Major Edwards High School - Mesa Yearbook (West Boylston, MA)

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I begin to wonder if the rest of the world is in such a state. Do they all slaughter each other? There s little smoke in the westward direction. Per- haps I ' ll meet Dante there. Anticipation rises within me, and I guide myself toward a great building. Many men are gathered in a great room, A short man with a little black moustache gets up to speak and the silence is profound, Vc vill Nazify all Germans, no matter what country dey arc in. Ve vill Nazify de local ' government and den take ofer, -Dot ! s vhat Ve’ll do.” Then I see an army of men, all with the same odd sign on their shirts. They call it the Swastika. They march into a ' neighboring country and take it over: There they swallow it . I hear this little man speak again. He seems to think he’s another NapoleonI ”Ve must have a bigger army, more children; ve’ll pay the parents for having bigger families,” HumphJ Gun fodder. That’s what those children will be. Disgust rises within me. I’ve still to find a Dante, still to find some echo of the culture and idealism that was his. A great continent between two oceans looms before me,. This land seems much quieter than the two previous ones. It doesn ' t require much additional Inspection to learn the reason why. I think the men are lazy because they are doing nothing. I walk around among them and hear them chatting to- gether. They are all speaking on a common subject. If I only had a job; I could do such big things. What’s going to become of me? What ’ s going to become of the other 11,000,000 like me? Why so much poverty in the midst of such potential plenty? What’s the president going to do about this unemployment situation? The president? Perhaps he ’ll ' do something like the little man with the black mous- tache, But why not find out what ho plans? I find him in his study. He Is seated at a desk covered with papers. I am bewildered as I look over his shoulder and read PWA, WPA, AAA, and many other alphabetical arrangements. They are to furnish work for these men whose conversation I have overheard. Nov they will get their chance to do big things. Imagine my surprise when I meet these men again. Their wishes have partially come true. • They have their jobs. • But waitj Why the unhappy, —discontented looks on their faces? Why are they leaning on their shovels doing nothing? I know the reason. That man over there with the exceptionally white hands and agile fingers studied to be an artist. What ere-

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L ' Esorit a Perte de Vue Elizabeth Koss I feel myself carried through space, A great heat strikes me and I pass the sun. Whence I came I do not know, but my destination is soon made clear to me. Before my eyes a whirling planet makes its way around an orbit. My mind is suddenly enlightened and the Spirit of Understanding surges through me. This must be Earth, because I see many mortals, I recall being there before. Yes, I remember it all clearly now. I mot some great men then, -Michael Angelo, Shakespeare, Virgil, Dante— Dante! What a truly great man he was! How cultured! ' How refined! How philosophical! What a pleasure it would be to meet him again, to feel his magnetic person- ality, Great noises arise from this great sphere which lies before me. As I come closer I can hear them more distinctly. From this great chaos of sound I distinguish the boom of guns, the grinding of brakes, the screeching of factory whistles, the crying of littlo children, the pulsating rhythm of great machines. Look at the smoke! Hear those guns! This is the eastern part of the world, A great curiosity overwhelms me, and I slowly descend to see what I can make of this great dis- turbance. Men arc rushing everywhere with guns in their hands. A great droning overhead deafens my ears, and as I look up a bomb hurtles downward from an airplane upon a de- fenseless city and startles me. It must be war! A voice reaches my cars, and turning around I notice a young officer talking to his superior, Yes, Sir, 2000 dead, but we won ' t give in to these Japa- nese. We ' ll fight to the end; v c Chinese never give up. Well said. This war is terrible, but we ' ll never give up. War! War ! Iiow these mortals waste their time and de- stroy the heritage handed down to themiBut is there a decla- ration of war? I must find out. I go to the enemy lines and I hear an officer saying: We ' ll get the territory we want. Wo won’t call It war, we won ' t declare war. We ' ll tell the world it ' s merely a conquest in self-defense! Self-defense! Humph! They ' re certainly doing a good job of it. Look at that poor Ch inaman over there — blown almost to pieces. That little clump of rags stuffed in a doorway was once a little child, What fools these mortals be,

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ative work can he do here? This man here planned to bo an engineer. Now,, he engineers a shovel l Another looking off into space is a musician. How can he express the melodies in his soul pushing a shovel? No wonder they wear downcast and pessimistic looks on their faces; they can ' t do the big things they want to do. Individualism is gone: -their talents arc wasted. Could not a Dante remedy this? By this time I have almost completely lost hope for these mortals. Can they do nothing but fight and lean on shovels? But wait — maybe there is hope! Perhaps the answer lies behind the brick walls of the thousands upon thousands of brick buildings scattered throughout ' the length and breadth of this land. These are the schools, recipients of munificent gifts from the wealthy and receivers of liberal allowances from community budgets. Here I see every boy and girl in this vast country being given the opportunity to ac- quire an education — an education open only to the favored few when I was last on earth. At this time of year I sec thousands of these young people standing upon platforms as they complete their courses of study. Their formal education is over but their real education the education of life is just ' beginning. They are q serious lot, these graduates of 1938. Tho world they are about to enter is sick and weary, disconsolate and discouraged. Perhaps somewhere, some one of these graduates is going to provide the answer to these perplexing problems. Perhaps some one, reinforced by this great educational system and backed by the intelligent public opinion of the gradu- ates, will lead these nations to a new day--a day dedicated to the ideals set forth by the Dante of tho past.