year, turn- ing out thousands of supposedly well- equipped young people ready and willing to help th-e world along, if they can do it in exactly their own way. The head of any big working establishment of whatever class, will tell you that the hardest part of his business is the finding of young men and women of dependable character. He can easily find a hundred who will obey orders, where he can find one who will assume the responsibility of seeing that the orders are faithfully carried out. It is one of the evils of society that when troubles occur every one cries out, It is not my fault, I had noth- ing to do with it. There has been for this Class of 1931 and still is for the remaining classes, a wonder- ful opportunity to train one's self in this way. If every time we were placed in a responsible position we have carried out our duties, and urged and induced others to fulfill theirs, then we probably shall be successful in later life because we have been dependable in school life. I shall quote an old saying, It is good to bear the yoke in youth. May it be said of every member of the Class of 1931 that he or she has never proved recreant to a trust. Let us pay our debt to our school by years of noble living. Then, here is a smile for the future, And for our parting, a sigh, Here's a God speed and bon voyage, And to all a fond good bye. John E. Oakes '31 'THE SALUTATORY Members of the School Board, Faculty, Mr. Superintendent, Classmates, Ladies, and Gentlemen: The class of 1931 extends to you a most cordial greeting and welcomes you to this, the laying of the final milestone along the journey of high school. For four long years-yet speedy as we look back upon their passing-we have work-ed for and looked forward to these closing scenes in our career as students of high school. For four years our little fleet has been sailing calmly in the harbor, riding the ripples of school work and pleasure, basking in the sunshine of our teachers' commendation and occasionally fretting in the clouds of their wrath. Today we weigh our anchors and begin the voyage into the sea of action where each one of us must steer his craft toward the :goal cf the future.

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un-unnmuu:nunsununnnnnununnnnnnnnnun- LITERARY VALEDICTORY Members of the School Board, Mr. Super- intendent, Faculty, ladies and gentle- men: It is said that every rose has its thorn, every joy its under current of sorrowg cer- tain it is that the Class of 1931 finds the pleasure of achievement dimmed by the severing of school and class companion- ships. To the shortest path and the longest lane there comes an end g inevitable change brings the sad word 'farewellf We leave our school with a deep appre- ciation of the advantages it has given us. Education is capitalg by investing it wisely we may become factors in the world's pro- gress. Modern education seeks to give a three fold development and send forth students upright in character, vigorous and healthy in body, alert and trained in mind, that they may give to life the combined efforts of heart, head and hands. It is with pride that we receive our diplomas of graduation from a school that has given us this up-to-date training. We leave our school with a high regard for the dignity of labor, the toil of the hands as well as the head. All labor which tends to supply man's needs, to increase his happiness, or to elevate his nature is honor- able. Labor is the mighty magician who advances civilization through the channels of art, science, music, and inventions. It is the hope of the boys and girls of -the class of 1931 that we may join the ranks of the real workers on the field of action, for the life giving power of education was intended to fit us not for cultivated leisure, but for honorable occupation. Members of the School Board: To you we would' express our thanks for the privileges you have given us through our school, and for the courtesies extended to our class. Our school has been to us the Bank of nn----nu-nn-uns-mnvnnun-unn-nunInu1nnun-un-nnnnnn-.2 Knowledge on which we have drawn for funds. Years of the highest endeavor alone can repay the debt we owe J our Alma Mater. We give you our I. O. U. and pro- mise to repay these funds by passing on to the world the best efforts of which we are capable. Members of the Faculty: In behalf of the class of 1931 I would say that we bid you farewell with sincere regret. Your enthusiasin and kindly interest in our advancement has lightened the gloom of lessons and made classroom work a plea- sure. You have made our school mean more to us than mere walls of architectureg you have invested it with life and endowed it with the solicitous love of a real Mater. We shall ever look back with pleasure to the profitable hours We have spent under your instruction, and we hope the equipment of mind and character which you have labored faithfully to give us may be used to your honor and credit. Classmates: Though the time for fare- well is at hand and we shall meet no more as Seniors, let us not break the ties that have bound us during the happy years of work at Hodgdon High. Though we may be scattered east and west, on the prairies of the north or beneath the sunny groves of the south, let us still be loyal, devoted memlbers of the Class of 1931. Though there be a wide divergence in our thoughts and occupations, let us still be joined by the memory of these, the most joyous years of our lives. Though far from these scenes, may there never be a time when we cannot, in memory hold an reunion in our Alma Mater. Classmates, let us resolve anew amid these happy scenes, to fare forth bravely and so live that we may be proud of each other and that Hodgdon High may be proud of all of us. Let us be patriots. The young people of today hold in their hands the future of our country. There is a great need for men and women who are

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Page Ten 'The Aurora The flowers massed so beautifully in our honor, tell us that it is Juneg yet to us, it is also New Year's Day, that ushers us from the old months of school activities into the new life of broader endeavor. We thrill with appreciation of the benefits you have showered upon us through our school and its capable instructors. True education draws out and develops all the human facultiesg it wakes the heed- less youth to the fact that life has a work for him to perform. Before us stretch the years of our further education and the d7u-ties of life. The future looks bright and the rosy dreams of youth are full of promise. We go forward to meet our obligations firm in the belief that the lessons of our school life have laid the fo-undaftion for future success. The influence of our school days has left a lasting im- pressiong it has helped to mold our charactersg it will be instrumental in shap- ing our destinies, so we thank you, as we welcome you to the scenes of triumph for enabling us to successfully complete the work of high school. Of the many inventions, fast developing ind-ustries, and great branches bf business in which one must indulge for life work, there is, in my mind, one which I have chosen as my subject, because of its swift develop- ment, the economlic revolution it has brought about, and its steadily mounting popularity as a commercial and industrial benefit. From prehistoric time all down through the ages man has looked upon the flying bird with envy. The earliest legends were filled with impossible accounts of man fly- ing through the air, and as time passed these stories grew, often giving the details of the supposed flights. Whether these legends are pure myths, the results of the imaginations of the early birds, well rounded out from telling and retelling, or whether they had their be- ginnings in man's early experiments in try- ing to take to the air, cannot be deter- mined. However, there is much in many of these stories that comes under the range of possibility. To Leonardo da Vinci is attributed the invention of the parachute and helicopter which he had developed from the first basic principles of his own genius. As for the first lighter than air craft We must tum to Francesco Lana, who in the seventeenth century directed his energy and mentality to the construction of gas con- tainers made of thin copper from which he planned to exhaust the gas causing the contrivance to rise. Although the, whole principle was imipossible, yet many new versions concerning lighter than air craft were obtained by many such experiments. On June 5, 1783, a large crowd assembled at Versailles, France, to see the firsrt successful balloon ever constructed. The frame of this feat goes to the Montgolfer Brothers, who through their observation of natural objects and exiperiments with paper bags, developed the first airshilp to make a successful flight, carrying a rooster, a sheep, and a duck as the aerial passenger list. In enumerating the many inventors, scientists, and discoverers of the principles of aviation, one must not forget Dr. Samuel P. Langley who, although always unsuccess- ful in launching was the first to con- struct a motor driven plane -based on thoroughly sound principles. Just nine days following Dr. Langley's second trial flight which ended in the same manner as-the first had-by the breaking of the track from which it was launched, the Wright Brothers made their first power driven flight and the conquest of the air was completed. With the firsrt successful flight of the Wright Brothers the era of unlimited aerial development began, which was sched-uled to the end of time. Numerous flights were made by the dif- ferent inventors and aviators of the many countries abowt 1910, but not until the World War was the real value of aviation revealed. ' The construction of many different models, the development of aerial photo- graphy and synchronization, a method of timing guns on the transmission in such a manner as to permit firing the guns be- tween the propeller blades were brought forward.