Tottenville High School - Purple Parrot Yearbook (Staten Island, NY)

Page 39 text:

remarkable that so much had been done in four short years. Medicine came closer to cures for cancer, polio and other dread diseases. Science progressed at a remarkable rate with new discoveries being made almost every day. Those years were filled with hope and promise for the future. Many years from now, as historians try to evaluate the years l95O through 1954, they may be troubled by the apparent contradictions of those years, for during them tension and uncertainty existed side by side with hope and a feeling of accomplishment. Whatever their decision, we know that never before was there such an exciting time to live-for never before was manis future so firmly in his own hands. ARTHUR POWELL T126 Lab Squad Very few students during their stay at Tottenville have ever been in the laboratory. For this group l, as an unbiased outsider, will try to make an accurate Hreportf' about the lab and its inhabitants. The little demons that work there are known as the lab boys. There are various types of these people. First there is A--. He is a tall, Mdumbl' boy who thinks that a flask is a type of ray gun, and firmly believes that bunsen burners make handy objects to throw at fellow Mlab boys. The second type of lah squader is more dangerous than Ai. Bi, that shall be his name, doesn't shout or scream but quietly mixes hydrochloric, and sulfuric acid, and when the opportunity presents itself, will slip the potent mixture into an enemy's lunch bag. Naturally, there is just the right amount to vaporize the entire contents of the bag. ln this manner our shrewd little operator slowly starves his adversary to surrender. C-, the third type of Mlab boyf, is the most dangerous of all. He doesnlt throw bunsen burners or vaporize people's lunches. His weapon is much more powerful, it's a camera! If you have ever done anything which was not altogether legal, this boy has recorded it on film. Be careful, for one day you might find your picture, in great enlargement, showing you committing the unpardonable sin of combing your hair in the cafeteria, pasted up on some wall. The question which naturally arises is, MHOW do these volatile students get on the lab squad in the first place?', lVlr. X-, supervisor of the lab squad, chooses his helpers with the greatest of care, but to no avail. Even the meekest of students becomes a dangerous fellow once he has touched a Hoffman apparatus or smelled fresh chlorine. Yet! What would happen to school life and the science department if we didn't have that little band of scientific radicals, our LAB SQUAD? CARL ORGELL 35

Page 38 text:

In Rcfrosperf ln future years our class will rememher 1950 through 1954 as the years during which our high school days were spent. Pleasant as those years were however, they will he rememhered hy future generations as a period of uncertainty throughout the worldg a period of tension when men wondered whether world peace was really possihleg hut mostly, a period of increasing hope for the future. ln spite of the great contrihutions of science, medicine and literature, those years were dominated hy the shadow of Communism and the threat of world conflict. Three months hefore we entered high school the Korean Wai' hegan. No other single event throughout our high school career had such a profound inHuence upon our lives and the lives of all peoples. The following years were filled with great anxiety as the free world wondered if it could meet the test of Communist aggression. The United Nations fought hard to win the respect of those who had condenmed it. As the world watched, the forces of the United Nations met those of Communism. Then, in June of 1951, the Russian delegate to the United Nations proposed that the Mhel- ligerentsw should hold conferences for the purpose of hringing about a cease- fire. During our sophomore and junior years these conferences continued. Finally, in July of 1953, the long awaited truce was signed. Although the most important, Korea was only one of many events that helped create world tension. The world will never forget the savage war in Tndonesia, the Berlin Crisis, the disclosures that Communists had infested our government and the discovery of thermonuclear weapons hy the United States and the Soviet Union. One must not helieve that those years were filled only with despair. On the contrary, many noteworthy events proved that the world had not aban- doned its hope for peace and that man had not lost his desire to progress. Our greatest asset in the crusade for peace was the United Nations. At the close of our high school career, the world still did not know whether the United Nations had earned a hetter fate than its predecessor. However, it did know that in its nine years of existence, the United Nations had done more to promote world peace and the general hetterment of conditions every- where than the League of Nations did in its twenty-seven years. Over- shadowed hy the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and its agencies have hest exemplified the accomplishments of the United Nations. ln 1952 the people wanted a change in our government. The Eisenhower administration hrought new ideas and solutions to old problems. From an historical meeting at Bermuda came the idea of the pooling of atomic resources hy all nations for peaceful use. A 5'Big Four , conference was held to settle disputes over Germany and Austria. Perhaps the greatest accom- plishments, however. were from the fields of science and medicine. It seemed 34

Page 40 text:

om' of L zfe ln this great world, there are many roads which may he taken that lead to a successful life. At graduation time, there is always a certain thrill, and much excitement. lVlayhe you're happy heeause you're getting out of high school, or mayhe you wish that your high school years hadn't gone as fast as they did. Vlfhichever it is. although you may not realize it, you are aliout to start oil on a new road, this time, your own. The road may seem clear to you as you hegin, hut as you travel along, the road will hecome rocky, and traveling, more and more dillicult. Your path will seem dark, hut there is a verse in the Bihle, found in the hook of Psalms, chapter one hundred nine- teen, verse one hundred five. It reads: 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my Path. If you read His word and take it with you as you travel along your road, God will remove all darkness, and plow clear your Road of Life. GLADYS CARLSEN The Brine of Uizrerfazzhzjf It is the year two thousand as the sun hreaks over the hill heralding the awakening of another in the never-ending procession of days. ,lon Tal, the last man on earth, sits alone in his room. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. ,lon rises instinctively and faces the door. He takes one step for- ward and then stops, frozen immohile where he stands, unable to moye as the significance of that innocent knock strikes home carrying with it a Hood of fear and uncertainty. The last man on earth was sitting alone when suddenly there was a knock at the door. It has heen five years now since ,lon Tal has heard the sound of another living voice or has seen another living face. Five years since all life, excluding himself. had disappeared from the earth. He alone had heen alite to foresee the coming of that day when earth suddenly lost all of its oxygen. He alone had huilt and stocked a refuge with proyision for necessities, even oxygen, which would last him at least another twenty years. He alone was the last representative ol life on the planet earth. hut then. who or what had knocked on his door? At last he took another step forward, Then another as he slowly made his way forward. Scores ol' wiht thoughts streaked madly across his mind as he tried to picture what awaited him outside. Now he was at the door. Soon his wondering and anticipation would he ended. Soon he would know. Hesitatingly he reached down and gripped the door knoh. He faltered H10- mentarily as a flood of uncertainty swept over him. hut then giving the knoh a turn he flew open the door and there staring him in the face was+. lxfell. what do you think it was that had come to call on the last man on earth? EDWARD I-IARHisoN 36