Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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The Lawrencian a bottle containing phosphorus broke and set fire to the baggage car, for which accident the con- ductor soundly boxed his ears. As a result of this boxing, Edison lost his hearing. With both his hearing and his stock lost, he was appar- ently without a future. Soon, how- ever, an opportunity was presented to him through an act of bravery on his part. At Clemons, Michigan, he rescued the station agent’s son from an oncoming train. To show his gratitude, the agent offered to teach Edison telegraphy. He took advantage of this opportunity and began his wonderful experiments, which gained him the title of “The Modern Wizard’’. The family of Henry Ford was as poor as that of Edison. All during his early life he worked on a little farm, hoeing and cultivating, and thinking all the time. “I hoed at least ten thousand miles,” says he, “and I hated every inch of it”. His own experiences made him yearn to bring into existence machinery which would relieve human beings of this drudgery. Not only his es- cape from farm work but also his opportunity was gained by way of one of Edison’s factories, where he became an expert mechanic. When he had saved a little money of his cwn, he started in business for himself and decided that in his spare time he would try to make the machinery about which he had thought all of his life. Charles Goodyear was an unsuc- cessful hardware merchant who be- came interested in trying to find a process whereby rubber would be rendered more durable. He per- formed many experiments, but for a long time he was unsuccessful. His great opportunity came in 1839 when he accidentally dropped seme rubber and some sulphur on his kitchen stove and found that by chance he had succeeded in doing what his experiments had failed to do. He had created a rubber which would withstand all weather. This remarkable discovery marks the be- ginning of the great rubber busi- ness. And so I might continue through the long ' , list of great American men and women who have become famous through making the most of their opportunities. It is said that opportunity knocks but once. Opportunity awaits us, and may we take advantage of even our smallest chances. FRANCES CLARK KNIGHT. PRESENTATION SPEECH It is my great pleasure to be able to present to the Lawrence High School on behalf of the class of 1934 this radio, which we hope will be the basis of a speaker system in the high school. With this radio Lawrence High School will no longer be without the educational programs which come from the far corners of the world. May this token of the esteem in which we hold our school remind the students and the faculty of Lawrence High to think kindly of the class of 1934. LESTER J. DAVIS, Pres, of the Class of 1934. PROPHECY Flash! Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Amer- ica. This is Jacina Costa bringing you news from here, there, and everywhere. Flash from Hollywocd! A new brunette in the making, no less a star than the blond Marjorie Sim- mons. Flash! A hot tip from New York. The latest gossip from the street of

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Lawrence High School Food Administrator during the World War. Now, to shift from the field of politics to the field of literature. John Greenleaf Whittier’s family were hard working and deeply re- ligious Quakers. His days were spent mostly in work, but in his spare moments he wrote poetry which he hid from everyone except his sister Mary. One day when he was helping his father mend a fence, the postman, passing his gate, tossed him a newspaper, and to his great surprise Whittier saw one of his own poems in print. He could scarcely believe his eyes. Later he found out that his sister had secretly sent the poem to the Free Press, a paper published by that famous foe to slavery, William Lloyd Garrison. Not long after this, Garrison came to see the poet and urged his father to send him to some higher school. There was no money for the purpose; there- fore young John learned to make ladies’ shoes and slippers. With the money he made from this, Whittier put himself through two years at Haverhill Academy. He realized that such an opportunity comes but once, so he grasped the first chance he had to make good. William Cullen Bryant was the son of a country doctor. He was sent to Williams College; but his father was too poor to permit him to finish his education at college, so he continued his studies at home. It was during this period, when he was still little more than a youth, that as he was wandering alone through the woods one day, his thoughts framed themselves into the famous literary achieve- ment, “Thanatopsis.” Having writ- ten the poem down on paper, he laid it aside and forgot it. It was not until several years later it was accidentally discovered by his father, who took it to Boston and had it published. It produced a decided impression, for no Ameri- can poet had written anything equal to it. All war songs have come from the hearts of the writers. When Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner, he could not have foreseen that it would become the national anthem of his country and that it would be played every night when the flag is lowered, at every fort and on every flagship in the navy. Key’s opportunity came through his being a prisoner on board a British ship, during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. When dawn revealed the flag still waving above the fort, he knew that the British attack had failed. In his joy and relief, he drew an old letter from his pccket, and on the back of it wrote the first stanza of The Star Spangled Banner. In the fiel d of invention, Edison, Ford, and Goodyear are a few who have made use of their opportun- ities. Thomas Alva Edison was the son of poor people, poor because his father did not keep a settled oc- cupation. As a boy, he was a quiet but observing lad, extremely in- quisitive — always wanting to know the why’s and wherefore’s of things. In school he was considered stupid because he asked so many questions. At twelve he started out in the world for himself. His first job was as a newsboy on a train. He was given a corner in the luggage car in which to keep his stock of papers and magazines. To this corner he moved his little laboratory and his library of chemical books. One day

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Lawrence High School bright lights is that Reignford Lyon and Elsie Carlson are that way about each other. Plash! Here are the headlines, Mr. and Mrs. America, you will read a week from today, in your morn- ing tete-a-tete, about a drug store cowboy’s rise to fame as an actor. This is the life story of Merton Baker. And speaking about blesssd events. What a fight! What an event! When R:y Garcia battled his way to a world’s championship under the tutelage of that connoisseur of prize fighters, that man with kilo- watts to bum, Bob Leighton. Plash from Baltimore! The story has it that the trumpeter and crooner, John Wayman, is pulling his, hair over the sudden rise to popularity of his age-old competitor in the music world, Lester Davis. Now, Mr. and Mrs. America, something to whet your appetite. Picture! Visualize ' ! Dream, if you dare, sitting down to a meal pre- pared by the eminent housekeeper Ella Cahoon and served to you by the diminutive singing-waitress, Vera Welsby, whose sweet voice adds to the pleasure of your meal. And imagine with your after-din- ner coffee to eavesdrop on Mary Donald’s frequent tete-a-Taits with that s: phisticated bachelor, David. David isn’t a blushing bachelor at that. Then to be entertained first by the well known Swedish yodeler, Ernest Johnson, yodeling his fam- ous fish song, followed by the em- inent Irish tenor, Sir Ted Sheehan, singing those quaint Irish love songs that he does so nobly. That, dear friends and enemies, was the feast prepared, and the entertainment given to the noted globe trotters, Marion Smith, and Betty Bronk- horst, when they tripped, or, to be more correct, stumbled, into our midst. Plash from Chicago! They say cut here in the windy city that Breeze Hauston is breezing around with Margaret Lawrence. Inside dope has it that it won’t be long now. Plash! Greetings and hallucina- tions will be wafted over the ozone next week from Africa by the big game hunter, William MacDonald, who will tell you how by his own hands and his quick wit he captured the king cf beasts. Yeozah! Sh!-Sh! — They say that Thelma Nickerson has been seen a lot at the races recently, and we say it’s not to see the races but to see a certain jockey known as Slim Regers. “Oh, my kingdom for a horse,” breathes ever so gently, but ever so truly, Rodney Turner. Rod- ney was the celebrated jeekey not so long ago. Plash from the industrial center of the world! If I don’t skip a beat, Jordan’s hand lotion and Gardner’s face cream will soon consolidate to read like this, “Smooth hands and a smooth face can be procured in a combined package from G. J. beauty specialists.” Plash from Brockton! The shoe city has taken on a new style and zip since the debut of Esther Bor- den. And here is one that will please you poor tired papas! A novelty de- vice that makes your evenings at home comfortable. The rocking foot stool, designed, tried out, and found to be fool proof by Edmund De- Mello, who has made more knick- knacks and what have you than that little farmer lad, George Morin, has made furrows. And the women, God bless them, they shall not be forgotten. This is the mottc of Phillips Wilde, who at