Leavenworth High School - Tech Liber Yearbook (Waterbury, CT)

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in sign-post on the right hand says, Be Happy : that on the left says, Curse Happiness. Let's keep to the right. They tell me that those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. Seek out the good in every man, And speak of all the best ye cang Then will all men speak well of thee And say how kind of heart ye be. To have a friend, be one. I am just reading a few more of the sign-posts I have seen along the way. This road leads to Success The one on the left will take you to a Soft Snap. Let's keep to the right and tackle all the hard jobs first. The easy ones have a tendency to settle them- selves. Never mind what other people say. The man who really does his best is a success whether or not the world thinks so. Now I don't know whether I can qualify as a traffic-expert or not. I haven't been very far on the road as yet. I am giving you the benefit of the experiences I have had so far. I'm sure of this thing, that a good traffic rule on the Road of Life is this: When you meet temptation, turn to the right. You had better pocket this in your hearts for fear you may forget it. Lest you should forget it,see that your compass is in good working-order. That compass is the still, small voice called Conscience This is just a little traffic-talk, my friends, in this day of safety first. I'm a pedestrian on the Street Called Straight, and I think it is dangerous to take chances. I've traveled a little way, and I hope to travel much more. If you happen to meet me on the highway, you can be assured that I shall attempt no jay-walking. You will find me following the signs all along the wayg that is, the signs on the right. This is the way in which we learn to go through traffic at Leavenworth High School. We think that if many more had such traffic rules our trafic forces would not have to be as large as they are today in directing streams of humanity on the Street Called Straight. Harold Patrick Hanlon. Page Sixty-nine

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CLASS NIGHT ORATION The Street Called Straight Almost everybody has heard a class night orationg in fact, almost everybody has Written a class night oration. You will pardon me, there- fore, if I come before you tonight under false colors to speak of traffic from a schoolboy's point of view. Before you came to this assembly tonight, it was necessary for you to travel through traffic. whether that of motor vehicles, or of trolley cars, or of pedestrians. I am content to leave a discussion of such traffic to the constituted authorities. I want to talk about traffic on the Street Called Straight. On the Street Called Straight, it is not neces- sary to have a pocket manual of traffic regula- tions for traveling. Now I shouldn't have you think for one minute that the highway I have in mind is a short one. Not at all, it's a very long oneg it's a very old one. It has been from the beginning of things and will be until the end, for the Street Called Straight extends from eternity to eternity. It has probably the most dense traffic of any road in the Universe, for it Page Sixty-eight is seething with human beings. There is just one good traffic rule on the Street Called Straight, which is a part of the Road to Lif'e : When you meet temptation, turn to the right. There can be no left turns on this highway. Such turns are against all rules of life, for right is right and wrong is wrong. When you travel on the Street Called Straight, disregard the wrong signs and keep to the right. Well, here we are at a cross-road. To the right is a sign-post that says, Today's Duties , at the left, another sign-post that says, Forget Today's Duties. Let's keep to the right. Those who have been on the road longer than I, have told me that the left-hand turn in this case is a bad one that leads to a dreary no-man's land. The great secret that makes life easy is to do each duty every day. You all know how it is when you are traveling through a strange country-how easy it is to lose your bearings. Well, this Street Called Straight is a strange, uncharted route for most of us. Here We are at another cross-road. The

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a g IVY ORATION Fellow classmates, we are assembled here today on this respected ground, to revive, keep alive, and transmit, one of the most cherished tradi- tions of Leavenworth High School, namely, the planting of the commemorative ivy. What does the ivy mean to us of f26? The ivy meant one thing to the Class of '22 and another thing to the Class of '23, It has meant something different to every class which has gone before us. Now in our turn, we have the privilege of telling what the ivy stands for in our estimation. The ivy is a living thing and a symbol of living things. We are planting it as an act of commemoration of the beginning of many active lives, and not as a memorial of time that is dead and gone. You will notice that we have a small, young plant, which we are planting in xthe firm, rich earth. This plant has been nurtured in a green- house until the gardener has felt that it is strong enough to grow for itself. ' There is in my mind a close analogy here between this commemorative ivy and the Class of 1926. The class like the ivy plant is strong and sturdy. It is about to be transplanted from the school where it has been carefully guarded by the authorities, to the rich, broad field of Life where it must grow for itself. When the ivy plant passed from the greenhouse to its new abode beside these beloved walls, a Page Seventy distinctive point of departure was made. When the class passes from these halls out into Life on graduation night, another point of departure will be made. The ivy will never be the same again, it will grow, its tendrils will reach out in many directions. The class will never be the same again. It will be separated and spread out in many lines of endeavor. But the ivy can never get away from the origi- nal stem that we have implanted in the ground today. There it will grow onward, upward, to higher and better and more graceful proportions. Fellow-classmates, we must never depart from that fundamental equipment for Life that we have received here at Leavenworth High School. We must slowly and steadily press toward the higher places in Life, upward, ever to better things, seeking always to make of ourselves grace- ful things, forceful things, righteous things, effi- cient things, distinct honors to the Alma Mater which has sent us out. Planting the ivy at Leavenworth High School is no hollow rite. It is, we believe, a serious act of commemoration which suggests a striking anal-- ogy go the future course of our class in this worl . Robert Emil Schneider. S e-ill' if R