Rangeley High School - Tattler Yearbook (Rangeley, ME)

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THE TA A BOY'S NATURE N a little schoolhouse in the little town of XNoodville, New Hampshire, as the session was about to close, the teacher said to a boy, VVilliam, you may stay a little while with me, after school, and do that arithmetic, not do this morningf' Yes, ma'am, replied VVilliam, with a that you pretended you could grin on his freckled face. The bell sounded and all the boys marched out except William. The teacher looked at him with a gleam of malice in her eye. Now, William, she said, take that and do those examples. If you book out, do not, l'll tell your father and mother, and .Lord knows who else, and then I guess you'll set up and take notice. VVilliam still sat there with a grin on his face. Suddenly the teiacher said, Xkfilliam, take your book and we will go up to your father's house and sec him. All right, replied VVilliam, and taking his arithmetic, they started. V VVhen she had stated the facts of the case to his father, Mr. Brown turned to W'illiam and said. 'flt seems to me that you are awful lazy. Lazy. snapped the teacher, why, land sakes, there is no name for it. - Well, lf cannot do those old things, anyway, whined NVillian1. His father thought for a moment and then he said smilingly. Well, I am going to put up a prize of a five-pound box of chocolates for the best set of arithmetic examples done for hve days, and the smart- est -boy will get that box. And at the end of the term, I shall give a live-dollar gold piece to the boy who has done the best work for the term. VVilliam said nothing but the next day the teacher had no trouble in getting him to do the work in mathematics. At the end of the term no one could call William lazy, for he had won a live-dollar gold piece. R. G., 24. TTLER M TI-IE MAINE WOODS AVE you ever considered what treas- ures lie in an uncut forest? The different kinds of trees may be compared to various kinds of jewels. There are the different species of maple, with pretty grainsg bird's-eye maple is a beautiful wood. There are birches, spruce, fir, cedar, ash, and oak trees-all different, but all valuable. And what is being done with those grand, tall trees which grow in the Maine woods? The maple is cut a11d used to make veneer wood for expensive cabinets and other fur- niture. The birch is also used for veneer. The fir and spruce are cut in large quanti- ties to supply the paper mills. All kinds and varieties of trees are being taken from the Maine forests every year, and prac- tically nmze are being replaced. Many bare cleariligs are appearing on the mountains, which, a few years ago, were wooded to the top! The lumbermen are pushing farther and farther in search of timber-and what will be the outcome? There is only one outcome to follow: If something is not done to stop the inroads or to restock the land with trees, Maine will be devastated of her forests, and be- fore many years have passed! PROTECT THE FORESTS ! E. P., 2I. THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM N interesting problem in this country is that of accommodating the thou- sands of aliens who wish to enter our ter- ritory. Ships are arriving every day, with passenger lists ranging from tive hundred to two thousand. These are practically all aliens or people who have gone from this country to visit their native land, and who are now returning. . Many of the foreigners who are entering our ports are infested with vermin and disease. This is, of course, because of the poor conditions in Europe-sanitary con- ditions especially. Great care must be take11 in admitting unhealthy immigrants, but they aI'e arriv- o

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20 THE T fatal to success and that some of those who have started life with the worst handicaps have accomplished the most. He faced nothing but discouragement, but the life he now leads enables him by example and effort to contribute in his own way to the progress of the Republic and its citizens. The life of this man serves fittingly as an example of the motto, WE BUILD THE LADDER BY WHICH WE CLIMBY' VVe know that in order to reach a success- ful point in life, there are many steps which have to be taken. These steps rep- resent a ladder leading upward. Character is the main foundation of this ladder. Character determines the only true value of people and their workg character has a great iniiuence upon a nation, there- fore it is a power. So in building, we must see to it that character is strong and firm enough to bear the weighty burdens which will be placed upon it. VVith a firm foundation completed, we shall begin to shape the rounds by which we shall reach the top. These will be made of the knowledge we acquire, hence it be- hooves us to gain all we can. Grit, vision, and the ability to overcome obstacles are qualities which carry the climber upward. Let us be careful that there are no broken rounds, for these signify failure. Still this ought not to hinder progress. We should strive to make the ones above stronger, for there must not be too many broken rounds. If failure comes, find the difficulty, remedy it and strive on. Many have not reached the top of the ladder for they have been confronted by obstacles which seemed impossible to over- come, although did Youth only realize this, the things which seem to oppose are, in truth, not so great as they appear. History furnishes us with thousands of examples of men who have accomplished the seem- ingly impossible and attained greatest re- sults. We must not wait for the extraordinary opportunities but must grasp the lesser ones and build upon them. Every life is full of them and it is the idle man, not the am- A TTLER bitious one, who is always complaining that he is given no opportunity. Every circum- stance may be made into material for suc- cess, and nie may learn from others who have pushed their way upward and now stand, self-poised, upon the topmost round. With all the opportunities of today, by keeping one single aim we, too. should endeavor to overcome all obstacles, for reward is waiting for every person of energy and ability. To have a delinite aim is the important essential in our lives. Nature intended us to have a life purpose and it is through keeping that in view that the highest .round of our ladder is reached. We should aim high, but at the same time aim at that which we have the ability to reach. Shakespeare said: Lowliness is young Ambition's ladder, NVhereto the climber upward turns his face. We should not overestimate our talents or mislead ourselves in regard to them. Neither should we wait for a greater op- portunity. Now is the time to build our ladder. The present day holds tl1e material from which we may build as fast as we will. Can it be put to a better use than for self- improvement ? worth while are'usually placed Providence and all effort must reach out for them. We are called upon to climb to great All things by a Divine be made to some times heights to secure the prize we seek, but after we have gained it, we realize that our efforts are well rewarded. The climbing may be slow and tedious, but we should make each lesson we learn serve as a step upward and onward. And'when we have scaled the ladder of success we will dis- cover that there are still loftier heights beyond. To live that we each day may be, As time goes swiftly by, A little further from the earth And -nearer to the skyf' May we be given the insight to choose wisely the heights to which we shall aspire, remembering always that NVE BUILD THE LADDER BY 'WHICH WE CLIMBY Lucille Huntoon, 121.

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22 THE TATTLER ing so fast that the detention camps are filled to overflowing, and the omcials have time to give the aliens only a hasty exam- ination. Something must be done to provide a place for these newcomers, or else they must be kept from coming so fast. If too many are allowed to come, the result in labor conditions may be serious, for every- one knows how much cheaper foreign labor is than native help. Foreigners will work very cheaply, and this throws many Amer- icans out of employment. Most aliens do not know our language, yet they are not made to learn it, as they should be. They form a little colony on some of the obscure streets of a city, have their own stores, speak their own language, they are not Americanized the least bit. They should be taught the American lan- guage and customs. The settlement schools in some cities are doing a great deal toward this, but they are not adequate, nor plentiful enough. We should not allow these strangers to drift away into oblivion, we should teach them and make good, sound American citi- zens out of them. E. P., JZI. JAPANESE WAYS HE habits and customs of japan are quite different from those of our country, and some of them seem to us very queer, but our habits and customs probably seem just as peculiar to them. Five men, upo11 reaching the landing-pier at Yokohama, were delayed by a polite ofhcer for a slight examination of their trunks. There is a duty in japan on photo- graph cameras. One of the men was, therefore, called upon to pay the required sum. I have no japanese money, he fal- teredg if I must leave my camera here and call againf' Not at all, replied the olhcial courte- ously. I will lend you the money, here it is. The man was durnfounded and asked, But what security have you that I will repay you? Ah ! replied the officer. You are an American. It is pleasant to know what other people think of us, that is, if it is to our credit, and this little incident shows us what the people of japan think of the Americans. A traveler leaving the Custom-house to go sight-seeing, cried: Shades of my childhood! What are these? There be- fore him was a big two-wheeled carriage drawn by a strong, naked Japanese man. These rigs are called in japan jinrik- shas . lt may seem impossible at first, but a traveler soon comes to like these little vehicles and a breakdown in them is prac- tically unknown. The usual price per hour is ten cents or seventy-five cents for an entire day. Onels packages and valises follow in another jinriksha. The speed is almost that of a Ford fat least five miles per hourjg On good roads, with two men, one pulling and the other pushing, one can make ten miles an hour. In stormy weather these human horses wear blankets as a dress. They are a kind of Japanese mackintosh, composed of grass and straw, which gives the appearance of a fretted porcupine. Yokohama, the divided into three sections. The first is the settlement, where the hotels are locatedg the second is the strictly Japanese quarter, the third lies on a hill called The Bluff . The hill is reached by a stairway called the Hundred Steps . Most of the 'foreigners reside on this hill. Some of the houses on the Bluff are quite chief city of japan, is original business attractive. Two travelers once visited the hill and met there two Americans who had taken a furnished home for several months and who were actually keeping house in Japan. They reported that they had never had such an experience before and that the markets of Yokohama abounded in meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, all at reasonable prices. The summer, they confessed, had been hot, but on the Bluff the air was fine and cool, with no thunder storms. Yet Y okohama's climate is not always tropical and mild, for