Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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THE W. H. S. DEBATER THE SPECTATOR Advice to the Grammar School Pupil YOU, the pupils of the eighth grade, who are about to enter High School, do not get the idea into your heads that it ' s going to be all fun, for it is not. Going into high school means that you will have to sacrifice much. You will have to put your studies first and sacrifice many an evening ' s pleasure in order to get your lessons done and done well. On entering High School, you will be surprised for a while that the studies are so easy; but don ' t think they are always to be thus. You will find out that they gradually increase in difficulty until it takes about all your spare time to learn one lesson perfectly. Because your lessons are easy at first, you will be tempted to spend a large part of your time in fooling. Do not do this. If you learn your lessons properly you will have no time to waste in this way. If you do not learn your lessons from day to day, you will come to realize more and more as the year goes on what a fool you have been to allow your work to get behind. You will wish more than once, just as I have done, that you had gone ahead with your studies and kept after them. Then at the end ot the year, instead of having to worry about getting your points, you will be rolling smoothly along the road which runs to the second year of High School. Once started and started well you will enjoy High School. The sacrifices will seem small and you will be more and more thankful that you did not wait un- til the studies began to grow hard before beginning to work at them. Daviij Pekkins, ' 17 To the Pupils in the Eighth Grade BEP ' ORE you enter High School, make up your mind that you are going to study and not to fool as a good many pupils do. Some pupils fool their first year and say to themselves Oh! I will get by all right! Don ' t you be one of these. When their senior year comes these pupils will have to worry and study very hard. When you enter High School, bear in mind all through the year the thought If 1 am going to grad- uate in four years, I must work. Study all of your lessons, English in particular. In English you must read a number of books, not Wild West stories that boys are likely to read while in grammar school, but classical books. Above all, keep still when a teacher is talking. If you don ' t you will see yourself marching to the office in pretty quick time. Then when June comes, you will be glad that you had taken the advice of a freshman who has studied- Don ' t take any notice of graduates, if they tell you how much fun they had while in High School. Just study and nothing else. Cmarlks F. Burke, ' 17 The Spectator Discusses Modern Dancing ONE of the most discussed subjects of the pres- ent day is modern dancing. Not only is it discussed in the schools and churches, but also at home and abroad. Some one may ask, Why do we dance? We answer, Because the world always has. Our forefathers danced, why should not we? Even Hercules would have been no match for the task of making the world stop dancing. Very often we are wrongly criticised by persons who do not dance or do not care to. Is it not unjust to judge a dance by the way one ' s neighbor dances.? What is more graceful and beautiful than the Castle Walk or the One-step when they are properly executed. ' ' How many persons have really seen these dances done properly . ' ' Not many, I venture to say. Are we likely to see correct dancing in a cheap dance-hall.? Do we learn from frequenters of such places the proper way to do these dances ? Modern dances have unjustly received great denunciation, yet I believe no more so than did the Waltz and the Two-step when they first appeared It is not a poor form of recreation ! We love music. What was music composed for if it was not to accompany singing and dancing.? Can we resist dancing when the strains of Too Much Mustard set the blood racing through our veins .? Many say it is bad for the health. Is there any sport more inviting, more entertaining than dancing.? Does it not limber up muscles ; does it not give gayety to the spirit, oxygen to the blood, and last of all refresh- ment to the mind .? Criticism should not fall on the dance, be it the Tango or the Turkey Trot , but on the manner of the dancer. Dancing depends largely on a per- son ' s frame of mind. Nine times out of ten one who is naturally inclined to harbor evil thoughts will show this in his dancing, whether it be modern or not, just as he displays it in his daily life. Therefore we may readily compare dancing with styles. Would we be satisfied to use the same pat- tern for every gown .? I think not. New dances are taken up just as new styles are ; from a desire for change. I believe, as a result of experience and of close ob- servation that dancing, when properly indulged in, is a most desirable and invigorating past-time. Hazel Barstow, ' 15

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THE W. II. S. I)KI5ATKR Fort Independence C ITUATED on Castle Island in Boston Harbor is an old fort known as Fort Independence. It is a mas- sive structure built of heavy blocks of stone piled high with earth. At a distance it resembles a hnge bank of earth, but as one goes nearer, it appears more like the ruins of an old castle. In the thick walls are rows of narrow windows, a few of vvhich are covered by a heavy screen. All of the windows have one very noticable characteristic : the stone frame in which they are set, slants obliquely into the fort, making- the window appear wider inside than outside. In front of the building are a number of heavy can- non, which face the entrance to the harbor; some of them weigh as much as nine thousand pounds. In case of need, these would soon prove to a foreign intruder, that the old structure is neither earth pile nor castle, but in very truth a fort. Edith Whittle The Haverhill High School THE new high school in Haverhill is situated in Sum- mer street, on the corner of Main street near the cen- ter of tlie city. Main street rises giadually and the build- ing is plainly seen as one comes up the hill. In the front of it, near the main entrance, is a bronze statue of ' -Tiie Thinker , by Rodin, that was presented to the higli school. The building is very large, having three stories and a basement. It is constructed of a dull yellow rough brick, and is trimmed with a rough white brick. The grounds about it are not very large, but it is not necessary liecause the building has a num))or of rooms especially reserved for the use of the pupils at recess and after school. There is a large hall at the top of the building where the pupils assemble each moiniiig for the opening exer- cises. This hall is also used for the graduation exer- cises. In the basement is a large, well-eouipped gymnasium. The floor is of hard wood, and is well polished go that llie pupils may hold dancing parties, and may dance in the noon-hour, lii another part of the haseuient is the lunch room. This has a long counter at one end where the food is given out. All around the room are small tables where the pupils may eat lunches Besides the pupils lunch-room, there is a restaurant run by the high school, where dinners are served to outsiders. As we wandered through this beautiful building, so comi)lete in every respect, we could not hel]) wondering how long it would be before Wakelield would decide? upon the location of her much needed new high school building. Kuril E. Hii.i.sGuovK, II Encu.isii O OUR EASTER OFFERING Wf fi ' lve this money with liearts full of love, To our dear, loving Saviour wiio came from above. He came to earth from Heaven so brjulit, To teacli one and all to live and do riglit. He was perfect and holy, as we ought to be, He died on the cross to save you and me — And now he has risen this beautiful day, And rolled the stone from the grave away. We pray this happy Easter-tide That Christ wdl help us and be at our side. And trust tliat this gift of love that we bring. Will make glad hearts and help others to sing. Srsu : M. Knui.u.i., ' 17. THE ARTIST An artist sat in an attic room His money and food were gone, For no one would buy his pictui-e, And his heart was sad and forloin. At last, when cold and silent. In tlie damp earth he was laid, A rich man saw his picture, . nd a million he (piickly paid. And now in a l)ig nnisenin The artist ' s picture is found; But liow will the poor fellow know it, Wiicn lies six feet deep in the ground V Fhank Gi.vnn, 17. FAREWELL Goodbye, goodl)ye. Dear Waketleld High, It ' s time f(n ' me to go; I have delayed. Four years Tve stayed, Enongli for you, I know. Yon don ' t belit ' ve It ' s hard to leave ' ? You nmst be joking, thongli. It ' s hard, don ' t fear, To leave yon here. Hut really. I must go; I ' m glad I came. May come again, I ' ll miss yon, don ' l you see ' lint now, goodbye. Dear Wakefield High, You ' ve done a lot for me. IM.MaiAiiKr O ' C ' oNNoi:. It.

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10 THE W. H. S. DKHATER The Reading Habit IT has always seemed to me that to form the habit of reading good books at home is most important for young people. Therefore I hope the freshmen in our High School, and all those who hope to become freshmen next year, if perchance this paper should fall into their hands, will read this article carefully and seriously think it over. If a boy or girl has once formed the home-reading habit, and then suddenly lets it drop, he experiences a strange feeling. This is because the force of habit has become strong. He really misses his reading, and feels as if he were leaving something undone, as if he were, somehow or other, failing in his duty. Ni)w, I realize that it is rather inconvenient some- times to devote even fifteen minutes a day to this outside reading, and that it takes a great deal of per- severance to stick to your purpose, and yet the very irksomeness of the task can be made to aid us. Just work on industriously tor the first month, determined to do that reading, and you will find that the second month will demand only half as much sacrifice, and the third month but a fourth as much. This is ex- plained by the strength of daily habit, that all-power- ful aid. If the treshman gets through his first year, faithfully studying the books recommended, one can safely say that he will continue his home-reading thro igh his senior year, for the habit of reading will have become strong enough to help him overcome all obstacles. But .some boys and girls say, Oh, well, what ' s the use of all this classical reading .- I ' m not going to college. That last sentence explains just why there is such need. If you do not learn to appreci- ate and enjoy sound, sensible books in the high school, the chances are you never will. Your Eng- lish is most important to you, more important than Latin or French, indeed I think foreign languages should be studied with the idea of broadening and perfecting our English. A thorough knowledge of English words is absolutely necessary to every boy and girl, reading or speaking the English language. To those boys and girls who are preparing for college, this home reading is necessary — a clear case of . must . This is an all-sufificient reason why such pupils should begin their additional reading at once: for you know the old proverb which says, What you have done today yo u will not have to do tomor- row. Some great man, whose name I cannot now recollect, said that if a person devoted fifteen minutes a day to any subject for three years, at the end of that time he would be entirely master of it. Just think this over. In conclusion, I earnestly advise boys and gii ' ls to go to work on their outside reading early, and also to read some during this coming vacation, for tasks multiply every succeeding year, antl it is obvious that it is imwise to let all your work ])ile u]) for your senior year. I hope that I have given encouragement to a few, especially freshmen. Begin your home reading now. Ask for a list of the best books, go to the library and get one. Read it through carefully. Begin now to cultivate that steadfast friend, habit. It will help you in all your lessons. Take my word for it, you will never regret, in after years, the time spent in the high school, in becoming acquainted with the best writers. Anna Barnes, ' 14 The Spectator Discusses Preparation for College in the Wakefield High School ONCE in a while some one gives out the startling information that our High School, on which the town is spending a large sum yearly, is incapable of fitting its pupils for college in the four years spent there. The Spectator has accordingly been looking around, just to see how the old school stands. The Spectator has decided that these criticisms are of two kinds: — One is like the annual war scare which is thrown at Congress by the senators in the employment of the steel trust. The other is from the parent of some boy or girl who has failed to gain many extra points ; but on the other hand has spent much time traveling to and from the office, and has had an awfully good time. Does the parent of such a boy ever stop to think that there are boys in the High School who work and work hard; with the result that after graduation they enter Har ard or Technology-the bugbears of entering classes. When five boys can enter Technology from a single class, it certainly .seems unreasonable to say that our High School cannot prepare its boys for college. Further- more, the girls seem to have no great trouble in reaching higher institutions, Wellesley and Smith, for example. Pupils who work have no difificulty in attaining a sufficient rank to enter the numerous colleges which accept a certificate. It does not take a brilliant scholar or any too much work to attain the required rank. The cause of trouble in many cases is that the pupil has no plan in niiml for higher education. Many have an idea that the} ' are going somewhere; but have no definite idea where. If the parent would see the Principal by, at least, the end of the first year, and get an idea as to what studies his boy ov girl is likely to need to enter a certain school, much trouble would be saved. I ' ven if it is imjjossihle to make definite ])lans tor the future, one neeil not be deterred from preparing himself for college ; for a jM-eparation for llar ard or Technology will ensure admittance to au)- college in the country. This is one of the essentials ol a college preparation; having a plan in advance. Tlie other essentials are a fair amount ol intelligence, with plenty of energy and persistence.