Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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12 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR range, and most likely to produce the best re- sults. Above all. then, get started right, and follow out the course of study that is the most suitable for you. Now is the time. Improve your opportunity! ! ! ! r v r Girls! Pause a moment amid the varied claims of classroom, society and sports. Arc you doing your duty by the Girls’ Debating So- ciety? There are almost a thousand girls en- rolled in our school this year. How many of you are supporting this branch of our High School activities? Yet the time required is only about an hour a week. Do you know that the Girls’ Debating Club meets every Monday afternoon to discuss popular topics? Why not attend, these debates and obtain a training in public speaking which will be of great value to you not only in your school work, but all through your life? Show your school spirit! Encourage the members who are endeavoring to make this society a success, by adding your name to the membership list and by attending the debates as far as possible. Remember that our girls won honor last year for their Alma Mater, and resolve to have a share in this year’s honors. Therefore, girls, Seniors, Jun- iors, Sophomores and Freshmen, join the De- bating Society and help us win the shield for Somerville this year. v » r r Watch us grow! In the year 1852 the Som- erville High School entered upon its work of instruction with an enrollment of sixty-six. The first sessions were held on the second floor of the present City Hall building and the faculty con- sisted of the principal and one assistant. Even in 1872, when the old Latin School was built, the number of pupils was but 101 and the teachers, seven. The present school year opens with an en- rollment of 2,100 pupils and a corps of seventy- six teachers. Truly our school has grown! The earlier buildings have expanded to accommo- date the increased attendance, and up-to-date equipment has replaced the cruder facilities of earlier days. Especially have we developed in the extent and variety of the curriculum. Old school re- ports show that “the three R’s” were contin- ued into the Sophomore year and that the ad- vanced Latin of the Seniors was that of Cae- sar’s Commentaries. We all know what a varied choice of extended courses is offered the present day pupil. r. tt k Bang! Immediately there is a shuffle of noisy feet. The attention of the class is focused on the direction of the noise, and the minds of many of the pupils are far from the lesson. A war bomb dropped into the room! No! This is the description of a typical class- room when some thoughtless or careless pupil has let a book or a desk cover fall. Everyone has done this very thing at some time during his school life, but never with the thought of the disturbance created, and the time necessary to bring all minds back to the lesson. A class- room consisting of careful, thoughtful pupils accomplishes double the amount of work a classroom does containing pupils who are for- ever dropping something. This seems a trivial matter to occupy• Radiator space, but it is the small things that sometimes count the most. Henceforth, then, let each one see to it that he is not a disturber of the harmony of a class- room. ! In culling out material for publication in a school magazine as large as the Radiator, er- rors frequently occur. This is true of the re- cent June issue. A poem entitled “Book Love” was published as the work of Mr. Curtis F. Day. of the Class of lDlo-B. Mr. Day did not write the poem, but used it as a quotation at the conclusion of one of his articles handed into the Radiator. We have been asked, therefore, to extend in behalf of the editor of 1914-15 his sincere regrets and deepest apolo- gies to Mr. Day, to the author of the poem, and to our readers. K r We are always glad to see our instructors advance to higher positions, though it is with a feeling of deep regret that we part with them. We miss several well-known and prominent instructors from our teaching corps. Among the teachers of Somerville to go to higher spheres arc Howard W. Poor, who enters upon the headmastership of Pinkerton Academy, Derry, X. II: Roy W. Hatch, who goes to Dor- chester High School as submaster; Edward N.

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR EDITORIALS Towards the close of last month the student body, the alumni, and many parents in Somer- ville read with considerable surprise in one of Boston's prominent dailies the following head- line: “SOMERVILLE HIGH IN NEED OF MORE ‘PEP7’ Now we like to hear our esteemed contempo- rary over in Boston talk that way because the facts always contradict him so pleas- antly. Last spring this same daily drew the attention of the Greater Boston schoolboy fans to the Somerville High School’s weakness in spring baseball, though we had won the in- tersholastic championship of 1914. This year, in spite of this Cassandralike wrong. Somerville won another championship. This fall they accuse our team of going into the game with a lazy, indifferent look, instead of a determined one. They claim that a light, snappy team is a better fighter than a team of our weight and strength. J hey declare that, from observation, the Somerville team is not a fighting and resolute team. They even as- sert that there will be no team if injuries oc- cur, because most of the players are not anxious to play without a suit which the Ath- letic Association seems unable to provide. Keep right on, dear brother, and around Thanksgiving time, just for once get the real news from Somerville. Another championship! Who knows! It is better to begin a great task with trepi- dation than with over-confidence. Hence, we are commencing Volume XXV of the Radiator with some doubts. At the time of this editorial we feel per- fectly safe in saying that the various organiza- tions of our school through the aid of our pre- decessors have attained a permanent round on the ladder of perfection. Therefore, should not the staff of 1915-1916 place the Radiator on the same height of ex- cellence? Admitted. However, it is with feelings of doubt, we repeat, that we enter upon our task. To complete this volume of the Radiator, we need the hearty co-operation of teachers and pupils. This co-operation consists, first, in “boost- ing” the Radiator at every opportunity; sec- ond. in contributing to the literary department by writing stories, class notes, and securing articles for the “Letter Box”; third, in sub- scribing to the paper, and procuring advertise- ments. It is our cherished hope to present to the student body a creditable paper from a literary standpoint; to promote the different depart- ments to a higher degree of excellence; and to add new sections of interest and value. As this paper is issued for the student body, schoolmates, it is your paper. Put your shoul- ders to the Radiator and “boost” it! r, r, it it President Lowell in his baccalaureate sermon to the Seniors at the last Harvard commence- ment quoted, “Be sure you are right, then go ahead.” Freshmen, this is precisely what should be said to you. Do you realize that your first year presents an important crisis in your career? Do you perceive that to get started on the wrong road in your high school career will mean a waste of valuable time and energy? Do you understand that a thorough and com- plete knowledge of all courses in the school is invaluable? Be sure that what you are plan- ning to devote yourself to is the best within

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR White, who is to be head of the Science Depart- ment. Manchester High School, Manchester, N. H.; and Marjorie L. Henry, who leaves us for the French department of Brookline High School. Miss Anna Pushee has resigned on account of illness; Miss Nancy B. Kimball has resigned to be married, while Miss Mabel G. Curtis has been granted a leave of absence for one year, to do special work in the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union. To these teachers we extend our heartiest wishes and friendship. They have left a warm spot in our hearts, and will not soon be for- gotten. Mr. Fred W. Carrier, recently principal of the high school in Wilmington. Mass., will suc- ceed Roy W. Hatch in the History and Civics department. Irving P. Colman. a graduate of Somerville High School and Tufts College, will take the place of Howard W. Poor; Mrs. Blood, formerly a teacher in the English High School, will teach French, while Miss Mae G. Smith, who has had several years’ experience as a teacher of commercial work, will teach con- mercial subjects. 'I o these new teachers we hold forth our warmest welcome. We earnestly hope that the years spent in the Somerville High School will be pleasant and profitable. If in any way we can be of aid through the Radiator col- umns. without hesitation we place them at their disposal. v. K Among the many colloquialisms of to-day the expression, “It cannot be done,” is prob- ably the most familiar to the average high school student. Throughout the school year, and especially at the beginning of school when studies are new to us, we hear this disgraceful assertion used when we are too lazy to put the necessary tune and energy required to work out a problem in mathematics, translate a sen- tence in Latin, or perform an experiment in chemistry. Such a statement is not only abominable and foolish, but also without sense and truth. It may take us a week to work out a problem, master a translation or complete any portion of study. Nevertheless, the in- disputable fact remains, it can be done. More- over, we should know that we would not be n given anything to do that could not be done. The boy or girl who looks into the future with fear, dreading that they can’t do the thing they set out to do, may rest assured that they will never do it. So wipe out this senseless say- ing from your vocabulary, and remember the words of Mr. Edgar A. Guest:— “Just buckle in with a bit of a grin. Then take off your coat and go to it; lust start in to sing as you tackle the thing I hat cannot be done, and you’ll do it.” We are glad to announce that the Boys’ De- bating Society has started on another season. At the first meeting Mr. Mahoney had a heart to heart talk with the boys about the necessity of the club having good support, with the ex- cellent result that many pupils have handed in their names for membership. During the year debates will be held with the Girls’ Debating Club, the civics classes, and possibly some history classes. It is President Smith’s earnest desire to have as many pu- pils as possible join the club in order that sev- eral interclub debates may be held relative to a question for the Triangular League debate. To be able to speak well is one of the great- est assets in life. Professor Palmer says, “He who can explain himself may command what he wants. He who cannot is left to the pov- erty of individual resource; for men do what we desire only when persuaded. The per- suasive tongue is, therefore, one of the chief levers of life.” This power of speech is within your reach in the debating clubs of our school. Don’t let the opportunity slip by, but join at once. All can- not make the various teams of course, but both boys and girls can give the encouragement of their presence at the meetings, and profit from hearing others speak. r . During the first few months of the school year many of us arc anxious to drop a subject or to change to another, because we do not like it or it is too hard. This is exactly why we should keep such a subject. It is precisely what we need. We require such a subject to conquer ourselves. If we study the subject tCojtmu ad uii page 0 )