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

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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

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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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eenth century, has been changed little. Great care is now given to reproduce scenes repre' senting paintings of Ruben, Raphael and Niurillo. The hnest costumes that can be made are used, but rouge, lipstick and grease paints are taboo among the actors. Originally the play was given in the church, then the church yard, but now it has grown to such dimensions that the per' formances are held on a stage accommodating 500 people and an auditorium seating 5000 persons.. Through the generations the people have become as skillful at acting as they have at woodeutting and similar arts. They use their talent in amateur theatricals in the intervals between the Passion Plays. The town, small and unique, necessitates the guests' leaving after each performance. Becauseiof the length of the play, eight hours, the tourists arrive the night before and then see the town, quaint and lively, which pre' serves its ancient customs and unique houses and colorful dress.fLiterary Digest. ' in Edith Meyer TO RUSSIA A NEW ALPHABET Russia's 'complicated alphabet has set her back from civilization many centuries. It has been predicted that Soviet Russia will be much better understood once it adopts the Latin alphabet. Mr. Kostenko states that with this ailpha' bet, it will be easier for the Russians to5learn foreign languages, and in this way, they will absorb the western ideas more readily. Eur' tliermore, it will aid foreign visitors to get around theicountry with greater ease. 'He also declares that the Latin alphabet has the advantage of containing fewer letters which will reduce printing costs. i ' This excellent idea of a new alphabet was first taken up many months ago by Turkey. Her plan was to get in a closer contact .with European civilization. We now await Rus' sia's move toward the adoption of the more civilized alphabct.fLiterary Digest. Madeleine Houpert One of the seniors thinks that the Mosiac law was a law requiring that every one pave his floors with colored stones. BGOK REVIEWS NBARNABY LEE One of the most interesting phases of human nature to my way of thinking is that which prompts people, living in the midst of interesting and historical places to take any interest at all in them. This, indeed, is evidently the thought that struck Mr. Ben' nett when, on harking back to those me' morable days spent in the highways and by' ways of Jamestown, he received the inspira' tion to write L'Barnaby Lee . A To find a suitable time in which to set his story, the author goes back to the early een' turies when the Dutch and English were con' stantly fighting for possession of I-New Am' sterdam and the North River region. A So it was that. an English ship forced its way up the river only to be captured later with all its crew except the cabin, boy, Bar' naby Lee. Here the story begins. It is, of course, of the happy ending, ehildren's type. The boy, rambles in the woods for days and is found by two Dutch children. He lives in New Arnsterdam after the English refuse to pay for his ransom, Later his father, whom he believes to have been killed on leaving England, turns up and they go to live onda beautiful estate under the Bjririsn flag, p Bennettfs power of description reaches its height in a vivid picture of this their boy whose wish, uto be back on land to see. the dirty stones, the rocks wifrnoss on 'em and the conies in the green brakes is fulfilled in full. The picture shows Barnaby rubbing the earth between his fingers and rejoicing When he Hnds that the birdsin the land of his dreams lay little blue eggs just as in Eng' land. For a while his paradise was in' deed a paradise. The sin, cruelty and inhumanity of hatred is very 'impressively shown when the young Dutch boy rews to save ,Barnaby because he is English. The most striking feature of the .characters in this book is that Bennett not only has created many types and characters but that he has placed all these characters in times of peace, merriment and war. 'This gives us an opportunity to judge the created char' aeters and to form true opinions of them. , George Fitiroy Page Thirty