Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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but with no greater success. How- ever, Morse was not so easily dis- couraged, but returned to America and after four long years of poverty and numerous appeals to the gov- ernment for help. Congress appro- priated thirty-thousand dollars to be used in building a line from Bal- timore to Washington. This line proved to be such a great success that several other lines were built in America. Then a cable was stretched under the ocean to Eng- land, an almost incredible feat. Very soon after the invention of the telegraph, a new instrument, the telephone, was being planned by a great mind. Imagine the thrill ex- perienced, when a voice was heard from a distance as clearly as though it were at one’s side. Such was the case with Alexander Graham Bell, who had been making experiments to relieve the deaf, when he hap- pened upon the idea of the tele- phone which seemed very plausible to him. After numerous experi- ments, success crowned his efforts. A demonstration was held in a large field. A friend stationed at a dis- tance spoke to him through this queer instrument called the tele- phone, and, sure enough, the voice was audible to him. However, Bell was scoffed at, ridiculed, and called an imposter. While working on his invention in Salem, he was accused of witchcraft. A practical explan- ation could not be given to the sci- entists of the country. One brilliant Bostonian offered the suggestion that there was “a hole through the middle of the wire.” A company was formed known as the “Bell Company.” There were many hard dark days, but the company sur- vived the storms and threats of the indignant people, and now we find a network of telephone lines in our country. We are moreover fast es- tablishing telephone connections with foreign countries. The automobile was as much of a curiosty, and joke to some, as any of the inventions. The first automo- bile race was held in 1894. The course was over ninety miles; it took eight hours and forty minutes to complete it; five and one-half gal- lons of gas were consumed ; the op- erators stopped ten times for re- pairs, and the average rate of speed being ten miles per hour, they were obliged to use ice to cool the en- gine. In the years following, only the rich could afford cars, and a great many of these were of foreign manufacture, but now practically everyone owns a car. The improve- ments on the automobile are very evident and do not need any men- tion. Wilbur and Orville Wright, two young men, conceived the idea that a person could fly in some kind of machine containing an eng ine. But to get this contraption of the right proportions was entirely a different matter. Though they were jeered at they were persistent in their at- tempts and in 1903 they made a successful flight. Of course the aeroplane, like all other new inven- tions, was crude and cumbersome. Many scientists studying aeronau- tics have made possible the present day aeroplane. Not long ago peo- ple craned their necks to see them, but now they pass over our heads practically unnoticed. Routes are being established throughout our country connecting our larger cities for transportation. Plans are being made for seadromes in mid-ocean so that aeroplanes may make the trip across the ocean with less dan- ger. The radio was next introduced, an almost weird invention. But they are common in almost every home now, and are a great asset to both the social and commercial world. One of our present day geniuses, Marconi, makes the statement that in his mind the radio will not be perfected until a person can speak to a friend whenever he wishes, no 15

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from all corners of the earth, men with all languages, customs, and creeds. Now, under the United States government, they pledge al- legiance to the same hag, and they realize the loyalty due hrst of all to America. This is not only the land of golden opportunities and the heaven across the seas that im- migrants are seeking when they hrst leave their homes in other coun- tries, but it is also the home of free- dom and equality where everyone has a chance to make good in the busy world of today. Little by little, due to various in- huences, the people are uniting in their belief in one God, and it is hoped that in the course of time there will be but one church and that church will be the medium through which God speaks to his chosen people, the whole world. This hope, while very optimistic is the ultimate peak of our dreams, and yet it is not an impossible goal. With this bright outlook, cannot the United States hope for a great future with all men free, and equal, and with the other nations as friendly and cooperative neighbors? Such a splendid vision is well pic- tured in Katherine Lee Bate’s “America the Beautiful.” Here is no thought of warfare, no sound of battle din and confusion, but Amer- ica as a land of peace and plenty where all men dwell as brothers. “O beautiful for spacious skies. For amber waves of grain. For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain ! America ! America ! God shed his grace on thee. And crown thy good with brother- hood From sea to shining sea !” A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN COMMUNICATION Norman Baxter Let us enumerate some of the ad- vantages the present age has in communication : the telegraph, the telephone, the steam engine-boat and railway, the automobile, the ra- dio, and the aeroplane. All of these inventions serve in both social and scientific fields of life. A per- son may take the receiver from his telephone and hold a conversation with a party in London, Paris, or the Pacific Coast in a comparative- ly short time. In this generation a deed of sufficient interest to human- ity is soon known the length and breadth of the country; a word whispered anywhere is heard every- where. The first outstanding step in com- munication was the discovery of the power of steam by Watt, later used as a motive power by Robert Ful- ton. The first steam engine was in- stalled in a boat and considered a success. A success was also made of putting cars on rails and pulling them with this steam engine. Our present day freight cars would an- swer to the description of their coaches. Improvements have been made from time to time until to-day we have luxurious Pullman coaches. Our present day trans-Atlantic steamers are small worlds in them- selves being equipped with every convenience and luxury. The inventor of the telegraph, Samuel Morse, while in Europe, was inspired to attempt perfecting a tel- egraph when making other electri- cal experiments. Returning to America, he completed his experi- ments on telegraphy, when a mes- sage was sent through a coil of wire one-half a mile long. Morse made several attempts in this country to have the government aid him, but little interest was shown. The same attempts were later made in Europe 14

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matter how great the distance sep- arating them. These inventions are the major inprovements in communication in the past century. There are count- less minor ones that are of value but which are too numerous to men- tion. The importance of these in- ventions is made vivid by looking into our own lives and seeing how some one invention has become a necessity to us. The rapidity in growth and popularity of some of these inventions is also remarkable. The radio for instance; there is probably not a person in the class of twenty-nine who cannot remem- ber the first murmurs of an instru- ment called the radio, and the thrill exp erienced when first hearing one The world is moving on ; new inven- tions are brought to light every year. It is, therefore, up to all of us to be alive to present day pro- gress and to encourage new and greater achievements. ESSEX COUNTY, ITS PLACE IN HISTORY Dorothy Dunn The town seal of Ipswich bears this inscription : “the Birthplace of American Independence, 1687.” Although, perhaps this statement might be disputed, sufficient proof for it can be found in the town rec- ords. In fact, Essex County as a whole, though but a very tiny part of the United Stattes, can claim an important role in the development of our country. Here, in 1629, came the settlers from England, sent by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Here lived the Agawam Indians, whose chief was Musconominet. This fa- mous Indian chief, who was buried on Sagamore Hill in Hamilton, could claim as his domain all the land south of the Merrimac River. The original deed by which Musco- nominet transferred the territory of Agawam, now Ipswich, to John Winthrop is preserved in the Essex Institute at Salem. Here, in 1687, occured the first real protest in the country against tatxation without representation, and it is on this in- cident that Ipswich bases her claim as the birthplace of American Inde- pendence. Sir Edmund Andros, the tyrannical governor of Massachu- setts, who sought to carry out the often unreasonable demands of the king, had laid an unjust tax on the people of this and neighboring towns. A town meeting was called on August 23, 1687, and here. Rev- erend John Wise, pastor of Chebac- co Parish made a stirring speech in which he enforced the doctrines la- ter embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Rufus Choate, a well known lawyer and a native of Essex, spoke of this opposition in his lecture, in 1834, on the two hun- dredth anniversary of the founding of Ipswich. He said : “In this, the darkest day that New England ever saw, it is grateful to pause and com- memorate an act of this town of Ipswich: which deserves, I think, an honorable place in the universal history of liberty.” We always think of the first bat- tle of the .Revolution as taking place at Lexington on the nineteenth of April, 1775. But, in the February of that year, the first armed resis- tance took place at the North Bridge in Salem. A company of British soldiers sought to cross the bridge. They were warned that if they tried to cross, they would be fired upon. Incidently they did not cross the bridge, but went back the way they had come. Thus, though not a shot was fired, the first vic- tory of the war was won, — in Essex County. When the harbors of Bos- ton and New York were blockaded during the war, Essex County fish- ermen furnished the navy. When, in 1776, Washington called for vol- unteers, Essex County sent her quo- ta, and fishermen from Marblehead rowed Washington and his men 16