North Andover High School - Knight Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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THE GOBBLER-1948 JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL ground. After years of personal conflict he reached his peak as President of the United States. A man is a success who is patient in adversity, clean of mind and heart, and who has the poise to accept the blinding honors of the world for what they are worth. In the campaign of 1928, on the night of the elections, A1 Smith was sitting by his radio with his family listening to the returns come in. When the returns from the Bronx clearly showed that he was defeated, he jauntily put on his brown derby and led his family upstairs to cut his wife’s birthday cake. He succeeded that night by his calm acceptance of the majority decision of his fellow citizens far more than if he had been elected President. Those who are not averse to play with gusto a humble part are the most successful of all. Emily Dickenson said, “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.” I believe she meant “those who ne’er succeed” in the eyes of the world. There is the mother and father who scrimp and slave to give their children what they would like them to have. Who dream dreams not for them¬ selves but for their offspring who, they hope, will accomplish what they them¬ selves were not able to do. This mother and father will not go down in history, but their sacrifices will be engraved forever in the hearts of their children who alone will pay tribute to their memory. The poet Wordsworth drew in lines of stirring beauty the true picture of real success when he told of his ideal man who “Looks forward, persevering to the last, From well to better, daily self-surpassed; Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth Forever, and to noble deeds give birth, Or he must fall to sleep without his fame, And leave a dead, unprofitable name— Finds comfort in himself and in his cause; And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause— This is the happy Warrior; this is he That every man in arms should wish to be.” Mary-Clare Hickey CLASS ORATION In Ourselves Our Future Lies | HE way in which we react to the teaching of our homes and our schools will determine the future of ourselves and of our country. When we were young J children, our parents began the moulding of our characters. They taught us, first of all, what was right and what was wrong. They taught us to be honest. If we did something wrong and told the truth about it, our punishment would be less severe. They taught us to be efficient in whatever we were doing. For 20

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THE GOBBLER-1948 JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL live on a decent standard? No, we have just let him alone, saying alone, saying aloud or silently, “He has lived in the mud and mire so long, he has accustomed himself to it and would not appreciate any beneficial advances.” We proclaim loud disapproval of his attempts to join our business world, and yet we un- questioningly eat the food he has produced and prepared for our table. Very often we refuse to let him display his talents for entertaining; still we allow him to smooth the wrinkles from our hotel-room bed. We frown on his holding politi¬ cal office, but we called for him to protect us and defend our country. We certainly cannot boast of a truly great democracy when we are suppress¬ ing voters of some parts of the country. Most Negroes in these sections resent very bitterly their denial of the ballot, agreeing with Langston Hughes, a Negro po et, when he said the Negro “must pay taxes but refrain from going to the polls, must patriotically accept conscription to work, fight, and perhaps die, to regain or maintain freedom for people in Europe and Australia when he hasn’t it himself at home.” It is easy to advocate changes, but how to bring these changes about is a difficult proposition. How can we change such long-standing traditionally ac¬ cepted views? Could a law possibly convert these deep-rooted prejudices over¬ night, or must we construct and labor with a long range plan of education— education of the Negro, and education of his oppressor? It is up to this generation, as the leaders of tomorrow, to instruct and lead the coming generation from the worn channel of prejudice, to help them remove that wedge on the other side of the door. We must lead them to a friendly future of co-operation, neighborliness and true democracy shared with their fellow- men regardless of their color. June A. Schmottlach CLASS ESSAY Success J UST what is success? Since in our rapid, twentieth-century life most people judge men by their success, we should understand what is the real meaning of the word Success. For some, the height of success is a huge accumula¬ tion of wealth. How they accumulated it concerns them little. Others believe that high standing in society is a successful goal. Their social preeminence may be achieved to their outward satisfaction, but they can usually remember a long battle which brought their victory. The power over men that comes from politi¬ cal control is a third successful achievement. However, these definitions are only outward signs of success. In my opinion a man is a success who never compromises his ideals, who never loses sight of his goal. He is generous in thought and never imputes unworthy motives to others. He has one ambition or desire in view which makes the ascending path he must travel a rocky, but satisfying one. This goal, however, must be a noble one. Lincoln began his upward climb by the fire of a crude, Kentucky log-cabin. His one consuming thought was to read and learn of life outside his meager back- 19

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THE GOBBLER-1948 JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL instance, when we helped our parents do odd jobs, we were taught never to leave a part of a task undone. When we left the task, it was completed and all the equipment was put in its proper place. They taught us good manners, a thing which is very essential if we wish to obtain social recognition in later life. As we went on into school, the school continued the teaching of our parents. But we began gradually to have a mind of our own. Either we have the will to learn or we haven’t. The schools teach us to be accurate. It is one thing to have speed, another thing to have accuracy, as we find out in mathematics. How¬ ever, if we do not have the intention of becoming accurate in our work, the school cannot make us accurate. The schools try to build in us a sense of re¬ sponsibility. They give us an assignment and a date at which this assignment is to be handed in. They leave us responsible for completing the assignment on time and they deduct from the mark in proportion to our degree of tardiness in submitting the assignment. Again, however, they can only teach us to be re¬ sponsible. We must learn. In later life, we will reflect the teaching of our parents and of the schools. What kind of job shall we get if we cannot display a well-balanced personality? How long could a secretary hold a job if she did not have the accuracy which was taught to her in school or the manners which were taught to her by her par¬ ents? How far would any workman climb if he did not have some sense of re¬ sponsibility? We would be outcasts of society if we didn’t make use of the man¬ ners taught to us by our parents. Therefore it is ourselves, and ourselves alone, that shall determine our own individual futures. We also have a future that will include all of us together, a future that will determine whether we are to be a free people or a slave peo¬ ple—the future of the United States of America. We, the children of today, are the ones who shall determine whether this nation will remain a democratic nation or be crushed under the claws of the Russian bear! In determining this future, we must have a strong sense of responsibility. Each and every one of us must turn to the teaching of our schools and of our parents, for we are the ones who shall run the government and the business of this country. How can we determine how we should deal with Russia if we do not know how other countries have succeeded in similar conditions of the past? Our schools have taught us this, but have we learned? When we go to the polls to elect the men who will run this country, what kind of men shall we vote for? If we have a strong enough sense of responsibility, we shall have followed each man throug hout his career, and we shall elect the man who will manage the coun¬ try most shrewdly during critical periods. If we have another war, how shall we react if and when we win? Shall we be fair enough in our dealings with other countries so that one nation will not have the power to veto all acts of lasting peace? These problems can be solved only by us. We can make or break this liberty that our ancestors fought so hard to preserve. We can make it by opening our eyes to the advice given to us by the past. We can break it by turning away from our teachings and going blindly into the hands of Joseph Stalin. 21 Philip H.Greenler