Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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SENIOR CLASS HISTORY Sophomores! A bewildered and shy group, beginning our careers in the Somerville High School on September 9, 1931, we soon learned the importance of our motto, “Honor and Progress. We chose for our Executive Committee, Raymond Marquess, Mildred Cole, Norman Beckett, and Pauline MacFadyen. Our loyal support was given in all activities, and in scholarship we rose in the esteem of our teachers. The Sopho- more Dance was the social climax of our year, and we then anticipated the year to come when we would be—Juniors. With renewed determination we began our second year by electing as officers, Ray- mond Marquess, President; Mildred Cole, Vice-President; Albert Lewis, Treasurer; and Pauline MacFadyen, Secretary. National Honor Society became our aim, and proud were we to see many of our members reach this goal. Junior Night was the most bril- liant and unforgetable event of the year, and our appreciation could not be fully expressed to the committee. “One outgrows being a sophomore about life. These words we, as Seniors and leaders of our school, uttered with dignity and seriousness. Launching on another successful year, we again elected our previous class officers, and again National Honor Society became the outstanding light for which we all strove, many with success. The Senior Play brought with it the realization that we soon must leave the friendly protecting walls of the Somerville High School. Class Day, Senior Night and the inev- itable end, Graduation! How quickly these momentous events have passed, and too late we realize what we are losing. We cannot, with mere thanks, show our appreciation to the faculty for all they have given us, but we do sincerely hope that our future achievements will prove our gratitude. Pauline MacFadyen, Secretary. EIGHTEEN

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SENIOR CLASS OFFICERS RAYMOND MARQUESS, President MILDRED COLE, Vice-President PAULINE MacFADYEN, Secretary ALBERT LEWIS, Treasurer SEVENTEEN

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CLASS ORATION A PLEA FOR TOLERANCE An English writer of the fifteenth cen- tury, Sir Thomas More, who was one of the wisest and best of men, wrote a de- scription of an imaginary commonwealth called “Utopia.” In this commonwealth, one of the first and fundamental principles was that “it should be lawful for every man to favor and follow whatever reli- gion he wished, and that he might do the best he could to bring others to his opinion as long as he did it peaceably, soberly, without haste and contentious rebuking, or inveighing against another. If he could not, by fair and gentle speech, induce them to his opinion, then he must use no method of violence or force.” Incorporated in that simple yet force- ful decree is the basic element, the funda- mental doctrine, and the cornerstone upon which the progress and advancement of civilization is founded. Intolerance is a human failing which is so easy to acquire that it steals stealthily and invisibly into every phase of life, lends itself to every direction and roots itself anywhere and everywhere unless definite, positive measures are assumed to check it. Without preference or discre- tion, the lurking germ of intolerance awaits its opportunity to break forth in every sphere of human activity: in the intellectual or scientific, in the religious or in the political. Let us examine each of these three separately. First is the intel- lectual. Unfortunately, the pages of history have time and again been spotted and marred by the irrational ravages of rank intolerance. Particularly has scientific advancement been seriously hampered by the narrow-minded viewpoints of intoler- ant men. The cases of many individuals are really pathetic or tragic; for the pro- ponents of new theories have, in every age, been suppressed with disdain, and only by the bitterest contention, which often sapped their talents and strength, did many of humanity’s most famous benefactors succeed. Attend to the sorrowful stories of these few outstanding examples: Socrates, con- demned to drink the poison cup; Colum- bus, now hailed as the discoverer of the new world, died heartbroken in chains, and in prison; Sir Thomas More, the creator of Utopia, condemned to the scaffold; Roger Bacon, a fearless seeker of truth and fact of the Thirteenth Century, ac- cused of magic and sent to prison; Roger Williams, founder of the city of Provi- dence, forcefully driven from his home. May I conjecture for you what might have taken place in the case of any one of these geniuses under conditions of tolerance? Let us take, for example, vir- tuous Socrates, the learned thinker of Ancient Greece. Socrates spent his entire life in preaching doctrines which today we take for granted. Yet Socrates’ faith- fulness to truth and virtue, and his con- tinual striving for social reform were re- paid only by rebuke and by mockery. He was even brought to trial and condemned to death. It is amazing to see the sup- pression to which this eminent philoso- pher was subjected. We wonder how men could possibly ignore the just and truth- ful philosophy propounded by him; but they did, and we seek the reason to find that it was intolerance. But this suppression not only stunted the man, it also snuffed out one of the tall- est and brightest luminaries in the can- delabrum of progress. It retarded civiliza- tion as well as the man himself. Had he been allowed to live his life, had be been accorded freedom of thought and liberty of belief, who knows what a man of his vision, of his depth and breadth of knowl- edge might not have bequeathed to human- ity? Perhaps things of which the world is still ignorant. Just because a man can- not be understood or because he is in ad- vance of his day is no reason why he NINETEEN