Plymouth High School - Mayflower Yearbook (Plymouth, IN)

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL mind. Without it man could not cope understandingly with the vast social and economic problems of the times. Progress would be at a standstill. Ambition would be stifled. Truth would be crushed. Our land would soon be in a state of turmoil, possibly anarchy. In the words of the poet Shakespeare All the world's a stage and men and women merely players. The person committing the fewest errors will be the best player and will meet with the great- est applause. During the first act which has just been concluded we have received such training as should enable us to better fill the places that are open for us on the great stage of life. We have now arrived at that eminence which for the last four years we have incessantly been striving to attain. I fully realize that our education is not completed except insofar as the prescrib- ed High School course has been mastered and completed, and I also fully realize that with most of us that must suffice, but even so, it is a. foundation that may safely be built upon. From the past it has been demonstrated, even without further college training, that it has brought out many high grade business and professional men whose influence is felt in various communities of this nation. Our own school Hts us for the various needs of life and also for the majority of the best colleges and universities of the landg but even superior to these is its power of training and broadening the mind. In attaining both of these ends its teachers and officers have taken 9. leading part and to them our thanks as a class are gratefully tendered. Fellow Classmates :-We have now arrived at the hour of part- ing. four happy years together are no more, and each must push his boat out into the sea of life which now opens before us, singly take the oars and row for himself to success. In the years to come I hope as opportunity raps at each of your doors that you may grasp it and that good fortune will shine boun- tifully on you. As we now leave our dear Alma Mater, I trust no act of any of us will ever cause her to blush for our conduct but in the years to come she shall have naught but pleasant remembrance of the class of 1910.

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL ALBERTUS M LAUER 10 I VALEDICTORY H EDUCATION A NECESSITY OF THE DAY. A liberal education has in all ages of which we have authentic history, been important in the progress of civilization, but at no time has it been as important a factor in that direction as today. In English history we read of the establishment of such well known and highly esteemed institutions of learning as Oxford and Cambridge many centuries ago, and the influence of these colleges has been felt in the march of progress and advancement through the careers of many illustrious men whose educations were completed at these universitiesg and, out of the many like institutions we have had the preparation for the present great age 'of education and in- tellectual development. Never before in any age of the world has the necessity for higher and better education existed more than it does today-when enterprises of such moment as would have been considered mere fancies of the mind a few centuries ago are met on every hand for fruition. The invention of the manifold and complicated machinery, tending to lessen the manual labor of former days thereby requir- ing more need of skill and brains in their proper employment, and also the increased interest being manifested for professional and political careers-all make men seek a higher degree of culture and knowledge in order to retain a position or to rise into a higher sphere of life in this age of universal activity. In our own country we have many famous universities that have attained the highest rank educationally in science, law, medi- cine, theology, and mechanics. These institutions are turning out thousands of young men and women ready to put on the armor of battle and face the trials and hardships that mark life 's journey. Many will reach the goal with- out once faltering while others less fortunate will fall discomiited by the wayside. But be this as it may there is place in this great world of ours for every boy and girl that is born into it and now the great question arises who among this vast number are the most competent to fill the best places? This is an age of competition in which everyone is seeking as best he can for a position that will most adequately furnish for him the necessities of life. In this strife for advancement it is not the man of brawn but the man of intellect who reaches the highest mark. For every round on the ladder of destiny there is always one just above which men are continually striving to reach. VVho is the man who acquires the highest round on this ladder? It is the man With an education. Not only is this statement true as regards the pecuniary profit derived from an education but also for its broadening efect on the

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL Winning a. Name. ' Rev. E. M. North, Class '96-Ellendale, N. D. The world loves a hero. The reverence we pay to the great often comes near to being actual worship. We erect halls of fame. In it we place the statues of certain men whom We choose out of the many millions of other men, and these few we call the great. VVe enshrine their memory in books and stone, and around winter iiresides mothers tell their children at their knees of these great princes among the sons of men. ' What is it in these men that marks them thus? In what are they different from other men? We say unusual qualities make men great. We say it was the quality of persistance in General Grant who said I Will iight it out on this line if it takes all sum- mer, that made him the hero he is among us, it was the quality of far-seeing statesmanship that made Washington and Jefferson great, it was the quality of imagination and skill in recognizing dramatic crises that made Shakespeare the giant that he is in the literary world, it is the quality of unflinching courage that makes Roosevelt such a figure in our national life. In this We speak truly, in a measure, but there is something essential beneath all these things, without which they would be impotent, and it is this secret of greatness that we shall seek in this article. lf simply to possess at peculiar characteristic makes a man great, then many a Roosevelt walks the streets of Plymouth, if the possession of an imagination makes a Shakespeare, then there are many Shakespeares among us, if the gift of some unusual distinctive qualities makes a Washington, a Lincoln or a iWebster, then touch your hat to many a man, yes, to- every man you pass on the street, for every man has some peculiar quality or set of qualities that distinguishes him, and makes him diferent from all others of his kind. In addition to the possession of such qualities there is an element Which is not only essential to fame but is in fact the very key to it. Men endowed with these unusual characteristics can never become great till they put these endowments to work in the service of their fellow-men. Whoever heard of a monument being raised to a man who never did anything for the race? That a man may be great in this World he must be a servant of men. The Great Teacher put it in this fine epigram- 'tVVhosoever would be first among you let him serve. Consider for a moment the great galaxy of Revolutionary heroes, NVashington and Lee, Marion and Greene in the army, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin and Marshall in the affairs of state, Patrick Ilenry, John Knox, Samuel Adams, James Otis, silver-tongued champions of the rights of men in the hot years of public debate before the war. Why are these names enshrined in the sacred fanes of every American 's heart? It is because they did something for their country, they became our servants, and served mightily in a cause that needed all they gave. Greatness is not so much a gift as an acquisition. It is a com- modity which can be obtained for a price. Every man who acquires it pays that price. That price is labor. Greatness costs. It is not discovered like a gold mine in the Sierras. It is wrought, a golden chain in which the links are the years turned by the laboring hand of a lone man, linked together in the firm weld of fidelity to his