Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC beautiful sights in the Arboretum. From China, Mr. Wilson, one of the Arboretum’s chief explorers, brought back the lacquer tree. This tree, a kind of sumae, is very poisonous; but the Chinese extract the black sap and use it as a varnish in their famous lacquer work. Another tree from China, from which we obtain the wood-oil is growing here. Wood-oil is similar to linseed oil but is much finer and is an important pro- duct of China. In bringing trees of this kind to the United States, the Arboretum has made the fortune of many a gardener and has even made merchants look toward its gates. So many other trees and shrubs have their stories to tell! A certain small ash tree which, in August, has its branches covered with a snow-white, waxy substance; a specimen of the only hardy rubber tree in the wide world; beautiful wild peonies from China; and expuisite white creeping roses from Germany; Chinese clematis; in fact the Arboretum is filled with unexpected and rare beauties, placed there for the benefit of not only landscape garden- ers and botanical experts, but for the pleasure of all nature lovers. And so, I hope that many of you will go there; and that you, too, may late in the afternoon make your way over Bussey Hill past the bank of lilacs al- ready a hundred years old; past the Lebanon Cedars down amid the bright blossoms of the azaleas; then, look, — there at your feet that gorge-like val- ley stretching between you and Hem- lock Hill; the slanting rays of the sun just touch the rose-red and the white blossoms of the Laurel and the Rhodo- dendrons. In their midst the clear waters of Bussey Brook bubble over the pebbles; above, Hemlock Hill rises in stern majesty, flecked with gold from the setting sun; the silence makes one say again with Joyce Kilmer: I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast ; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robbins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain ; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me. But only God can make a tree. “Practical Jalac of JC. dierrtslj Latin is generally conceded by the popular mass to have no practical value and is commonly supposed to be a ne- cessary evil to be undergone if one wishes to enter college. I shall en- deavor to point out certain specific values the study of Latin holds for one who pursues it. The study of Latin quickens the hab- its of observation of the student and above all teaches him to concentrate. It increases his English vocabulary and enables him to tell the meanings of words in his own language that he never would be able to understand otherwise. What I consider the strong- est argument for the study of Latin in the schools is the fact that 89% of our English words are derived from Latin and by the study of this language we are able to understand English as in no other way. Especially are we able to grasp the meaning of new words and this fact alone should encourage us to study Latin. A Latin student never makes mistakes in spelling which a non-Latin student makes. Moreover, today the best Latin teachers do not claim to teach Latin but English via Latin. Hence we should obtain the best Latin instructors as an aid to our English department. Latin also gives a student an understanding of the grammar of his own language through the study of the structure of the sen- tence. It is said that Latin is antiquated and out of touch with the present. Some people think that Latin is just made up of declensions of nouns and and conjugations of verbs, which is not so; because some of the finest literature the world has ever produced or ever will produce has been handed down to us from the Latin writers. Homer, Dante, Cicero and Virgil will always hold their place among the immortals. Hence I ask you, why should we not 11

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC thousands of aircraft were built, and as many men trained to fly them. Fly- ing Corps -were added to armies and navies and the perfection of the aero- plane advanced daily. But all this phenomenal progress was along the wrong lines; that is, it tended to make the aeroplane a menace to man and his possessions. The flying machine is now undergo- ing a transformation. As the cannon were recast to make plowshares, so shall the aeroplane be changed from a weapon to a useful machine. At the present time it is used to locate forest fires, carry mails, and people on regu- lar schedules and to destroy insect pests. Who can predict how far the possibilities of the aeroplane may stretch! Suffice it to say that the fu- ture of the aeroplane offers the great- est field to young America since the invention of the railroad. P. E. M., ’23. “dilunpses of t t JVrnolb JKr bur stum” Jmuta JL olani “This is the forest primeval. The mur- muring pines and the hemloeks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.” — Longfellow Truly Hemlock Hill, in the southern part of the Arnold Arboretum, old at the time of the Pilgrims, is a remnant of that “forest primeval.” As we stand beneath its grandeur we feel the in- significance of our short lives. This ancient wood was once a part of a large farm belonging to Benjamin Bussey, a soldier of the Revolution. At his death the farm came into the pos- session of Harvard College to be used for arboricultural and agricultural purposes. Thus the oldest college re- ceived a wonderful gift in this beau- tiful farm with its trees and waving meadows. Later Mr. James Arnold, a Quaker of New Bedford, bequeathed a hundred thousand dollars to the trustees of his estate to be used for the same purpose. One of the trustees, was Mr. George B. Emerson, a lover of trees, who knew of Mr. Bussey’s fine old estate. In 1872 he arranged an agreement between Harvard and the trustees thru which the Arnold Arboretum was founded on Bussey’s farm with Mr. Arnold’s money. A few years later this museum of living things settled its roots with a sigh of content when the City of Bos- ton established the Arnold Arboretum forever. For Boston, wishing to make the Arboretum a public park, took con- trol of it by right of eminent domain. It added adjoining lands, made roads, and leased the entire property to Har- vard University for one thousand years. At the end of this time, 2882, Harvard may renew the lease. How wonderfully old some of those trees will be then! I wonder how many of the Hemlocks will still be living. In Syria there grows the Lebanon j Cedar which after many experiments has been successfully grown here in Jamaica Plain. How lovely those ce- dars will be at the end of the thousand years! I should like to see their knarled old trunks and their matted branches at that time. For the branch- es of the Lebanon Cedar are accus- tomed to grow so thickly together that when the trees are very old four or five people may sometimes stand on the top of one of them. Knowing that this tree and others as strange have been brought to the Ar- nold Arboretum, we understand the real purpose in founding a place of this kind, which has grown to be the largest in the world.. Dr. Charles Sprague Sargent, pro- fessor of aboriculture at Harvard and who may be called the father of the Arboretum, is trying to have in his great garden, all the hardy trees and shrubs which will stand the climate of New England. Explorers go every- where to bring back seeds or slips from which to grow mighty oaks or wonderful shrubs. From Japan they bring back the cherry trees with their heavily scented blossoms; from Japan, too, comes the crab apple tree blooming in all its glory just at lilac-time. Imagine an ordinary crab apple tree completely covered with delicately tinted roses, — picture a steep green hill for the back- ground and you have one of the most 10

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC read their writings? When reading Caesar we enjoyed descriptions of those wonderful wars and learned that trench warfare was used in antiquity. Therefore, I ask you, what is there which has not been handed down to us from the Latins, when even Chris- tian Science was practised in Roman times. What more wonderful piece of ora- tory has the world ever listened to than when Cicero delivered that fa- mous oration against Cataline in the senate as he said, “Quo usque tandem abutere, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quern ad finem sese effrenata iaetabit auda- cia? Quid proxima, quid superioris egeris, ubi fueris, quos conoocaveris, quid consil ceperis, quern nostrum ig- norare arbitraris? O tempora, O mores! Senatus haec intelligit, consul videt; hie tamen vivit.” To read Vir- gil is to enjoy a beautiful epic, one of the finest of its types. Can we ever forget Virgil’s descent to Hades when he discloses before our eyes our future habitation, Facilis descensus Averni. Virgil was one of the chosen few to visit those realms and return, alas, how many of us will be able to do like- wise? Can we forget the first time in geom- etry we saw Q. E. D. which was merely the Latin phrase, “Quod erat demon- strandum,” meaning, what must be proved? To our Latin student subway via Park street merely means by way of — Juvenal’s mens sana in corpore sano, is still true today, “what availeth a sound mind in a weak body.” It is also said that “Latin is no long- er a spoken language.” Neither is the language of Chaucer or Shakespeare spoken at present, but that does not retard our interest in these authors. The argument is also introduced that “Latin is too hard.” I will admit that it is difficult but not too hard. A boy must undergo strenuous training to be- come an athlete, therefore I argue, that his mind should undergo stren- uous training for development. The argument is also brought for- ward “that many students dislike Latin.” Possibly this is the fault of study in early years or poor instruc- tions — but generally the students who dislike Latin are not enthusiastic about other branches of learning. Possibly application to a hard, disagreeable task will fit him for the duties of la- ter life. Again it is said that four years is too long a time to give to a subject. A strong structure requires a strong foun- dation and to lay such a foundation takes time. If boys who are too anx- ious to get out into the world, would devote more of their time to serious study they would become better men in the future. Often one hears that other subjects in the curriculum are of greater value than Latin. It may be true, but the training in other subjects does not give him the concentration and memory for future use that Latin would have giv- en him. For it is conceded by the au- thorities in education that Latin is a greater brain trainer than mathemat- ics. To support this argument I bring forward the fact that in. the schools of New York, New Jersey and in other states, Latin is a required subject for two years and in a commercial depart- ment the Latin is studied as Vocation- al Latin. This is merely English taught via Latin as the derivation of words are taken up and the student learns the basic meaning and the correct spelling of various words. The ordinary stenographer of today because of her lack of knowledge of English is more of a liability than an asset. These mis- takes ean all be obviated by the study of Latin. Now, therefore, because of the rea- sons I have stated I hope you will agree with me that Latin is not out of touch with the present; is not too hard; it is not a dead language; and above all it is not dying out in our schools but increasing in strength and should be required here in our school in all courses. Now I hope I may use that famous Latin phrase of Caesar’s “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” and that henceforth you will all be upholders and devotees of the Latin language. “Pax vobiscum sempitern- um. — Vale, amici mei.” “You seem able-bodied and healthy; you ought to be strong enough to work,” she remarked, scrutinizingly. “Yes ma’am, I know. And you seem beautiful enough to be on the stage, but evidently you prefer the simple life” He got a square meal without any further reference to work. 12