Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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GRADUATION NUMBER for firewood and pulp are thrown away, and the rest of the tree is cut into logs and sent to the mill. Here it is still further wasted as it is sawed into dif- ferent shapes without much care. The wood then leaves the mill and goes to furniture makers and the like, where before it is made into any permanent object, more pieces are wasted. The wood that is used in ties, telephone poles, and houses is sometimes wasted by decay when not properly treated and cared for. The national forests would be able to look after themselves were it not for their many enemies. These enemies are fire, insects, disease, man, and animals, — the worst of all being fire. There are 36,000 fires each year that cost the gov- ernment about $100,000 each day. At that rate, in forty-one years there will be no forests left at all because to re- forest this burned area would take a long time and also would cost too much money. To lessen the total number of these fires, forest rangers are now em- ployed who detect such fires before they get a good start and either put them out themselves or else get help. These fires are caused in various ways. Sixty per cent are caused by carelessness, while the rest are deliberately set. Campers’ fires, sparks from ' trains, and the throw- ing away of lighted matches and cig- arettes are the careless ways by which these fires are started, while lightning is the only fire starter that cannot be prevented. At other times fires are set purposely by men who believe the for- ests are valueless and would rather have tlie land made into farms and pastures. One good motto then for everyone to have is “Avoid forest fires.” Insects are another enemy of trees. There are about 200,000 kinds of these enemies which cost the government $100,000,000 each year. Included in this group we find the familiar gypsy moth and brown tail moth, two insects that eat the leaves and suck the sap out of the trees. This insect problem is be- coming smaller each year as man, wdth the aid of birds, snakes, and toads, is slowly driving them away. Trees are also attacked by disease. The fungi is the most destructive be- cause it enters the tree and afterwards eats up the wood in order to grow. The white pine blister is another disease which causes the destruction of thous- ands of dollars worth of w’hite pine each year. Man is an enemy because he cuts, w ' astes, and causes fires. Ani- mals are destructive since they kill new trees by chewing or stepping on them. It now remains for us to do all that we can to help better the present forest situation. We can do this by planting trees in useless hilly country, by pro- tecting the young trees from falling timbers and animals, by cutting nothing but mature trees, and by planting two new’ trees for every one that we cut. If w’e do all in our power to help the government and other organizations whose aim is to better the present for- est conditions, in fifty years from now we w’ill not be living in a country that is being ruined by floods, w’hose rivers are valueless for navigation, and whose wood supply is entirely exhausted. |Htslorg of tl|c Class of 1928 Lillinn W. Hunt What is history? Tracing the deri- vation of the word, one finds that it means in its literal sense a learning or know’ing by inquiry of past events. Therefore, w’hat is history more or less than a record of happenings as remem- bered and set down by the narrator. Remembered? Yes. Volumes have been w’ritten recently of the Great War as it appeared in the memory of different officials. That is the answer ! History is a memorj’-, a kaleidoscopic series of mind pictures, covering days, months, and years past, that comes before us at our will. Although these last four years of our career as the class of 1928 will never hold a place in the world’s history, they will be chronicled forever in our minds, i Or, if you will, they w’ill be just a mem- ory. Words are such puny things that they can portray but a fraction of the fun, the cerebration, the occasional dalliance and the disappointments of our struggle I thus far tow’ard our ultimate goal. But reminiscence melts the years into mists ; w’hich roll aw’ay, disclosing the stage of ' the past, and, as we watch the beings I thereon, w’e exclaim apart, “Can this be [51

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC will find that sometime in the future we will be able to ponder on the past, and recollections of happy school days Avill bring peace to a discontented mo- ment. Working together we have found a key to life, that words are of no avail unless deeds be their master. Deeds not words. With this thought in mind, seventy-one young people en- ter upon the work of the world. ©ur Rational problem Thomas J. Connell The present national forest problem is one of the greatest of all times and should be regarded as such by every- one. Our forests are quickly becoming things of the past and unless some steps are taken to prevent this situation from occurring, we will soon be without the services of one of our greatest friends. The chief supply of lumber that we re- ceive from these forests is used in so many different ways that the simple enumeration would become monotonous. Along with this supply of lumber we also receive such important by-products as turpentine, alcohol, tars, gums, oils, maple syrup, sugars, and silk. There are not many people who real- ize the real value of the forests. First of all they act as climate regulators. The air near the forest is always the purest because the trees take in the carbon dioxide that is in the air and give off ox 3 ’’gen. The air is also very cool because the trees give off water in the form of cool moisture. The strong winds cannot penetrate through the trees and thus the forest districts are found to be very calm. The forests are also very useful as soil binders. The roots of the trees hold the ground firmly in place and pre- vent the landslides that result when the trees are cut down and the roots decay. To reforest such areas requires hard work, because the soil keeps sliding be- fore the new trees can become firmly rooted in the ground. Trees should al- ways be left on hilly places since no mountainous country was ever prosper- ous after the trees were cut down. Forests also control our water sup- plies. When rain falls in forest dis- tricts, it is absorbed in the roots or in the loose and spongy soil which is made thus by the decayed leaves. This pre- vents the water from running into the streams too quickly and thus avoids floods. Wherever there are forests, we always find young streams which are used for drinking water and for fishing; where there are no forests we find floods that destroy crops and lands. The rivers and streams receive the erod- ed land caused by these floods and thus become shallow and valueless for navi- gation. The terrible situation that ex- isted in Vermont a few months ago re- sulting in the loss of many human lives and the destruction of homes and prop- erty was due to the lack, of forests. The immensity of the present forest , problem can be shown by quoting a few ‘ statistics. At the time of the Indians there were 822,000,000 acres of forest land of which much has been cut for farms and pastures, for cities and sub- urbs as the populat ion has grown. At the present time there are 138,000,000 acres of untouched forests, 25,000,000 acres called second growth timber of commercial value, and 81,000,000 acres of ideal land fit only for growdng trees. This decrease in the forest area plainly shows that as the population is increas- ing, the forests are decreasing. The next problem that arises is to . find out where our forests have gone, i In the first place we use four times as much wood each year as we grow, and I at this rate it wall not be very long be- j fore our lumber supply will be entirely I exhausted. In this country we use 23,- I 000,000,000 cubic feet of wood each year, an amount which is equivalent to 250,- 000,000 trees of average height. Each year forest fires, decay, and insects de- stroy about 2,000,000,000 feet of wood, the railroads use 130,000,000 new ties, 5,000,000 trees are cut and made into telephone poles, mining and excavation use 260,000,000 feet, the box and barrel j industry uses 250,000,000 feet, while the I paper industries use 3,000,000 tons of ' pulp wood. Of all the wood that is cut each year in this country, one-third is used and the other two-thirds is wasted. With a little care two-thirds could be used thus doubling the commercial val- ue with the same cut. First, the tree is not cut close enougli to the ground; branches and tops which could be used [ 4 ]

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC really I?” Now every class mustj of necessity and custom, tread, the same mill so we will only remind you that we too have passed through all the transient stages from unutterably “nervy and fresh” | freshmen to what you see before you. Also, let us say in passing that we have occupied approximately evtry hom»e- i room in the high school building from the ground floor to the attic. The first episode must be passed over lightly as a half step from the “ridicu- lous to the sublime” as we would have said at that time. Our lasting impres- sions of a year’s initiation into Stone- ham High School are few. Climbing over piles of lumber in the gymnasium to arrive at a Latin class in the new building ; copjdng page on page of The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens as a pen- alty for really enjoying English; and, the havoc wrought with the heart-whole and fanc 3 ' -free damsels of our class bj ' certain upper classmen. Learning something everj day but never taking it too seriously ' , we arrived at the next j ' ear, the first in wliich we took up our courses together as an organized bodj’. Willard Decker, pres- ident; Phyllis Eoss, vice-president; Helen Packard, secretarj , and Florence McDonough, treasurer, and William Learned, chairman of the social com- mittee, made up the roster of our first class officers. Thus equipped, in we plunged blindlj ' , l)ut trusting to the greater poAvers that be to see us safelj- through. As Ave closed the uneA’entful j ear of 1925-26 Ave sighed profoundly, shaking our heads dismallj ' as Ave gazed at the still blank i)ages of our bank book. That evident Ij’ AA-as the right w ' a.y to start tlie day Avrong, as ’lAvere because we have been sighing ever since, and we are not sure even uoav Avhether Ave may safelj’ stop or not. -K- “Nothing shall die — w ' hat though dark- ness falls Across dim ej’es that gaze their last on light? Look up, or Heart, to Avhere the splen- did halls Of God’s great palace shines beyond the night.” To Annette C. Bloom, Classmate Who died March 18, 1926 Were j’ou ever, as Kipling expresses it, “Fiftj ' North and Forty West, w’hen the ship goes wop (with a wdggle in be- tAveen) ?” That w ' as about our state of mind in the midst of discovering that we Avere Juniors and as such had incur- red sundiy obligations. Only one change in officers had been effected namelA ' , Gordon Fanjoy held vice-presi- denc‘ 3 ' . Also at that time, after much discussion, both polite and otherwise, our class colors Avere decided upon. The records as kept tell of no class activi- ties during that j ear except tAvo socials Avhich netted the grand total of $16.00. The time honored privilege of having a Junior Prom was passed by due to force of circumstances. Do not ask us to recall painful memories. At the pre- sent time there is in Room 13 of the High School building a bust of Abra- ham Lincoln. The same Avas the gift presented bj this group to the graduat- ing class of 12-’27. . Maj ' that stand as ' an estimal)le finale to an otherwise uncolorful epoch. i This is primarily ' a dry, uninteresting histoi’ 3 ' of the Class of 1928 but it takes tAAm to make an argument so also there must be, in most cases, tw’o factors to I make history , a protagonist and an an- tagonist. And, as teachers and instruct- ors seem to be indispensable in this pro- cess of pursuing an education, either under compulsion or of a free will, we cal] to mind some of those Avith whom AA-e have come in contact personally and Avhom Ave ma.y count as friends. I-,et us saj ' simplA of our greatest friend and teacher, Mr. Charles J. Em- erson, “The 3 ' remembered the words he had spoken. But clearest of all, thej’ remembered him.” For the bumps and knocks that we have learned to take Avith a grin as a part of the rcAA ' ard, Ave thank all of our coaclies and phj ' sical directors. Then there is one aa’Iio has taught us l).y example the joA ' of living in work- ing and Avho has shoAA’ed us the beauty ' in music and the Avorth of the real things in this Avorld — Mr. Walter Dal- glish. There are three faces that appear simultaneously in our mind’s eye. Miss Vera ]Moore, IMr. Wilbert Skerrye, and Mr. Earl T. Thil)odeau, himself. Whj’- should such phenoma take place, you ask? Well, you’ve heard the old saying about birds of a feather, have you not? That answers whj ' these friends hold I equal place in our list. Their good ad-