New Utrecht High School - Comet Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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A the Qlumet tracts from living. We have here a para- dox, one man lives a beautiful life, but vitiates the life of his posterity by be- queathing to it all that had taught him to live. For no sooner is posterity pos- sessed with that wealth than the intrinsic value of it is lost. Its purpose veers, in- stead of a bountiful guidance, the wealth becomes a barren obstacle to successful living. Work must be allied to gold. The poet has said: It takes Life to love Life. We must endeavor to view every color and taste every sentiment of life. And what agent can further that experience, if not work? N speaking of becoming wealthy by work, it is not meant that such wealth should be our definite target in life, to incur the use of all our abilities and all our scope. Man should work to live, but his living should not consist of working. That man, who lifts money to the highest category. and, having once placed it there, considers its security the ultimate purpose and the su- preme factor in life, is to be regarded as a paragon of material-mindedness. In our attempts to live by work we must not pre- clude the fantasies that make the life worth working for. MEMORABLE portion in Gals- worthy's chronicles of the last genera- tion speaks of one Swithin Forsyte. Having found fortune in his bachelor existence, he now might well enclose himself within an atmosphere scented with culture and Hav- ored with delicate wealth, yet devoid of any inherent worth. For, by his code, worth was only measured monetarily. A highly or- nate group of statuary was to him of ex- treme valueg not a farthing less than four hundred pounds sterling, and when one who recognized beauty proclaimed it remark- able for its naivete, he was not sure wheth- er the observation was complimental or sar- castic. The beauty was there, but through his gilded eyes, he could not see it. Pig- headed, his brother said. Gold, then, is worth attaining only if we live by itg and we live by it only by working for it, allowing its acquisition, however, not more than a reasonable con- sumption of the soul. T will be said that mere words are useless, for what good is a man's great heart if he has no purse to be regulated by the size of his good will? There is then the corol- lary that every great purse would naturally draw to a great heart. B-ut how many of us who live well within our capacities ever really broaden our considerations of those unfortunates who cannot live within their capacities? Do not most of us continue to live even with a greater self-satisfaction than is just? Only a minority of men look upon the province which lies just beyond their own scope. The majority do not step into those provinces, where they might well ex- ercise enviable powers. It is only those few who prove themselves benefiicial to their neighbors to whom we may apply the term of goodness. That a man is more often made glorious by his goodness than by his gold, is, more unfortunately, seldom real- ized. The ostracized Silas Marner set his gold upon that pedestal which he believed to be nearest to terrestrial heaven, his neighbors found it nearest to hell. Only with the ad- vent of his awakening did Silas become happy. His goodness came to the fore when it was led by a little child, who in her course trammelled up all the other inroads upon this man's real nature. Seventeen V, . Q

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Gold, Glory and Goodness Sylvia Brody AN ESSAY NFORTUNATELY, to too many persons the three words gold, glory and goodness are synonomous. Too often -do we see greatness in a rich man, or magnanimity in mere public fame. But these are unrerined views. Goodness and glory are conjoined. A man who is good is glorious, if not pub- licly famous, he has his self-esteem left, and that satisfaction incites the leaves on ones path to burn clear the road to con- tentment. It commands all resolution. It is the essence of successful life, and so desirable enough. But gold, the first factor in the triad, is never related to the other two, glory or goodness, except as an abetter, never has it accomplished any notable success through itself, it is only a strengthener. We are all acquainted with some repre- sentative of wealth. From what did the acquaintance spring? The renowned social leader who is gone from among us so lately, Nathan Strauss, whose name lingers in every mind as a model of rare mag- nanimity, was rich, immensely rich. In his philanthropies, he spent, with neither fuss nor desire for fame, an amount greatly in excess of one million dollars. He ranks with such figures as Sir Moses Montefiore and Baron de Rothschild in his benevo- lence to humanity. But it was not his great wealth which in 1923 proclaimed him to be a citizen who had done most for New York City in the preceding twen- ty-five years. Rather, it was that quality within him that encouraged his munifi- cence, and not the monetary support be- hind it. The name of Nathan Strauss Sixteen shall be imprinted in the granite upon which all memorable deeds are inscribed, the tablet upon which all history writes it- self, and from which time is as powerless to efface a word as it is .powerless to re- strain in its own pace. I say we know wealth by its messenger, which may be a great heart, or a stout heart, it matters not which. Gold is not recognized of itself, therefore it is synonomous to neither glory nor goodness. MAN may have gold without glory, a man may have goodness without glory-but, like gold, glory is never had alone. It is the consequence of either gold or goodness and without the precedence of either, it hardly exists. Since glory is then without choice and only effected by a for- eign force, the problem devolves to the selection between gold and goodness. The acquisition of wealth, as I said, is not enough, it must realize an accom- plishment. Whether that accomplishment be a self-satisfaction or an altruistic inter- est in others, is to be decided. Unfortu- nately, its proper purpose is usually de- feated. Only a small proportion of our wealth is expended in doing good, unless we may consider good economically with regard to the satisfaction of our own ma- terial wants. And the answer for the lack of correct utilization of wealth is perhaps in the method of its acquisition. An inheritance would seem a curse when we consider that wealth gained by work teaches us to live by enabling us to appreciate our gains. So, an inheritance would seem a handicap because it de-

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Gtibe Gomer Ascribe goodness in any sense, and we find it comes to the same: benificence to the living world about one, and so, also to one- self. Let us be, as Edwin Markham has suggested, Brothers, encouraging, helping, enjoying life with one another. Then we shall find goodness within, and glory within. ARE we not all living for ourselves? In the search for fame ,is not our ultimate purpose only recognition? Yet we must re- alize that such pride can be equally enjoyed in a proportionate small measure. Our good- ness need not be world-wide and published but merely appreciated, to bring esteem. In- stead .of heralded glory, we need only the unfailing glow within the heart that will, inevitably, become subject to recognition within oneself. Such glory is real and un- feigned for no man will make a voluntary attempt to deceive himself. Far better is it to be master of oneself than to master other men. A personal vict- ory may be as great as as renowned glory. As for gold, glory, or goodness, then let our aims be, not a conquest recognizable by all men, but for one man alone, one's self 5 for the ensuant peace within the soul will then provoke sufficient understanding for each man to live as content a life as can be lived. SPRING FEVER From the window of my room I can see in the distance-through the hazy Spring air Cool green fields and the spanless sea. They beckon me with sweet words-calling me with whispering cadences. I would leave this hot city-yet cannot, I would leave this dull book-yet cannot, I would drop this black pen-yet cannot. But still the lovely green meadows call sweetly and the murmuring waters call sweetly, Irving, come and enjoy us, X Fall on my soft fragrantrgreen bosom Dive into my cool depths, splashing my lapping watersf, Gladly would I come to thee, O, green fields and cool ocean-yet cannot. I win g Rothschild r Kogan' hQl Eighteen