Mount St Mary Academy - Mercian Yearbook (Little Rock, AR)

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Dear Graduates of the Class of 1954, At about this same time every year, the editor of the Mercian or her delegate reminds me that the time is approaching when I must prepare to write a valediction to another class that has finished its course and is ready to leave the protecting arms of its Alma Mater to face whatever realities, stern or otherwise, which life has to offer them. It seems incredible that those gangling Freshmen of yester year have developed into the sophisticated Seniors, who are ready to pass in review for the last time and to receive the awards and the approval that comes to all who have finished their scholastic work and are worthy to be graduated. A Chinese savant once said, The more a man is educated, the more it is necessary for the welfare of the State, to instruct him how to make proper use of his talents. Education is like a double-edged sword. It may be turned to dangerous uses, if it is not properly handled. You have bee11 educated under the auspices of the Catholic Church and under the influence of the good Sisters. For these reasons any community in which you choose to live will be the better for it, if you are always faithful to the lessons you have learned. You have had the advantage of a complete education, which means that you have had mental and physical training and, what is most important of all, moral training so that you may know how to use your talents for your own good and for the best interests of the society to which you belong. It is significant that this is the Marian Year. I have been told that the theme of this year runs through your Year Book. This is, of course, no surprise to me. It is as it should be. The influence of our Mother Mary has played a large part in shaping your lives during your school years. Many a time while at the Mount, you have gathered with your school companions before the shrine of Mary Immaculate. There you have pledged to her your fealty and devotion. You are her dear children and she wants you to be clothed with the protective cloak of chastity, of which Milton says- So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, that when a soul is found sincerely so, a thousand liveried angels lackey her, driving far off from her each thing of stain and guilt. In an age when false conceptions of freedom for women have been promoted and adopted, you have been taught to realize that freedom in the Christian sense is not license. It is obedience to God's laws. Most of you will marry and rear families and it will be your duty to restore to the home its former stability, the sanctity and permanence of the marriage bond, and the purity of the marital practices. This nation needs mothers of virtue and courage to solve the problem of what is known as juvenile delinquency, but what is really the fail- ures of the adults. Let your light shine, because Virtue could see to do what Virtue would by her own radiant light, though sun and morn were in the flat sea sunk. I hope that some of the members of this class will emulate the examples of their teachers. The Lord needs laborers in His vineyard. The schools are in dire need of religious teachers. Are you sure that God has not called you? It is a terrible thing to fail to answer the call. And yet we know that God calls a sufficient number to do His work. Where are they? And now, with stirrup cup in hand, let us pledge our mutual prayers and good offices. Though we are separated by space yet We may be close in prayer. And More things are wrought by prayer than this World dreams of. May God bless you, one and all, and may we meet again when this short life is over to relive the happy days spent together at the Mount. And now Farewelll, a word that must be and hath been-a sound which makes us linger-yet-farewell I Sincerely yours in Christ, THOMAS L. KEANY 7

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Very Hevorood Monsignor Thomas L. Hoooy, Phd Kfwzfafzin, ZacAer, an! CozzcA 6

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igrennfing we Vmaaea .fdf we Wounf In Their Classes . . The Mount where Freshmen pore over Uamo, amas, amat and try to absorb the mysteries of algebra-where Sophomores struggle with geometry and wish they were again pondering equations-where Junior typists guardedly erase errors only to make others or encounter irregular verbs, in French this time instead of Latin .... The Mount where Seniors find that French verbs aren't such a mystery as is chemistry-where in religion class they face the serious study of choice of a state of life-where they struggle through the dagger scene of '6Macheth and find themselves on graduation night wishing they were still struggling .... The Mount where through the guidance of Mary, we grow in knowledge. UO gyda! jounfain of jaifk . . . gafde our mini wifh fde efernaf fruf .4 8