Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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THE CHIMES 5 means stopping to help a friend that's down and caught in the quagmires. In fellowship we forget ourselves, become unsel- fish and lend a hand. Perhaps you think our own progress then is stationary when we hurt ourselves to raise the other man if the desire comes purely from our hearts, but no, it ad- vances us far, far ahead in the Master's path. Progress — I seem as I look back, to have wandered here and there and but lightly hit my subject. But then, how far one can wander in the infiniteness of it all, too great for our pigmy, human minds to understand — Progress ! WHY I SHOULD VALUE MY EDUCATION Audrey Bartington, '29 To the first grader school seems a wonderful place. It is almost like going to a party for the first two weeks. But as he gradually grows up and is in the seventh or eighth grade he begins to get a little tired of it. There are hard home lessons now, and weighty subjects to dig into. ''Gee, I'd rather go out and play baseball than study this stuff. I have often heard some young people say this. Sometimes I almost give up when a hard French test or any other kind of test is going to be given to me. But for a word from Mother or Dad I believe I should despise that insti- tution known as school. When I really come to see how need- ful my education is to me, I try to start all over again and work twice as hard. I heard a speaker the other evening talk about the eager- ness of the young people in the Tennessee mountains to learn. Even though they are nineteen and twenty and only in the first grade, their whole aim is to gain knowledge. When I hear this said about those young folks who have not half so many opportunities as I, it makes me feel ashamed of myself. I must have education to fit me for life's problems. In high school especially, we are left to look out for ourselves. Teachers do not chase us around to complete certain assign- ments as was the custom in grammar school. Rather, w e have that new responsibility of looking after ourselves, see- ing that our work is in on time, and of the best that we can make it. This responsibility is one of the first steps in train- ing us for work after we have graduated from school. If we are careful and do the best we can now, we are more likely to succeed later on. I should make use of my opportunities right now; for as Abraham Lincoln said, I shall study and get ready and maybe my chance will come.

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4 THE CHIMES PROGRESS Barbara Colman, '29 In the mad race of life today we moderns rarely stop to check up on where we are going and what's going to happen when we get there. Are we making progress with all this forging on and slipping and running away again? Are we? Theoretically, I suppose, there is no progress except as in relation to other things. Doesn't that apply to us, to life, to the world? Progress is getting ahead of the other fellow, outdistancing him, outdistancing ourselves. We want to be in front of the other fellow on the ladder, step on his fingers as he grasps the rungs in his precarious situation, crush his fingers as others are crushing ours. We've got to get on. We want this — that. The other fellow's got it and why shouldn't we have it? But that kind of pro gress doesn't count so much. It's fruitless. We run down, slow up, vitality snaps, tired brains fail and we die. But — outdistancing ourselves — outdistanc- ing our own progress, stepping on the fingers of all our old selves that mark the trail we have made on our way up, — that's what counts. Improvement, progress, and the way ahead. It's like chipping off bit after bit of rock and working ahead in a dark mine shaft, like pushing on in the fog with only a dark, indistinct, and contrary or meandering path on which to tread, — a path that sways and moves. We have to liold it down with our own steps, turn it the straight way, the way that leads on, — and the other fellow's feet can't do it for us! But there's a beacon through all the chaos. And it shines, oh, how clearly and steadily it shines if only we can see it. It is hope and love, comradeship and fraternity. Progress isn't easy. It means self-denial and bitterness that we must quell when we can't see why we must do this — the everlasting tvhy of things ; it's so hard to blindly trust — and it

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6 THE CHIMES CALAMITY JANE Sara Baker, '28 ''Calamity Jane ! The very name suggests her. There is a ''Calamity Jane in every group or community, every large or small city, every town or hamlet in the United States, and wherever the human race exists, for that matter. There is a name applied to her, or him, (probably the male 'of the species would be called Calamity John ) by the non- slang speaking people (such as English teachers) which means the same thing, but which does away with that bug- aboo of the English language — slang. Here are examples of the type: In school, if anyone has a new dress, and is showing it off before admiring classmates, this person will come along with a gloomy, forbidding look on her face, and immediately find something the matter with it. It is either too long or too short, it hangs unevenly, the neck is too high or too low, it is unsuitable for school or for the time of year. If nothing else can be criticized, the color or style can always be very unbecoming. In the community, if a new club house has been erected, this person will come along when a group of people are ad- miring the new structure and the surrounding grounds, and will find fault with the position of the building, the color of the paint, the way in which the trees and shrubs have been set out, or the unsuitability of such a building in the com- munity. It is the same everywhere, no matter what the conditions are. There is always someone to put the kibosh on every finished product of any sort. Notice that phrase finished product. Do you think that this morose person would deign to offer a single helpful suggestion of any kind while plans are being made? Not much! He is sure to wait until every- thing is completed, all details have been carefully carried out, and there is no chance to go back and do it over again. That is his chance! Then is the time when he will step forward with his so-called helpful suggestions! Have you a Calamity Jane or John in your home or community? Or worse still, are you one yourself? Think it over; — if you are, make plans for future improvement, and turn yourself into a Sunny Jane or Jim ! ADIEU Herbert Dwyer, '30 The fur-lined leather jacket put on, the goggles adjusted, the looking-over of the motor, propellor and wing struts, the getting safely seated in the small cockpit, the starting of the powerful motor, the fixing of the joy-stick securely betw een