Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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MARY WOLEYKO Mary Woleyko is our class vamp arid deserves honorable mention as an artist, for her drawings have attracted much admiration from us. She hopes to be a school teacher, and we wish her the g-reatest success. Graduation Essays PATRIOTISM YESTERDAY AND TODAY As we look over the events which hap- pened on this continent almost a century and a half ago, and as we investigate the causes, direct and indirect, of the Revo- lutionary War, we as Americans even at the present time, can feel a thrill of pride for those men, — farmers, doctors, lawyers, all who took up arms to fight in a war which was to determine whether or not the liberties which they had always en ' oyed as English subjects were to be taken from them. No cause could have stirred their English hearts to make them fight more furiously, more gallantly, more desperately than the questioning of their liberties. Even with so great a nation against them as England, with such a cause as this to fight for, we can little wonder why they won that war and established here upon this western hemisphere a government based upon the principles of freedom, of justice, of equality, which was to be for us, their posterity the greatest nation on earth, Then followed a period of over eighty years of peace, broken only by one year of war with England, during which time our country’s resources were developed, its territories expanded, and its govern- ment strengthened until 1860, Abraham Lincoln, that great genius of American histoiy, took charge of the government whir-h for over a year had been sadly neglected. With the help of his country- man who were ready to give up their business and social activities, who were ready to fight against theii ' own bi ' others who were ready to die in order that the union might be preserved, he piloted our country, against all adversities, through those four terrible years of Civil war. the greatest crisis through which this nation has ever passed. He was then repaid, at the height of his career, by being shot by a traitor and a lunatic; but he died knowing that the union which he had cherished since boyhood, and which he had pledged to uphold, still survived; and that the American people had demonstrated to the world that a government such as ours, “conceived in liberty and dedicated in the proposi- tion that all men are created equal” could long endure. Entering into a later period, the period of the great World War, a period whose heartaches and sufferings remain in- delibly impressed on the minds of many here, we find that sons and grandsons of men who sixty years before had fought for the South, sons and grandsons of men who sixty years before had fought for the North, young and old, men and women, all Americans,, natural and nat- uralized, united to suppress a great ty- rant who threatened the liberties of many. This was the patriotism of yesterday. What of the patriotism of today? What are we to do to carry on the work of oui’ great forefathers ? What ai’e we to do to uphold the cause for which Washing- ton fought and lived, the cause for which Lincoln fought and died, the cause for which thousands upon thousands of the cream of American manhood have paid the supreme saciifice? We can gain no honors in a war for Independence, or a war fought for the 21

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ROBERT SHAW We haven’t heard much from Shaw yet, although we don’t know why, for he seems to be just as clever as any of us. Despite his quiet ways, he made his letter as manager of the football team and had a part in the class day play. He is liked by all. ISABEL SWASEY Isabel is our most popular girl and a noisy one, too. She gets angry regular- ly with everyone in the class, but it doesn’t take her long to get over it. She can certainly act, too, and had a prom- inent part in the Senior Play and also a part in the Class Day Play. She was one of the senior girls to receive an “M” for hiking 100 niiles, 25 of which were accomplished in one day. ANGIE WILE Angie Wile is a demure little man- hater, but nevertheless finds time to typewrite and to study Burke. She might easily have led the class but lost her ambition during the sophomore year She has been frequently selected, how- ever, to fill positions outside as a rep- resentative of the commercial course. EDDIE WITHAM Here’s the fellow who always con- tributes more than his share in the feed- ing of “The Tiger.” It seems to be as natural for him to write as it is to breathe. We hope that he will use his talent to good advantage. He certainly acted the leading part of a dapper littb ' gentleman well in the Senior Play. 20

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purpose of preserving: the union and freeinji: a part of sufferinj? humanity. Karlier and far worthier hands have j -ained them all, but if our country should need us in time of war, let us rise -up in her defense from the North, from the South, and from the West, with all the fortitude of those men of ’76 with all the persistency of those men of ’ 61 , with all the g’allantry of those men of 1916 - 18 . However, let us endeavor to make this an aj ’e of international peace whereby we can promote the works of peace and the arts of peace, by making” America a leadei- in procuring it, as she is a leader not only in those material things of wealth, of trade, or of natural resources but also in the ideals of freedom, justice, truth, and right. Then in that age of peace let us re- spect and use freely but with due con- sideration the privileges which we have inherited from our forefathers. We seem oftentimes hardly able to realize what these hundreds of privileges, which citi- zens of other countries do not have, really mean to us, or what they have cost our country’s great patriots ever since its existence, for we see among us everyday people who say “I don’t care whom it hurts or what it affects. I’ve got a 1 ‘ight to do this” or “I’ve got a right to do that; so I’m going to do it.” This certainly is not the spirit of patriotism. It is our duty as real Amer- ican citizens, as true patriots working for the common good not to place- so much emphasis on our rights and our kberties as on our duties to our country. Because a few people in our country feel that a law interferes with what they believe to be their personal freedom, we find a growing tendency towards regard- ing those laws of which they do not ap- prove as superfluous. It is our duty to obey the laws of our country in time of peace as 7uuch as it is a soldier’s duty to stick to his post in time of war. This is a question which constitutes a real test of citizenship and patriotism. Let us not look upon laws as things which make our lives narrower and more restricted, which can be bioken to fit any special case; but let us regard the laws of our country as principles which have been moulded by our ancestors, both remote and recent, into a massive granite-like structure, upheld and strengthened by the American people, adhering to the American soil. In performing these duties, let us en- deavor to cultivate a spirit of peace and harmony within the nation by living with and for the benefit of each other. Let us look upon that trust of governing ourselves in its real significance. “Let us reverence our country’s honor as if it were our own, and our own as if it were our country’s.” Let us uphold and upbuild the institutions of our country, develop its resources, promote all its great interests, and see if we cannot, in our day and generation of peace, per- form some acts which we shail be proud to have generations yet unborn look upon. Then having gained the world’s su- premacy, having procured world peace, having upheld their country in every way possible, Americans will be con- fronted with this question: Is the United States to follow in the wake of all those other countries who have been world powers, such as Italy, Spain, France, or even England, to flourish for a time only to die a gradual unhappy death, leaving to fill its place Russia, or the African lace, or one of the Oriental races? Or is the United States to live on as a gloiious, undying example of magnifi- cence, of grandeur, of power, always be- fore the eyes of the world as “the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It is the American people of tomorrow who must answer through the lips of the boy and girl of today. The whole life, the whole future of America depends upon its young manhood and womannood Ihey can be taught to do whateve Americans wish to teach them. Teach the American boy of today that fifty years from now he must fight France; and fifty years from now he will fight Fiance. That is what Germany did. On the other hand, teach the American boy of today that fifty years from now his countiy must lead the world in peace, justice, and righteousness and fifty years from now that teaching will bear fruit in the realization of these ideals for America. As for the future of America, no bet- ter advice can be given to Americans than that expressed by the words of the immortal Daniel Webster when he says: “Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let our ideas be extended over the whole vast field in which we are called to act. Let our ob- ject be our country, our whole country a d nothing but our country, and by the blessing of God may that country be- come a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration for- HARRY MERSON.