Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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an accomplished pianist. Madame Sklodovska's love for books and music came second only to the love she had for her family. Manya inherited from her father his scientific mind and his brains, from her mother, her talented hands. Early in her life, Manya displayed an avid curiosity for anything pertain- ing to science. The Sklodovskas were a very closely-knit family. There were five children, Manya, Zosia, Bronya, Helena, and one boy, Joseph. All were exceptionally intelligent. When Zosia died, of typhus, it was a sad blow to all---especially to Manya, who worshipped the very ground her older sister walked upon. But it was even a greater blow to ten year old Manya when her be- loved mother died of consumption. The nucleus of their family life was gone. Manya's father had lost his position in the high school because of his strong desire to see Poland freed from the Russian Czar. He opened a boarding school for young boys, but had little success with it. Dark days were indeed upon them When he lost all his investments, he felt as though he had nothing left---nothing but four children with superior brains and extraordinary grit. All these children were des- tined to ievement them 0 The steps of rise by hard work and serimping from poverty to ach because the strength of the Polish soil was within Sklodovska children followed in their father's foot rebellion, but of them all, little Manya was the most rebellious. Every morning on her way to school, she passed by a statue dedicated uto the Poles faithful to their Sovereign' that is, to the Poles who were faithless to their country and obeyed the czar of Russia. Manya always made it a point to snit upon this statue, and if by chance she forgot to do this, she would pect---often at have absolutely whom the statue This brave often run back to perform this act of disres the risk of being late for school. She would nothing to do with these faithless people to was dedicated. little rebel expressed her contempt for op- pression not only in the absence but also in the presence df her oppressors. governing power One of her teaehefs, representing the alien over Poland, was Mademoiselle Mayor, the superintendent over studies. This woman made life unbearable for her Polish pupils--especially for nthat Sklodovska girln who dared to answer her lashing tongue with scornful smiles. But Manya was not always content with a mere smile of silent scorn. One day her teacher attempted with a none too gentle hand, to straighten the girl's unruly curls into a German braid---in vain. Manya was a rebel from her toes right up to the top of her head and, like her spirit, her hair refused to yield to the tyrant's touch. Enraged by the girl's Con- temptuous looks, Mademoiselle Mayor shouted at the girl,

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ideals. For those who are unable to attend college or do not wish that type of training, vocational training schools, trade schools, nurses'training schools, and opportunities for apprenticeship may be found in manf cities. While still in secondary school, the student should make his choice bear- ing in mind that the better educated individual merits the better job, providing his knowledge makes him a better citizen. Sir Richard Livingstone, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Uni- versity has written, nUneducated people are a danger to the world, but they are not so dangerous as a less recognized menace--the half-educated, who have learned enough to express an opinion on subjects which they do not really know, but have never learned to be aware of their ignorance. Such people are familiar pests in every department of life, and a main duty of education is to diminish their number.H Nola Skillings '50 The Life of Marie Curie Those who know Marie Curie only through biographies of her life, wish that they might have known this great woman personally. They will never be able to forget the stirring story of her life---full of happiness and tragedy, sorrows and joys, victories and defeats. They wish that they might have been there to give her a helping hand when she was so badly in need of it, but no-one can help her now---it is too late, She is dead. Although her body is dead, Marie Curie's spirit still lives. It is-her spirit that encourages struggling scientists to have patience and to never give up in the fight for scien- tific knowledge. As you read this story of her life, do not think of it as one of tragedy because of her poverty and deep sorrowsg for to her, it was a life of happiness---sprinkled, only here and there, with sorrow. Manya Sklodovska, known today as Marie Curie, was born in the ancient Polish city of Warsaw in 1867. She came of a Polish stock of hardworking peasants. Her parents, however, had risen above the class of peasantry. Her father held the position of Professor of Physics at the Warsaw High School and was looked upon as being a very intelligent man as well as besides a kind and loving father. Her mother was considered

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Nstop staring at me like that! I forbid you to look down upon melu whereupon Manya, who was a head taller than her teacher answered, Nl can't very well do anything else, Mademoisellelu In spite of her rebellious nature and the dislike of several of her teachers, Manya was awarded the gold medal, lsymbol of the highest scholastic recordl, upon her grad- uation from high school. It had become sort of a habit with the Sklodovska family to bring home these merit awardsg there were now three in the family! when Manya graduated, her father sent her to the country to rest up, fearing that she, like her mother, would fall victim to consumption. There she roamed around in the fields and woods, enjoying nature while she could. After her year's vacation, Manya returned to Warsaw and to an uncertain future. Both she and her older sister Bronya wanted to study at the Sorbonne, a university in Paris: Manya for a doctor's degree in physicsg Bronya for a doctor's degree in medicine. There wasn't enough money to finance even one of them through the university, so how on earth could both of them go? Why, oh why, couldn't they have had plenty of money? But there was no use thinking about such impossible things. They must find a solution for their prob- lem. Manya found the solution. She decided that since her sister was the older, Bronya should go the Sorbonne first. Manya would work as a governess to sunnort her sister. When Bronya graduated, she would work to send Manya through. ' Bronya, after much scrimping and studying, obtained her medical degree and married a fellow student. She was then ready to conclude her half of the bargain. Manya was able at last to see the fulfillment of her life-long dream. At the Sorbonne she registered her name in the French manner--Marie Sklodovska. She was twenty-three at the time and very pretty. For four years she led the Hlife of a monkn. Bronya and her husband begged her to live with them but she refused to be a burden to anybody. She lived alone in an ugly sixth floor room in the Latin Quarter. The room had neither heat nor water, and the only light came through a loop-hole in the slanted ceiling. She lived on a diet of bread, butter, and tea--with an egg or fruit added to it on special occasions. ' Manya lived in a world of books and lectures. Physics, chemistry, mathematics, poetry, music, astronomy,---the entire circle of the earth and heavens had come within her reach. Of them all she was most interested in her experiments