Rye Neck High School - Scraps Yearbook (Mamaroneck, NY)

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ence, served as checksto attempts of cheatf ing the public and guaranteed fair and honf est dealings in tradeor in manufacturing. Trial by jury, written constitutions, right to rebel against tyranny, were other points which were developed to some extent. just as the Christians had been persecuted so they in turn began to persecute those. who opposed their faith, They considered it a vital necessity to preserve a set common faith. So follows aperiod of intolerance in which the Church predorninated and estabf, lished the Inquisition, a radical means of dealing with heretics. . . The close of the Middle Ages marks an age of autocracy. This age brought forth a great document, the Magna Carta, which forced King John to sign an agreement to respect the variousliberties of the people, not to delay, sell or deny justice and ref strained his power of levying taxes. This document has been and always will be the vital pillar of English government. But the points of ivalor are the four great,..refvoluf tions which came to put an end to this auto- cratic government. The failure of the first English revolution and the death of Cromf well. had left England in the same condif tions. Then, happily, Parliament triumphed in the second and-glorious Revolution and in sixteen eightyfnine drew up the Bill of Rights, a safeguard to parliamentary powers. All this was but the shadow of democracy. There came a revolution, however, the one most dear to us, the same one which later encouraged the French 'people to throw off their yoke. It originated in that wild, ivast, promising, new land to which those who sought religious and political liberty escaped. What had been a shadow in Englandfibef came a living thing in this prosperous counf try. ' ' ' ' The Colonies had no representatives in Parliament, they had no voice in governmentg they were oppressed by trade and revenue laws. Their protestsgwere supported by Eng: lish orators among whom we single out Ed- mund Burke. He saw the hidden spirit of liberty and pioneer blood of our forefathers. The sentiment of the whole people. was voiced by one man when Patrick Henry stood before the Virginia assembly and said Forbid it Almighty God, Iknow not what course others may take but as for me, give me liberty or give me death . And so after many useless warning and petitions the bat tles of Lexington, Concord and many others were fought till the colonists had 'finally broken the chains which bound them 'to British Government. The T great men of America then met and wrote the 'Declaration of Independence which was but-a repetition of what had been done in'England less than Une hundred years ago in the' form of a Magna Carta and Bill of Rights. One 'by one all the states but two thrust aside their charters and formed' a constitution of their own. The narrow Puritan' doctrines and' limited franchise tocproperty owners 'and church members were wiped out and a bill of rights held firm position in each of these new constitutions .'c' ' ' 'Once more the fathers' of our country came together. timeto form a more perfect union, a strong central government, the Constitution of the United States. This great compact was, a ,gathering of .all the exf periences of Englandiand of the State Cogqg stitutions. It was greatly ,opposed by, some who feared the possibility ,of oppression. Some demanded a bill of rights, for they seemed to distrust it as they had distrusted the British rule. The demand was upheld by Thomas jefferson who has -been justly called the Apostle of the People. He looked after their interest and wished to see them express their opinion in government affairs. Surely we can place him almost side by side with our great Lincoln, in that, long before it had ever entered the minds of other men he had said, The hour of emancipaf tion is advancing in the march of time. It will come. Lincoln the great, neverftofbef forgotten man ,of the people, put this great statement into even greater action. Those were the highlights of- the develop' ment of democracy, to these- we must look back and payout respect to the great men and striving people who achieved the goal of true democratichappiness: liberty for all. Jeanne Egger Page Twentyfeight

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but now firmlyattaching them as part of the government. Afterahis death followed the 14th and 15th'Amendments as indirect ref sults of his struggles, giving the now free negroes, citizenship, representation, and the ballot- , , V Everything Lincoln said and did helped, to enforce and preserve the Union of States which he declared indissoluble and which formed a permanent -bond under the Consti- tution. His very spirit marked him as the ideal of what he called .that Government of the people, by the people, for the people. I Throughout his 'whole term of office, Lin' coln Stood by the Constitution never falter' ing in his noble purpose-to save the Union. Glory was not to ,be his.: Of encouragement he found little outside his own family circle. Criticism was hurled from every direction but Lincoln heeded not. Practically alone he struggled onward doing what he- knew to be right until .he finally reached the altar of freedom where he laid down his own life in sacrifice for his nation. V ' How beautifully Lowell's simple lines com' memorate h-im, as- - - A The kindly, earnestjbrave, foreseeing man, Sagacious, patient, dreading praise not blame, New birth of our new soil, the first Amerif can. ' -f ' First? Yes. -For in Lincoln were combined all the elements of the true American-g in him were embodied all the ideals of Libf erty, Equality, Fraternity for all mankind, and from hisxlife sprang a-new and finer tendency to uphold Union and Liberty, -prov' ing him -in a true sense -to be the Standard Bearer of the Constitution. . Herbert R. Houghton, jr. THE EVOLUTION OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS No power has ever been able to touch m'an's irrestible sense of justice. This nat' ural ideal which from the very start was crippled and beaten, slowly rose to its feet in the course of the ages. It is to this long process that we owe the 'liberty which to us is so natural but was to those who fought for it but a vague and untried' thing. A govf ernment of the people, for the people, by the people is the fruit of an old tree which was to grow in a dry and sandy soil irrigated now and then by a wandering brook. Let us see for ourselves what brooks came to irrlf gate this soil which has borne us our mcst prized treasure, liberty. Centuries of events have shown us that each dispute had its compromiser, each ref bellion its pacifier, and each complaint its reformist. Athens complained and reformists such' as Solon and Cleisthenes 'rose to thc occasion. -Soon they had created an assem- bly giving a share in government to the com' mon people, extended citizenship, established Ostracism, a just means of expelling oppress' ing and dangerous political leaders. A spirit of democracy began to lift itself from its dusty vault. The early development of the Roman Ref public is orfe.of a democraticrtendency, which was advocated by its statesmen. We feel that Brutus' famous speech at Caesar's fu' neral was a warning against tyranny and ex' cess of power. He meant to free the people from this even at the cost of his best friend's life! This democratic tendency continued in an' answer to the revolting Plebes of Rome. The paciiers were the Tribunes, who came as protectors of their 'rights and' admitted, them to high offices. But the bold and --profitable example .set by the Greeks and the Romans was thrust aside during the years of gloom and obscurf ity-Which mark the beginning of the Middle Ages. ' It was a period of decay. Accordingly, that- which was feeble as were the rights of man, suffered and fell more rapidly. Barbarism crushed it, the su- preme rule of emperors forbade it,- till the faint light of Christianity came to light it afnew. Its doctrines' were fair and simple So simple were they, in fact, that they did not attract the eyes of its dainful contempof raries. We today can hardly conceive the persecutions which its followers withstood. This was not a time of peaceful freedom of worship but one of narrow principles. Yet as all worthy elements do, Christianity grew and with it the doctrine that men are cre- ated equal in the sight of God. There developed- at about this' time, a sense of justice and respect for the rights of others. The guilds, which came into exist' Page Twentyfsevcn

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THE REVIEW MAGAZINE In this age of economy, when every minute is scrupulously put to work and accounted for, it is not unnatural that even reading matter should assume a to-the-point, terse form. This can be noted in all forms of literature: the novel, drama and short story, with their realism and absence of the flowery passages that so profusely adorned the pages of earlier romanceg the newspaper article, with its blatant headlines and fast moving accountg and last, but perhaps the most no- ticeable, the magazine article. There has been born a child of this age the magazine of reviews. It contains only the interesting, important topics condensed into the compacted, meaty form that has made it the business man's magazine. Many of these periodicals have assumed pocket size, so that they may be conveniently carried around for the few in-between minutes that a person may have for reading. Prominent among these magazines bearing out the quality not quantity principle is the Literary Digest. This weekly is pre- eminently valuable for its articles on current politics. Another of high standing in this field is the Review -of Reviews. In the smaller' editions are found,' Readers Digest, Current Readings, Forum Features, Ctiffeint Readings, Forum Features, Current Bi- Biography. ' ' ' Judson Benjamin CLARE BRIGGS, AMERICAS ' SMALL BOY we very seldom stopnto think of the per- sons who are responsible for the 'fun which we enjoy when reading the comic strips. We all have our favorite characters. Now, I have a passion for Mr. and'Mrsf' and it is more than natural for me to expect it every Sun'- day in the Herald-Tribune . I was never disappointed. When I heard that Clare Briggs had died, it immediately struck me that this was the last of Mr, and Mrs . Up to this time, I had never thought of Clare Briggs nor recognized the ability which caused so many laughs. I began to realize that behind this, as well as behind any suc- cessful accomplishment, there was a working head. The charm and popularity of Clare Briggs comics is due to the fact that they are the very expression of American life. Mr. and Mrs. has material for volumes on Life in tne Suburbs or 'fThe American Home. The satire of familiar instances in which the reader may even catch an unwelcomed glimpse of his environments, is the true answer to wit and humor. Briggs had merely to look about him and record the ridiculous things he saw. He is America's Small Boy . The Nation says, One large reason for his success was the perpetual fountain of small- boy enthusiasm for life that was his. It was never forced: it welled up in the man. W-The Nation. - Jeanne Egger THE DILIGENT SENATOR SMOOT Reed Smoot, the senator ef a thousand tariffs, through his hard and efficient work, has saved the country millions of dollars. A man of sturdy, adventurous stock, he' is per- sistent in every task which he takes ups I During the recent tariff legislation, Smoot's seat has never .been vacant. If the session continues till late at night he is always pres- ent tzo give his views on- the subject. P Even? when he returns home he spends his leisure hours going over financial problems. He is one man who iinds pleasure in his work.- The World's Work. in-1 -,-i e ' Martha Truesdell THE PASSION PLAY v More than three centuries ago a group of people in a little Bavarian village made a vow to act the passion and death of their Lord every ten years. Now the world after twen- tyitwo performances of the Passion Play again looks with anticipation to the little town Ober-Ammergau where bearded men and long-haired women ply their trades as wood- cutters, sculptors or stenographers when they are not rehearsing. ' The Passion Play has gone thru an evolu- tion cluring its existence of three centuries. It -still preserves 'the'Bible phrases and pic- tures with few changes, but the original ver- sion has twice been rewritten bythe Ettal monks. The 'music, composed by Rochus Dedler, the village school master' in the eight- Page Twenty-nine