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

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 21 The characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to be reversed. Macbeth was a gallant soldier but was selfish and possessed his full share of moral cowardice. However, he was influenced by his wife, who had ad¬ mirable control of herself and a good supply of moral courage, although she, as a woman, lacked the physical strength of Macbeth. To Macbeth’s expressions of fear she replied: “But screw your courage to the sticking place. And we’ll not fail.’’ Unfortunately, Macbeth became convinced that Duncan’s murder could be accomplished, and he said, “I am settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” The murder of Duncan was Macbeth’s first crime but not his last. Each crime made him more cruel and tyrannical, and little by little his moral cowardice disappeared. However, Lady Macbeth, the compelling force in the first of the drama, weakened at the end. She babbled all her secrets for curious listeners to hear. In the night walking scene, the guilty queen cries in remorse: “Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’’ Macbeth’s realization of the futility of crime comes to him a short time before his death. When in a thoughtful mood, he said: “I have lived long enough; my way of life Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf; And that which should accompany old age As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but, in their stead, Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.’’ Ben Jonson aptly said, “Shakespeare wrote not for an age but for all time.” In our homes, our libraries, and our schools are volumes of Shakespeare’s works. No other author, ancient or modern, can take his place in our hearts. His ideals are our ideals, and his immortal words are the delight of modern scholars. Leigh Hunt rightly spoke of Shakespeare as “Humanity’s divinest son, that sprightliest, gravest, wisest, kindest one . . . .” Dorothy Phillips, ’31.

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20 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?” These words always bring forth a feeling of sympathy from readers or audiences. No doubt they always will because of their appeal to the heart of every free man who believes in democracy. Portia’s mercy speech is another well known passage of The Merchant of Venice, and one to be remembered because of its grace and everlasting truth. Portia tried to persuade Shylock to accept money instead of human flesh for his bond, as she reminded him: “The quality of mercy is not strained. It falleth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” At the end of her speech she begged Shylock to be merciful and spare Antonio. Her womanly loveliness and virtues will ever be remembered. One of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies is Hamlet. This play deals mainly with the misfortunes of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, whose father had been murdered by his uncle. The characteristics of the unfortunate Hamlet are true to life. By turns he is joyful and depressed. He has only one friend, Horatio, in whom he can conflde. All the others are false and artificial. Even his mother fails him. Hamlet’s sweetheart, Ophelia, is so obedient to her father that she disregards Hamlet’s love for her. Her brother, Laertes, is also influenced by his lather. To Laertes, who is about to set out on a journey, Polonius gives a group of maxims: “Give thy thoughts no tongue Nor any unproportion’d thought his act. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment To thine own self. To thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Whom we, to gam our peace, have sent to peace Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy.” “Better be with the dead. peace

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22 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF lOHN K. WADE. ( A Short Story.) Nature with all its forces has played strange tricks on mere men. Men have gone down to sea in ships and never returned; airplanes have crashed to the earth, forced down by freaks of nature; men have disap¬ peared forever from the sight of their friends; tornadoes have ruined whole towns. But what trick of nature could make a man disappear from his own home in broad daylight? Mrs. Wade related the facts of her husband’s disappearance to a group orf weary policemen. “I left my husband in the parlor for about five minutes, and when I returned, he had gone. I looked through the whole house, but I couldn’t find him. The yard is very muddy and footprints could easily be seen on it, but there were no prints. He has not left the house, and he’ is not in the house. It has baffled me. I hope you can find him. He has never left me in this manner before.” What were you and your husband discussing before his disappearance?” a policeman asked. ‘T was telling him a few errands which he might do tomorrow,” she answered. ‘‘Did you quarrel about the errands?” the policeman then inquired. “No, indeed! We never quarreled about errands,” she said. The inquiry proceeded uselessly for more than an hour After the policemen went away, Mrs. Wade put everything in perfect order and swept the mud from the rugs. She sighed as she looked at the only chair in which she had allowed John to sit because of his greasy clothes. She pic- tured him as he had sat there reading the daily paper. Often when she had scolded him, he would smile at her with his brown eyes and push back his curly black hair as he thought of a suitable answer. He had not grown old as quickly as she had. Her blue eyes had already lost the glow of youth, and her brown hair was turning gray even though she was only thirty-five. She thought, “How could John have hidden in the house? I have searched it and the policemen have gone through it thoroughly. He didn’t leave the house because—but what’s the use of thinking about how he dis¬ appeared? I must find him.”