Milford High School - Oak Lily and Ivy Yearbook (Milford, MA)

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16 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. Through the appreciation and knowledge of English may be derived the gen¬ eral culture and pleasure of life. What sadder plight is there than to be compelled to remain silent because of inability to express properly one’s thoughts. Who lacks the art to shape his thought, hold, Were little poorer if he lacked the thought ” Statistics prove that those remaining in school longest have the best chances of securing employment. This in itself should serve as an incentive to those now in school to pursue their studies and complete their courses. Undergraduates, to you especially is this appeal made. Persevere in your lessons and even if at times the outlook it not rosy, continue to labor until you reach the long desired goal. Until that time comes when your education must be completed, you will not realize how fortunate you have been in securing one. Carpe dievi. For of all this earth’s pos¬ sessions an education is the most priceless one. Rita M. Daigle, ’21. SALUTATORY. POETRY OF THE WAR. As a member of the class of 1921 I wish to extend to you all a cordial wel¬ come. It is a great pleasure for us to have you with us to-night and to show our parents and our teachers that their efforts in our behalf have not been in vain. I feel that it is just as much of a pleasure to them to know that we have successfully completed our High School work through their ever-willing aid and guidance. We are about to take up the duties of life, of which we know little but from which we do not shirk. Through the efforts of parents, friends, and teachers we have been able to gain a training which puts assurance into ' our hearts that we shall gain success in life. However, school-days will be a lasting memory in the minds of every one of us, and not without the greatest pleasure shall we look back upon them. In approaching the serious moments of our lives, we naturally think of the serious happenings in the lives of others. The Poetry of the War. Though the great war has passed and now men’s thoughts are turned to more peaceful pursuits in life, one cannot but think when in a serious mood of the boys . who died to give us the happiness which we have today. We cannot know of the agonies and indescribable tortures which they were made to endure or of the glory and thrill of patriotism with which they fought the foe. It is only through the poetry written in the supreme moments of their lives and when their emotions and passions were highest that we learn of their true thoughts and feelings. The war poetry reveals the souls of those brave lads and shows us that they were instilled with patriotism and faith in God, and that their hungry minds cry¬ ing out for the beauty and blessedness of peace sought and found solace in their poetry. It brings us to understand them and fills us with a greater sense of patriot¬ ism and duty to God than ever could have come to us if they had not met their trials as they did. In reading over the various verses written by many different soldier-authors of the two great English-speaking nations,, one is reminded of Wordsworth’s fa¬ mous definition of poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquillity.” Many of the soldiers wrote their poems while in the heat of passion and when the message to be delivered was far more important to them than the style or form in which it was written. In many instances there is not that tranquillity which is to be found in

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OAK, lilliV AND IVY Vol. XXXVII. MILFORD, MASS., JUNE, 1921. NO. 1. Published by the Pupils of the Milford High School. BOARD OF EDITORS. Editor-in-Chief, Rita M. Daigle, 21. Business Manager, Davis J. Carroll, ’21. Assistant Business Managers, Alma E. Barbadoro, ’21, James M. Steeves, ’21. ASSOCIATE EDITORS. Leo E. Dickson, ’21. Marion B. Greeley, ’21. Joseph T. O’Connell, 21. Subscription Rates: For the year, $1.00. Single copies, 15 cents. Address all communications to Oak, Lily and Ivy, Milford, Mass. EDITORIAL. The Value of Education. Upon the education of its youth depends the fate of a nation. Its citizens may possess the best of physical strength and abilities but unless its people are in¬ tellectually developed also, that nation cannot endure. The first and greatest end of education is the discipline of the mind, and where knowledge once sheds its light, confusion and despair no longer preside. The vast majority of the people of to-day . realize the value of education. Every day its importance is emphasized more clearly, and the time is no t far distant when the man without an education, however little it may be, will find himself as the man without a country, his friendship or acquaintance sought by few. There is no station of life in which an education is a burden or disadvantage. No matter how humble or lowly his position, the educated man is capable of fil¬ ling it better than the ignorant one. There will be some step or manner of pro¬ cedure which he will more clearly understand. If we do not plant the seeds of knowledge when we are young, it will reap t us no benefits when we are old. Time spent in studying or perfecting one’s knowledge along any particular line is the most valuable way in which one could employ it. How sad it is to think of the countless young men and women who do not apply themselves seriously during the years which they must devote to school life, but shirk and neglect their duties whenever possible. Without realizing it, they are inflicting upon themselves the gravest of injustices. It is difficult to make the statement that any one subject is more important than another. While there may be some studies which require deeper thought than others, each branch of learning has its bearing upon the others. In order to judge properly of current affairs, a knowledge of the past must be obtained through the study of history—hence we can readily see the necessity of that study. But if there be any one subject which has an ever present influence over all others, it is the study of English. A student embracing a business career could have no more valuable asset than a thorough understanding and mastery of that subject. In all his commercial duties he will be required to display his knowledge or his lack of knowledge of its fundamentals.

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 17 our masterpieces or works of art, for the writers of much of the war poetry did not allow their passions to cool before noting their thoughts in verse. In “Songs from the Trenches,” a collection of verses written in France by the American Soldiers, one observes that the subjects with which these writers dealt are many and wide in scope, for all minds did not turn to deep or profound thoughts and dwell with lofty subjects among the clouds of inspired imagination. A great many of these writers kept to surface thoughts, dealing with the disagree¬ able or humorous experiences in camp and trench life, though many more sang of the sunset, the beauty of patriotism, or the courage of France and her great loss. One soldier voices the emotion of his comrades in “Farewell, America!” as they watch their native land fade from sight, while “the mist that rises is not rain.” Some feel themselves to be tiny units in a gigantic whole and yet units giving to the utmost of their service, as evidenced in one private’s lines. “Only a Number.” Many, doubtless with little ones in America, sing to the unfortunate child victims of the war, as does the writer of the following lines which close his poem inspired by the sight of a tombstone raised in honor of two small children who had died long before the war: “Rest you, Pierre and Jucundine, On your little grave, serene; Rest you till the Judgment blast Brings the Hun to book at last— Calls the Hun to answer for Wrongs to children done in war! Wrongs you’ve neither known nor seen, Happy Pierre and Juncundine!” Passing to those of more humorous trend, one finds that the army fare forms the basis for many verses, as does “the personification of Fate, the redoubtable Censor man.” By far the greater number of poems, however, express a depth of patriotism which could have been born of experience alone. The majority of the writers re¬ joice that the glory of a death on the battlefield should be theirs. This feeling is reflected in the poem, “Facing the Shadows” by Private Grundish, winner of the first prize offered in the New York Herald’s Literary Competition in which were a thousand entries. “Better in one ecstatic epic day To strike a blow for Glory and Truth With ardent, singing heart to toss away In Freedom’s holy cause my eager youth, Than bear as years pass one by one, The knowledge of a sacred task undone.” Before passing on to the poetry of Alan Seeger and Robert Service, let us pause to listen to the voices of some of those writers who more nearly reach the goal of perfection and whose poems are more apt to succeed as works of art. We hear Kipling in his poem “The Choice” in which he imagines the spirit of America making her “eternal choice between good and evil” : “In the Gates of Death rejoice! We see and hold the good— Bear witness, Earth, we have made our choice For Freedom’s brotherhood.”