Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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THE GOLDEN ROD. welcomed. His entrance is not barred on account of birth, race, or color. He is the equal of all. Which path shall he choose ? By earnest and faithful attention to duty he is bound to succeed, and may perhaps become a successful business man. He may become a citizen, enter the political field and represent a portion of the people. He may hold any office with the exception of the presidency. Amer- ica’s great free institutions, the evening schools, public libraries, and reading rooms, will advance him on the road to success. In conclusion, what can be a more appropriate greeting to those coming from afar than these elo- quent words of Webster? “We welcome you to the blessings of good government and religious lib- erty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the de- lights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeas- urable blessings of rational exis- tence, the immortal hope of Chris- tianity, and the light of everlasting truth. —John W. Thompson. MA NGER-BIR THS. TWO simple little words, only three syllables in ajl, and we do not need Webster or Worcester to aid us in understanding them ; vet some of the best-loved words m our language can boast of no greater power than these. When we think of manger, the lowly sta- ble and the domestic animals natur- ally come to our mind, and they suggest a humble birth. Many believe implicitly in the doctrine of inheritance, out if a man inherits good traits and does not improve them or use them for any good purpose, it is not an honor for him to point with pride to distinguished ancestry. Poe and Byron are sad illustrations of this fact, and one cannot count the people who with a goodly inheri- tance of mental and physical powers have failed to develop them- selves. We may find examples of manger-births in every department of life—in statesmen and generals, in philanthropists and poets, in professional and business men. In a log-cabin in Kentucky, far away from all schools, churches, li- braries, and places of instruction, miles from the nearest neighbor, a boy was born of very poor parents. So far from what we now deem ne- cessities of life, what could be ex- pected of him ? He was flat-boat hand, country store-keeper, post- master and surveyor, yet he man- aged to acquire a Knowledge of law by borrowing books at an office at night, and returning them in the morning. At twenty-five he was sent to the legislature, thence to congress, and thence to the White House. As president, his life was identified with the history of his country. Thus Abraham Lincoln rose from flat-boat hand on the Mississippi to president of the United States. In South Danvers, now named Peabody from the name of its ben- efactor, stands a house which is always visited by strangers because it was the home of one of our greatest philanthropists. On that spot lived George Peabody, the boy of poverty and the millionaire phil- anthropist. What an amount of good he did for both America and England ! He gave two and a half millions for dwelling-houses for the poor in London, and three and a half millions for the education of the poor in the southern states. He endowed museums for Harvard and Yale, and also one in Salem. Who shall represent the poets? Why!- “All honor and praise to that right-heart- ed bard, Who was true to the cause when such service was hard, Who himself was so free he dared sing for the slave, When to look but a protest in silence was brave.’ Who has not read the Voices of Freedom? Whittier was not born of rich parents. On the contrary, he was born in very poor circum- stances, and until his eighteenth

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THE GOLDEN ROD. WHY DO THEY COME? IMAGINE yourself standing on a wharf at East Boston, wit- nessing the arrival of a foreign vessel. You see before you the great black hulk of an ocean steam- er entering the harbor. But now her machinery is motionless, her screw has taken its last turn, and she lies at her wharf. Let us board the ship. Before us stands a mot- ley crowd indeed. Here we find the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant,—in fact, nearly all the types and characteristics of man- kind are here displayed. If we stroll about the steamer examining each group and its dif- ferent quarters, we shall be well repaid. Here is the Englishman, the Scotchman, the Irishman, the German with his inseparable com- panion, his pipe; the Swede, and the Russian Jew, whose quarters can be easily distinguished by the ap- petizing odor of garlic, which per- vades the atmosphere, and “Why do they come ?” is our thought as we gaze at the multitude. To answer, it is necessary to examine the condition of affairs in the different European countries, for it is from Europe that most of this human freight is exported. Let us look first at Russia, that mighty empire which extends across two continents. We see an absolute monarchy where the word of the ruler is the law of the land. Is it then any wonder that so many are anxious to leave this land of abuses, this country where one’s life is continually hemmed in by government officials who are ever scheming to cheat the weak and the poor ? To establish a newspaper or to open a book-store one is obliged to petition the government for the right to do so, and then wait months, perhaps years, before the officials deign to grant this request. One cannot give an entertainment for the benefit of the poor even, without official permission, for the government fears that the money thus raised may be used for traitorous purposes. What is the result of an offence against such a government ? Siberia and all its terrors, too well known to be enu- merated. In Germany we find that much dreaded and omnipresent army system, which this empire is compelled to support in order to maintain the high position she now holds among the great powers of Europe. The reason for so much emigra- tion from Great Britain probably does not depend so much upon the form of government, which is not severe, as it does on the desire for private gain. Ireland, however, is in a far from peaceable state, and in some parts the country is in a deplorable condition. In that coun- try a tyrannical tenant system pre- vails, causing much misery and bloodshed among the poverty- stricken Irish peasants. Italy, although so small a terri- tory, has a dense population, there- fore the inhabitants are closely huddled together ; indeed, many of the poorer class of Naples are com- pelled to seek shelter in the caves of Vesuvius. In Spain, the end of Europe in many respects, a peculiar caste- system of very ancient origin is an important leading cause of the emigration from that country. Besides reasons of this nature are the low rates of passage, the shortness of the voyage, and the dishonest methods used by agents of these trans-Atlantic lines. Whither shall they go ? In America they find a government for the people, of the people, and by the people, a free country and the best educational advantages; they can build houses, live in peace and security ; they are safe from op- pressive and tyrannical measures, and are free to worship as they please. What glorious opportuni- ties does this country offer the am- bitious emigrant. He appears be- fore the moat of the United States, blows his bugle, and lo, the draw- bridge is up, the portcullis falls, and the gate is open unto him ! He enters, and on every hand is gladly

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THE GOLDEN ROD. year lived on a farm, working there in the summer and in a shoema- ker’s shop in the winter. His scanty education was increased by two years’ academic training. No one who has not felt the cold or the wildness of the storm could have written Snow-Bound, the best poetic description of our New En- gland winters that has ever been produced. “This shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Thus was the news of the greatest manger-birth conveyed to the world, the birth that brought with it the first vital breath of Christianity. Rome was at the zenith of her power, and all author- ity rested with one man, Augustus, when the star of Bethlehem pro- claimed that humble birth over eighteen hundred years ago. As White says, “Whilst in the enjoy- ment of his pre-eminence, the Ro- man emperor was unconscious that in the village of Judea, in the low- est rank of life, amongst the most contemned tribe of his dominion, his Master was born.” Under the same roof with an ox and an ass, Christ, the Saviour of mankind, came upon the earth. Could there have been a birth more lowly, yet where is such majesty and power! What hope did His birth bring to the low classes of that day ? Had He come as an earthly king as the Jews expected, what influence could manger-births have had ? But His birth showed that if the Son of God was willing to come upon this earth in a stable, it is surely no disgrace to be of humble birth. Throughout His life, too, He was associated with the lower class, which was another cause of their rise in the estimation of the world. The influence of manger-births on the world is great. When men of such birth succeed in being rep- resented in the government, the condition of the laboring class is better understood, and such laws as will be beneficial to them will be enacted. The success of men of manger-births in America inspires great hope in those of lowly birth, because of the wonderful opportu- nities offered them. Then let us— “Press on ! for it is godlike to unloose 'I'lie spirit and forget yourself in thought; Pending a pinion tor the deeper skv, And in the verv fetters of your flesh, Mating with the pure essences of heaven ! Press on! for in the grave there is no work And no device.—Press on! while yet you may! ’ 8ui fait le mal, trouve le mal; ui fait le bien, trouve le bien. —Frances C. Sullivan. “The common school is the in- fant republic, because in the com- mon school all castes, classes, shades of belief, meet and learn to love and live for each other. Un- der the divine influence of the common school that bigotry and hate and narrowness which perpet- uate fixed ideas vanish and give place to the profoundest human sympathy. The supreme duty of a nation is to give to each and all the liberty and the means of be- coming free. Liberty is granted by constitutions and laws. The common school is the one central institution which presents to each the means of freedom.” “The common school has for its ideal the common education of all the people of a nation, of all races, classes, sexes, and sects, and social positions.in one school, common to all, from the kindergarten to the university inclusive. Thus the ideal education of America makes the kindergarten, the high school, and the university as free to all as are the primary and grammar schools. The ideal education of the common school comprehends all charities; it sums them up in one gift, that of character.” “New Orleans has a sugar school under state auspices. The course of two years will fit the students to cultivate the cane and manufac- ture the sugar profitably. There are five professors of sugar agricul- ture, sugar chemistry, analytic chemistry, sugar mechanics, and sugar making.. There is also a small sugar plantation and plant.”