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

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CLASS OF 1923

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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

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THE OAK, IilliY A|NID IVY Vol. XXXIX. MILFORD, MASS., JUNE, 1923. No. 1. Published by the Pupils of The Milford High School. Under the Supervision of Miss Marion A. Ryan of the English Department. BOARD OF EDITORS. Editor-in-Chief—George A. O’Sullivan, ’23. Business Manager—Innes McRae, ’23. Associate Business Managers— John R. Cichetti, ’23. Gertrude A. Wallace, ’23. ASSOCIATE EDITORS. Inez E. SanClemente, ’23. George A. Raftery, ’23. Boyd D. Lewis, ’23. Subscription Rates:—For the year, $1.00. Single copies, 15 cents. Address all communicatoins to Oak, Lily and Ivy, Milford, Mass. THE BENEFITS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL TO THE COMMUNITY. This is the season of Commencement and all through the length and breadth of this great land of ours innumerable schools and colleges are sending forth trained men and women. By far the most numerous type of school is the public High school, for every community that has a vestige of civic pride boasts a High school. From every one of these secondary schools men and women are coming who are in most cases trained to accept and fill capably fine positions in the busi¬ ness world; in other cases, prepared to continue their studies to points of speciali¬ zation in higher institutions of learning. These boys and girls leave their High schools, self-reliant and capable, of which characteristics certainly the former is as essential as the latter and like it, first acquired in High school. Self-reliance is not taught as a separate subject in High school, that is, there are no text-books on it, but it seeps out of all the meth¬ ods of the teaching and conducting of the secondary school. The responsibili¬ ties of studying and making use of the hours of school fall on the shoulders of the individual more heavily than they do in the grammar grades. The individual soon is made to realize that, if he is to make good and be a success as a High school student, he must work and work hard. The realization that the student’s success depends in the main on the student’s own efforts rapidly molds the scholar into a man or woman, as the case may be. There is much fun and foolishness in the average High school student’s life, but at all times there is that undercurrent of re¬ sponsibility acting as a curb on the extent of the fun and a guide in the conduct of his life. Self-reliance is one of the greatest assets a man can have. Without it ability is apt to go for naught, for he must appreciate and have confidence in his own ability to use it and profit by it. Every man has ability of some sort, either along scholarly lines or those of the business world, and it is in High school that it is determined to which type his ability belongs. In High school the scholar is studied almost as much as he studies. His