Orleans High School - Sword Yearbook (Orleans, VT)

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RODERICK GALLUP: We present you with these false teeth to help you out in case of an accident when you start your boxing career. MACK CONVERSE: We present to you this new joke book so that you will not have to stay up so late nights just trying to get some jokes to tell to the kids. KERMIT SMITH: We present to you this pair of hand-cuffs to keep Gracie from losing hold of you in the future. RAYMOND CLOUTIER: We present to you this alarm clock to keep you from being late this summer at Bray’s. WILLIAM WEBSTER: We present to you this package of mascara to keep that gleam in your eye. GEORGE STONE: Since you have been in the Navy we pre- sent to you this souvenir of a battleship. ARVID KAHLSTROM: We present to you this money to have on hand whenever your sister comes around asking for some. MISS ROWE: We present to you this putty knife to give the kids to scrape the gum off the floors next year. GRETA MESSIER: We present you with this package of typing paper so you can keep up your good typing. Salutatory SAFETY ON THE HIGHWAYS Members of the Faculty, Fellow Speakers, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have chosen for my subject tonight Safety on the Highways because I believe that the terrible conditions brought about in this age of automobiles can be and must be remedied. A man’s automobile is one of his most cherished possessions. It is woven inextricably into the fabric of his life. Because of its convenience in moving him quickly from place to place, because of its comfort and the sense of luxury it imparts, because of its ability to broaden the scope of his activities by taking him to new regions and enabling him to meet new people, it is vital to his existence. Men sacrificed their homes, underfed their families, gave up everything during the depression to keep their automobiles. V hat greater tribute can be paid a piece of machinery? The rise of the motor car is the outstanding phenomenon of the century, the most 1 A UK TWBNTY-THREE

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Class Gifts KARLENE DOW: We present you with this noise-maker just to see how much noise you can make. PRISCILLA BENNETT: We present you with these potatoes to keep up the Nye potato business in Barton. RACHEL MCNAMARA: A cook book so you can keep Merrill from becoming hungry in the future. PERSIS WELLS: A postmaster to deliver your daily letters from Paul. ELAINE SPRINGER: We present you with this nurse’s uniform to start you in your nurse’s training. RITA PERRY: We present you with this tube of lipstick to keep your smile bright. BEVERLY PERRY: We present you with this little sailor boy so that you will never be without a boy-friend. JULIA MURPHY: We present to you this telephone so that Giles will be able to call you up from camp. THELMA LEACH: We present you with this typewriter rib- bon to always keep your typewriter in good condition. LUCILLE GRAY: We present you with this package of gum so that you may treat the teachers immediately after this program is over. ELLIS HUNT: We present to you this '46 Oldsmobile so that you can go to Coventry more often to see Midge.” BOB PICKEL: We present to you this bus to keep up your pas- senger business. NORMAN DWYER: We present to you this new saddle horse so that on your way from Evansville you will never have to worry about getting a ride. DAVID BOULANGER: We present to you this pint of milk to quench your thirst from all other kinds of drinks. RICHARD TINKER: We present to you these wavers so that you may always have your waves. JOHN COFFEY: We present to you this book on How to Please the Girls.” ARTHUR SIAS: We present to you this stop sign for a re- minder when driving Genevieve in your new car. SLAYTON MARSH: We present to you this English book for we know you will want to catch up on your back English. PAGE TWENTY-TWO

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striking fact of American life today. We miss its significance be- cause we are too close to it. But when a foreigner visits this country for the first time, what impresses him most is the staggering number of automobiles and the complete dependence of the whole nation upon them. And yet with all this homage to the motor car, there is some- thing lacking. While the individual owner enjoys his machine and constantly uses it, in at least a million cases he hasn’t even learned to drive it properly, and in still more cases, he hasn’t learned to keep it in good running order. The dream of cars for everybody has come true and what marvelous cars they are. Motoring in such conveyances is a luxury and convenience that only yesterday was beyond the reach of kings. But the tremendous benefit the automobile has conferred upon us has been marred by an equally tremendous tragedy in the killing and wounding of millions of American people. The machine has turned upon us as though it were a demon of wrath, and has punish- ed us, through our own shortcomings and incompetence, with death and destruction. In spite of improvements in automobiles, the slaughter grows worse. Cars are safer, sturdier, and almost fool-proof. Only about five per cent of the large number of accidents are due to faulty mechanism, and very often these accidents occur because the owner of the car is too careless to have his brakes relined, or too miserly to replace wornout tires. When carelessly driven, an automobile is just as much a weapon of destruction as an airplane bomb or machine gun. It need not be. Accidents are not inseparable from motoring. It is largely a ques- tion of the driver. Statistics show that women drivers are involved in far less fatal accidents than men. As far as road and weather conditions are concerned, four out of every five accidents occur on dry roads and in clear weather. Only one out of five occurs on wet, snowy, or icy roads; or in cloudy, foggy, rainy, or snowy weather. What a pity that the ideal conditions for safe driving breed a criminal recklessness that swells the death and injury totals so appallingly! Instead of dwelling on a long list of figures soon to be forgotten, let’s picture in our minds the people involved. Figures are cold and passionless things; we must begin to put blood and emotion into them. Imagine those killed; their bereaved families; the disfigure- ment and often disability of those injured; and all such horrible truths. All cold and passionless figures mean similar blood and murder, suffering and mutilation, to thousands of people. If you are not one of them yet, you may be tomorrow; you may be before this living day closes. You will be sooner or later unless you aid PAGE TWENTY-FOUR