Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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Class Poem By Dorothy Gillis, '47 In the beginning there was peace and quiet in the down; Then man made great improvements — and now all peace is gone. And so the heritage of youth lies on the debit side; The ideals consecrated noble, cynics now deride. This granted lease on living bestows so short a spon. So brief a time to scrutinize the moving caravan; And once the light has flickered and shadow claims the hall. The drama is forgotten — lost to one and all. So by what futile promise does rash youth search for fame; Are ashes cold revived by the glory of o name; Or did the sun glint brighter on Croesus' tainted gold Than on the olms that He gave to beggor-mon of old? Thus Mammon's choicest palms ore flaunted high by lustful fools To those who bow in servile awe to hollow-sceptered rules. Of might and its rank folly, making mankind o pown. Who seeks through nights of wistful dreams the quiet of the dawn.

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Senior Class Officers DONALD WAGNER President LORRAINE LIMA Secretory LOUISE NASSON Vice-President JAMES KARANGIOZE T reosurer

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Class Oration Fellow Classmates: It is a great honor to deliver the traditional closs oration. Realizing the importance of this occosion, I shall not give the usuol oration flavored with politics, science, or educa- tional problems. I shall leove this to the statesman, scientist and educator. I propose rother to give you o simple practical talk. Now we ore graduating. Each of us beors a striking resemblonce to a ship leoving port — some, sturdy and sound, ready for what may come; others, weok and unfit for a crisis; still others needing only a slight overhauling to qualify them to meet the added hazords which life brings. Some of these ships spend their whole voyoge of life tossing oimlessly from one port to another by the relentless storms of life. Others find some sheltered harbor and spend the rest of their existence rotting ot anchor. The third choice group, guided by o purposeful chort and driven by an indomitoble ambition, finally reach the haven of their hopes. Let me ask some questions. Are we taking up the work thot will have losting interest for us? How many of us know definitely whot we want? Remember thot our future de- pends on the intelligent decision we make today. Have you ever heord men in their thirties or forties saying, If I had my life to live over again, I wouldn't hove done this, but thot. They now see it is too late to correct their mistakes. So, when we make our decision on what we ore going to do, let us not look ot the coreers ond financial success of others, but let eoch one of us ask, Have I chosen the right field for my talent? In other words, om I going to take up the work which most inter- ests me? If we ore on the right road, success is bound to come and earning is incidental. Imagine Toscanini studying engineering or MocArthur, art. Do you think Toscanini would have become os great an enqineer as he is a conductor, or MocArthur as great a pointer as he is a general? Of course not. There arc no potentialities too trivial to be ignored. Let me give you another example. During the beginning of the lost war. when danger was ot our threshold, a blind man ful filled an exceptionally rare job, which, perhops, no one in this audience could have per- formed. Every evening he was lead by his seeing eye doq into the Custom House Tower in Boston. Here, this blind man, with his keen eors, had to stoy all night to detect sounds of enemy planes. This is on example to prove thot we cor succeed regordless even of o handicap, if we select the right field. Our first task is self analysis, thus finding the field in which we con serve humanity and find self-satisfaction With each of us on the right path, whot o happy and prosperous society we shall hove! No one of us will look down upon those who weor overalls in their work! Whot a smoothly running society! Whot a wonderful standard of living! Whot o useful lesson ond whot an example to all the nations in the world! My fellow classmates, we hove together enjoyed the increasingly rare privilege of get ting a basic education, ond we ore all corrying away with us the influence of some teachers, an influence which will last all our lives. With this foundation let us face the tasks ohead of us, no matter what they ore — farming, music, engineering, store-keeping, medicine. Todoy a generation is retiring ond another must be reody to fill its empty shoes. Let us prepare ourselves in the various specialized fields, to take over and perform o noble work when our turn comes. Alphonse Libcracc, '47