Merrimac High School - Yearbook (Merrimac, MA)

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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

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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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The television switched over to Perley Gym, There I saw a large representation of our class participating in the basketball tournament: five on the boys' team, two on the girls' team, and five cheerleaders, The games were exciting but the most thrilling moment was the acceptance of the boys' championship trophy by Captain Emery and the girls' championship trophy by Captain jorolmon for the fourth time in our class's mem- ory, During our stay at lV1, H, S., the trophy case became more and more crowded, In our Freshman year, two league championships brought glory to the high school, while the girls' team were runners-up in the tournament, As Sophomores both boys' and girls' teams returned victorious to fill the case with league and tournament championship awards, Again in our third year, the gir-ls were leauge and tournament winners, The great twin victory came as our veteran ball players placed their final contributions in the trophy case: boysland girls were both league and tournament champions, Another heart warming sight was the joyful faces of our class as we climbed aboard the bus to leave on our class trip, We had reached one of our goals, Our success in reaching another goal is exemplified by our presence here tonight, We have succeeded in our class projects and have been highly represented in all school activities, studies, sports and musical productions, We have had a profitable past, L.et's hope our future is as bright, Noreen Quimby 16