Newburyport High School - Enaitchess Yearbook (Newburyport, MA)

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But tonight, while she is still at anchor, there are NEWBURYPORT HIGH RECORD LIFE ON A BATTLEWAGON At two bells of the first dog-watch the officer-of- the-deck calls a boat alongside. All visitors clear the ship! The dreadnaught now resumes her private life- strange, hard, seafaring life that people of the land never see. Tomorrow she'll be far offshore, out on the target range making eighteen knots. Bugle and alarm gongs will call all hands to battle stations with the gunnery trophy at stake. other fascinating moments of battleship life never seen by shore dwellers. The midnight watch, for instance, the hours between midnight and 4 a. m., when the long decks are lit by dim blue battle lanterns, silent except for the hum of ventilation blowers, the throb of a pump somewhere deep in the ship, and the reassuring noise of men asleep. Day or night the outstanding feature of a battle- ship is her huge crew. Battleship means ship-of-the- line-of-battle. It is the largest, heaviest type of naval vessel-35,000 tons is the usual size of today with 45,000 tons and larger being constructed. Fourteen hundred gobs live aboard a dreadnaught, set apart from an equal number of human beings because they are team trained and willing to act together. One realizes how stupendous the ship is when he goes out on deck. He looks aloft past the mammoth silhouettes of bulky turrets, up at masts and stacks, boats nested in cradles, and long muzzles of guns forming uncompromising bars against the stars. At the yardarm tips the blinker lights are winking mes- sages in code. Out there on deck the ship never sleeps. About a quarter of the crew-one section -is on duty for each four-hour night watch. When she lies at anchor the number is smaller. The officer of the deck is in charge of the ship as the captain's personal representative. Navy regula- tions decree that while on watch he is senior to everyone on board except the captain and the ex- ecutive officer. From the moment the bugle breaks the stillness of the morning with the shattering notes of reveille, the day is organized down to the last second. The whole ship's company is divided into divisions. Each division has a part of the ship to take care of, and a part of each day is spent in housewifery-cleaning corners, shining brasswork, scrubbing paint, and caring for other minor details. No house ashore gets as much attention. Following cleaning, the serious business of man-o- war life begins. The secret of winning battles is learning how to fight them. A battleship spends most of its time in anticipation of trouble. There's a plan for everything: collision, fire, breakdown at sea, and man over-board. Every sailor knows his assign- ment for each emergency. Above all, there are plans for battles-battles against submarines, battles against destroyers, battles against other battleships, battles against planes, battles at sea alone, battles as part of the fleet, battles by day, and battles by night. A battleship fights with guns-the flares she carries are for spotting gunfire. She has heavy guns. fourteen or sixteen inch, in turrets for long range shooting at heavy targets. She has five inch rapid guns to use against submarines or destroyers. She has five inch semi-automatic anti-aircraft guns, and batteries of pom-poms and machine guns for shooting at planes. Shooting the batteries is the most exciting part of battleship life. Each target practice is a milestone in the year, worked up to through days and weeks of intensive drilling. Loading crews go through prac- tice hundreds of times, heaving dummy shells and powder charges into ffloading machines, while officers time them with stop watches. Gun layers, range finders, plotting room crew-the whole gunnery gangi' of 600 men iron out the kinks in an organization that ranges from the control tops, where the guns are aimed by electric di- rectors, to the bowels of the ship where electric mechanical calculators figure the gun-range. Then the shoot, and the score, and the ship's standing in the fleet. At the end of the year there's the Gunnery Trophy and a white E on the conning-tower for the ship standing number one. Gunnery is sport-in gunnery you shoot at a raft. Battle is something else-in battle the target shoots back. Preparation for battle finds a job for every man on board. A ship is a living thing. Battle wagons are the most queenly of ships. Battle wagons become sym- bols. You work for fthe ship.' You fight for her. She binds you and your shipmates together. She's your home, your fort, and somehow she's your mistress. Irving Dickie, '42 PAGE FIFTEEN

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NEWBURYPORT HIGH RECORD We are not allowed to put the books on our desks because this makes the room look cluttered and gives a bad appearance. You know, an office girl should be neat! I think the authorities should either see that dusters are supplied to dust off our books or have some shelves put under our chairs so that we can keep our offices looking clean and get an A for neatness both in and out of the typing room. Respectfully, Ruth Langlois '43 SPEAK UP, GIRLS! To the Editor of the Record: Athletics in Newburyport High School seem to be meant only for boys. Football season in the fall starts the school year off with a bang. Every Saturday or Friday night hundreds flock to games, but it's all for the boys. Then basketball games are started and there are articles in the paper concerning them, and tournament and conference championships follow. Why can't girls have some part in athletics too? Of course, girls can't play football, but there are other sports. Football coaches are hired and excellent equipment is bought. Our fine stadium is built and anything and everything needed is supplied. Basketball is the same, fine uniforms and necessary equipment are purchased. Why ca.n't the girls at N. H. S. have a basketball team and be as well provided for? Why can't we play games with other schools and enter tournaments? In other schools they do it. Why can't we? Besides basketball there are other games, volley ball and field hockey, but we never even hear of these. Do you believe that if we showed more enthusiasm the Athletic Council might do something about it? Basketball games have been started by our physical instructor, but nothing seems to come of it. The G. A. A. has been organized and each year all the schools around meet and have a day of fun. Why couldn't we get a few schools interested and have competition between them, such as that of the boys' basketball team? Very truly yours, Carolyn Kelly '44 STOP, LOOK, AND THINK To the Editor: One of the criticisms to be made of the students at Newburyport High School is the fact that they don't PAGE FOURTEEN seem to appreciate the building. We are fortunate in having one of the most modern and best equipped high schools in the state. Yet evidence of abuse of the building by the students is visible almost any- where a person tums. One sees on the arm-chairs epitaphs which the student spends hours diligently carving, in order that his memory may be preserved for posterity. The walls and furniture have suffered much in the comparatively short time the high school has been standing. Perhaps if the student who finds such savage amusement in deteriorating our building were taken on a field trip to view the conditions which students in other schools are subjected to, our own beautiful building would be treated as though it were composed entirely of glass. We, as students, would undoubtedly also appreciate our present place of learning if we were suddenly transferred to the old high school where, for many years, our predecessors literally risked their lives by attending daily classes. But, as neither a field trip nor a migration is probable, other means must be relied upon to preserve the life of our building. Try to foresee the conditions of the building ten years hence, if the present practices continue. Each one can do his or her part by refraining from actual participation in the acts mentioned, and by preventing others from doing so. This should not involve physical combat between agitator and arbitrator. Surely anyone living in a great democracy such as ours can be made to see the wrong in what may seem petty now, but which may lead to much more serious consequences in the future. Yours respectfully, James Zajris '45 BUY DEFENSE STAMPS Come one! Come all! And do your part. Buy Defense Stamps With all your heart. Old Uncle Sam Is a good old chap, So please don't Let in Mr. Jap. A stamp a week, Or maybe two, Will add up to A Bond for you. Frances Gerow '44

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NEWBURYPORT HIGH RECORD OUR GOAL We are out to conquer! That's our only goal. We're standing close together A strong, united whole. We're the chosen keepers For the Torch of Liberty, Which undimmed, we'll pass right on To our own posterity. We have boys in khaki, We have boys in blue, We have men with white collars, Men in overalls, too. We are striving zealously, Each one doing his best. Inspired by one mighty purpose, Weill stand well the test. Given God's approval, Ever will our land be free, And our children's children Shall preserve that liberty. So, we're out to conquer! That's our only goal. We're standing close together, A strong, united whole! Mary Mantarian, '42 THE LEAP He just couldn't back out this time. All retreat was cut off. He was a tall man, about thirty, with a weak chin and shifty eyes, who knew that if he turned back the gang of police that had been hounding him would catch up. He took the first step up the long flight and glanced back. Sure enough, there they were. They had him cornered. Though they hadn't seen him yet, he knew that when they did they would shout and try to catch him. Darn those cops, any- way, he thought as he raced around the first landing out of sight of those eyes below. They would make things so hot for a guy that he'd have to do this. Well, it was better this way if he had the nerve to go through with it. The stairs seemed to stretch for miles. He finally made the top, puffing like a locomotive. There, now for the hardest part. He sidled to the edge and looked down. He turned quickly. It was a long way down, and he didn't have a very strong stomach. If a man dove off and hit way down PAGE SIXTEEN there- He shuddered and closed his eyes. Well, it's the only way out. Now, steady, old man, take it easy. Thatls it. The police down below saw him now and were shouting and waving frantically. Now, back up. Ready, now! Three leaps took him to the edge. Then, out! Out into space he dived! It didn't hurt as you cleaved the water. It was just as the boys had said it was going to be. The boys dived in after him and waited for him to come up. Clancy, the best swimmer on the force, said, I never thought he'd get up the nerve to do it. Another commented, That high dive's a tough one for beginners. And so Jack Davis was initiated into the Swimming Cops Club. Harry M iller, '45 LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS I believe in Life. Why? Because I love it. So far my life has been fun. Well, most of it has been anyway. My most frequent worries, if that's what you want to call them, are how to make my al- lowance last until Saturday, what dress to wear to the next dance, and how to tell that awful boy I don't want to go to the movies with him. But these are only trivial things that won't last forever, and I know it. I realize I'll have to make my way in a selfish and confused world. But somehow I know that even when I have taken the bitter with the better, I will still love life. I believe in Liberty, for what is life without liberty? It must mean something to people just like me all over the world, or why would they be fighting and dying for it? Our ancestors came to this country for one reason, liberty! Freedom to do as they pleased and the right to worship as they pleased. When something threatened their freedom, they fought for it until victory was theirs. Today some- one threatens our freedom, and again we must fight hard for it so that we may give to our children what they died to give to us. Liberty! I believe in the Pursuit of Happiness. Friends, par- ents, love, the right to worship as you choose, and the fulfilment of your ambitions-all go into the formula for making happiness. In Germany your life even before you are born is planned for you. You will be a useful tool for Hitler. You live for him only, and eventually you will probably die for