Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

Page 21 text:

THE RAVELIN S 1938 mlles apart He signs a reglstratlon book and pays the 25 cents fee for an overmght lodging and hands his pass to the house parents At 10 P M the hosteler has to be qulet and have his lights out or the house parents may collect a double fee In the morning the hosteler cooks h1s own breakfast t1d1eS his room at the hostel and leaves generally by 9 A M after the house parent has returned his pass A hosteler may stay ln one place from one to three nights nev er longer because of the necesslty of making room for new travelers Internatlonal hostellng makes It posslble for its American members to see Europe as well as Am r1ca and at the same rates The rules in European hostels are much the same as those in America Drinking and smoklng are both forbidden the greatest s1mpl1c1ty of l1v 1ng condl ions 1S the rule lHl bill DISH ILRLI NTLXARX IN ANII RICA By Evy Carlson Although the Scandmavlan countries are an unobstruslve group they have proved them selves quite eHic1ent ln developing both the economlc and social fields of the1r living Nab oth Hed1n tells us in his article in the maga zme Forum for October 1937 Sweden has today done more than any other nation for the promotion of soc1al welfare and a wlder d1s tr1but1on of wealth and yet she was one of the first coun ries to recover from the depresslon to balance the budget and to restore normal employment Thls year marks the tercent enary of the landlng of the ancestors of the Swedish and Finnish Amemcans It is appro pr ate then to review at this time the experx ences and contributions of these worthy people Therefore, I have chosen this topic for my es sa lit was 1n the year 1600 before any settle ments had yet been made 1n America and be fore other nauons were even planning to colo n1ze there that the Dutch were busy persuad 1ng Gustavus Adolfus King of Sweden wmch then covered the present terr1 org, of N rway Sweden and Finland to send some of his people to America wiere r1ches was to be found 1n abundance The Dutch traders had wanted a colony 1n Amer1ca as a powerful tradmg sta tion and had looked for an approprlate leader to guide them through the lnevltable hard ships wh1ch they must undergo Tney had turned to Gustavus Adolfus because of his fame as a genius and a leader m organlzatlon at home and abroad He was at that time busily engag d 1n a Wai with nelghbcrmg coun r1es and could not devote time to plan for any fur ther expan ion He did however, authorize the Dutch traders and Peter Mxnult to recruit 1 party of colonlst from the Swedlsh towns This was not easy to do for the Swedlsh people were not anxlous to leave the1r homeland des plte the allurxng storles of r1ches ln America It was not untll 1637 that a group could be or ganxzed whose members were ready to leave lhey sailed from Sweden 1n January 1638 1n two sturdy boats, one named Kalmar N yckel wmch means the Key of Kalmar, and the other F ogelgrip which IS translated to mean The Eagle, bravmg the stormy ocean and finally landing in March on the shores of wnat is now Delaware wnom they eventually bought the land lying on the West slde of the South' or Delaware River and extend1ng from its mouth as far up as that polnt on the Schuylkill River where the c1ty of Philadelphia now stands Here they erected a totem pole w1th the coat of arms of the K1ng of Sweden Shortly after the1r arrival another boat came bringing their governor, a huge four hundred pound man by the name of Johan Prmtz It was to h1m that the success of the colony was due He was a dom1neer1ng man wno supervised everything him elf and d1d xt successfully des plte the hatred and fear whlch he aroused 1n hls sub Jec s Mr Carl Wahl trom Cha rman of the Worces er Ccmml tee for tne Tercentenary Celebration, has done a great deal of researc 1 on the history of this early group and he tell the following enhghtenmg story to illustra e Governor Prlntz method of administering Jus ice Anders, The Finn, a member of the colony, protested at the hnrsh rules and the strict regulations to whlch the governor held the group Governor Prlntz, w1o could brook 7 , 19 ' . . 7 - 7 s 'I . n Q , YJ . ., . c , 7 , . u o - , Q . L , V T J Y Y : V S : W 41 V F Y Y Y ' T A J JA A L 4 4 - 4 1 ' 7 Q' ' - ' G5 ' Y Y 7 Y ' . . . . - H ,, I ' , 7 3 , . - ac ' ra - - - 7 I 7 ,, . - ' - 1 . ' ' ' A - ' . - They were met by three Indian chiefs from 1 1 a H ' . . . , ' 1 v ' f L, . - . , Q A . . 7 . . , . . . . j 7 V F . Y L N- 9 . , l a , . . 3 , - . . A Q . ' . , . 3 , o ' ' L '47 1 ' . L 1 1 I I 1 L . . . N , .3 . . . . . , . . . C . 1 . . . , . . Z. I ., . . - in , A-. . . L . L. . ' 9 4 -Q . . . - 1 ' ' u A

Page 20 text:

THE RAVELIN S 1938 unt1l hostels were established throughout the surrounding towns and finally throughout Ger many Young hostelers of Germany students and youthful workers journeyed 1n bands afoot by b1cycle, and by boat confident that at the day s end they would find a hostel awaltlng them They drew up tl'e1r own rules and regulat1ons and at last they succeeded 1n gett1ng recogn1 t1on from nat1onal agenc1es From Germany the hostel 1d a spread ramdly unt1l all Europe had become acquamted wlth youth hostels At length the ldea of the hostel movement reached the Un1ted S ates Here It was taken up by Monroe Sm1th a graduate of Wesleyan, a former school master and coach at German town Fr1ends School 1n Ph1ladelph1a Wh1le study1ng for h1S Ph D at Teachers College of Colurnb1a Un1vers1ty Monroe Smlth and h1s Wlfe were comm1ss1oned by the Un1ted States to lead a hlgh school pro1ect 1n 1nternat1onal fr1endsh1p on a summer student tour of Europe The party was g1ven the pr1v1lege of usmd the youth hostels IH every country they v1s1ted The Smlths were very much 1mpressed by the European hostels so 1mpressed 1n fact that they returned to Europe for a years study of In 1933 Mr and Mrs Sm1th a tende dthe Second Internatxonal Conference of the Youth hostels and were offic1ally aopomted to 1n1t1ate the movement 1n the Un1ted States In October 1934 the th1rd 1nternat1onal Youth hostel Conference Wh1Ch was held 1n London recogn1zed the Amer1can Youth hos tels as the nmeteenth member of the Inter nat1onal Youth hostel Assoc1at1on The first Amer1can hostel was founded 1n Northfield Mass by the Monroe Smlths and shortly afterward hostels sprang up through out the rest of the New England States and throughout the natlon Today there are hostels 1n the followmg Massachusetts towns North field South Hadley S.1nderland Ashburnham, Adams, North Orange Lunenburg Bol on, Framingham, Spmrgfield and MIIIIS ' The New England hostel tra1l offers a great opportunlty for adventure Hostelers on the tra1l pass by the farms and v1llages of New England they sk1rt the shores of l1ttle lakes They may t lke a day off to chmb Mt Wash1ng ton where Alp1ne flowers grow and where trees only three feet tall are known to be four hun dred years old The top of Mt Wa hmgton IS a ver1table Arct1c reg1on where even 1n sum mer they can explore a baby glac1er In short they come to know the wonders and beautles of our own Amer1ca as one speed 1ng through 1n automob1le can never know them And best of all they come to know the people Perhaps they stop for the nlght ln a rambhng old wmte farmhouse and talk w1th the k1ndly farmer and h1s good wlfe wno are house parents to the hundreds of young hos telers who lodge there durmg the year The hostelers gather about the fireplace 1n the even mg slng songs tell stor1es play games and er Joy gettlng acouamted Wlth other young peo ple whom they have never met before and, wno may come from far away C1t16S or even from other COUHITICS They are ready to sleep sound ly before ten o clc ck perhaps on straw mattres ses t1red but oh so happy and wake Wlth the sun the next mornm-1 ready to conquer more m1les and mountams Betty Blodgett a worker 1n the A Y H a the Amer1can Youth Hostels are fa'n1larly called went from Boston to Northfield by bl cycle She says If you l1ve 1n Boston for ex ample and can t spend a week hostellng take a week end at any one of the Massa hu e s a f1Sh1Hg enthus1ast go to the M11llS Hostel and fish 1n the Charles Rlver from the vou h hostel back Dcrch w1th the town famed f1sher man the house father If vou love d1v1ng and wlmmlng go to Bolton and dvve out of bed each morn1ng lnto the lake If vou love the deep woods grand v1ew and dear old New England vlllaves take the hostel tral from Boston to Northfield and red1s over Massachu setts Thls year It IS estlmated that there w1ll be 15 000 hostelers travel1ng through the Un1ted States They w1ll travel by blcycle or hlke over tra1ls and byways to see our country 1n all 1tS beauty Youth hostels are not run for profit and therefore the fee to Jom IS nom1nal A hosteler may be any age from four to nlnetv four In order to Jom, he must have a phys1cal exam1na t1on own a blke and possess a pass If he plans to take a tr1p he not1'ies the hostel at wh1ch he plans to stop so that the house var ents can reserve room for h1m He then hlkes or blkeS over a planned tra1l When night comes he stops at the hostel he has chosen In states where the movement 1S well devel oped these hostels may be no more than fifteen 18 ' , , - cz ' N . , . 1 1 y ' 9 7 . Y 1 , . ' ' 1 1 . . . 1 . I , . . . . . . , 7 q 9 u n , I , ' I 31 I 9 I 1 1 1' . L l l 1 - . , . . . . . - . . 1 9 I . 1 I Y - . . . 7 , , , , . . . . - - 77. ' ' - . I , ' . . ., s . O - A - ' . 7 I - , . cc - - , 1 .7 1' , 1 ' 1 ' - ' ft. 3 tt the hostel plan' hostels nearer you. If it's summer and vou're 1 ' ' ' - 5 ' . L . . U . 1 7 - ' t ' ' . . . s ' ' ' 7 Q p ' ' L ' . . 4 . ' s, 1 ' Q ' . - 'i 7 A ' - D I . 77 V - , I , , . 5 . . , N ' Y - u u 1 o 1 1 1 . - 5 7 I I - I 1 , . . . . . - 5 1 ' ' fi ' H U 9 7 S ' ' l 1 ' r ' ' S - ' . ' F ' ' - if ' ,Y ' 0 - . . s ' ' ,

Page 22 text:

THE RAVELIN S 1938 no crltxcxsm of hls actlons promptly set up a court to hear the complamts In thxs tr1bunal he acted as Judge and Jury He sentenced An ders to be hanged and to lnsure proper per formance of the sentence, he served as Ander s executxoner hlmself Forts were erected both at the Wharf of Rocks and at T1n1cum Island where Governor Prmtz had h1s headquarters He commanded the people to fulf1ll the purpose for whlch they had been sent to Amerlca namely to trade w1th the Indxans For a txme the new colomsts busxed themselves m exchanglng knlves axes kettles and gewgaws for valuable furs but thexr hearts were not ln thxs buslness They found that they were better farmers than trad ers and so dug themselves ln They were far happler as they began to cultlvate corn and ralse anlmals They made one attempt at chrlst lamzmg the Indlans but gave lt up and devoted themselves to remaxnlng frxendly wxth them There IS no record of any trouble between the Swedlsh colomsts and the Red Men even though settlers of other natxons were often en dangered by the Herce war lust of the Indlans As IS customary wlth the Swedxsh people ev en today, these early people were contmually lmprovmg thelr communltles They lald roads bullt crude but eflicxent beglnmngs of mdustry held courts admmlstered laws establlshed schools and churches and pald thexr taxes There were twelve more expedltlons from Swe den and from Fxnland together The expand mg colony soon covered a good part of what IS now Delaware south western New Jersey Pennsylvama and a small part of Maryland It was at thls perlod of thelr colon1zat1on that they were taken over by the Dutch whom they served loyally Later, together wlth the Dutch ln New York they were absorbed mto the Amerlcan colorues and many of Amerlca s statesmen and leaders trace thelr ancestry back to those first Scand1nav1an colomsts It IS the tercentenary of the modest begmmnvs of thls loyal and steadfast band, commemorat 1ng the contrlbutlons to Amerlcan culture made by these two sturdy and s1ncere countrles that wlll be celebrated thls year Delaware has made a publlc park of the land1ng place calhng xt the Fort Chr1st1na State Park A monument to be placed there w1ll be a glft from the Swedlsh people havmg been pald for by popular sub cr1pt1on ln Sweden One of the ma1n Delaware hxghways leadlng to Pennsylvanla has been renamed Governor Prmtz Boulevard Amerl can Unlversxtles have mvlted leadmg Swedxsh scholars durlng the current academlc year to serve ln thelr lnstxtutlons as tercentenarv lec turers One of these great men wxll be Professor The Svedberg of the Unlversxty of Upsala w1n ner of the 1926 Nobel prlze ln Chemlstry who wnll take part ln the dedlcatlon of the new chemlstry buxldlng at the Unlverslty of Dela ware m October The prlncxpal ceremony of the celebrat1on w1ll be held IH W11mmgton Delaware on June 27 1938 Presldent Roose velt accompanled by other Umted States d1g nltarxes wall go to meet Crown Prlnce Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and other members of the Royal famxly on the very rocks on whlch three hundred years before the1r ancestors landed There will be other ceremomes throughout the country to commemorate the three hun dredth anmversary of the commg of these peo ple who have contrlbuted by the sweat of thexr honest brows thelr manual Sklll thelr mven tlveness and thelr speclal tralts of character to the growth of the Umted States THE ORIGIN OF 'IHIL CONISTITLTIOV By Russell Proctor As thls year marks the 150th annxversary of the adoptxon of the Const1tut1on It 1S only Ht t1ng that some eflort should be made to com memorate thls memorable event For thls rea son I have chosen as my toplc, The Orxgln of the Const1tut1on A constltutlon accordlng t0 Webster IS the fundamental law of the state 1ts purpose bemd to put mto wrltten form the baslc framework of the pohtlcal system of a natxon The Const1tut1on of Our Umted States has three component par s deflmng the mode of government of a unlted country ruled by the people It outhnes the ma1n organs of govern ment the method by whlch ofHc1als are chosen and the dutxes whlch they perform It appor 20 ' , 9 7 . . . , , . , - - . .. 7 ' . . . . 97 . 3 7 Y 9 ' - 1 1 y v 9 - ' ' v x - as ' rs - nz 77 - . . . . . . . 9 1 . Y - - - u as . . . . ' v a 1 u , , I - . , , - ' 1 Q 9 9 ' , , - . , - 1 v ' v - V W i w 1 I I , ' , . - . L . Q U . H . . . - - rv . . 1 y 1 7 J Q - '