South High School - Index Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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America have never been so progressive as today. They have never shown greater determination to accomplish or greater bravery in the accomplishment, than in this present era. It is impossible to read a newspaper without seeing the account of some new discovery or invention. But this is not all. The United States is striving to be of service to the world at large. Our missionaries are in all climes, our improvements are to be found in all countries. We are taking the lead in all discussions towards the settlement of international troubles by arbitration, looking toward the total abolition of war as a final objective. We stand for the right in the eyes of all nations. The most conclusive proof of the existence of this instinct, how- ever, is the attitude of the latest generation. Ambition to do some- thing forthe world's welfare is a leading characteristic of the major- ity. More are becoming educated, and better educated, than at any earlier time. Each has the power for much good and there is still much to be done. For about two thousand years this instinct of progress has been the 'I'euton's. Always dependent upon changing civilization it has expressed itself in many different forms, and has been designated by various names. It was obeyed by the early Teutons in their desire for material conquest, by the later English in the development of national institutions, and by us-present-day descendants of those forest children in our ambition to accomplish the original. But no matter what its expression or what its name, it is the same instinct, never losing its influence upon progress, ever bringing out the best in man-it is the true Teutonic instinct. 14

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their desires, they made homes for their children in the wilderness, and in so doing wrought out the destiny of a great nation. In 1803, Louisiana was bought and another outlet provided for our rapidly growing population. The true history of this cession may be found, not in the doings of the diplomats who determined merely the terms upon which it was made, but in the western expan- sion of the people of the United States, which made it inevitable. The men who settled and peopled the western wilderness were the men who won Louisiana, for it was ceded by France merely because it was impossible to hold it longer against the American advance. Jefferson asked only for New Orleans, but Napoleon thrust the great west upon him, because Napoleon saw what American statesmen did not see, but what the Westerners felt,-for he saw that no European power could hold the country beyond the Mississippi when the Americans had made good their hold upon the eastern bank. But even this immense acquisition did not satisfy the progressive instinct of the Americans. The north demanded Oregon and the southern slave interests were determined to possess the land to the Rio Grande. Both desires were satisfied-one by treaty, the other by war. The discovery of gold in California greatly hastened coloniza- tion, and in September of the year following the discovery of the precious metal California was admitted to the Union, and towns dotted the landscape of nearly all central North America. Few people realize that we are the greatest colonizing nation of the world, for the immense tract of land of which the United States is composed is rarely conceived in its true dimensions. You might add the areas of the six first class powers of Europe-Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany, Austria and Italy, then add Portu- gal, Switzerland, Denmark and Greece, weld them into one mighty empire and this great total is only one-third of the area of the United States west of the Hudson River. And the mighty task of colonizing this tract has been accomplished in three centuries. Now the questions arise, Is this instinct of progress dead? ls it of the past? These questions are being answered every day n the negative. It is not dead, it is of the present as much as of the past. The building in which we are gathered is a proof of this statement. All modern improvements are proofs. The people of 13

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CLASS HISTORY MARY KATHERINE RICHARDSON W, SING of the Class of 1908 who, having been sent by Q. the Fates from the lower grades of learning, arrived at length at that institution of arts and sciences, ' als called the South High School. They had been wor- ried by multiplication tables and harassed by spell- ing books and had suffered much from the wrath of Minerva, goddess of schools, and her high priests and priestesses, who had wielded their rattan sceptres faithfully in season and out of season. Doubtless because of this wise, clear-eyed Athene, this class, then consisting of two hundred and twenty-five youths and maidens, succeeded in absorbing what was thought to be a necessary amount of learning and were wafted on their way with benedictions. The remarkable discernment and self-reliance, which have dis- tinguished our class during its sojourn in the South High School, manifested itself immediately. We did not enter the front door. We knew instinctively that that was to be used only in the after- noon. In the effort to End our home under the roof, we did not try to use any other means of locomotion than that with which nature had provided us. We did not ask the Sophomores, the Juniors, or the Seniors to be so kind as to tell us where our rooms were, but we politely inquired of pleasant-faced teachers. They were our oases in the desert of haughty Seniors, rattle-brained juniors, and smirk- ing, tormenting Sophomores. We had so much courage that we even dared to march boldly up to the principal and ask his aid in our search. We serenely went about our business, regardless of titters, scoffing, and ill-natured remarks. We followed out the rule, Re- turn good for evil -for the simple reason that we could do nothing else. We came to school regularly every morning, the girls with bobbing, smoothly-plaited braids, familiarly called pigtailsg the boys with hair carefully brushed by a doting mamma. Then Mr. Woodward did not need to tell the boys to enter and leave the 15