Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

Page 9 text:

THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC •where but ©n our books, and a constant reminder of our duty is necessary from our officers of discipline. Especially our last week, when lessons are just as important as any other time, are we inclined to think that school is really over (just for the collecting of books, you know). So keep up your courage and make the last days of the school year the most profitable ever spent, for “he that endureth to the end, shall re- ceive a due reward.” M. M. P., ’24. Jittck (3ft School is almost finished, and those pesky exams are over, and now, more than any other time in the year, there is that tendency to let things slide a little and not to put so much effort into work. We know how it is; we’ve felt that way ourselves, it is easy to say “Well the exams are over and I am not going to study any more. I won’t get any credit for it anyhow. The deuce with it.” We admit your average for the term may not be ma- terially changed, but then marks aren’t the only thing we’re after; who’ll care ten years from now whether you got A or B in Spanish or Physics. It isn’t the mark that counts ; it’s how much you keep under your hat. It is an es- tablished fact that every day spent in school nets that person nine dollars and some odd cents, and you can collect your nine dollars whether you get any marks or not. Nine dollars is worth nine dollars in June, just as much as it is in January, so stick to it, you’ll find it pays in the long run. J. J. W., ’24 penrium Co-operation is the key to almost any kind of work or play. In large business firms such as Jordan Marsh and Filene’s, if the workers did not co-operate and work together, the busi- ness would not be worth much to the owner. When a baseball team is play- ing if the players do not co-operate, the team presents the appearance of a one-man team. If co-operation is used in every-day life, we benefit by it greatly and especially in school, we ought to learn the lesson of co-opera- tion between student and teacher, for it is by these lessons learned during school life that we mould our future destiny. Therefore, fellow students, question yourselves — have you proper- ly learned the meaning of the term co- operation and employed it to its full- est extent? E. K. P., ’24. PHjat (3fs ' ffizdnotizm? Patriotism is a word that everyone has heard repeated over and over again in the last few years. But what does it mean to show patriotism and to be patriotic? A true patriot is one who lives an everyday life that is a credit to his country, who develops his mind to the best of his ability, who keeps his health up to standard, and never, for one mo- ment, forgets what he owes to God. Anyone who fails to live up to those ideals is a slacker. A person who goes to Washington’s monument on February 22nd and lays a wreath at the foot of it, is not always a patriotic one. If after that is over, he or she should do some harmful thing that lowers the mind and body standard, they are not patriots. Any woman, yes, and any man who indulges in a habit that does injury to the health, blunts the mind, and dwarfs the spiritual nature, curbs his or her usefulness as a citizen of the country, is to that extent a slacker. Patriotism is more than an emer- gency or holiday affair. It is living a life in the home, the school, the office and on the farm that measures up to the highest physical, moral and spirit- ual standards. A young man was wheeling a go-cart to and fro in front of his home. He looked hot, but contented. “My dear!” came a voice from an upper window of the house. “Now let me alone!” he called back. “We’re all right.” An hour later the same voice in ear- nest pleading tones: “Arthur, dear!” “Well, what do you want?” he re- sponded. “You’ve been wheeling Dora’s doll all afternoon. Isn’t it time for the baby to have a turn?” 5

Page 8 text:

THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC ' (EeacljBrs Have you ever thought about your teachers? You are a strange scholar if you haven’t for all of us have at some time or other. Probably you di- vide teachers into two groups, those that you like, and those that you don’t like. Did you ever stop to think why you liked or didn’t like a teacher? Perhaps you think that you like a cer- tain one because you can do just as you please in her classes, but do you really like and respect her, just be- cause, to use slang, she lets you, and the rest of the class, “walk all over her”. I have used the pronoun “her”, you notice, because it is seldom that a man will, if he is a man, stand for any such proceedings. Some teachers man- age their classes without any trouble at all. They treat their pupils like hu- mans and not as mere deskfillers. They manage their classes because their pu- pils love and respect them. Other teachers seemingly manage their class- es easily, but it is simply because the pupils are afraid of them. This feel- ing of fear for a teacher drives out all respect and makes it hard for the pu- pil to learn the subject which this teacher is trying to register on a pu- pil’s brain by force instead of reason. The teacher whom everyone abhors is the one who has a habit of creeping around the room, or creeping about the halls, spying on everyone whether it is his or her business to do so or not. After a while we notice a crafty, hate- ful look which is perpetually register- ed on his or her face. I think that the teacher who suspects the pupils of ev- erything from low to high crimes are people who themselves can stand watch- ing and who could not be trusted very far. The teachers whom we all love, re- spect, and in whose classes we are proud to be, are those who treat us like human beings, who are willing to help us, who never suspect or accuse with- out first finding proof, who correct our errors by showing us kindly, how and why, we are w T rong and who have some remembrance of the fact that they w-ere young and went to school once, themselves. F. E. K., 24. jSctjoxrl ;I3ags Jcrl CESsartlg Wc t Sappiest Realization of good things come when w e fail to possess them any long- er. All the members of the Senior class are drawing near such a period and most of them know it. The pleasures of school life are especially keen in the fourth year of one’s high school car- eer, and it is not without regret that we give them up. Yet the matter should not cause the concern that it does; our lives at college or as workers can be as enjoyable and as companion- able if we make them so. Thomas Bailey Aldrich doubted the statement “that school days are the happiest days,” and his school career was cer- tainly filled with good things. Let the present pleasures be enjoyed and upon leaving let all Seniors be thank- ful that they have had a happy school life; but above all should they remem- ber that life out of schoo l may be in every way as pleasurable if it is made so — and the making is up to us. “Jic ©jat fcniutreth ®n (Tltc ftth” More and more we come to realize how hard it is to endure until the very end. W(hen all the outer world is call- ing, and the sun seems to drive away all our knowledge, our minds are any- 4

Page 10 text:

THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC 3)n ©ranstium” Herman JL Ricketts, ,3jtrsi Jfottor The prospect of a cold and fuelless winter of factories silent because of no coal, of a general lack of all the ne- cessities of life, was impressed upon j the American people by the continua- j tion of the coal strike and the railroad strike of last summer. Then people real- ized for the first time how utterly de- I pendent modern society has become ! upon the primary resources of power. Modern civilization, with its social life, industries, transportation and commerce, depends for its continuance and expansion mainly upon coal. Until recently not much thought had been given to the railroads as more than an important industry. All of a sudden the great war — that rude awak- ener of sleeping forces — jarred into consciousness the snug indifference of I the masses. The American people have j learned the lesson of the indispensabil- i ity of the railroads of national pros- j perity. They arc now giving heed to j the fact that transportation is the one J industry of all industries which cuts its figure in the daily life, the comfort, the wealth, and the well being of every individual in America. Now, as never before, the railroads, the arteries through which that life- blood of American industry — coal — must pass, have been brought to the attention of the people. Realization of the seriousness of the situation has caused a radical change in the attitude of the public since the car shortage last year alone caused American farmers to suffer a loss of $400,000,000. The lack of transportation in any country would act as a perpetual han- dicap to its development and expan- sion, for unless transportation is avail- able, no country can hope to success- fully market the fruits of its skilled labor and inventions. Indifference has been replaced by fear for the future prosperity of American industry. Out of our fear for the destiny of civilization in the face of an exhaus- tion of the coal supply comes the au- thentic statement from the U. S. Geo- logical survey that properly utilized there is enough coal in American fields to supply present demands for the next 1 57.000 years. And the railroads that are today so inadequate were for over ; half a century in advance of the de- mand placed upon them. What, then, is that formidable drag- on that defies government and the gen- eral public alike, and with its hand at the throat of American industry uses the power of threat for its own ends. As we think of the transportation sit- uation, we also think of the shopman’s strike ; a thought of the coal shortage brings to mind the strike of the an- thracite operators of last summer; and then conies the answer to our question, the strike menace. President Harding made this statement in his message to Congress on August 18, “That the simple but significant truth is revealed that the country is at the mercy of the United Miue Workers of America.” He might well have made a similar state- ment in regard to the railroad shop- men. It is not the place here to enter into any discussion of the right of labor to organize and to strike for its demands. The biggest problems in the world to- day is not how to crush and destroy organized labor, but how to avert and restrain its excesses. I cherish no hos- tility for capital, no enmity to labor. The railroad is an engine of civiliza- tion, and coal is a national asset, and not a private property. The simple truth is that the deep irritation of la- bor is a social fact to be dealt with. 6