Holbrook High School - Echo Yearbook (Holbrook, MA)

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THE ECHO 27 FIRST ATTEMPT TO RIDE A HORSE How big that horse is! How will I ever get on him? Do you suppose I can stay on after I get there? What if he runs away with me? All these thoughts raced through my mind as I approached the horse. At last with the help of two men I found myself astride a huge horse whose width was greater than anything I ever dreamed of. I then started down over the hills very peacefully feeling a little bit superior to my fellowmen going down over the hill, admiring the beautiful sky, trees, and green meadows. Turning around to come home, to my great horror a herd of cattle was between me and home. I decided to go back, hoping the cows would go home in the meantime. After a number of times going back and forth, I decided to brave the cows. With fear and trembling I headed the horse toward the cows. They looked gentle enough until one lowered her horns and started for the horse. The horse bolted. My feet came out of the stirrups, flew up in the air. I threw both arms around the horse’s neck, and we raced for the barn. I was calling “Whoa 1 Whoa 1” in a very shaky voice. When we arrived at the barn, the horse stopped as if nothing had happened. After I slid off with trembling legs, I went into the house, doubting if my horse-back ride was much of a success. Barbara Boardman, ’39 MY DAY WITH JACK AND JAN “You won’t mind staying. Will you, Jean?” asked mother. Although secretly longing to tell her I most certainly would, I answered, “Of course not. I’ll have a fine time with Jacqueline and Johanne to amuse me.” Thus I settled myself for a day of abject misery. “Keep them in the kitchen, see that they don’t fall, and don’t let them cry!” Such orders! As soon as they left. Jack put herself in a position of dire peril near my rockers. I no sooner moved her than Jan was at the dining room door. On bringing back Jan, I settled myself to try to read, but there they were standing, holding my chair. With a longing glance at the stolen chair, I settled down between them to keep them from falling. Immediately Jan fastened both hands in my hair and sought to very earnestly remove it by the roots, while Jack found my features most interesting. When I finally made them desist, they cried for their lost plaything. I tried to amuse them with their toys and was rewarded with a quarter of an hour’s unceasing howling. Finally, I picked them up, and with one on each knee, rocked them ’till mama and grandmama came home. Jean Gagnon, ’39. NATURE’S ABILITIES Howling winds, groaning trees; Dancing snowflakes, whistling breeze; Beautiful sight on gray, fading trees — Some of nature’s abilities. B. Boardman, ’39.

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26 THE ECHO figure slyly enter and make his way across the floor towards my bunk ; still treading step . . . step . . . step until I felt two sinewy, icy fingers slowly placed on my wind pipe. Then, like bands of cold steel they began to tighten — tighten . . . tigh ten . . . tighten . . . and then — and then I woke up!” Marjorie Kohl, ’39. EDUCATION Education is the formal word for schooling. Training means practice to gain ability, endurance, or natural performance. Discipline suggests strict and systematic training with an aim toward right be- havior and ready and efficient action; breeding implies preparations in the civilities and courtesies of life. Education really is a develop- ment of character acquired by a course of study and discipline. It is not a product of this or any recent century. Rather it has come down through the ages. Classical education was foremost in the early Greek ideal magnificence. The Greeks loved beauty in all its forms, art, architecture, and literature. They applied their intelligence to every problem, and it was they who first strove to live by reason. Socrates and Plato are outstanding examples of classical courage. The youth of Greece, after completing his education and developing his mind and his body, took the Athenian Oath of Allegiance. In the year 64 Joshua B. Gamlo, high priest of the Hebrews, established the law that all Jewish boys must go to school. It was from this race that the modern world acquired the essentials of free personality, that is, an acknowledgment of each person’s own moral duty based on religious beliefs. During the Middle Ages the monastic education came to the front. This was a time of coarse discipline, lawlessness, and warfare. Might was the rule, and the monasteries alone offered an opportunity for rest and study. The only scholars of that period were produced by these monasteries. Nestor, a monk of Russia, turned his attention to teaching during the eleventh century. He specialized in history and wrote a chronicle in his own tongue; this has been the foundation of Slavonic history. The first town to raise money for the conduction of a school by public tax alone was Dedham in 1648. Upon this early example the whole public school education is based. Later Horace Mann, born at Franklin, Massachusetts, became in- terested in the public school system. The revival of this system be- came his life work. His report of the ignorance of the people and the incompetence of the teachers stirred the people strongly to the need of reform. Through his influence many important changes were made in the school system during his eleven years’ term as secretary of the State Board of Education. His labors have been acknowledged by giving him a place in the New York Hall of Fame. Without education the world would be a dangerous place to live in. With free education the world has become a safer place in which to dwell. Ann McGaughey, ’39.

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28 THE ECHO THE YEAR ROUND When winter comes with all its cold, Of its biting winds we need not be told. The skies each day are gray and bleary; We poke our fires to make them cheery. Soon comes spring with its soft delight. Warm breezes blow with all their might, Flowers bloom; the grass gets green, In the sky is a golden sheen. Long hot days and cool short nights Make the summer spirit right. The twitter of birds up in the trees Mix with the humming of honey bees. When nimble Jack Frost treads o’er the ground We know that autumn has come around. The trees look gray, forlorn, and bare. With faded leaves sprinkled here and there. Oh ! It’s great to be well and alive To watch the years roll swiftly by And nature as she tenderly dresses Each new year with her sweet caresses. E. Vascovitch, ’39. HALLOWE’EN NIGHT Oh, many’s the time on Hallowe’en night You’d see something awful, a terrible sight. And you’d race up the street with all of your might. With knees all a-shaking, firsts doubled for fight, ’N say, “Indoors for me, next Hallowe’en night.” But when Hallowe’en again rolls aroun’. You’ll be all rigged up to mimic a clown. Then you’ll hear something funny, a very strange sound. And your heart will start to race, skip, and pound As you run up the street with all of your might, ’N say, “Indoors for me, next Hallowe’en night.” Marjorie M. Kohl, ’39. THE COWBOYS OUT WEST I know a place that is ’way out west Where the cowboys and horses have little rest. They work very hard and seldom do wrong. They’re always joking or singing a song. They break wild horses and brand all the steers. And they greet each other with lusty cheers — Then back to the bunk-house to take a rest. And they’re sure there’s no place so good as the West. F. Packard, ’39.