Le Roy Central School - O At Kan Yearbook (Le Roy, NY)

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Page Twenty T H E RED AND BLACK Com mencement Number The Tree Standing tall and stately. the tree gleamed white as the 111001178 titful beams played upon it. It swayed, and its leafy branches seemed to stretch farther upward to meet the dappled sky. A gentle breeze ruffled its leaves and wafted to us stories of life, of people: of Indians: 211111 of birds. It told us its secrets: with what joy it is hailed in every land, of its adventures and its benefits to man- kind- Hk Pk 44 its The question now facing the Ivllitl-'ll States is tl1e pre- servation of the tree. Our forests originally covered 883.- 0tt0.00tb acres. now, including some burnt over tracts. they extend over about half that area. William Penn. even in his day. realized the danger which the country would have to face in the near future. and ordered the colonists to leave one acre of woodland to every live of cultivated la11d. The national government is doing its best to keep the tree. Bulletins and circulars of warning are sent out all over the country- Foresters keep careful guard against danger and tire. Rangers ride over the territory and save thous- ands of trees that would otherwise be destroyed. The farmers are 'urged to conserve wood and to plant trees. trees are now planted. the story that Jupiter and Mercury, in disguise were traveling through a Phrygian town. From door to door they went asking for hospitality, but received no-ne. Finally. two poor peasants took them in a11d treated them with the best they had. After the dinner, the guests reveal- ed themselves as gods. They submurged the village and its other inhabitants under a broad lake, but turned the peasants hut illtO a beautiful temple- The aged couple were the attendants until they were too old to perform their duties, then they were transformed into two stately linden trees which guarded the portals'of the temple. Ili I ik if H ' , 1 v - N Many young There is I think that I shall neiei see A poem lovely as a tree. The Need of World Peace Throughout the ages. the world has taken giant strides toward -1 higher civilization' sinc the dawn of history, . 4. . . e man has been continually letting himself and his posses- sions He has gradually spread frot one section' to another ,. .. , . , . n upon this mud-ball. until today practically. the whole earth is but the exponent of his teachings customs and conditifns cf the cave- centuries of gradual change finally d a id ideals. The ideas, ian after many long veloped into the com- paratively high civilization of the early Egyptians. The lowly caves of the primitive grew into the mighty pyramids 'of Egypt. This process of enlightenment was not destined to continue in Asia only. for within a built up on a peninsula of the con few centuries. it had inent of Europe, the powerful Grecian state with its learned men and magnifi- C9l1t works of art. From a mera handful of men not many miles west' rose the IIIIHIITV Roni- , . ., , . .1 centuries of uninterrupted supernxacy n Empire, which far carried in the wake of its invincible armies. its wonderful ideals, teachings and justice to all the people of the the ages that followed death blows known world. In all were dealt to imperi- alism. The masses influenced. enlightened. and encourag- ed by the works of such great philosophers as Locke and Voltaire. began to think for themselves. As a result of this enlightenment. revolutionary ii proud monarchs came tumbiing from people are no longer led blindlv int res were kindled and their thrones. The bloody and unfruitful . , . o battles. Their speech. their thought. and their products of genius are no longer suppressed. They are rulers of the world: they are maste1's of themselves! This civilization which our ancestors through centuries of struggle built up for us. is the White Rat-e's most im- portant inheritanceg its preservation our highest duty. The maintenance and advancement is of this greatest of ancestral gifts can never be assured. until the world is steeped in perpetual peace. This q cannot be prolonged. It is 11ot mer mental issue: it is a question of uestion of world peace ly a moral, or senti- dominating and not A t1'ee whose hungry mouth is prerti must have it' Of we' who are th - v ' ' f Against the earth's sweet iiowing breast A tree that looks at God all day. Andi lifts l1er leafy arms to pray. A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair. l'pon whose bosom snow has lain: lVho intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me. But only God can make a tree. the largest race of today. will in a ace supremacy. We W hundred years. lose our supreme seat in every internat'onal body. While the white people are warring against and the yellow races, which now m of the total population of the ear a11d closer together- While we are homes. pillaging each other's lands, youths by the millions in the horror races are rapidly growing in stre -Grace Crocker- common ideals. The cost in money 4 New Confections was enormous, but it cannot be COII the millions of lives. iVe may in from the pecuniary loss, but we cal our wouneled. nor life to our dead Recent discovery in complimentary closes found in an laid down their lives in that giga English I-B theme. Your aftfectionary cousin. ir wonder that the i11c1'ease in our when we over mere jealouses and d ach other, the brown ke up over two-thirds h, are drawing closer devastating each other's and slaughtering our of terrible wars, other gth by uniting under if the Great War alone tpared with the loss of a few decades recover never restore limbs to who for us, so willingly tic struggle. It is no Opulation is retarded, isputes send the flower

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Commencement Number T H E R E D A N D B L 1-1 C K Page Ninetee any engineering feat in the annals of our land, is this great issue of conserving or dwindling resources. Do you re-ali..e what may be done i11 this magic palaze of chemistry in the intertst of coal alone? Do those thou- sands who shivered through two months of winter, as the millions who were inactive because there was 110 coal to develop the power necessary in the great manufacturing plants of the world. realize that under our present system of burning coal the I'nited States alone loses two-million dollars a day? It is time that every man interested i11 the future of our wondxrful country, awakens to the fact that unless something is done, we will be lacking many of the things we consider the necessities of life. Science stands ready to help. Already she has takn the refuse of the sawmill and given us the great energizer, sugarg already from the useless cttion seed she has developed a valuable article of food: already from the wastes of our high explosives she has fashioned ivory which rivals that of the mightiest elephant that ever brathed. Yet these are but pygmies in size compared with what she stands ready to do if YOU but summon he1'. -William Wansor. The Genesee Valley of Yesterday The old order changeth yielding place to new. Sweep from your vision the great cities, the rushing trains, the broad-highways. speeding automobiles and well culti- vated lields. In their place imagine villages composed of long houses, wigwams and tepee, skilfully manned canoes, dirt trails winding in and out along river bank or lake shores and vast forests in which wild life abounds. You will have Western New York as it was a short time before the French and Indian Wars. It is unfair to say that the Indians were entirely cruel or barbarous. for early settlers tell of the moral tone and high sense of honor and loyalty of their copper skinned neighbors. Proud of their mighty lliltltlll, they upheld its traditions and customs with rigorous care. As the Indian was a constant traveller it was neces- sary that he have trails. So, centuries ago a network of trails bound the Indian villages together, just as to day broad highways bind the thriving cities and towns in closer union. The trails winding in and out through the dim lofty recesses of the forest were but fifteen or eighteen inch- es wide: worn smooth and hard from a century of tramp- ing IIl000ilSlIl9ll feet. They crossed the crests of lofty hills looking down into deep wooded valleys. They followed the banks of swirling streams and babbling brooks skirting the marshy and rough places. Could the Seneca of two hundred years ago visit the Genesee trail to-day. he would tind all l1is old surroundings so altered that he would not be able to realize that this was once his home. Strange vehicles whirl, at an un- believeable pace over the trail broadened and covered with macadam. the wooded slopes are covered with towns and farmsg the hills dotted with green and brown fields re- lieved here and there by la1'ge orchards. The only famil- iar thing he would see would be the muddy Genesee. which goes on its lawless course forever. But, no longer does the redskin roam the woods and plains. He is fast disappearing from his native land. Be- fore many years have passed the remnants of the true Americans will have departed. They will be but the dim memory of a far distant yesterday. -Marion Pfisterer. The Builders of Success The XY01'lll judges a man by his success. and his success by the same practical standards as it does real estate- You have walked down the street and have noticed the sign For Sale, tacked on a house. You stop to look at the house and snmetimes the lot even attracts your attention. You think. I'd like to own that house, or else you say- Who would want to live there? Did yo11 ever stop to estimate your success as you do the value of that property? Your advantages and opportunities might represent the lot, and your success the house. Are you the type that is admired? There is the man who has had countless oppor- tunities. money and influence and yet he has done noth- ing to bring himself above the ordinary level of people. He is really the personiiication of a beautiful building lot. dis- figured with a run down house and surrounded with faded bill boards. Tll91'9 are so lnany people who belong to this class of opportunity wasters that no one has made him- self important enough to be used for an illustration. Then there is the man who has had the average opportimities. a limited education, a little money and some influential back- ing to start him in life. He can be compared to the aver- age city house built upon the average city lot. He neither benefits nor distigures the 'world. There is the man who has started in the pursuit of great things, but who tired of his task' and capped his structure when he had completed but one story, thus making it out of proportion. He belongs in the class with the man who has started many things but who has accomplished none. with the man whose struc- ture is like that of an old fashioned farm house with wings that have been added from time to time ni-nrring the beauty as well the usefulness. Butt there are different types of men like Roosevelt, Milton and James. who have had opportunities. money and iniiuence and who have made the most of their advantages. erecting structures like state- ly colonial mansions. their beauty set off by their natural surroundings. But there is a higher type than this. men like Lincoln, who have built upon the barren rock a castle, wonderful both in art and inspiration. So magnificent is this structure that in gazing at its beauty we forget the jagged rock. the years of trial that were needed for its completion and lose ourselves in admiration of Lincoln, our greatest builder of success. --Doris Noble.

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Commencement Number T H E R E D A N D B L A C K Page Twenty-one of our youth to face the te1'rors of the machines of war Should this condition of strife and struggle in which at the present time most of our brethern in Europe are i11- volved, continue for very long, we as a race will become so weakened that it will be impossible for us to withstand or check any encroachments of those other peoples upon our ideals- This would not only mean the downfall of Christianity. but a dilferent type of civilization. Let us, therefore take immediate steps toward a safe and lasting peace among nations. that we may give to the children of our posterity advantages, better, or at least equal to those which our ancestors so graciously bestowed upon us- A permanent world peace cannot be had without effort and sacriiice. That we may reap the benetits of such a co-operation among nations, we must give up our selfish ideals: we must halt our greedy grasp for materialistic gain and enter more into the field of cultureg we must broaden our views and rise above the predjuices which have so long blinded our vision: and last, but far from least we must learn to have a decent regard for our co- workers and their endeavors. Let us make our institutions as impregnable to attacks as the rocks of Gibraltar. In a word :-let each and everyone of us in unison advance this greatest movement of the ages, so that when our sturdy forefathers look down upon our efforts, they may recognize them as an outgrowth of that tiny seed planted in '76 which has grown to such proportions that it envelops all the nations, and promises to give dominance to the White Race in a world at peace. -George Jones. Our Highest Duty This nation has a great inheritance, an inheritance which we should value. Our country is built upon a rock foundation, and will be secure as long as those ideals, which are its life are respected. What are these ideals? It has been this idea of equality that has brought to our shore the best types from other lands. This sense of equality has kindled the tire of ambition in the hearts of millions and led to that individual advancement that ill total forms the motive power of civilization. But it is long since economy has been regarded as a virtue. There has been great extravagance of time, of money, of ability. Everywhere there has been a tendency to get away from old ideals,-equality, happiness, economy, liberty. Not always the person best iitted for a position or a public oilice secures it. There is a ma'd rush for happiness, which can 11ever be attained. l-lxtravagance is rampant, and personal liberty, rather than the welfare of the people as a whole, is the order of the day. Classmates: For four years we have been working toward this goabdeveloping the ideals that will govern our later lives.We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Board of Education, who have been so tireless in considering what is best for the school, Mr. Taylor, our able superin- tendent, and the faculty who have labored, not only to teach us languages, and science, and history: but who have endeavored to ilnplant the highest ideals. We will go, some to other institutions of learning: others to our chosen work. But, whatever step we take. today our horizons widen. Let us take with us into this broader life the tirm resolve to uphold with all our strength the ideals that have made America great, the ideals on which depend to a great degree the future of our nation-equality, happi- ness, economy, liberty. And now farewell, and yet, 'tis not farewell, if farewell means to fare alone and disunited- God hath set our days to music in the self same tune. -Florence Ganiard. I wonder why So perfect in So free from So much like Perhaps they The emblems Flowers God made the flowers. beauty and grace: all earthly pollution, his own loving face, are mirrors of Heaven of all that is best, The glories of sunrise at morning Reflected at eve in the west. -A Thot- T'was a night in middle summer, And the air was fresh and free. Then some music came a floating, O'er the balmy southe1'n sea. And as I sat and listened, With my head within my hands, I thought of all the crimes I'd done Way od in foreign lands. The notes then came in louder yet: I could not run away, For a hand unseen was holding me, A Holding me at bay. The agony I sudered, was, Most terr'ble to behold. And I felt my hands and then my feet, Turn a frozen icy cold. And then I knew that I must die For to live would be in vain When listening to such music That would drive a man insane- But how can man die better Than to go off all alone. And listen to George Darby With his wicked saxaphone? W. Bishop, getting, facetious in English III A bird is a vehicle with a head and a tail