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

Page 18 text:

14 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. and trusts in a Supreme Being, all powerful, just, and generous or he could not have such faith. He is generous and kindly as his conscience and his intelligence direct him to be. For not only would he lose the happiness which he has if he failed to be, but he realizes that through unselfish service he is able to increase not only the pleasure of his friends but of himself. By his attentions he makes himself at¬ tractive, by his loving thoughtfulness he makes himself lovable. He holds the key to the secret of success, since true success is, after all, merely complete hap¬ piness. Perhaps the most notable example of the optimist in current literature is Mark Sabre, the leading character in A. S. M. Hutchinson’s successful novel “If Winter Comes.” The keynote of his philosophy of life, his deathless faith, his unquenchable optimism, may be found in those lines wherein he studies the in¬ finite workings of Nature and finds in them the reflection of his own courageous ideals. By these lines optimism is pictured in its truest sense, as it manifests itself in joyous spirits and courageous deeds. ‘‘Nature was to him in October, and not in Spring, poignantly suggestive, deeply mysterious in her intense and visible occupation.-She spoke to him of preparation for winter, and beyond winter with ineffable assurance for Spring, bring winter what it might.-She packed down. She did not pack up, which is confusion, flight, abandonment. She packed down, which is resolve, resistance, husbandry of power to build and burst again.-Mankind, frail parasite of doubt seeking ever for a sign, conceives no certainty but the enormous certitude of un¬ certainty. A sign!-October spoke to Sabre of Nature’s sublime impervious¬ ness to doubt; of her enormous certainty, old as creation, based in the sure foundation of the world.” That is the philosophy of the true optimist, the person who in the face of every conceivable misfortune is able to ask, in the words of Shelley: “-O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” L. M. Calkin, ’22. SALUTATORY. As a representative of the Class of 1922, I wish to extend to you all a most cordial and hearty welcome. To you, dear teachers, parents, and friends, we owe a large measure of the success which we have attained during our four years in the Milford High School, and during that time labor and pleasure have been blended together most happily. I feel confident that it is with a pang of sincere regret that we bid farewell to our Alma Mater and to those surroundings to which we have become so endeared during the past four years. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH DRAMA. To-day more than ever before, the universal appeal of the drama is mani¬ fested by the vast throngs of theatre-goers. Never before in the history of drama has there been such a demand for good plays. Despite the efforts of so-called reformers and purifiers of the theatre” the general outlook is exceedingly favorable. Instead of corrupting the morals” of the public, the modern drama has ef¬ fected many reforms through its influence on public opinion. For example, it is inevitable that after thousands of people have seen a drama depicting deplorable

Page 17 text:

THE OAK, EIliY AfJD IVY Vol. XXXVIII. MILFORD, MASS., JUNE, 1922 NO. 1. Published by the Pupils of the Milford High School. BOARD OF EDITORS. Editor-in-Chief, Leslie M. Calkin, ’22. Business Manager, Henry D. Barbadoro, ’22. Assistant Business Managers, Della B. Kurlansky, ’22, Clifton A. Jeffery, 22. ASSOCIATE EDITORS. Clara E. Cade , ’22, Nicholas A. Mastroianni, 22, Walter T. Wall, ’22. Subscription Rates: For the year, $1.00. Single copies, 15 cents. Address all communications to Oak, Lily and Ivy, Milford, Mass. TRUE HAPPINESS. The biggest thing in the life of every human individual is happiness. It is the goal of all ambitions, the object of all endeavor. Complete happiness is that desirable something for which each one of us, rich or poor, powerful or insigni¬ ficant, proud or humble, seeks in an endless quest, and which, because of its in¬ tangibleness and our own stupidity, few of us find. Seldom do we seek it con¬ sciously, never as a definite object, yet, in the final analysis, it is for happiness that we live and die. In endless toil we pursue it, ardently yet blindly, earnestly yet despairingly. Material success comes; wealth, position, power, homage, yet it leaves us unsatisfied, with a conviction that something is lacking. And the conviction is not unfounded. Something is lacking. But it is in, ourselves that the defect lies, not in fate or the “divinity that shapes our ends.” For true happiness is merely contentment with whatever we possess of material comforts and spiritual blessings, great or small. The capacity for happiness lies within each one of us and even as we pursue it in blind haste, it is waiting to be enjoyed. Happiness is a state of mind, the accompaniment of a courageous spirit— the spirit of optimism—and the natural consequence of an intelligent outlook on life. The person keen enough to see and appreciate the good things of life, and strong enough to forget or ignore the unpleasant things, thus deriving the full measure of happiness intended for all of us, is called an optimist. In this world we meet too few real optimists, too few people with courage enough to smile when others frown, and fight on with dauntless spirit) when others surrender in despair. By an optimist I do not mean the offensive individual who rises with the songsters and rouses the household with boisterous melody. He is merely a healthy lunatic. Nor do I mean the man who predicts fair weather when the weather man’s report and every visible natural sign indicates approaching rain. He is a fool. Nor yet do I mean the type of person who displays a perpetual simper to friend and enemy alike in affluence or affliction. He is either too small or too timid to assert himself. Your real optimist is the man who, knowing that trouble is coming, has the courage to face it with a smile and faith in the ultimate triumph of Right. Your true optimsit is religious. He may not be demonstrative about it, but he believes

Page 19 text:

THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 15 labor conditions such an impression will be made on their minds that immediately strenuous efforts twill be made to better those conditions and to alleviate the burdens of the laborer. Though many modern plays have been written in prose, the drama is his¬ torically classified as a department of poetry, side by side with the epic and lyric. It is the action in a drama which distinguishes it from simple dialogue wherein the persons are merely mouth-pieces for the expression of ideas. A drama, there¬ fore, is an exhibition of human types, bringing into play every emotion which can be objectively expressed, whether by word, gesture, or play of feature. The classic departments of the drama are tragedy and comedy. The essential difference has been said to lie in the fact that a tragedy has a sad ending, while comedy ends happily; but this is far from expressing the real difference. Tragedy deals in a serious way with serious themes, especially the deeper sufferings of hu¬ manity. Comedy exploits the follies and absurdities of the ridiculous and base. While all drama is intended to entertain, tragedy does it through the excitement of sympathy, comedy through the excitement of mirth. The element of mimicry, which is fundamental in the acted drama, is, of course, a part of human nature, and is doubtless to be found among all peoples. In many forms of literature, too, the dramatic tendency appears. Thus the Old Testament contains instances of dramatic dialogue, as in the Book of Job, and of the dramatic lyric as in the Song of Solomon. This is to be distinguished, how¬ ever, from completely developed drama, the history of which begins in Greece. The drama which flowered in the latter part of the sixteenth century “was not a new and sudden birth, but came rather as the natural outgrowth of centuries of crude and humble plays.” In the very beginning, these had been closely related to the service of the church; in fact, they had been a means of religious instruc¬ tion rather than a form of amusement. The instinct to act out a story had ex¬ isted from the childhood of the race. With the earliest telling of legends and folk tales by minstrels and bards there had been occasion for dramatic recital, dialogue, and action. For many centuries the solemn mysteries and the quaint old miracle plays had been in existence. Throughout the Middle Ages bands of strolling players had wandered over Europe. Five or six hundred years before Christ the God Dionysus, or Bacchus, was worshipped in Greece at country festivals. These actors were generally clad in goatskins, hence our word “tragedy,” from the Greek “tragos,” a goat, and “tragodia,” a goat-song. From these simple beginnings sprang the great drama of Greece, which was given to the world through the genius of Aeschylus, Sopho¬ cles, and Euripides. In similar fashion, “comedy,” from “comus,” a band of revellers, and “ode,” a song, developed from the ruder, more rustic elements in the worship of the same god, although the religious element did not persist as long in this as in its greater and more serious cousin, tragedy. In England, more than eighteen hundred years later, the beginnings of the drama were again closely connected with worship. Few of the common people could read, so the only effective method of teaching their congregations the stories of the Bible was the use of objects and pictures by the priests. Later they added movement, action, and talk to their picture lessons. It has been said that it was but a step from the impressive and beautiful service of the Mass to a dra¬ matic presentation, in simpler form, of the most solemn scenes in religious history. “In this manner the people not only heard the story of the Adoration of the Magi and of the Marriage in Cana, but saw the story in tableau. In course of time the persons in these tableaux spoke and moved, and then it was but a logical step to the dramatic representation by the priests before the altar of the striking and significant events in the life of Christ.” Thus in the services of the church at Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter