Spencerville High School - Echoes Yearbook (Spencerville, OH)

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'ki' qzovininioiuiw i k'k'kiri'ECHOESt'A'ik'ki'i' VALEDICTORY-Cont. We, as Americans, sometimes cannot appreciate what our life means to us. When a foreigner comes to America, it doesn't take him long af- ter he has seen the Statue of Liberty to tell you what it means to him. The story has been told of an old man who kept the Flag flying over his filling station for many years. When asked Why he did this, he told this story: He came to America as a boy, full of hopes and ambition. Filnally, he was able to establish himself in business, He alppreciated the chance for success that he had found in America, so much, that for many years he put aside a part of his income. This man sent this money to the government, not for income tax, or because he had to, no! He sent it because it was the only way that he could show his thanks for what America had done for him. The Stars and Stripes meant a lot to this man. What does it mean to you'?, If every one of us would answer that question, it would spur us on to still greater accomplishments. There are many problems which America has not solved successfully and the responsibility for solving these problems rests squarely on the shoulders of its youth as Well as its adults. Problems of sanitation, labor and industry, necessity of social control, and at the present the winning of a war, are all great problems which will have to be settled soon. We do not ask anyone to feel sorry for the youth who are graduating tonight. They are not to be pitied because they must start their careers in a War-torn world. Youth has not been defeated before it has started the iight, and it will not be. We will help win this war. We must, for we are fighting for the right. In ten words, Joe Louis told America why we would win this war. These words are: We will win this war, because God is with us. In these words is the reason that the youtlh: of today can face life as courageously as they do. So tonight, dear friends bid us, the future citizens of tomofrrow, a hearty and sincere welcome into the ranks of America, All of us, young and old, will do well to remember another poem which Dunbar Wrote: There are no beaten paths to Glory's height, There are no rules to compass greatness known, Each for himself must cleave a path alone, And press his own way forward in the iight. Smooth is the way to ease and calm delight, And soft the road Slotxhl chooseth for her own, But he who craves the flower of life full-blown, Must struggle up in all his armor dight! What though the burden bear him sorely down And crush to dust the mountain of his pride, Oh, then, with strong heart let fhim still abideg For rugged is the roadway to renown, Nor he hope to gain the envied crown, Till he hath thrust the looming rocks aside. 'ki' xzozoxoioioiozsviwrxcnxoxoir Pagg 24 101011 PI0.0.+

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'k'ki kt'A'i A'ECHOES'k'ki k'k'k'k Valedictory LIFE'S CHALLENGE TO YOUTH Parents, Friends, Faculty, and Fellow Classniates: Tonight the Class of 1942 will leave this institution, maybe even the community, to build and establish our place in the world, After tonight, our eyes must be ever turned toward the future, lest we lose tlhe chal- lenge which life extends to us. As inexperienced beginners, we do not know the full meaning of this modern challenge of life, and We may sometimes feel that it is not worth the effort, yet undaunted we will keep forging ever onward toward our goal. - We do have an advantage, we were born in a land of justice, truth, and opportunity. To this date our life has been one of clean, healthy en- vironment in which to grow, physically and mentally. We 'have learned to play the game fair and square-to be good sports if we lose. The most important thing we have been taught is to work for what we want, and not to sit idly by and trust to luck. Paul Lawrence Dunbar wrote a poem, My Kind of Man. In it he says: 'fThe man who simiply sits and waits, fur good to come along, Ain't worth the breath that one would take to tell him he is wrong. Fur good ain't flowin' round this world, for every fool to sup, You've got to put your see-ers on and go and hunt it up. The youth of today will put their see-ers on and we will hunt thei good in life. Each of us will find it in good hard labor in an effort to maker our country better. We may slip a time or two, but we will land on our feet. To each. of us, some day, there will come the joy of living and accomplishing. Life, to most of us on first thought, is a material thing. Webster defines it as animate existenceg union of body and soul, On second thought we, too, realize that our life is spiritual as well as material, it is not just existing, but the fulfillment of our hopes and ambitions. The freedom of body and soul, the right of free speech and religion, these are the things which make it possible for us to really live and work. The youth of America can justly be proud that they are the children of a nation as great as the United States. As we rise to our feet to salute the Stars and Stripes gallantly waving high over our headsg when the band strikes up the Star Span- gled Banner, the feeling of solemnity and reverence we feel is only the thanks and appreciation to God for making a land of the free and a home of the brave. The Stars and Stripes don't stand simply for the United States. No, they stand for many other things. The every day things you and I take for granted, but which mean so much. Freedom and justice, a right to clean, honest living - these are just a few of the things for which our flag stands. No one can put down on paper or into words, the many ad- vantages that America has given her people. Neitiher can Americanism be defined, for it means something different to every one of us. vianiaricririericsicxlxixifniarixicbia Page 23 nioioioioioioi rioioioioioiolc

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