Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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SLOWLY, WITH MAJESTIC STRIDE Slowly, with majestic stride, Orange robes around him drawn, The ageless sun ascends the sky, And makes announcement of the dawn. A thousand beams before him dance, heralds of the Day, Like dusty fingers reaching out to wipe the Dark away. Then, gayly i as the sun they see Fairies dance out to sip The dew that Mother Nature leaves in every flower-cup. Lilting bird calls fill the lane, While down beside the lake Familiar echoes ring again. All the world’s awake ! Across the sunny fields we roam. Knee-deep in flowers ; Then rest on the brook’s cool, mossy bank, During the noonday hours. Through the heat of afternoon muffled sounds arise And on the gentle, scented breeze are carried to the skies. Slowly, down the western sky With fading light he creeps, The last glow flickers, fades, and dies ; Now he sleeps. In heaven’s vault of midnight blue Small clouds chase a star; The slender, crescent moon is new and glimmers from afar; A bell tolls in the dusky gloom; A bird calls clear and sweet; The tired earth gives one last sigh ; All the world’s asleep! Ursula Lombard, ’38. Graduation Essays The Constitution — Yesterday and Today by Theresa de Grandpre J UST as we today are in a state of financial stress, commercial oppression, political confusion, and moderate disputation over the arguments for the strengthening of our Constitution, so was our coun- try in very much the same state of depression and argumentation over the adoption and ratification of the Constitution one hundred and fifty years ago. The Constitutional Con- vention had been held in Philadel- phia in May, 1787. After weeks of long and tedious work and hours of bitter and sincere debate, the Constitution had been adopted by the Convention that framed it and was sent to the states for ratifica- 17

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the majority have been buried with worn-out ideas. Their ghosts haunt me still. In fact my brain is often a panorama of — “The Value of Edu- cation, ” “A Study of Cause and Effect,” “Superstition and Coinci- dence” — and many other such dis- turbing visions calling out in half finished sentences that I murdered them. However, I’ve finally become used to them, and now they only lull me to sleep, content with my memories. U. M. Lombard, ’38. MY LIST OF LOVELY THINGS I love the sky with white clouds rolling ; Billowy waves of sea foam flowing ; Apple blossoms opening free ; Birds twittering in a tree ; Water lilies shyly peeping Out from their cool place of keeping ; The smell of rising smoke at twilight, Flowers opening in early sunlight, Misty shadows, eerily creeping; The water of the swamp, seeping Through green and marshy grasses ; The smell of sea across the marshes. New mown hay pitched to the left, Shimmering satin, exciting and soft, Ancient books, mysterious, alluring ; Hexagons in tiled flooring. Bushes glistening with the dew, Queer shaped rocks ; roads, too. These from life’s bountiful offerings I write in my list of lovely things. Betty Orsini, ’39. CALL OF AUTUMN There’s a certain tinge in Autumn That is smelt in bur ning leaves, And you see it, oh ! so often, In the brilliant, burning trees. Though you hear it in the distance In the wild geese’s haunting call, It is something that’s within you That you can’t control at all. It’s a surging, restless, longing To be up and roam away, Where the trees are in a riot In the wild free breeze all day, Where the air is clear and sparkling Where the mountains rise in mist, And your heart is full within you In the land that God has kissed. Barbara Knowles, ’39. JUNE NIGHT The moon was a silver face, Peeping through a misty cloud. Leaves were lace. The moon was a silver face. Stars were lanterns hung in space. White blossoms in the dusky garden before the night wind bowed. The moon was a silver face, Peeping through a misty cloud. Ursula M. Lombard, ’38. 16

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tion in September, 1787. Much de- structive criticism, implying that measures had been adopted by the Federal Convention which would benefit the few at the expense of the many, had been spread abroad on account of the secrecy which had surrounded the meetings of the Constitutional Convention ; because of this, many of the delegates to the State Conventions for ratification were doubtful as to the advisability of supporting the document. The staunch refusal of Patrick Henry to attend the Philadelphia Convention certainly made an im- pression. His first speech at the Virginia Convention for ratification in which he said, “This Constitution is said to have beautiful features, but when I come to examine those features, they appear horribly frightful” reveals his utter antipathy towards the whole matter. Richard Henry Lee, who firmly believed in the Articles of Confederation and who felt that the secrecy of the delegates had been a screen to hide despicable dealings against the pub- lic, stated that “probably not one man in ten thousand in the United States, till within these ten or twelve days, had any idea that the old ship was to be destroyed.” El- bridge Gerry from our own state of Massachusetts also refused to sign the document. We must not, however, assume that the Constitution had no sup- porters. On the contrary it had Alexander Hamilton, who was, by far, its greatest and strongest sup- porter. Single-handed he forced the state of New York into ratification, first, by relating in glowing and alluring terms dreams of a bright future under this new government, and secondly, by giving a gloomy picture of the consequences if the Constitution were not adopted. George Washington, himself, al- though reluctant to express his sen- timents, very forcibly backed our Constitution. John Jay, Robert Livingston, James Madison, and Gouverneur Morris were also among the nineteen indefatigable support- ers. Let us consider for a moment what was taking place in Ipswich during this period. Ipswich, which had developed a fairly large tex- tile industry at that time and which was situated between Boston and Newburyport, the two important business and banking centers in 1788, was in favor of the Constitu- tion. But, of course, Elbridge Gerry’s refusal to sign the Consti- tution had, no doubt, influenced a great many. His reasons for oppo- sition, stated in his own words, are as follows: “My principal objec- tions to the plan are that there is no adequate provision for a repre- sentation of the people — that they have no security for the right of election — that some of the powers of the legislature are ambiguous, and others indefinite and dangerous — that the executive is blended with, and will have an undue influ- 18