Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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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

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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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THE CHIMES 7 the knees, the momentary sensation of emptiness as the plane rises, the adjusting of the tail rudder as the plane reaches the desired altitude, the adjusting of the right speed, the seeing of the heavy cloud bank after about fifty miles of flying, the sudden plunging of the ship into that cloud, the rocking around of the plane by the storm, the soggy rain, the vivid bars of lightning, the awe-inspiring bolts of thunder, the clogged feed-line, the deadening motor, the volplaning downward to the hidden earth, the final terrific flash of light- ning seeming to display the whole hideous truth of the use- lessness of the airplane, the tail spin, the sickening crash, — and the death of a brave and intrepid aviator. , ALL ARE ARCHITECTS OF FATE Velma Damon, '28 For the structures that we raise, Time is with materials filled ; Our todays and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build. As I read over the above lines, I wonder if people would build their ''todays and yesterdays the way they do if they would stop and realize that they are building the whole foun- dation of their lives. The bad habits we form today strengthen with tomorrow, and thus we go — from day to day, year to year, perhaps held back from our highest aim by that one bad habit. What a dif- ferent world this would be were we to realize that good habits are just as easy to form as bad ones — and they are much more useful ! When we enter high school, it is to train for our life's work. Everything we do at this time is going to follow us through our life. Bad habits formed at this tim.e will not build a strong and sure foundation on which to build our life's work; will they? Another thing — people of the world often base their opinion on first impressions. Someone who might be a great help to us during our battle with life may get the impression when first meeting us, that we are untidy, careless, and illiter- ate. No matter what we may do to dispel this idea, he will never forget that first impression. If all high school pupils adopted the last verse of Long- fellow's poem as their motto, there would be many more contented people in the world. ''Build today then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base, And ascending and secure Shall tomorrow find its place.