Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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SOMANHIS EVENTS 21 IVY ORATION Friends: In this school as in colleges and other schools it is a custom for each graduating class to leave behind it something tangible as a token of its love and loyalty to the lma Mater. We are assembled here this afternoon to commemorate this tradition. The ivy is a suitable plant to symbolize this spirit, for even as its tendrils grow and cling to the school, so the class remains bound together as a unit, each individual member ever striving to attain the best that this life may hold in store. Class Day, for the most part, is a jolly, fun-making occasion, when everyone is in the best of spirits; but the planting of the class ivy is, and justly should be, one of the most serious ceremonies of our high school career. For four years we, the class of '24, have worked and played together in these familiar halls and now we too must bid farewell to High School. Dur- ing our stay here we have tried to uphold the high standards set for us in the past. The success of our athletic teams needs hardly to be mentioned. Our first-year football team held its own with the best in the state, while our bas- ketball team enjoyed a most successful season. Our baseball team has car- ried the Red and White to many a well-earned victory ; likewise the work of the tennis and track teams has been commendable. For the first time in many years we have had a championship debating team which went through an unus ually hard schedule without a defeat. The dramatic club was put to the test and proved its ability when “Daddy-Long-Legs” was so successfully pre- sented in Cheney Hall. “Somanhis Events” during the last few years has grown and improved until now it is recognized as one of the finest High School publications in the East. The success of the teams and various social organizations has been largely due to your loval, earnest support. The Trian- gular League Debating Cup is now in your possession; go out for the team next vear and help keep it here. Freshmen: ‘The spirit that you have displayed this year is of the best. You had a championship class basketball team. Go to it, S. M. H. S. is proud of you; but do not let athletics or other extra-curriculum interests hamper your studies, for remember that it is primarily for academic purposes that you are here. Sophomores: You have the right spirit and your support is deeply ap- preciated by the rest of the school. © Next vear you will be upper classmen and more responsibilities will inevitably fall upon your shoulders. See to it that vou do not shirk your duties. Try out for the teams and if you do not participate yourself, lend your aid and support to those who do. Juniors: From this time until you stand here next year you will have the Senior responsibilities to bear. You have fulfilled your obligations to the utmost this year, but next year the brunt of the burden of athletic as well as social activities will rest upon your shoulders. ‘Somanhis Events” as well as the debating team will be practically yours. The Alumni will look to you as a class to hold high the standard and reputation which “Somanhis” holds to- day. It needs your whole-hearted, loyal support and contributions if it is to continue on the high level of the past. On you will depend maintenance of the traditions, honor, and scholarship of S. M. H. S. Classmates: In one more week we shall sever all active connections which bind us to the social and academic life of this school. With the pre- sentation of the trowel to the Junior Class we resign all Senior duties and honors to the class of 25. It has come our time to pay tribute and to bind ourselves as Alumni to South Manchester High School and it is with this ob- jective that we have planted the ivy here this afternoon. In a few more days our ways will part and each one will enter upon his particular walk of life; but even though we are far apart and our immediate relations may be broken, the spirit and loyalty of '24 will ever ring true. It is a challenge that comes to us today to strive always to attain to the best that is within us and thus bring honor and pride to our parents, our friends, and our Alma Mater. Stuart G. Segar '24.

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SOMANHIS EVENTS 23 THE QUEST OF HAPPINESS Life truly is a great crusade which inyoives numerous and varied quests. There is the quest of gold, of fame, of knowledge, of truth, of goodness, and of God; but no matter which one we make our goal in life, we inevitably join with it the essential quest of Happiness. Marshall P. Wilder, an essayist, says that happiness is one of the most beautiful things in the world because it is purely unselfish. When people are happy they present a cheerful spirit, which finds reflection in every one they meet, for happiness is as contagious as a yawn. Some people, as the Puritans, for the sake of piety would put a ban on happiness; but when you go out on a beautiful spring morning and hear the robin calling to his mate, and feel the warm breeze fragrant with the smell of flowers just blossoming forth, the spirit of the morning thrills you and you think, “Oh, it is good to live!” God gave us such a beautiful morning, and through such a gift we cannot fail to see that he means for us to be happy here on this earth. Of course, it is easy to say that it is our duty to be happy, but we want to know how we can be so; and to know that, we must make a study of those things that make us happy and those things that make us unhappy. Newell Dwight Hillis, a distinguished clergyman, says that Worry, Hur- ry, and Debt are the chief enemies of Happiness. He likens worry to a moth that cuts the threads of thought and character. It is, to be sure, a deadly poison that very soon robs both body and mind of their ability. Much of the worry in this world can be avoided. Thomas Jefferson once said that most men spend their lives apprehending dangers that never come to pass. Prob- ably you have heard the proverb, “Better is a dinner of herbs with content- ment than a feast gained by worry.” “Hurry” is the second great enemy of happiness. Because this genera- tion has lost its sense of leisure, it is alSo in danger of losing its happiness In their strife for money and a place in the world, men sometimes fail to pay enough attention to their families; some in their rush do not even take time to eat or sleep. This, of course, leads to ill-health, fussiness, and irritability, with a loss of dignity. History tells us that Napoleon was overcome with sleep in the afternoon of the battie of Waterloo, that he gave contradictory orders, lost the victory and the throne. © For many vears he had been over- working, taking only a few hours’ sleep out of twenty-four. When he should have been successful, he failed. May his mistake be of profit to us. The third great enemy of happiness is “Debt”, because it brings discour- agement and despondeney, and destroys our pride. A) prominent English state sman once said that if strong drink has slain its thousands, debt has slain its tens of thousands. The best policy is “pay as you go”, and you will never fall into debt’s grasping clutches. There are many bumps that we must take in this world with a smile, for unless they are swept aside with an optimistic view, we are going to find our- selves very unhappy indeed. We must not forget that the troubles we have in our lives are the makers of our character. When we want particularly good ad- vice we go to the person who has bravely taken experience as a teacher and has conquered his troubles in life, not the person who has cowardly slunk away from hardships and left them to someone else. It is plain to see that we must have a rainy day once in a while to make the sunny ones scem brighter and more glorious, Considering the average person, we see then that to be happy one must first of all be healthy, and to be healthy, one must have a sound body and a strong mind ; however, there are exceptions, for those who are physically weak are sometimes among the happiest and cheeriest people the world has known. Work is the foundation of a lasting happiness. Unless a man is happy at his work, he can hardly be happy outside of it; however, from the earliest