Plymouth High School - Mayflower Yearbook (Plymouth, IN)

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24 THE STUDENTS’ VOICE tlie death of his shaggy-haired playmate, Gippy. The little man drops his lialf-made cake, looks at his mother with oig, round, incredulous eyes: slowly slips his hand into hers and goes with her to bury his dead doggie. A proud sweet-faced young lady is stopped by a coarse- featured. flashily dressed woman, who cpiestions her honesty and her womanhood. At first the proud face becomes an angry red: but knowing her accuser to be wrong she holds her peace and goes on her way. A Chinese girl in a mission school is given an American doll. She expresses her joy, not in laughing and in dancing, but her almond eyes sparkle and such a happy flush o’erspreads her little yellow face that no other demonstration of her great pleasure need be made. Look back! Was it the broken-hearted sobs of the mother that made you appreciate her grief? Was it the angry retort of the voting lady that made you resoect her? Was it the exclama- tions of ioy from the Chinese girl that told you she was happy? Rather, the inner-feeling written on her face. These are but a few of the numberless instances which exemplify the dignity of silence in human life. Tn the realm of nature we find the silent forces, electricity, sunlight, and frost, to be the most effective. Tn the world of man it has ever been the silent men of all times who have made his- tory. Rut, transcending all other evidence, is the life of the Man of Galilee. At one time putting forth to sea. exceedingly tired. He fell asleep. A great storm arose. The sailors, frightened and dis- mayed ’roused Him with the reproach. “Carcst Thou not that we perish?” TTe arose, stretched forth His hands to the ranging ele- ments. and with—“Peace, be still —all was calm. Only a glimpse of Him in Gethsemane will suffice. Here, after having endured agony beyond the expression of words. He faced the cross. Yet we hear Him sav. “Father. Thv will be done, not mine.” and returning to His slumbering disciples, so gently bid them—“Sleep on.” To His false accusers of the Sanhedrin. He offered not a word,—“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” Tn His last hour of suffering there upon the cross, the laugh- ing, mocking, jeering crowd below Him. He lifted up His voice to’rd Heaven and pleaded.—Father, forgive them tor they know not what they do.” Is it because He angrily reproved the sailors for disturbing His sleep; is it because He rebelled against His Father’s will there in the garden; is it because He hurled curses down upon

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THE STUDENTS' VOICE 23 THE DIGNITY OF SILENCE. Grace Imogene Bussard. Dignity, «is defined in that recognized authority, Century Dictionary, is “the state oi being worthy. It is stated more poetically, but just as truly, by Wordsworth in these words,— “True dignity abides with her alone, Who, in the silent hour of inward thought. Can still respect, can still revere herself, In lowliness of heart. Consider first the silent forces of nature. Have you not wandered in the forest when all was silent? When, not a bird sang, not an insect buzzed, when the little brook flowed on so softly and so noiselessly, you doubted if it really ran at all? When not a leaf stirred, not a breeze blew, and when e'en the owlets had ceased to hoot? Ah! then you would fain have stood mute and lifeless among Mother Nature's other children. While walking along a deserted beach with only the mon- otonous splash, splash, and roar. roar, of the waves as company, have you not longed to open wide your arms and be swallowed up in the depths? Traveling alone through mountain passes, the sun high above, massive stone walls rising on either side, and o'er that precipitous edge, far clown .from the very depths of the chasm you heard a faint gurgle, gurgle, as a mountain stream glided on to the sea. Were you not tempted then to let yourself fall from your lofty ledge and perish in that silencer Was it a tempest in the forest, a fierce storm upon the sea. the screech of eagles in their downward flight, that cast this spell upon you? Ah no. my friend. It was the silence, the dead, ap- palling silence, the dignity of silence in Nature. Observe the influence of silence on mankind. Look around you at the lives of vour companions,—silence in old age. in the prime of life, and in childhood: silence in grief, in anger, and in joy. There is a mother, bent, wrinkled, careworn : with watery eye, withered hand, and weary feet: watching, waiting, listening. When the news comes that her boy is dead, her last son. dead upon the field for his country’s sake, we see her calmly turn and resume her duties, till her Father shall sec fit to call her also. Behold the young man coming from work, tired, vet happy, knoiwng that a warm fire and cherry smile will greet him at his hearth. Rut soon. alas, a shadow casts a gloom across that face. A fe w short days and we find him with bared head and tightly clasped hands, beside a freshly dug grave. He too turns,—face pale, set and determined, to fight on in this cold, wide world alone. The tiny todger seated by a sand box. busily engaged in making mud cakes is disturbed by his mother. She tells him of

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THE STUDENTS VOICE 2b the heads of those misguided people, that His name is now uni- versally loved, adored, revered? Ah no! it is because He bore His trials, His pain, His suffering—all—in silence. We have considered silence in nature, in mankind, and in the life o Christ: nature—the creation of God's hand; man, His creature; and Christ, His only begotten bon—silence in the realm of God. Is there in all His world aught more worthy, more dignified than silence? JUST IMAGINE— Allen without Hazel. Cyrles ‘'playing hookey. ’ tJessie reaching a stately height. Delldora with a diamond Earl as a member of a Bachelors’ Club.” Fred wearing a blue uniform. Frances walking erect. Frank not teasing. Glen VV. not “bluffing. Grace B. playing basket ball. Glen S. having a good time, not working. John as an orator. Lottie wearing a white belt. Lyrel wearing nose glasses. Lester without a pipe. Mary singing a solo. Nestor not blushing. Mae looking serious. Ralph as a minister. Ruth working. Orlando going courting. Vera with light hair and blue eyes. Grace R. with straight hair. cup. in Glen Worthington, in Physics recitation—“'fake a glass tin fill it with 11-2-0, and carefully place your heliotrope there- Latin Teacher—“How many horns has a cow. Francis?' Francis (absent-mindedly)— One. Lester Zumbaugh had great difficulty in getting a gown to fit, as he is either too broad or too short.