Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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JUNE 1934 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC 5 appetites, anything that reduces efficiency keeps you from being your best self and prevents you from mastering your destiny. You must be self-reliant. You must not depend on somebody else’s talents. Develop your own. That is why God has placed them at your disposal. Stand by your ideas. Do not be afraid if you are alone. The crowd that is against you today may be with you tomorrow. Popularity comes and goes like gusts of summer wind. If you employ your own resources, you can succeed. Again, you must be prepared to make decisions and to stand by them. Once you have made your choice, stick to it. Do not be carried to and fro by every passing breeze of opinion. If you stop at ev- ery milepost to weigh pros and cons, you will not get very far during the day. Satisfy yourself that you are right. “I will be with thee.” How cheerful an assurance that has been to many persons in times when the outlook was dark and the silver lining was difficult to see! Many a chap has started through college with barely enough money to meet the expenses of the first year. It seemed as if it could not be done. Even before the doubters have ceased to shake their heads, the young doctor, clergyman, farmer, engi- neer or lawyer steps into the ranks of the profes- sions. Therefore, consider your possibilities and treat them as possibilities and be self confident! Viola La Pierre.

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4 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC JUNE 1934 SETTING OUT Now that the time has come for the guiding reins of school-day life to be cast off, our thoughts naturally turn to the future. Plans form them- selves in our minds; then other plans supplant them. Our minds are in a whirl. Procrastination, an en- dowment to all men by nature, has caused us to leave all preparation until the final year, or even the last few months. Our mind, untrained for the ordeal of decisions, wavers, first choosing and then rejecting. All advice is gladly received, yet who are we that we can distinguish good from bad opin- ion? The best advice I have been given is to “drive on.” Make your life energetic. Whatever you attempt, go at it with a will and finish it. Do it in the com- pletest and best way you know. In this way, a suc- cessful, efficient, and useful career may be accom- plished. Don’t be reckless or risk your honor, but keep on striving steadily. Remember, don’t quit or whine about life. It will gain you nothing, for everyone knows that life is what you make it. Life has no room for failure; there are too many others willing to work if you aren’t. If you need money, here is another chance to show that you can strive as hard as the many others who have survived pov- erty as bad as or worse than yours. Hard pulls and steep hills will show your stuff and stamina. Don’t sit down, but pitch in, drive on, and you will come out on top. Success may be a long way off, but perseverance will be sure to bring you to your goal. Dryden said, “Every man is the maker of his own fortune, and must be, in some measure, the trumpet of his fame.” James A. Smith. NEIGHBORS We are told in the Bible to love our neighbors as ourselves. Just as in so many other things, we misinterpret and neglect. We love the neighbor who thinks to sharpen our lawnmower before re- turning it, but we love better the neighbor who uses his own. It would seem from this that we are sel- fish and resent imposition of any sort. There’s a stumbling block, however, in the very emotions of our neighbors. Some are always glad to loan and to help; others delight in rebuff. If this helping-hand philosophy were the only side to the question, many more souls would arrive at the pearly gates. But when we not only cease to love our neighbor but also begin to hate him, our problem becomes more complex. Gossip is the child of long-tongued leisure and in- ventive minds. Neighborhoods , even as nations, di- vide themselves into cliques or parties. One ele- ment is conservative, the other, radical. While the radicals are “throwing” a party, the conservatives peek from behind drawn shades, only too anxious to get an eyeful. Then with bated breath they com- pare observations, striving always to be most vivid. They ignore their lowly neighbors; they are too good for such people. The radicals in turn, after a few snubs from the others, join in common dislike and defence. Their conversations, in turn, breed half truths and gossip. They forbid their children to play with the “stuck- up” conservatives and they flout their indiscretions out of spite. This constant dividing of neighbors can no more be stopped than war itself. It is difficult to remain neutral. But the man who can administer to the needs and whims of both, is the perfect neighbor. James Rich. SELF-CONFIDENCE Self-confidence is not recklessness. It is not the “know-it-all” attitude of the ignorant boaster. Rath- er is it a valuable asset based on a common-sense appraisal of your ability to perform. The quality demands self-control. You must be able to direct your mind and body. The yielder or the weak-willed individual is never able to marshal his own forces effectively. Hot tempers, excessive

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6 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC JUNE 1934 PRESIDENT’S WELCOME Donald Blanchard We have been looking forward with anticipation to this day when we shall have finished one step to- ward an education and shall have passed into the ranks of alumni. Your presence here as we com- plete that step is an encouragement to us. We wel- come you, parents, teachers, and friends, to our Graduation Exercises. From year to year, from class to class, you have witnessed us develop. We hope you have seen in us, as the days passed into years, a growth in power and self-reliance, and a drawing forth of our facul- ties that will aid us in becoming better men and women. Your efforts and sacrifices will be repaid by the use of our opportunities to make the world a better place in which to live. We, who are for the first time entering into life’s arena, realize that it is a place of larger opportunity and greater responsibility. Here we have a battle to win. There will be times when we shall look to the achievements and the victories of those gone be- fore us for courage to overcome the obstacles that confront us. We inherit a civilization of more comforts than did our fathers and forefathers. But facing us are greater problems — social, economic and political. There are full years ahead of us, affording oppor- tunity for constructive aid. And so to you — our parents, teachers, and friends, we give assurance that your unrequited toil has not been wasted. The years that are still to dawn will witness our efforts to bring to fruition your fondest hopes for our welfare and success. GRADUATION ADDRESS — MODERN TRENDS OF GOVERNMENT Bernard M. Scully, Jr. We are passing through a period of unprecedent- ed change. We are the living witnesses of one of the most critical periods in our nation’s history. Such a vital period must bring inevitable changes in national affairs. Let us examine the trends of modern thought as they are influencing political, economic, and social reforms in our government. S ' With Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom” a new era was ushered into the annals of American gov- ernment. From that time the government has ceased to interest itself solely in political aspects. This new period is one in which the government concerns itself with the regulation of business. The common class of wage-earners is benefited by this change in economic and social policy. The fact that we are truly in a new epoch is borne out by the number of recent changes in our Constitution. From 1913-1933, six amendments to the Constitution have been ratified. Since 1791 when the first ten amendments were ratified as the Bill of Rights, no period has seen such rapid change in our Constitution. These amendments were the natural result of new developments of national life. The original Consti- tution provided for a direct tax proportional to pop- ulation. The Sixteenth Amendment has changed this. The Congress now lays taxes on income ac- cording to amount earned. The reason for this amendment was the fact that the concentration of capital no longer coincided with the concentration of population. The Seventeenth Amendment, pro- viding for direct popular election of United States Senators, superseded the original provision that the state legislatures should choose the Senators. The Eighteenth Amendment, establishing National Pro- hibition, was the result of the entrance of liquor into politics. Because the liquor interests had such a powerful grip on politics, it was thought necessary to abolish alcoholic beverages entirely. The Nine- teenth Amendment, granting women suffrage, was the consequence of their new found freedom follow- ing the World War. The Twentieth Amendment, providing for the inauguration of the president in January and eliminating the Lame Duck” session