Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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position. A person with a pleasing personality is likely to be considered with great favor. A great deal depends also upon one's earlier training. The home environment and the training in good elementary and secondary schools help to give a good founda- tion. It is within every person's power to make up deficiencies in early training, to improve his personality, and to show that he intends to do his best to meet the re- quirements of the situation. A teacher's education is not ended after he has secured his position, then is the time to work the hardest, for he has yet to prove what he is worth. Careful prepara- tion of work and reading of professional books and papers will help him to do superior work. A great deal can be done by one's self towards making progress in one's profes- sion, but a person needs the inspiration of working and studying with other people. It may be that many will seek better positions. as head of a department, supervisor- ship of primary grades, or teaching in a high school or a normal school. In order to accomplish this end, outside study is necessary. Summer schools offer a variety of courses. The most accessible for Massachusetts teachers are Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City, Harvard University in Cambridge, Summer School for Teachers in Amherst, Summer School in Hyannis, and Dartmouth Summer School in Hanover, N. H. A year's leave of absence may sometimes be granted for this purpose, perhaps with a promise of increased salary. No teacher ought to be satisfied until he has made progress in his chosen line of work. The members of the Year Book Staff express their appreciation and gratitude to all the faculty members, classmates, and undergraduates who have helped to make possible the success of the year book of 1919. NIGHT The sun sank low in the western sky, The trees began to sway, And whispering voices seemed to say, The end of another day. Then came the night upon her way, With gentle loving hand She hung a velvet curtain dark Round all the weary land. And one hy ore, up in the sky, Star lanterns llashing bright Appeared like glowing signals there Of quivering hits of light. It seemed as ii' they hung on high To say that cares must end: That night was now upon us, A loving, soothing friend. ltlnncmlu-11' K. IlA'rc:nr:l,ni':R. 8

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SUMNER WEBSTER CUSHING To THE VVAR CLASS or THE SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL. My dear Friends: Our first year of being associated together in the classroom gave me so much pleasure that I looked forward to the second year with keen antici- pation. But in the early part of the intervening summer the opportunity arrived to do my bit in the great struggle, so that I had to forego further contact with you. However, I have eagerly received news of your progress and have thrilled over your successes as individuals and as a class. My hope now is that I can be with you at some reunion when we can recall the happy events in our classroom and field career, and laugh Over what then seemed our tragedies. The last year has been an inspiration to me chiefly because I have been brought into daily contact with men who have been giving their all to the great cause and who have done it with a willingness that bespeaks the true American spirit. This has been true of the highest and lowest, from the President, whom I have often had the privilege of saluting as Commander-in-Chief of the army, to the private who has been training for his overseas duty. I have had my disappointments, too, the chief of which was being cut off from overseas work by the signing of the armistice. It is diflicult to think or to write in any other terms than of the great war. Its lessons are so vivid that I suppose we should count it a rare privilege to appreciate them. This is true as much for individuals as for nations. The war has surely taught us many lessons, but I believe one stands out above all the rest. Since you are the war class and since I was one of your teachers, I venture to point out this lesson. Steadfastness is its theme. At the front almost all nationalities were subjected to the severest tests. Some men turned and ran, others were steadfast, ours amonQ' them. The steadfast men were those who knew why they were there, they believed in the principles for which they fought, and they had the courage to stand up in a verit- able hell of shot, shell, and gases and carry on. The British were steadfast when they proclaimed. Our backs are against a wall. The French were the very personifi- cation of stead fastness when at Verdun they said, They shall not pass. Our pride of course runs highest over the record of our boys. Trained in half the time it ordi- narily takes to develop a soldier, because they were taught only how to advance, thev were steadfast more conspicuously than any others. To retreat was entirely outside their ken. Each of us is tested almost daily, not in a glamorous way as on the battlefield but quietly in our homes and in the schoolroom. Are we steadfast in our 'friend- ships and in devotion to duty '? Are we steadfast to our ideals and in faith in ourselves? Knowing you as I do, I have full confidence that when influences try to come into your life that tend to prevent the development of a sound body, a clear mind. and a noble cliaracter, you will sav with the immortal brave, They shall not pass. Un your graduation day l shall be thinking of you constantly and wishing you the happiest of such events. May all joys of the coming years be yours to the f'ull0Sl, and may you be steadfast to one another, to the school, and to your country. Sincerely your friend, SUMNI-in W. Cusumc. , , VK Jlrlllllffllbll, ll. V., April Zfi, lfllil. I0