Leander R Peck High School - Arrow Yearbook (Barrington, RI)

Page 9 text:

om-:wondl I shot an arrow into the air- Il fell Zo earth, I know not zuheref' So it is With us Who have Written and edited this book. Our ARROYV has been designed to serve many purposes, and We shall consider our efforts Well repaid if it is treasured in the years to come for any one of these reasons. We care not Whether you value it most highly for its catches of humor, its records, its literary attempts, its autographs, its pictures, or its sketches of the seniors: but We hope that all these Will be as arrows Which find their mark by striking responsive chords in you, the readers. And lest We forget, I say to you, may each and every page in this ARROW become a leaf in your book of memories! CHARLOTTE COVELL, Editor-in-chief, THE ARROW, 1939

Page 8 text:

Dad lcatlo n To Coach Collins, who has faithfully served ten years as athletic coach at Barrington, and has not only led our teams to untold victories in the field of sportsybut has also striven to build a worthy character in each of his athletes, we re- spectfully dedicate the 1939 edition of our AR- Row.

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Q Prineipafs Message to the Seniors' There was a Roman God named Janus who was endowed with two heads in order that he might be able to look in two direc- tions at the same time. As I consider what I may say to you whom I have known as students for six years, I have no illusions of deity, but I do seem to be outdoing the Roman god as I look backward at the past, forward at the future, and half-way between at the present. In September, 1933, your class entered this school with an enrollment of one hun- dred and eighteen. Now it numbers forty- three. You forty-three survivors are the only ones of that one hundred and eighteen who have had the ability, the determina- tion, and the persistence to successfully complete the six years of secondary educa- tion you began as seventh graders in this school. This fact proves that you have not only the factual education but also the per- sonal qualities to become the reliable and worthwhile citizens of your town, your state, and your country. As I look back on those six years, what do I see? I see boys and girls who have at- tended school faithfully every day-except for an occasional holiday when they per- suaded themselves, if not their teachers, that they had a good excuse for absence. I see these young people, who, with a fair degree of conscientious effort, have ob- tained what they could in the way of academic learning from courses of study offered by the school. I hope they have not been too disappointed in what we have had to offer. It is true that I have been intensely interested in this intellectual growth of yours, but-call it heresy if you will-that has not been my most serious concern. I believe it gives the greatest satisfaction to any principal-and I am no exception-to watch the growth and development of the personality and character of each of the pupils in his school, not that I am fully satished with the personality and char- acter of any one of you, and I sincerely hope that you are not fully satished with yourselves. I hope you never will reach a complete satisfaction, because then growth and improvement will stop. But when I remember numerous incidents of your earlier days in this school and then see you as you are today, I am encouraged to be- lieve that your school life here, your asso- ciations with one another and with your teachers, your activities outside your regular classes, have resulted in real personality growth that is not expressed in your class- room marks. You who are graduating this year have not only been witnesses but active par- ticipants in a period of evolution, growth, and development in your school. It is not my intention to enumerate your individual and collective contributions to this period of school development, but I must express my appreciation for what you have done for your school in music, in athletics, in the Student Council, and in other school activities. Since this is to be printed in your year-book, it is especially fitting that I give you deserved credit for improving upon the worthy examples of your recent predecessors and successfully publishing the most elaborate and most finished year-book the school has yet produced. So far we have talked of the past and the present. Mfhat of the future? Unless all present signs fail, the future offers no easy path, no escalator to success. No longer will you be helped whenever you face a difficulty. From now on it will be up to you whether you sink or swim, drift or drive on. The thought comes to me and worries me not a little, f'Have we been too careful of you? Have we placed enough responsi- bility on you? You will answer those questions. In closing, let me say that if in the past I have seemed to you to be severe, unreason- able, perhaps cruel, in something I may have said or done, it was said or done because I sincerely believed it was for your good and might help you face this path into the future where there is no escalator to success. Also, believe me when I say that I shall always be interested in you, shall be happy when you succeed, and shall feel that I have somehow failed if I ever hear that you have failed. Such failure will never be yours if you are true to the best that is in youg you will be a credit to yourselves and to your school.