Lyman Hall High school - Singer Chronicle Yearbook (Wallingford, CT)

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4 THE CHRONICLE yet no opportunity to stop it. In this struggle, with one accord a great wave of preparation and patriotism has swept over the United States. We have heard it asked nation-wide, “What can woman do at a time of war?” “Is not her place in the home?” No, woman’s place in not solely in the home: her usefulness at a time of war is paramount. In this struggle a natural result has been unemployment, that of woman greatly exceeding that of man. Does this not prove that woman must play her part in the war? Practically all of her means of earning a living are destroyed. Boarding houses are deserted, factories closed and millinery and dressmaking establishments badly affected. These conditions have shown women that something must be done, and they have patriotically, unselfishly risen to their duty. In many other ways woman is showing her worth. How many Red Cross associations are there in this country? There is scarcely a town however small that is not represented. Day after day our women are learning the art of caring for the sick, sanitation, and a hundred other things along this line, to say nothing of the good they are doing by making materials for use in the hospitals. A short time ago we heard it asked, “What good is all this? It is merely a fad.” To use the words of that great commander, Major-General Leonard Wood, a man whom experience has taught, “As no chain is stronger than its weakest link, so no army is stronger than its Red Cross.” But let it be understood that the Red Cross will not be the only calling for women from now on. Through a National League for Woman’s Service established with its headquarters in Washington, any patriotic woman desirous to help her country can find her small part to do. Very valuable service has been and will be rendered the United States by women who decrease the high cost of living by planting gardens, being economical in buying, and by cooking wholesome but inexpensive foods. Undoubtedly we will hear more about and greatly admire women who show their skill as aviatrices or crack pistol shots, but in reality these women will not help their country half as much as the domestic woman who plants her garden. The former will not be needed at the front until our men are unable to protect us and we hope that then we will need higher kinds of protection. As conditions become more serious many of our women will take their sons’ or husbands’ places at the work bench as has happened in France and England. We will soon have skilled woman wireless operators, conductorettes, woman chauffeurs, postwomen and women who will hold responsible government positions. Our women will feel that they must share the responsibility. The strain which our nation is under will be divided equally between man and woman. We. the class of 1917, will be called upon to do our bit in the terrible war drama. For some of us definite futures are in view, for others, uncertainty. In fact, at this crucial time there is a degree of uncertainty allotted to all. However, some of our boy classmates have already shown a spark of patriotism, by joining in the national movement, “Gardening.” We feel the boys are not the only ones ready to help: our girls will be anxious to do their part in protecting the stars and stripes, that emblem of liberty, equality, and fraternity. NATALIE BAUMAN

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TIIE CHRONICLE 3 CLASS POEM—’17. The vista of the future years Is stretching endlessly away; It holds bright dreams and lurking fears But takes its color from today. 'Tis good to work. Ah do not sigh, And do not sadly shake your head Longing for knights in days gone by —Eternal romance is not dead ! We will not squander time, then grieve For opportunities long past. Improve each moment with a will Coy chance then often comes unasked. There’s joy in doing what we can To aid our country and our state; Whate’er we’re asked to do or dare —Be sure we shall not hesitate. Good soldiers true we’ll bravely fight Until the battle’s lost or won; Though hard the days and dark the nights A far-flung vision leads us on. Life’s road may seem too steep and hard For weak and untried feet to tread. But with the goal we seek in view, We’ll go with hope and without dread. Our life work is to fulfill dreams Of joyous work and happy days. High aims to follow till there gleams Romance in all life’s sordid ways. ETHEL CHAPMAN. WOMAN AND WAR. During the past three years the European war has been a subject of world-wide interest but not until the last few months has this subject directly affected our own United States. The question arises. “What will be woman’s part in the war?” Woman has played and is to play an important role in the grpat struggle. The militarist believes that bloodshed and war are instincts of man. Man, however goes forth to battle intent upon winning a medal of honor or some other reward, along with the battle, forgetting who must bear the brunt of the action with neither medal nor reward for their suffering. Who are these? These are the women; the women and children who pay an awful price for a thing that they have never desired. War has been incited by man, managed by man, fought by man; but the suffering paid by woman. She has no desire for it and

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THE CHRONICLE MARY LYON, A PIONEER. Youth is the pioneer time, a period of growth, of pushing up and out, of exploration, of dreams and visions, youth is the all-conquering time, exuberant, full of the joy of living and with the vigor and freshness of Spring pulsing in its veins. There is nothing youth does not expect to do, nothing youth cannot do. The whole wide world lies open before it, its mountain peaks of achievement to be climbed, its depth of experience to be sounded, its storms and calms, showers and sunshine, its purple hills of visiqn, and fair green valleys of dreams, a true promised land. Youth sees the obstacles in its way, the places where the path is dim and the way dark. Youth sees them, yes, but it looks beyond them too, where the fair land of life lies open before it, a land of golden opportunity, and of achievement. Youth has ever been the Pioneer time. The youth of a country always produces pioneers, explorers, frontiers men, men and women who brave the wilderness and bring back gold. Not always the gleaming meta' which has ever lured the world, but something infinitely better, the gold of brave deeds and achievements. There must always be some one to blaze the trails. Some there are with the love of adventure and the free spa who glory in that life, who love to leave the beaten highways of men and search out new lands, new paths, new inventions and discoveries. There must be pioneers and a pioneer must be one with youth and the joy of living and doing eternally in his heart; one who knows not defeat and therefore cannot fear it. Such a one was Mary Lyon, the founder of Mt. Holyoke college, a woman who looked beyond the narrow limits of her day and saw the horizon broadening out and widening in every direction. No sleepy life of ease in the valleys was hers, but work, glorious work among the mountain tops. Mary Lyon was a pioneer by inheritance and environment as well as by disposition. She came of a pioneer race, people who loved the struggle with the wilderness and taught her to love it, too. Englanders they were, a race which has always been pioneers, blazing the pathway for others. She drew her strength of character, her indomitable will power, her perseverance and pluck from them, and from the rugged hills of New England which surrounded her birth place. Mary Lyon’s life was one long record of accomplishment, a true pioneer’s life. Just how much she has done for us of today, we even yet do not fully realize. Only when time has had a chance to catch up with a life, and to turn its dreams and visions into reality, can men see how far-reaching, how great the work of that life was. But this much we do know. She gave to women their chance to live a better, richer, fuller life than had been theirs before. She opened the gates not only of higher education but ol a world of higher service. The first woman doctor, the first woman lawyer, the first woman college president, even the woman in business. —-these could not have been opened for them unless someone had pioneered leading the way to new lands rich with unharvested opportunity.