Holbrook High School - Echo Yearbook (Holbrook, MA)

Page 12 text:

12 THE ECHO account will be accomplished. This is tme no matter what one’s sphere in life is, or what branch of work one may take np. Wdicn a pupil enters hij h school he usually enters with one of two intentions; to make good, or merely to pass away the time until he can go to work. A boy or girl of the latter class immediately begins his high .school career by haxnng all the “ fun,” as he tenus it, that he can. He takes only the subjects actually required and if they happen to interest him he will occasionally look over a lesson or read a story assigned for study. During the time in school when he is not attending classes he amuses himself by annox-ing those xxho want to study. This type of pupil, far too common in our schools, usually has the ability to leam but is too lazy and indolent to try. It is noticeable that as the years of his school life pass, this habit, which has been forming, grows stronger and stronger, until it causes the pupil to become so careless and idle that xvhen he finally leaves school he is of little value in the xvork he decides to take up, for a xx-ell formed habit is difficult to break. The other type of pupil enters his school life xxdth a determination to make good. He feels that this is his only chance to take adx’antage of a high school training and that, to succeed in life, he must have as much education as is possible for him to obtain. This pupil takes all the studies in his department that he feels he can handle. He applies his mind to them, and no matter if they are hard, v ' orks until he has m.astcrt d them.. He finds, as the days and xvecks go by, that his schoo l life is not all drudgery. He has just as much, if not m.cre, pleasure than the indolent pupil and the addi- tional satisfaction of realizing that he knoxvs his lessons and is making a success of his high school c ' ursc. As in the case of the idle pupil he is ff.rming a habit ai d one that xxill stay by him throughout his life. He is becoming diligent, thoughtful, alert and capable of handling diffi- culties, characteristics which will help him conquer and make a success of bis life. Let us emphasize the truth of this statement by considering tlie example set by our martyred President Lincoln. He xx ' as clearly a man cf this latter type. Born of a very poor family in a tiny log cabin in Kentucky with practically no opportunities, as it outwardly seemed, to achieve success, he conquered difficulty after difficulty. The contents of every available book he could find xvcrc thoroughly assimilated by this ambitious youth and every spare moment xvas spent in cultivating his mind. He did not stop and say that because he was poor there was no use in trying to do something worth while. With a determination and a firm resolve to rise higher he struggled manfully on until at last he became, as everyone knows, one of the greatest men, politically, intellectually and morally that our nation has ever knoxvn. But it is not only in intellectual matters that labor conquers all things. It is also true as regards athletics. The man who enters sports half-heartedly and who does not exert himself frequently and vigorously never makes an athlete. It is the man who enters into the work heart and soul and, who, in spite of repeated failures, continues to work in order to master what he has undertaken, who gains fame in t he athletic world. What better example can be fotmd than that of the professional acrobat? He whirls through the air from rope to rope, balances himself in the miost perilous positions and docs all sorts of feats which leave us breathless But how does he do them? By careful, persistent, training he has put every muscle under the control of his xxill. He has trained his nerves to be steady. It is only through repeated attempts and failures that he has miastcrcd his art. The same is true whatever branch of athletics is pursued. Basket-ball, base-ball, foot-ball, tennis, golf, roxxing, swimming and every other sport require true, faithful, hard work if one wishes to become a master cf his sport. Again when any great enterprise is undertaken it is only through hard labor and rigid endurance and determination that it is carried out and made a success. Let us consider that mammoth feat of engineering, the Panama canal. In very early times explorers of Panama thought that there existed a natural waterway from ocean to ocean. When this idea was given up it xvas suggested to Philip II, king of Spain in 1570, that a passage be made through the mountains. But there was a belief common at

Page 11 text:

THE ECHO the Town Hall this morning, you say? Well, well, well. Studying poetry her senior year must have aided her. Yes, I’ll look around for it.” Ah, here it is. ‘‘Would you like to have me read one of them to you? Oh, it isn’t any bother at all.” ‘‘What pleasant memories cluster ’round these volumes old and worn. With corners smirched and bindings creas- ed and pages thumbed and torn. The old time sayings scribbled there, the caution to beware, ‘‘Steal not this book, my honest friend,” scrawled roughly here and there. And robust Fred again I see as he stands by the door. His jokes and praise and sweets and laughs forever kept in store. ‘How did you get to school today? on car, on bus, or foot ? How many hours on English hard last evening did you put?, And then I smiled and calmly said ‘‘In minutes ten, I did it.” Yes, those were happy days indeed, with pleasure every minute.” ‘‘Yes, I thought you would like it. We all have remembrances of our school days. Yes, Iva came from Brookville. You aren’t so sur- prised as all that, are you? Well you look on a map and j ou will find it, if the map is drawn to a scale of a mile to an inch.” I am very glad to find that Iva has succeeded so well. At the first book-store I see I must get that book, ‘‘The Peail of the Twentieth Cent- ury”, written by my old classmate. Well, I suppose that agent must be tired from talking so much. But I am doing only what the letter directed, anyhow, he is paid for it. ‘‘1915, please.” Oh, the operator says that the line is busy at present as many high schools are having are having their graduations this evening. Well, I don’t mind waiting a few minutes. I wonder what Lucy is doing. You know that she was editor-in-chief of our school paper, “The Echo.” “Yes, this is the Holbrook Town Hall. The operator informed me that you were very busy. No, I didn’t mind in the least. Lucy Chapman is a private secretary to Mr Theo- dore F. Arnold, the well-known banker. She has become a very rapid typewriter and short hand expert. I always thought that after she took the commercial course at Sumner High School, she would get a high salaried position.” “Yes, I’m listening. In her spare time she is one of the editors of a well known paper “Experiences with Horses” and a dark haired young man from Holbrook is the other editor? Oh, yes, I know whom you mean. Really you don’t gay so? I wonder whether I shall get an invitation.” “My but it is getting late and as I don’t want to monopolize the telephone, I guess I had better say good-bye. The agency has been very satisfactory and I’ll be glad to re- commend it to anyone at any time. Good- bye.” Thus, my classmates, is your future revealed to you. Undoubtedly Sumner’s 1915 class will make the world realize its existence and of course every member will sometimes have his or her name in that little volume entitled, “Who’s Who in the United States.” Helen Aines West V aled ictory Essay. Labor Conquers All Things. When the class of 1915 met during its sopho- more year to choose a class motto, it searched for some expression which would be an incentive in its high school course and throughout life. After some discussion the Latin motto, “ Labor Omnia Vincit,” was chosen. This motto ex- presses the well proven but perhaps often forgotten truth that constant labor is the most important factor attending success. When starting out in life with the desire of making a success, it must be remembered that unless one works, and works hard, nothing of any

Page 13 text:

THE ECHO 13 that time that it was wrong for man to destroy or alter what God had made so the plan was given up for a time. In 1814 the land was surveyed but nothing ever came of it and the undertaking was given up as long as Spain held sway over the Isthmus. When the United States finally took up the project, which had already been started by the French, she made up her mind that although there were mountains which obstructed the passes, there were minds and also hands capable of overcoming these hindrances in order to make a waterway which would have great economic value. Since then millions of dollars have been spent and thou- sands of lives lost in its construction. Many times, as soon as a cut has been cleared, tons and tons of earth have slid down the steep embank- ments and filled the cut. But in spite of these rrishaps work has gone doggedly on until now the two oceans mingle their waters in this mighty construction. There is still another branch of work which requires constant labor, this is music. There is probably not one among you to-night who does not enjoy hearing a good piano player or mu- sician of any kind. Music exerts a powerful influence over the mind of almost any person. But, in order to be effective, it must have a power behind it, a skilled touch to bring out the beauty. We are often heard to exclaim when listening to some skilled musician, “ Oh, if I could only play like that!” It is seldom that we stop to consider the hours of hard work spent by that envied one. True his talent may be partly inherited, but it is developed and per- fected only through careful, constant practice. Paderewski once said that if he stopped practis- ing for one day he noticed a deterioration in his playing; if he stopped for two days the critics noticed it, and if he stopped for a week, his whole audience noticed it. There are countless other examples showing the importance and the results of hard labor. But let us, bearing in mind o ir motto and these few examples which go to prove it, do whatever we may find to do with all oim might. Let us always endeavor to conquer the difficulties and do our best at all times. Valedictory Classmates, the time has now come when our high school life ends and we begin to regret that the days have fled so rapidly. Tonight we have come to a branching of the roads. Our life work from this time on is to be varied and each of us takes a somewhat different path. Let us hope, however, that the days spent in Sumner High, through the friendships we have formed there, will always be an inspiration to us to press forward and an incentive for conquering diffi- culties. Friends, schoolmates, teachers, one and all, we thank you for your hearty support, your kindly sympathies and your interest in our welfare and success. What you have done for us has been deeply appreciated. We thank you, our teachers, for the patient endeavor on your parts to show us what we ought to be in life and for aiding us to become successful men and women. We hope to prove to you in the future that your labors have not been in vain. And now we ask one more kindness of all of you gathered here, that, whatever may have been our failures and shortcomings, we may not be forgotten. May the class of 1915 find a place in your memories forever, although as a class, tonight we bid you farewell. Iva Higgins.