Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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LDITORIACS Oiiee move tlic Debater makes its bow, witli the liope that tlie readers will find something of interest, perliaps of entertain- ment on its pages. The Debater is an old instit ition in our school. It is not known in what year it was first published; l)ut the earliest one on file bears the date 1904, a copy of which has been bound in half leather. Another number came out in 1908, which combined the Debater with a year book. Then the magazine was discontinued until 1012. In the years 1913- 15 and 16 two numbers were published each year. In 1917, because of the increase in the cost of paper and printing, there ap- peared only one issue. Since 1917, the maga- zine has appeared annually. There is, in the library, a complete file of the Deiljater since the year 1912. The purpose of the Debater differs from that of the Booster. The latter gives special attention to athletics, and aims to promote school spirit. The Debater, on the con- trary, under the direction of the English de- partment, aims to set a standard of excel- lence in English expression for the school. The work of all classes is represented and a careful rcadiing of the Debater will show the kind and the quality of work tlint is done each year. THE LIBRARY The Wakefield High School is most fortii- nnte in its possession of a school library with a trnincd librarian. The Howe Memorial Library is ranked as one of the finest school libraries in New England. The number of books is not, as yet, very large — about sixteen hundred; but the number is gradually in- creasing. In addition to the previous gifts Mr. and Mrs. Rijjley have lately given ten books, and the Parent-Teacher Association has raised a. fund of eight hundred and fifty Helen E.Cofijet ' x dollars, two hundred of which has already been spent for books for the different de- partments of the school. The remainder of the money has been jjlaeed in the bank as a nucleus of a fund, the interest of which is to bo used for the purchase of other volumes. Miss Kelly of Cambridge, formerly a teacher in our school, has recently contrJl uted ten dollars for new books. Last October Miss Kohl divided the Fresh- man class into small groups. Each group was taken to the lil)rary where the pupils were shown things of great interest, chief among wlii.ch are: A valuable book of Daniel Web- stei ' ' s with his bookplate, and one hundred foreign photographs given by Mrs. Hamilton — this is a very beautiful collection, consisting mostly of Greek and Eoman pictures. There are also two hundred and fifty photographs of devastated France, presented by the late Mrs. Belle Armstrong Whitney of Paris, which she herself took. While browsing around in an old bookshop i,n Oxford. Miss Ingram found, one daj ' , an etching of Samuel Johnson made in 1782, two years before his death. Not many of us realize the valuable things that are in our library; but they are there, wait- ing to be shown to us. Visiting librarians and teachers have espe- cially noticed the conference room, opening off the library. There Miss Kohl holds her interviews and conferences; there piipi,ls g9 to prepare their debates. It has become in- dispensable. MERE WORDS Words — what power is in them! Ilow hope- lessly drab and colorless is the person who lacks suitable words! It is not a matter of being gifted, rather a question of thought and study tliat enables one to use the right word. Frankly examine your own vocabulary. Ilow large is it? Are you able, with two or

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THE W. H. S. DEBATER PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF THE SENIOR CLASS WAKEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL WAKEFIELD, MASS. MAY, NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR DEBATER STAFF Editor-in-Chief Ellen Connor Assistant Editors Evelina Ivnny, Ruth Morrison, Rita Doucette Business and Advertising Manager Ross Roach Assistant Manager Robert Hall Exchange Editor Alice Hall Subscription Editors Lawrence Martin, Edward Ward Alumni Editor Priscilla Abbott Social Editors Gladys Dagnino, Louise Connell Athletic Editor Laurence Martin Joke Editors Milton Porter, William Oxley Battalion Editor Joseph Yarushites Staff Artist Helen Corbet

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three wordsj to present a striking, vivid pic- ture? That is the purpose of a vocabulary, to express oneself easily and fluently without floundering in a haze of meaningless nothings. How may we obtain such j)owers? We sug-- gest that familiar command Stop! Look! And Listen! Stop! Stop using the same expressions again and again. Put aside your wonderful ' s and sux)crb ' s . Adopt new, distinctive words. If you must use slang, make it just that — distinctive. Disdain the use of phrases that are on every tongue ; make your own similes and use them. Have every word mean something to yourself and to the person to whom you speak. It is not a hard task — time, care and thought will accomplish it. Look! Above all, look at good books and wortliwhile articles in worthwhile magazines. Notice the choice of words. Sometimes the habit of bori ' owing these expressions from such reliable sources makes them regular visitois in one ' s vocabulary, and aids in in- creasing it. When reading novels, it is interesting to pick out the words and expressions much used by the author. Take, for instance, that over- worked sentence With one devastating glance, he swept the room. Why devastating? Why do glances always sweep the room? In Bread, by Charles Norris, this sentence appears, An avalanche of memories, of forgotten emotions swept down upon her According to the dictionary, an avalanche is a vast body of snow or i,ce sliding down a mountain; any- thing characterized by destructiveness. That word sounds too strong to apply to such fra- gilities as memories. Mr. Hutchinson in This Freedom says, Look at her. There she is, and again Look at him. There he is, five times within two pages. Why need the author command us so insistently to look at her or him? If he paints the pictures of his characters vividly by the use of colorful descriptives, he need have no fear that we shall pass them by as we read. In this same book the words horrible, ter- rible, frightful, and pathetic appear again and again, as, That is very pathetic. That is horribly sad and pathetic. Then four lines below he says, That ' s pathetic. This repetition occurs all in twelve lines. Look, then, around you, read good books. Criticize them, distinguish the good from the bad; but do not imitate the bad. The last word is Listen. Listen to the conversation of other persons, notice their faulty expressions and profit by your oljserv- ation. If you hear a word that you like, use it at the very next opportunity. If it sounded well from one person, surely your tongue can make it sound as well ; but be careful of the number of times you use it. Words wear out easily. When the word gets old, cheap, and common, make less use of it as you do of old clothing. Your vocabulary, like your ward- robe, needs to be freshened and renewed from time to time. E. C. OUR FIRST YEAR IN THE NEW HIGH SCHOOL For years we have been looking forward to tlie time when there would be a new high school building in our town. The young folks h.ave been yearning for more advantages, more space, more privileges. How much we could do we said, if we only had a well-equipped place to work in. We dreamed of an extended field of athletics, of all sorts of clubs and societies, and an organized system of school routine. The powers that be talked of a new build- ing for such a long time that it finally became a false cry of wolf, wolf , among the srudents and tlie townspeople. We began to laugh at the rumor and called it all a dream that would never materialize; and then came the great news that our dream was coming true, after all. That was a year ago. The rejoicing is over, tlie novelty of our new building is wearing off, and wo are getting down to the rock bot- tom of school life, wlr.ch is work. Now is the time to show that wo appreciate what has been given us. Webster ' s Unabridged Dictionary says that to apprecia,te is to estimate, and to estimate is to value in the mind. I wonder if we stop to value in our minds the benefit we get from our lieautiful, well-equipped, new building? I am afraid we do not. We are beginning to relax our guard. Desks have been scratched through carelessness or intent; floors have been marred with ink spots; numerous small vandalisms have been committed in dressing rooms and corridors; the gymnasium walls have been disfigured with dirty finger marks. All so soon in the game. More than once it has been necessary for the student council or members of the faculty to speak to us about the lunch room. The various home rooms in the building are occu- pied by seniors or juniors, or underclassmen only, but the lunch room is the property of