St Henry High School - Trojan Yearbook (Charleston, MO)

Page 11 text:

EXCELSIOR! In these days of higher prices, higher taxes, higher explosives, the word Nhigher' seems to take on an unpleasant connotation because it is so often used in connection with things that cost us something in money, effort, or even in lives. And yet the word has always de- manded its toll because it is naturally harder to go up than down. But the degree of unpleasantness in paying the cost depends largely on the worth, or our appreciation of the worth, of that higher some- thing for which we are striving. You, the Graduates of St. Henry's High School, have completed a phase of your higher education, and for you too this has meant a cost, both to your parents and to yourselves, in sacrifice and ef- fort. Both you and they deserve congratulations on the day of Grad- uation for your attainment of a higher place in the realms of knowl- edge. You new know more about the laws of physics, formulas of chemistry, equations of mathematics, than you did four years ago. But your knowledge of these and other allied subjects alone has not given you a higher education in the true sense of the word. Along with them you were taught the knowledge of laws and given ideals far beyond the natural. You were given the opportunity to learn with more mature minds to know, love, and serve God in this life, in or- der to enjoy eternal happiness in the next. And this part of your education, truly the higher part, you will cherish more and more as you venture forth into a world that is dividing itself more definite- ly than ever before into two groups between which there can be cer- tainly no compromise, the Godly and the Godless. You have no reason to fear the future provided you guard and nurture your priceless her- itage of Faith. To do this you must never compromise with the Godless, lose hope with the hopeless, nor surrender with the cowardly. Your goal is up- ward, not downward. Therefore, whatever your aspirations or ambitions in life may be, your motto should always be: Excelsior! Higher in in- tention, higher in motive, higher in unselfishness, than the Godless who have no God to draw them upward, the hopeless whose trust lies shattered among the broken promises of meng the cowardly, unwilling to pay the price of courage. Your happiness in life will depend en- tirely upon the direction in which you seek your goal, up or down, an idea rather well expressed by a modern poet: Two men looked through their prison bars The one saw mud, the other stars.