Memorial High School - Humanist Yearbook (West New York, NJ)

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FACULTY

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SECOND THOUGHTS BOUT two centuries ago Edward Young wrote a lugubrious poem entitled 'ANight Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. This poem was full of common sense proverbs and, consequently, as a poem it had no great vogue. An oft quoted passage is this: ' Thoughts shut up want air ' And spoil like bales unopened to the sun. I don't know how thoughts can be shut up and I don't know which are better, night thoughts or day thoughts. But I do know some thoughts are better than others. The thoughts I have in mind are second thoughts. Too frequently we go through life without paying much attention to so-called second thoughts. We are told when angry to count ten before reacting by word or deed to the cause of anger. That advice, however, doesn't mean much for when one is angry. he doesn't have sense enough to count ten or any other number. If he did, he either would not be angry or would not allow anger to express itself in foolish word or action. First thoughts are likely to be emotional. During the exciting political campaign of 1896, a Democrat, who had just heard Bryan speak. rushed into the office of his friend in Columbus, Ohio, and said, I have just heard Bryan speak. He is the greatest statesman since Washington. When the Democrat had given full vent to his expression of appreciation, his friend asked. Well, what did he say that was so wonderful? The answer -was, My good- ness! I don't know what he said, but it was a wonderful speech. It is not my purpose to judge the merits of this speech but to pass judgment upon the reaction of the man who heard it. Frequently we are carried away by the grandiose emotion of an orator without considering how much truth may be found in his statements. I have many times read books which I pronounced upon first reading to be excellent. Then six months later I read the same books and found my imagination or emotion had played me false and that the ideas expressed by the author, examined in the cold light of reason, were not so valu- able as I imagined then. So, I give you a practical suggestion. Advice, however, as a rule, is what all of us need and few of us heed. Nevertheless, if you really want to grow intellectually, if you want to make books the means of education, always read them twice, first because any serious book worth reading once is worth reading twice and second because a book should be judged by intellect and not by imagination and emotion. Of course we read many books for mere entertainment and pure fun and enjoyment. One reading of such books is generally enough. But all serious books, history, literature, science, sociology, and aesthetics should be read twice. To get the best results allow three or four months between readings. Out of every hundred students who read this page, one may possibly give serious attention to second thoughts as herein suggested. If he does this, he will ultimately find himself one of the very few well informed and cultured persons of his generation.

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Organization of High School for 19 3 5 - 19 3 6 HARRY L. BAIN, Superintendent WILLIAM H. LOUNSBURY, General Supervisor CARLOS A. WOODWORTH, Principal ELIZABETH V. BORNEMAN, Vice-Principal CATHLEEN M. BACH, Secretary i Rose MILLIMET, Secretary FACULTY COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS Esther E. Hanna, Head Teacher Louis Brenner Florence Bruell Alice DeBros Marie duBois Viola M. Donovan Grace L. King Nicholas LeRose ' Lillian Silver Nancy A. Smith Bernice Young ,Q L DR WIN AND DESIGN Edna Stone, Head Teacher Henry Fink ' Helen Piaget ENGLISH Emma Hubert, Head Teacher John Cendo Henrietta Connell Genevieve Creighton Daniel F. Curry Ida M. Egan Zabelle Gabriel ' Fay Burko Godlin John Moorhead John White ' Ere Willis S. Eshleman, Head Teacher Louis Gerisch Kenneth D. Hart Nicholas Lessner ASVD SOCIAL SCIENCES LATIN Marguerite Dolan Blanche M. Griscom 'Cornelius .O'Connor I Marie.Pohl sheehari' 1 MANUAL ARTS W. Carl Kauffman, Head Teacher Leonard Burns DeWitt Fisher Gerard K. Mclnerney MATHEMATICS ' Bertha Godfrey, Head Teacher Alice J. Halfpenny Ruth Meinzer . Alice Palmer Mary Robinson Gilbert C. Wagner MODERN LANGUAGES Edna Moreau Sylvia Alenkoft' Elvira Chiricosta Bertha J. DeLaney Walter Eickmann MUSIC George A. Delamater, Director NATURAL SCIENCES Herman F. Krause, Head Teacher. Lucy E. Askam Anne Bollenbacher Reintraut E. Jonsson Robert H. Rollins, Jr. Thomas, S. Roop Peter Sottong Louis Truncellito PHYSICAL EDUCATION John C. McGrath , ' Edward E. Carroll, Director Vincent McGuinness.a-pl-an-f 771 I James Growney Jay B. Phelps Gertrude Reiley Nathan Richman Lawrence Wagner Florence D. Courtney Catherine DeLaney, R.N. BOARD OF EDUCATION FRANCIS D. MURPHY, President CONRAD GERISH LoU1s E. SERF, Vice-President ARTHUR H. EINBECK DR. Lours BAUER GEORGE D. K11.vEN'roN, Secretary Nine