Mamaroneck High School - Mahiscan Yearbook (Mamaroneck, NY)

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10 THE SPY IN RETROSPECTION Now that we are near the end of the school year, it seems both fitting and proper that a record of our doings be placed before the public eye. Vife think that such a record will rouse the interest of our parents, who have formerly regarded us as mere machines for the earning of a few passable marks. Such an idea must surely be routed and with this in mind we here set forth the ambitions, aims, and achievements of Freshman, Sophomore, junior, Senior. The Freshmen really have had '-a hard year of it, and they have achieved some- thing which gratifies all those who have lived one year with them in the same build- ing, and that is that their verdant green- ness is turning into a faint pink which might well be the dawn of a successful year under the title of Sophomores. Yes indeed, Freshies, you have wabbled along quite suc- cessfully this year, and we see you as the tadpole of a very hne, dignified Senior frog of 1926. You had a very successful party where you made as much racket as possible and had a corking time. Queer rumors had been floating around the school concerning milk bottles on Saturday afternoon, but you fooled them all, perfectly respectable punch out of perfectly respectable paper cups was drunk by perfectly respectable Freshman, if you can imagine such an individual. Your class contains several stars who excel in various branches of school activities. this is quite unusual. but indeed you are an un- usual class, so plod on little Freshie, plod on! The Sophomores are respectable, con- tented, and rich citizens -of the High School. You have no longer that strange solemnity which marks the Freshman, nor have you yet grasped that giddiness which only a Senior may attain. You will make a splendid junior Class, and a wonderful Senior Class when you hold the reins of school government in your hands. You also had a very nice party with lots of green things called shamrocks hanging around, if we're not mistaken the great attraction was a unique feature or something like that. You by now have discovered in- dividual talent in your Class and indeed our assemblies would never be so interesting without you, so plod on little Sophie, plod on! The next class is a perplexing problem- one of knots and tangles-one which fills the late room yet runs the school govern- ment. We can certainly say that We pity Miss Nolan next year. But where would the school be without you, 192i? The teachers would have none to scold, the building would somewhat resemble Wfood- lawn in quietudeg in fact the school would be lost without you. You are said to be a sister class of the Freshman, and at times we are even able to see the resemblance, not physically, of course. If the rest of the school has as much pep as you, the building would cave in for we never saw such ex- citement as 1924 hot on the trail of the lunch room. You will be a marvelous Senior Class if you go on as you are going now, so plod on little -Tune bug, plod on! And now the Seniors-you have pattled your way through High School against fearful odds such as Regents, and are finally about to graduate even against the will of the teachers. Many of you are bat- tle scarred and weary, that is, in the build- ing, for the outside seems to produce an entirely different effect. You have done all that respectable, well bred Seniors should do-in fact, there is little left for you to accomplish, but to put on your best clothes and graduate. As Alumni, we only hope you will return now and then to the haunts of your childhood to refresh your memories with the happy, secluded hours you have spent here. ELEANOR lVl1r.LroaN. Have you ever noticed what a large part I plays in initiative? In other words: If you want things to come your way, get to work and start them.

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THE SPY 9 'A Word from the Principal Another school year draws to its close, In a few more short hours many happy pass through the portals of the their way to a joyous vacation. will have heavy hearts for they know that they will never again return as students to the familiar halls. Father Time is an arbitrary old master and his dictates in the change in the affairs of mortals know no compromises. Once there was a famous Greek philoso- pher-Heraclitus, who propounded the doctrine that the explanations of all things mortal were found in Change. llllodern times have accepted that ancient thought in the terms of the theory of evolution. Noth- ing mortal remains stationary. It is either advance or retreat, progress or deteriorate. Progress is largely conditioned upon our education, as to the things have been, with a prophetic things that are to be. The anticipates the changes and faces will school on But some training-our that are and vision of the trained mind readily attunes itself to the newer condi- tions of progress. If this education is tempered with common sense and sharp- ened with courage, the owner is equippe'l with a tool that can carve his name among the immortals of the ages. The world to- day has little use for and less patience with the illiterate or the self-complacent- or the float-with-the-tide individual who clutters up the path of progress and knows not Time's decree of change. Happy is the man who, when life's school draws near its close, can look hack over the years that have gone and measure his accomplishments in terms, not of dollars accumulated or of selhsh honors won. but in terms of his constructive services render- ed to society-his fellow-men. The poet has admirably expressed this thought in those immortal lines: In life's broad field of battle. In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb driven cattle, Be a hero in the strife. May I not wish God-speed to those who are leaving and a happy vacation and joyous return to those who would continue their preparation for the happy adjust- ments in the world of tomorrow. SCHOOL SPIRIT. Mamaroneck I-Iigh School is surely lack- ing both in a spiritual and materalistic sense: lVe should need no reminder of them for our quite evident deficiencies are numerous and vital. Mamaroneck High School is weak in one respect above all others-it is absolutely devoid of School Spirit in any form, shape or manner. Perhaps this seemingly drastic statement is accepted doubtfully. A review of the facts, however, we think will improve our conclusions, for we can present a listiof carefully th-ought-out reasons for that as- sumption :- First a list of twenty persons would ade- quately include all those who represent the school in athletics. Another twenty could more than adequately include all those un- selhshly active in other school projects. None of the athletic teams are supported as they deserveg our cheering squads are jokes-other schools continually disgrace us on our home grounds. The Spy re- presents the work of a few and has no semblance of support from the school, either in literary contributions or in pecuniary subscriptions and yet the school does not refrain from criticism of all our activities, either literary or sport. Perhaps our readers will say we are too harsh, too severe on our school or that we are stretching th-e facts, but at any rate, a little criticism will do us no harm. It is rather a policy with the Spy to say noth- ing unless it be praise-it is time to change that policy and to deal with matters as ther are not m-erely as we would like them. It is now time that the school should awaken to its needs and opportunities pre- paratory for a new and better year. This year is ov-erg the Seniors are out: forget the past and consider the future g--Iuniors make good l ! I

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THE SPY 11 THE DULL BOY VVe pause in our congratulations to the young people who are leaving school at this season of the year, to speak a word of sympathy for the 'fdull boy or the dull girl. Some sensitive pupils who have been distanced in their studies by more pre- cocious, keen witted, quick minded fellows, may need a kind word but most of them do not. The average dull lad is a sensible sort of chap who is in no especial hurry to distinguish himself, but he manages to do so some time in his life, and that modestly but to good purpose. He is usually the fel- low who is relied upon in great crises when his once brighter classmate is found want- ing. The curriculum of schools, colleges and universities these days is so crowded with a complex and infinite variety of sub- jects, that only the most precocious ever acquire that high standing demanded of students. Statistics are wanting as to what becomes of the bright valedictorians and salutatorians and the honor men -of classesg but there is a prevalent opinion that the dull boy is about as well able to take care of himself and achieve distinction as are his most nimble witted fellows who receive the plaudits of an audience at graduation time. The writer has in mind a number of the schoolmates of her youthful days. One was a bright and shining light in the class room. He was the favorite of all teachers. He was the show pupil of the class and of the school as well. Mathematics and the languages were his especial delight. He was held up as a model to every dull boy in the institution of learning he attended. Visitors to the class room went way pre- dicting a great future for one with so won- derful an intellect and such studious habits. He was graduated with honors but strange to say the dull boys of his class were not particularly electrified by his accumulation of honors and prizes. They left school and plodded or seemed to plod along in the wake of this star of knowledge. That was several years ago. The bright one? Oh! yesg the glory of his star dimmed but a short while after his graduation. His career? He has one that you do not care your boys-your dull boys if you please- should scan. He traveled too swift a pace. But the writer could tell you something of the dull, patient fellows who plodded in the wake of the precocious one during school days and for a brief time thereafter. They are plodders y-et, most of them. One who led the foot of his class is crowding fast upon the heels of the aged leader of a great political organization, contributing his now 'eminent services not alone to party success but to the glory of his country. Others are at the front in great movements for the uplifting of humanity. Still others are eminent specialists, patiently as when younger, solving slowly, yet surely, the great and important problems of the day and century. Science. surgery, sociology, law, legislation, bear witness to the magni- fiicently beautiful ripening of the minds of these dull boys. Question them and modestly they will depreciatfe the value of their services to the world. They have reached that period of life when they will not dispute you if you dub them dull of wit and slow -of comprehension. Th-ey have won success by being dull and thereby com- pelled to apply themselves with diligence to every problem that has confronted them. No, the dull boy in this age of ours, this age of special training and need for special- ists in innumerable avenues leading to honor and emolument, n-eeds no sympathy. He can work out his destiny as other boys just as dull as he, have done before him. High resolve and honest endeavor clear away many obstacles, solve many problems, lead to great achievements. A word of en- couragement now and then from older and wiser men is a tonic which braces many a lad possibly just the least bit despairing of class room honors, but out in the world, bless you, the dull lad conquers if he is given tim-e to develop those God given