Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

Page 18 text:

THE RAVELIN S 1938 N IIINCI lHllOlCf lHl All By Statia Sh1v1ck The story of the watch that you wear on your wrist or the clock that stands on a prom 1nent shelf 1n your home today began count less centuries ago and IS almost as long as the history of the human race The first and probably the nearest approach to an accurate natural measure of t1me of wh1ch we have any knowledge today IS the t1me that lt takes for the ear h to rotate on 1tS axis Of course pr1m1 ive man dldn t understand th1s but measured t1me from the apparent movement of the sun across the sky Our earl 1est ancestors l1v1ng 1n caves notlced how the shadows changed 1n length and shane through out the day This was the first feeble germ of t1me measurement Early man saw the sun rise in the east atta1n 1tS hlghest point 1n the heav ens and set 1n the west As th1s process repeat ed ltself he used it as the un1t of time measure ment Soon he became more exacting in his deslre for measuring t1me and spl1t up the earl 1er un1t into equal parts To gage these he de v1sed a very simple artificial time keeper wh1ch was a perpendicular pole that cast the longest shadow at sunrise and sunset and the shortest shadow at noon when the sun was overhead Th1s although very inaccurate was an lmport ant step in time telling As men began to leave their 1solat1on and to transact buslness with each other they felt the need for havlng a more definite means of measurmg time By the perpend1cular St1Ck method lt was dlfficult to dlstlngulshed the d1f ferent hours Some earlv sc1ent1st perhaps no t1ced that the sky was l1ke a great ball and the uns movement upon it could be dupllcated upon the inside of a bowl Thus he began to di v1de the 1ns1de of the bowl into equal spaces by using lines s1m1lar to the long1tude lines we use on a modern map Soon he could dis t1ngu1sh correctly the dlfferent hours of each day This 1nvent1on called the Hemi cycle was no doubt long 1n developing for the device was dlfflcult to erect because the bowl in or der to be of any use to man had to be made o small that lt vt ould be qu1te a strain to read the rnarkmgs correctly Even though th1s t1me piece was for from being as defimte as the dial of our clo ks lt remained in u e for centuries and was the favorlte form of sun dial This t1me telling deV1C9 was satisfactory on a sun ny mo1n1ng but of no use on a cloudy ralny day or during the nlght As ma'1 s lnterests spread over a Wlder field the need for finer graduations 1n the d1v1s1on of time became more serious Our early ances tor who grew correspondlngly more exact IH his thlnklnff and working solved the problem by the mvention of a new time piece that had much more nearly the prec1s1on of '1 machine than had the slmple shadow castlng sun dial He called this a clepsydra which means thief of water The water glass was also a common name for It The clepsydra was used as early a the 5th century IH European countries It was composed of a vessel having a small hole in the bottom so that the l1qu1d could drop out drop by drop The amount that the water lowered was indicated upon a scale located on the Slde of the vessel and by th1s the reader could learn the t1me The clepsydra did not show the exact hour of the day but merely how many hours had elasped since lt had been fllled Later a float was added wlth a pointer to 1nd1cate more easllv the hour As the water lowered the float did lke wise making the polnter show the hour the scale Another lmprovement was the u e of a d1al run by gears It was lntroduced from Egypt and lasted 1n some cases to the close of the 15th century The clepsydras chief dis advantage was that the water would run faster from a full vessel than from a nearly empty one because of the greater pressure above hence It measured 1tS hours unequally more racldly at first and more slowly toward the las ThlS fault d1d not GX1St 1n the hour glass an oher even slmnler time p1ece that can b dated as far back as the clepsydra The hou1 glass was composed of two cone shaped vessels Jolned at the small ends one emptv and the other contalnlng sand wh1ch sifted through a tiny hole into the lower emo y corrpartment Sllver white sand produced the b st results for lt held no molsture and would not stick to gether or block the outlet Besides the dry and moved cvcnly at all times regardles of 16 , , V1 1 rww v 1 rw 1 1 r1 1 1 iw L 4 444 A I 4 ll ll'-ll' l ' ' - - O .. , 1 s . 1 ', . . ' ' 7 7 t. n ' v Q U z-f a . . .U . , . . . . n l ' . a ' - ' 1 7 v ' 1 ' ll f 75 A - , ' . - . S . . . . . . . - . Y . 1 , . Y ' - 7 , - - Y. . , ' . i . . . - . X 1 . 7 ' , . n . . . - . i - s v - - . , , OH . S , . . .i . . W y . . y i - v 7 Q ' 7 7 , . . . . C. . .1 . - , - , '- 5 . . - , e - v ' a ' -, 1 1 a . 7 - . . A , . 1 . S ' - S , ' 7 1 0 . . . 1 . F Q 4 . F ., , ., L . ,

Page 17 text:

7 THE RAVELIN S, 1938 GIIAIJIH-Yl'ION PROGRAM 1 PROCESSIONAL MARCH 2. INVOCATION REV. DR. JOHN E. TUTTLE 3. WELCOME AND ESSAY: STATIA THERESA SHIVICK TIME-TELLING THROUGH THE AGES . SONG: SENIOR CLASS OH ITALIA ITALIA BELOVED Don1zett1 ESSAY KATHRYN MARGARET LANE THE AMERICAN YOUTH HOSTEL MOVEMENT PIANO SELECTION JOSEPH MICHAEL MAINVILLE WALTZ IN C SHARP MINOR Chop1n ESSAY EVY ELISE CARLSON THE SWEDISH TERCENTENARY IN AMERICA SONG SENIOR CLASS CIRIBIRIBIN Pestalozza ESSAY RUSSELL CRAWFORD PROCTOR JR THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTITUTION AWARDIN G OF PRIZES FRANK SANNELLA AWARDING OF DIPLOMAS CHAUNCEY C FERGUSON Supermtendent Emerltus SONG SENIOR CLASS MORNING INVITATION Veazle RECESSIONAL MARCH Hlf HI Sl HONORS FIRST RUSSELL CRAWFORD PROCTOR JR SECOND STATIA THERESA SHIVICK HONORS In the Order of Class St ndmg CLARA LUELLA SN YDER EDWARD CHARLES MORRIS ELIZABETH ALFREDA PAIGE RICHARD BAKER ELLIS LYMAN WILLIS ROSEBROOKS MARTHA MARY GIONET KATHRYN MARGARET LANE WILLIAM JOSEPH KILBORN EVY ELISE CARLSON GORDON JASPER CHAFFEE Grange Valedlctory Medal RUSSELL C PROCTOR JR Rensselaer Scxence and Mathematlcs Medal RUSSELL C PROCTOR JR Berkers College Commercxal Medal STATIA T SHIVICK Wa hmgton and Franklm Umted States Hlstory Mc dal LEONA G BARIL Fletcher Prlze to the glrl awwrded her athlet1c letter who has the hlghest scholastlc average for the year STATIA T SHIVICK Fletcher Prize to the boy awarded hlS athletlc letter v ho has the hlghest cholastlc ax ex ige fox the year WILLIAM J KILBORNI 4 5. : 6 : - 7. 2 8. : 9. : , 10. 11. . 12. : s 13. 4 i IELI' V 4 V L' AXVARIJS FOR 1937-38

Page 19 text:

THE RAVELIN S 1938 the pressure above Several other advantages of the hour glass made lt more popular w1th the people than the clepsydra It would not freeze It dld not need refillmg but needed only to be mverted It could be used mdefimte ly for there were not any parts about the hour glass to wear out It IS curlous to note that the hour and the half hour glasses the first portabl t1me tellmg devxces were st1ll used for keep1ng t1me on sh1ps 1n the Brrtsh navy even as late as 1839 Today s1m1lar sand glasses are st1ll used 1n households for trmlng the cook1ng of eggs Other devlces for measurmg t1me once used ch1efly 1n Europe and As1a were t1me candles These were colored alternately ln black and whlte sectxons to mark the passage of t1me by the amount of candle that had burned They were often used at auct1ons and the last b1d der at the last fllcker of the candle was the suc cessful one Now, let us move forward over an mterval of a thousand years smce man first measured t1me Although the sun d1al the clepsydra and sand glass are st1ll used we find ourselves at last ln the t1me and lands of clocks The French called them cloches and the Saxons called them Clugga both of whlch words meant a bell Everywhere ln Europe there was a constant chxmlng of bells through out the day Not even a blmd man could have remalned unconscxous of the passage of hours through out the day A clock as we know IS a mach1ne w1th a motlve power, a regulatlve de v1ce to make the mechamsm move steadlly and a devlce to mark the t1me and make rt known Toward the close of the 13th century clocks were set up 1n London and ln other 1m portant centers of the old world The earller clocks had nelther dlals nor hands but told t1me only by strlkmg At first they were too expensrve to be m very common use but once thelr usefulness became known they began to appear everywhere and were constantly bemg rmproved The first watches came mto exlstence 1n the year 1500 They were small thxck heavy and were worn at the belt or around the neck They appeared rn the shape of ammals, stars or eggs They had only the hour hand and no crystal, so that they kept more accurate t1me xf they were left on the table than when car rxed around Durmg Queen Ellzabeths t1me people se lected watches as modern women do thelr hats to match thelr vanous costumes and used them for dlsplay rather than servlce Even today watches are generally consldered more of a luxury than clocks The latter were mtroduced 1nto Amerlca 1n 1800 The first ones were made of wood The manufacture of clocks and watches both of which appear 1n ut1l1tar ran and ornamental styles, has been an lmport ant lndustry IH New England s1nce early tlmes People have learned that clocks are essential to modern lrfe hence thousands are used each years rn many new forms The latest ones run by electrxclty THI1 AMP RICAN XOUTH HOSTELS Kathryn Lane In tanglble form a youth hostel IS a f8Cll1 ty for travel It IS a bulldmg wlth separate sleepmg rooms for glrls and boys It ns equlpped with bunks, mattresses and blankets separ ate wash rooms and to1let fac1l1 1es a common k1tCh9H and a common dlnlng room a common recrea lon room and prlvate quarters for the resldent house parents In purpose a youth hostel IS to help all especlally young people to a greater knowledge understand1ng and love of the world by pI'OVld1I1g for them youth hos tels blcycle tra1ls and foot paths ln Amerlca, and by asslstmg them m the1r travels here and abroad Youth hostels got then' start m 1910 when R1Chard Schlrrman a school teacher ln West phalen Germany, concelved the 1dea of settlng up shelters or hostels where he and hls pupils mlght safely and wlth llttle cost, pass the mght after a day of hlklng At first he used the attxc of hls school and the 1dea met wxth so much success that the town government converted an old castle into large quarters Schlrrman worked perslstently 1 , 17 ' 1 y - 1 - D . - . . , .. 1 . . . . . . . 7 ' ' 1 1 , . 1 ' ' s . . . , . - 1 ' ' 1 1 - , . D , . , - 1 ' 1 5' u 1 - 1 , . - . , 1 1 , , Y V 4 A 1 ' . H . . . . . - . . , - - . . . . . . . ' 1 1 1 ' 7 v' - . . .,-. . . . 1 L 1 1 9 4. . . . . . - 1 1 - I 7 - . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 '