Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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TIIK SOMERVILLE RADIATOR 5 Much as we regret to lose Mr. South worth, we consider ourselves fortunate in securing as able a successor as Mr. Clark for superintendent of schools. He comes from Washington, D. C., where he has been prominent in educational work for years. Mr. South worth has been conscien- tious and energetic in his duty. Mis many years of service have gained for him innumerable staunch friends in teachers, pupils, and citizens. All join in wishing him well at his retirement. Especially has he the admiring regard and good will :f the high school students. Judging by the way the people of Washington regretted to lose Mr. Clark, we believe that he, also, will prove a wise and skilful director of the school system of which we arc so justly proud. 5 . K We are glad to notice that interest is being taken in the orchestra. This is a project that all musi- cally inclined are interested to help. Although several valued members have left, there is still talent enough in the two schools to make a suc- cess. When the players who. out of 1,700, are brilliant performers enough to form a school or- chestra have been systematically drilled for a time, they will be able to produce real music, harmoni- ous and accurate. The pioneers of last year ac- complished highly creditable results. Now we ex- pect them, after a season’s experience, to be an even more pleasing feature of the numerous re- ceptions. debates, plays, and dances that we are all looking forward to this winter. r Debating is a subject which seems to be receiv- ing much attention in the last few years. The English High society is in active operation, and several smaller clubs which were started last year among the underclassmen will probably soon be working again. In the Latin School one or more clubs may form, to contest among themselves and with the English School. These arc favorable signs, for there are few. if any, better means of improving the mind, quickening the intellect, and acquiring self-possession than debating. It is no small art to stand before an audience and give con- clusive arguments in clear, forcible English. A word battle with a keen opponent trains the ear to be quick in catching the important points, the mind to grasp the argument clearly, and the judg- ment to criticise and refute it. Our debaters, then, are worthy not merely of tolerance, but of respect and even admiration. Many who do not feel ca- pable of taking aggressive part are anxious to see the inauguration and success of interclass and interscholastic debating. . Seniors, do you realize that this is the last chance? Eight months more and you will be graduates! Then will you look back and say. 1 couldn’t have done better.” or will you say with vain remorse, I wish I had made the most of my last year”? Great changes can be wrought in eight months. A deficient pupil can make up con- ditions and finish with a fair record: or a good scholar can relax and get through merely on suf- ferance. It is the time for the business man to put the final polish on his training: for the prospective college student to clinch the last hold on his prep- aration : for every one to snatch at Knowledge,— the life-preserver that our Alma Mater llings to us as we arc launched into the current of the great world. . . The Somerville High Schools open with an at- tendance of 1.700. a membership far beyond their capacity. Especially is the English School over- crowded. It now holds fully 1,200 pupils, twice the number originally designed as the extreme limit. Ibis naturally results in great congestion. To help the trouble, the desks have been set in double rows, seats have been put in several rooms intended only for laboratories, and lastly, the Annex was built. Hut still there is no elbow room and. worst of all. 1,200 pairs of lungs are con- suming the cubic feet of air sufficient for only half that number. W hat is the conclusion to be drawn from these conditions? We must be thoughtful in the use of the corridors and staircases. Since there is none too much room, we must exert our- selves to keep our places. Our very misfortune offers one advantage, a magnificent opportunity to learn to observe the rights of others.

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4 THE SOMERVILLE RADIATOR EDITORIALS An editorial in the last June issue referred to the new staff in a highly complimentary manner. We return cordial thanks for this and other courtesies received from the past management. Rut we do not yet feel the confidence in ourselves which they expressed for us. As we take up our work, we realize what a task is before us. A great deal is expected of the Radiator. It is exceedingly diffi- cult for us. with little or no experience, to uphold the previous high standard and at the same time please a set of intelligent, but critical and widely- differing. readers. We expect to meet many diffi- culties, and perhaps disappointments, but to over- come these successfully, and to maintain a paper that shall be, as it always has been, acceptable and pleasing to its supporters, is the earnest hope of the new staff. Our greatest aid will be from you, schoolmates. We must have your attention to our efforts, your indulgence for our mistakes, and your support, both literary and financial. Re- member, the welfare of the paper is not by any means wholly in our hands. The duty of the editor is merely to gather and collate the material fur- nished by the student body. The business man- agers should not be forced to meet the Radiator's financial needs by hunting ads” alone, but by a reasonable amount of yearly subscriptions and cash sales, as well. All can help with pecuniary sup- port. And those who are gifted with a ready pen should feel it their duty to contribute stories, poems, social reports, and class notes. If you will furnish the quantity, we will guarantee to select the right quality. K V» v Old friends of the Radiator may find it some- what changed under different administration. There will be slight rearrangements suggested by our predecessors’ experience or by our own ideas. Such will be made only because we strive to pre- sent the best paper possible. In editing contribu- tions, impartial fairness will be used. An article will stand on its own merits, aside from personal influences. So if the results are not satisfactory, (! ) not be t o quick in judgment. We invite thoughtful criticism, to show us the trend of our readers’ opinions and wishes, but not hasty con- demnation. r r r The Somerville High Schools extend you a hearty welcome. Freshmen, offering you many op- portunities of acquiring knowledge and of develop- ing mental, moral, and physical strength. You have now been here long enough to appreciate siune of the customs and advantages of the schools. You begin to realize that a person is good only for what he is worth. If you wish to make a name for yourself you must get right into the harness and work for it. You will meet fair play from teachers and schoolmates, but no favoritism ; but you will not find it very difficult to make and keep your place. We boast that our athletes play the clean- est. pluckiest kind of a game; that our scholastic distinctions are bestowed only on those who have proven by conscientious, steady application that they are deserving. Longfellow says: The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well.” You have four years before you to make either a success or a failure—failure if you start in with the idea of having a good time, suc- cess if you take high school as it is meant to be taken. Then the pleasure will offer itself. In this connection we wish to call your attention to the Letters to a Freshman,’’ beginning in this number. They are written by one who has had ex- perience in the subjects he discusses, and so knows how to make every point significant. Although you may think them a bit sermony. they are well worthy of your serious consideration.

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6 THE SOMERVILLE RADIATOR Captain Cavior, fll . t). 5. C. 36v Xcster C. Gustiit, E., '00 X July IS, 1911, the hot afternoon sun beat pitilessly clown on the white tents of the headquarters' staff, and the heat reflected from the sand seemed to dance in long, wavy lines back to the sky. About the tents a few soldiers walked lazily, smoking and talking to pass away the time. In one of the open doorways a middle-aged man sat writing. It was the gen- eral in command of the second great volunteer army that the United States had raised to drive back the triumphant legions of Japan. Three months before, almost without warning, the war- cloud had burst, and the Pacific coast awoke to find itself in the grip of an immense army of in- vasion. Four miles in front of the headquarters’ tents stretched the long lines of citizen soldiers—the pride of the nation—sent out to face the yellow hordes from the East. That they were outnum- bered five to one made no difference to the Yankee boys in khaki. Over hill and dale for fifty miles the long, thin lines lay. the sunlight glancing on the polished bayonets. Far out on the extreme left, in an open clearing in some dense woods, stood the gun-carriages of the Massachusetts Wireless Corps. At four o’clock on that eventful day. suddenly a low rumbling broke the stillness. The general paused and listened. Again it came, longer and louder than before. The wireless operator heard it. too. and began moving his tuning instruments in frantic haste to catch any message that might explain the sound. Suddenly came a buzzing. “Japanese batteries opened on left llank. it spelt out. Then silence. The headquarters’ operator tried in vain to call, but received no answer. Then gradually the rumbling died away. An hour later the buzzing in the receivers com- menced again. The Japanese are--------- it said. and then stopped in a sharp buzz. A minute after- ward it started again. “Japanese are co--------- another buzz and then silence. Then in short, jerkv sentences, broken by intervals, came the following message: “Japanese coming, send help, hurry. Look out for------” Silence again. But where were the Japanese coming? Send help where? The general strode up and down, racking his brains in vain for a solution to the problem. Was it from the left flank that the mes- sage came? If so, why did not the station answer when ca'l !? Was it a trick to force him to hurry his men to the left, and thus weaken the right? Meanwhile, let us see what was taking place in the woods which sheltered the left flank. Captain Taylor was walking slowly up and down behind the instruments of his corps. On his right lay the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment, on his left nothing but dense forest. Suddenly he heard a dull boom, and the next instant a twelve-inch shell went screaming over- head. burst in the rear, uprooting trees and blow- ing branches high in the air as it exploded. 'Phis was followed by another, and yet another, and soon the air was filled with flying steel. The re- ceiving set. struck by a living piece of metal, was utterly destroyed, and its fragments mingled with the mangled body of the unlucky operator. Then, after a sharp bombardment, the firing stopped. Captain Taylor was getting worried. He sent two men out with orders to search the woods to tlie left and front. Then followed an hour of anxious waiting. Suddenly a horse and rider burst from the woods, the man swaying in his saddle, and a fast-widening spot of red dyeing his khaki coat. With a final effort, he waved his arms towards the forest whence he had emerged, gasped out the word “Japanese,” then plunged from his saddle to the ground—dead. Tavlor hurried to the colonel of the Massachu- setts regiment, who sent quickly a line of skir- mishers into the woods and formed for a flank at- tack. Soon a scattering fire came from the forest, and one by one the skirmishers came into the open, then by twos and threes, and in a short time the whole line could be made out, retreating slowly backward step by step, firing as they came. '1 he wireless operator hurriedly began to send to headquarters. “The Japanese are, he sent, when a deadly dum-dum bullet struck him. and he sank to the ground. Another operator sprang forward. Scarcely had he touched the key. when he, too. sank with a groan. Man after man came up. only to send a few words and then fall before the enemy’s sharpshooters.