Merrimac High School - Yearbook (Merrimac, MA)

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Many merely shook their heads while others openly attacked Emerson's radical philosophy, Exclusion from pulpits where he used to be welcome gave him time to work on his essays, To supplement his small income he turned to lecturing, This was the age where every community had its lecture courses, For these Emerson was in great demand, the ideas that were so shocking from the pulpit proved very inspiring from the platform, His success was so great that it even carried him abroad which in- creased his reputation at home, both as lecturer and author, Firmly, but without of- fense, he held himself aloofg he had taken his stand, and the world had at length come round, g , . Emerson's idealism, though it forms the core of his philisophy, must not be over emphasized, His practical side--sound Yankee shrewdness--was also strongly develop ed, Self-reliance was no idle advice from one who had earned his way through college, He knew from experience the penalty for being oneself, He knew better than to count on luck to raise his spirits, The wise and just man will always feel that he stands on his own feet, that he imparts strength, not receives security, The older generation of E.merson's day mistrusted him as a radical, tearing the foundation from under their lives, They used transcendental as a term of derision applied to anything fantastic or contrary to common sense, But their children understood what he meant, james Russell Lowell described the walk back to Cambridge on a crisp winter night, after listening to that thrilling voice of his, so charged with subtle meaning and subtle music, Did they say he was disconnected? So were the stars, that seemed larger to our eyes still keen with that excitement, as we walked homeward with prouder stride over the creaking snow, Thus it is that Emerson leads us up the shining trail of the ideal and eternal, He was the product of an era where science gradually replaced tradition, Imperceptibly Emerson's ideas passed into general currency, His phrases became familiar quo- tations., Today his influence has spread so wide, that, like atmospheric pressure, we are unaware of it, But it has played a vast part in shaping the American way of life, Margaret A, Weigel 14

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Salutcxtory Doctor Page, members of the school committeefparents, teachers, and friends: Once again as we gather together to pass over the threshold of graduation, fond mem- ories of the past years are recollected in our minds, Deep rooted in these memories are the guidance, knowledge, and understanding which you have given us, We extend our deepest gratitude to you and earnest hopes that we shall prosper by your wisdom, and that our paths will lead us on the shining road of happiness and success, RALPH WALDO EMERSON The momentous question of our time is whether a man shall control his own af- fairs or obey the order of some central authority, Since the Declaration of Independ- ence asserted that all men are created equal, no one has spoken more eloquently in defense of the individual than Ralph Waldo Emerson, His essays, published just one hundred years ago, emphatically urge that a man know his worth: A true man is the , very center of the universe, Government, society, and nature itself revolve about him, In reading these philosophies of Emerson we know we have been on the heights, Gentleness, purity, idealism, and crystal sincerity shone through his personality to a rare degree, He was the most stimulating ethical teacher in America and one of the few great international forces in literature, Emerson was born in 1803 in Boston, where his father, the Reverend William Emerson, was pastor of the First Church, Among his ancestral inheritance were seven ministers, so it seemed that Ralph for Waldo as he preferred to be called,l would be destined to become a minister also, There were five other children and life was far from easy for the family, Nevertheless Emerson worked his way through Harvard by running errands and waiting on tables, After graduation he taught school before enter- ing the Harvard Divinity School to study for the ministry, He had not been in the pas- torate long before he realized that the Unitarian theology, a doctrine of God in one per- son, was too limited, He began to think of God as a completely personal, moral force pervading the world, a spiritual truth transcending natural law, Our age is retro- spective, he began, While the foregoing generation beheld the world face to face, we see it only through their eyes, Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe ? There are new lands, new men, new thoughts, Let us demand our own world and law and worship, Self-reliance is the first lesson Emerson drew from this philisophy, He told men -- The world exists for you, All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do , , , , ,Build therefore your own world, Although Emerson himself was a voluminous reader of all literature, the scholars he portrays will not rely primarily upon books for knowledge, Their influence is that of the past, Real education begins where formal education leaves off, The true scholar is no cloistered bookworm, Experience is his language, Life his dictionary, This way of self-reliance is not an easy one, Poverty, neglect, even the hostility of society are the common penalty for those who dare to be themselves, Emerson, therefore, might not wonder that he seemed to stand alone, All men aspire to the high- est, and most of them spend their lives seeking money and power only because they see nothing higher, There lies the scholar's duty, Wake them and they shall quit false food and leap to the true, 13

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Class History Something strange occurred at my house the other night, Iwas tinkering around with the knobs and wires of the television set, I switched a few wires and sat down to watch the screen, Something queer started to take place, Everything that passed be- fore my eyes had happened in the past ten years, Of course this was unusual and ex- citing, but the best was yet to come, for across the screen flashed these words: High- lights of Yester Years at Old M, H, S, Immediately Ibegan to realize what a wonder- ful and successful class our class of 1952 had been, The first remainder was the view of the surprisingly young-looking but familiar faces of our class in the main room and Mr, Morrow standing before the group, I rec- ognized this to be our very first class meeting, Mr, Morrow looked up and announced that George Larkin was our president, Soon an awareness of Freshman Initiation came for john Charles, our newly elected Student Council Representative, could'nt attend meetings until Freshman Initiation was over, Across the screen came another memorable sight, There was Margaret Weigel perched way up on the top of a pyramid of boys, This marked Stunt Night and was significant of our class' teamwork, Next, a picture flashed of some girls, tacking up butterflies and flowers on the Town Hall wall, judging by the turbans on their heads, the young ladies would be blossoming out into butterflies themselves in a few hours, One girl turned and I rec- ognized Barbara Dudley, chairman of the decorating committee for our Sophomore Hop, Who is that busy teacher ? It is Mrs, Salerno, squeezing the names of honor and high honor students into one column on the blackboard while a proud class looked on, As upper-classmen we were finally well adjusted, ready to take on any duties from handeling the milk and candy business at lunch time to being hosts and hostesses at the Senior Reception, The funniest sight of all was that of Stunt Night, 1951, There was movie director, Thomas Lund with a beret on his head and comfortably sitting in a lawn chair, He kept leaping up, yelling Cut and portraying very well the part of an excitable director, The actors seemed to be enjoying it, for they cou1dn't seem to keep from chuckling, them- selves, We tied with the Seniors and added the prize to our treasury, My, what good times we hadff ' The highlight of the year was the junior Prom, What a beautiful and impressive sight was the grand march: The class was in full formal attire, our girls in gowns and our boys in tuxedoes, I witnessed next the first important projett of our Senior year, For a moment I thought I was seeing things, Was that a box coming through the door ? Much to my relief Richard Emery, stepped from behind a carton of Christmas cards, He pointed to the top of a paper thermometer' which read S1,Z00, He smiled, He had right to be happy, being president of such a co-operative class, Next Iwatched jumping jewels , I enjoyed this because when our class put it on, I had the mumps and missed the performance, Everyone enjoyed it and we were thankful we had such a fine play director in the person of Miss Gullage, 15