Samuel D Hanson School - Crescent Yearbook (Buxton, ME)

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WL Eb: Crescent 17 There was a time in literature when girlhood was an unknown quantity. The child appeared occasionally in the back- ground, the woman in the foreground, the girl was lost in the shadow. Today she is a revelation of the standards and characteristics of which she is a part. She makes the present, determines the future: as she lives, plays, works, dreams, thinks and acts so does the race. Man cannot rise above her standards, nor go far beyond her morals, nor can he fully escape from the religion she teaches. When she awakens, nations stir in their sleep and ask in troubled tones, What is the matter ? When she is quiet and fully content they sleep on. The American girl present and future is the American prob- lem and it is the part of wisdom for all who hear to lend their influence to those who are giving time and thought to her. The helpless, clinging vine type of girl has gone out of style. Perhaps when many of our elders were young it was considered unnecessary. and probably un- ladylike, to try to swim. If you were in a boat that capsized you were supposed to drown calmly or to be rescued by some gallant man. Nowadays learning to swim is a part of a girl's education. Several colleges will not graduate voung women who do not know how to conduct them- selves in water. The Camp Fire organ- ization deserves credit for urging its members to learn how to care for them- selves in the woods, on the streets, in the home, and in the water, as well as to en- joy every-clay social life. When a youth is in danger of a watery grave nowadays we are told he is liable to owe his life to the gallantry of some lovely girl or woman. Let a woman who has a knowl- edge of life-saving be at a swimming pool or a bathing beach and she is a security to everyone within her sight. The skill that young women show in driving a car is almost miraculous. It has been proved under scientific observation that women are as competent, if not more competent, than men. One need only skill with the sewing ma- niention their chine, on rifie teams, and with the tele- graph to show the inherent aptitude that is theirs. Many argue not efficient in that the girl of today is cooking and sewing, but just look up the statistics of the work done by the girls' clubs in the United States. Their exhibits of bread. cake. canned fruits and vegetables, their speci- mens of sewing, are surprising and un- excelled. The present day American woman under thirty is unquestionably better developed than the young woman of any previous generation. Much has been said and written on the dress and morals of the present day girl. Everywhere we go we see the older ones look askance at our bobbed hair and our short skirts, but should they? Who can deny that bobbed hair is not a great im- provement over the long braided locks of the past? Think of the enormous rolls worn in the hair not so very long ago, of the innumerable hair pins needed to keep the hair in place and compare it with the neat and sanitary bob of the present day.

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- -fn-.-ng.:--v-...V ,., 1- V Y-'Y 16 The Crescent and sixty-six of her sons on the battle- fields of the Civil War. During this struggle twenty Buxton men gave their lives for preservation of the Union and the freedom of the black man. Buxton boys fought under McClellan at Antie- tamg faced Pickett's charge at Gettys- burg: were with Grant before Vicksburg and Richmond, and followed Sherman from Atlanta to the Sea. Of the few remaining Buxton G. A. R. veterans, per- haps one of the best known is Charles F. Pike of Buxton Lower Corner. ' In 1898 our country generously took the part of the oppressed people of Cuba against the haughty over-bearing Spaniard and gave her the independence which she desired. Nineteen Buxton boys volun- teered for service in this war. one of whom we have in our midst today, Ernest VV. Cressey of Bar Mills. Again in 1917 our peace-loving nation was provoked into action and entered the greatest war in the history of the world to make the world Safe for democracyf, Cf the seventy-five Buxton boys who went at their country's call. seventy-four returned safely. The other, Harold F. Hutchinson, gave his life for his country at the storming of the St. Mihiel Salient, France, on Sept. 12, 1918. The Harold F. Hutchinson Post of American Legion in this town is named in his honor and will ever be a re- minder to the people of Buxton of his sterling character and unselfish manhood. Buxton boys took part in some of the bit- terest fighting of the war at Chateau Thierry, Argonne Forest and St. Mihiel. In these battles they faced the very flower of the German army, the Prussian guards, and did their part in demonstrating to the world that in fighting ability the Amer- ican army is second to none. The people of Buxton contributed a total of over one hundred and thirty-seven thousand dol- lars in the Liberty loan drives of the war, a record to be proud of. . Let us hope and believe that in the age of free government and education that the foundation of world peace will be per- manently laid, and wars be made a thing of the past. Although we largely picture the glory and renown of war, there is a sadder side upon which we do not care to dwell. However, should it be our destiny to be again engaged in war, may the Bux- ton of the future play as honorable a part as has the Buxton of the past. ELSIE C. Fooc., '27. ' THE GIRL OF TODAY Junior Prize Essay Probably no subject is more- often dis- cussed at the present day-unless it is prohibition-than that of the modern girl, and why shouldn't it be? What is of more vital importance to the world than the girl of today, for tomorrow she is the ruler of destiny. They say that man is mighty, He governs land and seag He wields a mighty sceptre O'er lesser powers that be. But a mightier power and stronger Man from his throne has hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rulesthe world. ,

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-1-1-v-F 18 Qibe Erescent Short skirts shocked some persons at first, now they are generally regarded as objectionable only when they are unduly abbreviated. When any style is carried to an extreme it offends taste. That is hardly a reason for condemning it alto- gether. Nor is it easy to believe that pub- lic morals suffer greatly by any fashion in dress. Women have been freed from the bond- age of garments that trail. envelop and clog. If the Women of Turkey have aban- doned the veil, the women of India the purdah, the women of the west will be argued with in vain to retrace their steps. VV hen fashion speaks, economic forces, social forces, psychological forces, eman- cipation, progress and all the rest mean nothing. The dressmaker breathes upon them and they are not. ' Bishop Hughes, a Methodist minister, defends the modern youngster. He says of the modern girl, We criticize their hair, their skin, their stockings, their shoes, their cosmetics, their manners, but we never had a finer set of young people in the Methodist church than we have to- day. As between the old hoop skirt and the present styles give me the short skirts of today. Remember those balloon skirts when two women met on the sidewalk, one had to step aside to let the other pass P When you are inclined to criticize the modern youngster get out the old family album and take a look. It will drive away your fears and reassure you in the full. If every American girl could be given the advantages of school until twenty-one and then enter upon the duties of home- making, business or industry, trained and fitted to meet them, America would soon be a paradise. The trained mind has re- sources, the developed body has reserves. which give a spiritual poise and balance that mean power. Only a very small percentage of Amer- ican girlhood continues school beyond the grades, a still smaller proportion beyond the high school. As long -as this statement remains a fact there will be dangerous and regrettable clearages in society. How the school years of every American girl may be prolonged is a question worthy the study of the keenest and most far- seeing minds, as Well as of the most patriotic. The next generation will need more than any other for centuries has needed, strong, earnest, Christian womanhood. On a thousand hills, hidden in countless valleys, on the edges of great forests, and on wide prairies, that womanhood is now being marred or made. It is for the think- ing American man made and woman of today to decide which. The nineteenth amendment to the con- stitution of the United States gives to woman the right to vote. May the girl of today so live and conduct herself that when the time comes for her to have a part in the voice of the people'-' she can hold her head aloft and proudly acclaim that she was reared in the Home of the Free and the Land of the Brave. MABEL G. HARMON, '2'7.