Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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THe Senior work of purely imaginative truthfulness, humorously mocks at himself in the well known lines: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact; One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; That is the madman; the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt; The poet’s eye in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.” like a strikes the keynote of But true Amazon as Hippolyta, woman, she is, the conception in her rejoinder to her mat- ter-of-fact lord and lover: “But all the story of the night told over, And all their minds transfigured so together, More witnesseth than fancy’s images, And grows to something of great constancy; But howsoever, strange and admirable.” Theseus takes the narrative of the ad- the mere imaginative fiction; Hippolyta, with ventures of the lovers and rustics as truer insight, sees into its meaning as an adumbration of an unseen world. The- seus has sight, Hippolyta has vision. In this age, ge, which prides itself upon being above all things practical, we do not take kindly to imaginative thought. We have a word to designate the person who sees visions which is somewhat dis- paraging. We call him v sfonary—which is the same as saying that he is unprac- tical, that his visions are illusions, and that the hard which resolutely sets visions aside, and pract ical common sense deals only with what it calls facts, is the In the face of this general persuasion, I feel inclined to only sure guide to success. support the paradox that the power of see- ing visions is a most potent factor in achieving great results; that the progress of the human race depends largely upon ANNUAL, the imagination; that progress, in fact, is but the realization of visions seen before hand and pursued with arduous and enthu- siastic effort—not only in the special realms of poetry, art and religion, but in the realms of statesmanship, of social improve- ment, of scientific research, of mechanical invention and world-wide commerce, of material and moral advancement; and that when these visions cease, and the higher qualities of the mind—the imagination, the inventive faculty, and the insight of faith collapse, then civilization decays, the race becomes effete, and the people do perish. In every line of advance the pathway forward is dominated by the men who see visions. It is true as regards material progress and achievement. Christopher Columbus saw a vision of lands beyond the Atlantic, and gallantly sailed his ships unknown search of them, into space in and we know what has been the result. A man has a vision of the possibilities of steam as an aid to industry; he invents the steam engine, and so gives the initial impulse to the immense expansion of man- ufactures and commerce which is charac- teristic of the present age. Another man has his attention drawn to the phenomena of the thunderstorm; by. pondering upon it and upon related manifestations of an occult force, he has a mental vision of a something which he calls electricity, which no man has seen or can see; that vision appears to other men, with other visions of the same sort and inspires them to such good purpose, that we have this electricity harnessed and working at our bidding, and giving promise of unlimited possibili- ties of service in the future. One sees a vision of a vast region now a wilderness — he sees a vision of that region teeming with an industrious population—of farms under cultivation, of cities built and build-

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6 Tue Sentor ANNUAL, Corners the snow fell so thickly that we were unable to see more than fifteen feet in any direction. Here we were invited to stop and remain until morning, but we were determined to proceed to Holland Patent, which difficult task was accom plished, thanks to the drivers, and espe- cially to Thomas Flanagan, who carried a lantern the greater part of the way. Looking for the road to Holland Patent. We reached our destination just four and one-quarter hours after leaving Rome. Miss Farr was taken from the sleigh, unconscious from the effects of the intense cold, and Herbert Smith was so overjoyed to feel once mioré the welcome warmth of a good fire that he fainted. At 11:30, all who were able, repaired to the dancing hall and enjoyed themselves Miss Lamb was taken ill at the table but soon After all had partaken of the excellent feast prepared by Mr. Thompson of the Mr. Mr. Reh again struck up the music and the until the supper bell rang at 12:15. recovered. Clarendon, Yordon and dancing was resumed and continued till 6:15 a. m. Fainting was the order of the day, so Lillian Garlick followed the fashion and twice fell in a FEINT. The low temperature had, on some. of the students and on some who were not students, the same effect that is noticed in frozen apples; it made them soft. This was particularly to be noticed in the par- lor. Mr. Thompson was avery attentive host and did all in his power to make us com- fortable, for which we thank him very much. After breakfast we started on the return trip, reaching Rome at 12:45 in the after- noon. Some of the students stayed at home that afternoon and obtained their much needed rest, while others, apparently more ambitious, went to school, Sight and Vision. “Sight he had, but not vision.” This is the beginning of an article in the Outlook of April 11 of the The author thus characterizes a man who knew had tion to correlate them with the higher current year. facts, but no constructive imagina- truths of the universe in which the unseen is greater than the seen. He carries for- ward his thesis into regions where we may not follow him in this short essay. But there are many who agree with him that sight is less than vision, and that the wel- fare of mankind depends far more upon the imagination than we give it credit for. Indeed Book we all reverence, for the saying that there is high authority, in the “where there is no vision the people perish.” Shakspeare did not intend to be taken literally when he put that celebrated pas- sage about the visions of the imagination A Midsum- Theseus is a man of into the mouth of Theseus in mer Night’s Dream. sight, and in his person Shakspeare, who has in that wonderful creation given us a

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8 THe Sentor ing, of mines opened, of factories vocal with the hum -of machinery in motion. He sees that the realization of that vision demands just one thing; and that if he and those whom he can influence will supply that one thing, then not to the benefit of untold only will that vision be realized millions, but that an adequate return will be made to himself and his partners for their enterprise in assuring its realiza- tion. He projects, therefore, a great trans- continental railway; in due time it is built, and the’ vision becomes a reality. Remark this: The reality would never have been realized, but for the vision seen before. Discoveries are sometimes made by accident; but great enterprises require The your house before he builds it for you. plan and purpose. architect sees Nothing can be done intelligently, except by the person who knows beforehand what he intends to do; and no step in ad- vance can be made, except by one who has a mental vision of what does not now exist, but which he purposes to bring into being. When a model has once been made, or an example set, there are multitudes who can imitate and repeat it, who can perhaps vary it a little in adapting it, but who can Such useful; they keep up the routine, but they go no further. persons are most make no progress; they do: not advance because they have no visions, they ‘have only patterns to work by, Original -work —the work which is a distinct advance on what has been done before—the work that pushes the world ahead—this demands vision. We call it by many names, but it It is genius in the artist, it is inspiration in is the same thing under all of them. the poet, it is invention in the machinist or engineer, it is foresight in the projector of great business enterprises, it is insight in the moralist, it is farsightedness in ‘the statesman, it is faith in the Christian; but ANNUAL. whatever name we give it, it is just this faculty of seeing the possibility and ad- vantage of doing something beneficial which has not been done before; and of following that vision with the persistence the opposition of the obstructionist, and fire and enthusiasm which bear down the heart of the progressive. It is the great spiritual force in the mind of the human race. The poets are not all dead. They are not writing so much in books as they did years ago, but they are making life their poem, and filling the great heart of human- ity with aspirations for the realization of the vision of spiritual power and beauty in which the age we live in is to culmi- nate. When the object for which we work presents itself in the radiant glory of such a vision, we labor for it with delight, we joyfully endure suffering and privation for the sake of it; if need be, that it may be realized; we we accept Inarty rdom, know that even to lose our life in such a cause is, in the truest sense, to find it. But there are visions and visions. Two visitants from the world of spirits stood, we are told, upon the top of a high moun- tain, and beheld “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.” They saw the same sight, but their visions differed. What was the vision of each? Think that out for yourself. Who’s Whoiin the High School. School Grinds ?—Riehards Brothers. School Dude—W. Pendell, School Politicians—Armstrong, Me Mahon. Ladies’ Man—Ed. Atkinson. Proudest Woman—Natalie Jones, Fattest Member ?—Oswald Backus. Most Generous Man ?—- Stuart Groff. Biggest Head—Loyd Golly. The Coming Man—Jennie Countryman. Most Inquisitive Person—Mary Noble. The Fastest Racer ?—Stevens. Shirtwaist Man—Jesse Bartlett. Prettiest Color—Edna Boff. A Ransome(d) Girl—Lillian Marsh.