Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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THE 5. H. 5. AUTHENTIC PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS OF 1907, STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL VOL. XXII STONEHAM, MASS., JUNE, 1906 The Guardians of Our Coast FIRST HONOR NO. 1 X a little town on the tip of Cape Cod is a cottage where live a mother and two small children. The appearance of the little house and family show not only true New England thrift hut also the closest economy. As we look in, on a dark, stormy night in winter, we hear the children wondering where “papa” is and if he is safe. The mother’s face has an anxious look, even as she tries to reassure them. She is thinking of the father, miles away on the coast patrolling the beach in the darkness, or working with his crew to save some shipwrecked sailor. Small wonder is it that even the children fear for his safety. From September until May, the father lives at a Life-Saving Station on the coast. It is a small, but not unattractive building. On the ground floor one sees the large boat room where the heavy apparatus is kept, and the living room, which is kitchen, dining room and parlor all in one. Up- stairs are two rooms, one where the men sleep and the other a sort of keeper’s office and library combined. At this station the men do their own cooking. This arrangement causes li tie criticism of the food, for if No. 2 does not like No l’s baked beans, he knows well enough that next week he will have to bake them himself and very likely they will be no better. On Saturday the whole crew and keeper turn to and “clean house.” This is intended to keep the house absolutely clean seven days in the week — from a man’s standpoint. To these surfmen, however, housekeeping is of minor importance. Their duty is to keep a close watch on the sea for any possible danger to ship- ping. In stormy weather the five miles of coast in a station’s district must be patrolled night and day. When there is no storm brewing, watch is kept from the station itself during the day, and the men are excused from patrol. They are by no means off duty, however, for regular drills with the ap- paratus keep their time well occupied. Life- savers firmly believe that practice makes perfect. They know no eight hour day. Their day is often from twenty to forty hours long. They never forget that it is their business to save life, and while wind and waves sometimes conquer them, they are never overcome by fear. Some years ago a wreck occured off Province- town. The life-savers worked in vain for twelve hours to save the sailors. At the end of that time a fresh crew of volunteers came up and accom- plished the rescue. This was a terrible blow to the pride of the regular crew : it seemed a slur on their reputation. At the beginning of the next season, Keeper At ius said to his wife, “Before the close of this season I shall have wiped out that goading slur.” He talked the matter over with his crew and told them that, at any risk, rescue would be at- tempted from every wreck during the coming season . Soon a terrible storm occurred on the coast. A vessel came ashore, and, although it seemed sheer madness, yet at the keeper’s order, the surf-boat was launched. Not long after, the entire crew of life-savers was washed ashore. Three of them, including the keeper himself, were dead. This was the way he wiped out “that goading slur.” The salary which these men receive is ridicu- lously small. For eight months of the hardest kind of work, together with exposure and danger, the United States government pays each surfman three hundred and twenty dollars ! Four months in the year he is left to get his living as best he can, usually by fishing or gardening. A gold medal given by Oongi’ess for deeds of especial heroism is often the only reward for an act which costs a man his health or even his life. In the middle of the winter of 1802, the schoon- er IT. P. Kirkham, was wrecked off Nantucket, fifteen miles out at sea. The storm was so furious that even the old salts around the station did not think

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CLASS OF 1906, 5TONLHAM HIGH SCHOOL

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2 THE 5. H. 5. AUTHENTIC it possible that the surf men would try to reach the vessel. Even an ocean going tug, which went to help her, turned back in despair. But the life- savers, knowing their duty, started out in the surf boat, and after struggling for hours against the wind and the huge waves, succeeded in reaching the schooner. They found to their horror that the sailors had become insane from exposure. They pulled so hard and fast on the rope which was thrown to them that the surf boat was almost swamped. It was not until the keeper threatened to cut, the rope that he could control them and take them off the wreck. With the addition of the seven men from the schooner, the surf boat was almost overloaded. The rescued sailors were worse than useless and were stowed away lengthwise in the bottom of the boat. On account of the exhaustion of the life-savers and the strength of the wind, it was decided to remain on a neighboring shoal until the tide should turn the next morning. Imagine the feelings of a crew of wornout men, waiting in the darkness for the tide to turn ! At last “Purdie,” as his friends called him, exclaimed, “I’d like to go to sleep if it were only for ten minutes?” After that each man, in turn, was relieved from the oars and allowed to sleep ten minutes, no longer for fear of freezing. This shortened the night somewhat, and when the tide turned they started for the shore, arriving there just before sundown, after twenty-six hours in open sea. Amid the cheers of the crowd who had been watching and waiting for them, the keeper said, “Come, boys, hurry and get your supper, it’s most time for the sunset patrol to be out.” For this rescue the members of the crew were awarded gold medals by Congress, but to one of them they came too late. “Purdie” was the son on whom his mother depended. He was taken ill from that nights exposure and lived only a short time. He knew that the medals were coming, and when the keeper saw him at his mother’s home just before lie died, lie said. “Say, cap., haven’t those stove covers come yet?” When his “stove cover” did come, it came to the mother and not to “Purdie.” Such is tin work of the American life-savers, the guardians of our coast. For their bravery and self-sacrifice their sole reward is a “knowledge of days well spent and duties well performed.” But is this enough? Shall not the people of the United States make some provision for these men, who give the best part of their lives for ours? There is help for our heroes of war, their wives and their orphans, but for our heroes of peace there is — nothing. Bkutma M. Emkksox. The Happy Medium in Athletics SECOND HONOR UITE needless it would be to de- monstrate the benefit of Athletics, since the majority of people recog- nize their wholesome effects. They perceive that the harmonious ex- ercise of body and mind, such as is enjoyed in Athletics, tends to develop both mind and body. ' They realize that Athletics educate as well as do Latin and Mathematics. Moreover in that they bring all classes on a common footing where wealth and bluster count for nothing, where real worth alone is commended, they have a great equalizing tendency and produce as well as promote manliness. An old college man of the sixties said that in his time, no athletic disturbances broke in on the thought tilled quiet of those half monastic days. But those days have passed. A live, healthy Amer- ican of today must have action and healthy rivalry. Today is not whether Athletics shall exist in schools, but rather to what extent shall they he car- ried? The problem is, how much Athletics can a student stand and still do good work in class? As a general rule, students playing on school teams do not turn out such good work as usual. This must be expected. Practicing and playing take time. Of course there are some students who, by extra effort, maintain as good standing while engaged in athletics as before. Others fall in their studies but not below the passing mark. Still others so engaged fail utterly in their examinations and recitations. Although the cause of these fail- ures is generally pointed out as athletics, it is true that they might have occurred anyway. In fact there are cases when athletics are the cause of great improvement in studies. Since no one is allowed to play on the teams unless he is up in his studies, efforts are often made by students to