Waltham High School - Mirror Yearbook (Waltham, MA)

Page 14 text:

SA LU 'l'.X'l'OR Y never reach our shores, nor father nor always prevail and that this gala occasion larotliei' lie conipellecl to inect the passions may long he ieinemberecl with friendship and horrors of war. I hope that peace may and ioy. . . . . W Membersiof the Class of 1915 Bessie Oliye Anderson Jennie McMorrow Angus Arline Ruth Beardsley Lillian Margaret Beckwith Alice May Bennett Esther A. Bird Lillian Malona Brydges Laura Beckwith Chandler Mildred May Clifton Blanche Asbury Cooper Romanie Mary Cote Helen Macbain Dauncey Jennette Frances Davis Irene L. Dicks Louisa Merrill Eastman Mabel Inez Erwin Marjorie Cecelia Graves Ruth Beatrice Hartley Alice Hall Armstrong Aurelia Xilhitford Bates Mildred Elizabeth Dyer Dorothy Simpson Fuller Helen Luella Furbush Alice Pierce Gamage Dorothy Chapman Hill XYendell Parsons Barrows George Howe Carter Richard Horace Coombs COLLEGE PREPARATORY GENERAL COURSE Elizabeth Hawley Marion Alice Jones Helen Estelle Lang. Veronica Carmelita McDermott Helen H. Michiison Althea Doris Moore Blanche Etta Morse Ethel Marion C. Orner Annie May Orr Loretta H. J. Ryan Eula Jackman Simmons Marion Thayer Spencer Lois Stearns Mabel Frances Stearns Esther Anderson Stewart Geraldine Louise Stratton Ruby Fiile Studholme Dorothy Ethel Travis Ella Louise Vander YVyk Florence Marion Mackay Grace Evelyn Purves Marion Seelye Sanderson Mabel Edith Smith Marion Clark Smith Helen Adams Vlhiting Marion Mary Whitmore TECHNICAL COURSE George Chase Emery Harold Leon Homer Olin A. Jensen Carleton Harold Johnson Sally WVyman YVarren Helen W'all VVilson Earle Sumner Bond Carl L. Fleming Mason Dix Harris Ernest S. Hoelscher John Hoffman Roland Vincent Hollering Ralph Abercrombie Johnstone Ramon Sulloway Kelly Arthur G. Lanagan .Joseph J. McAuliffe Herbert Jewell Millen Frank Julian Olney Harold Gale Page J. Alfred Pepper Einar Gustaf Swanson Bradley Vilhittier W'orn1wood COURSE Charles Bacon Chauncey Edward Eaton Leonard Faber Hill Fairchilds L. B. MacCarthy Robert' Thomas Moore Elmer Joshua Morton Thomas VVorcester Leland Carlton Jones Horace David Stearns Harold R. Turner

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Salsutator MARION SMITH l,.xDn5s .XND GiiN'i'LEMEN: HE Class of Nineteen Hundred Fif- teen extends to you a most cordial welcome to these exercises tonight. which end our studies in public schools. lYe have spent many happy years of school- life and now we end it all with this pleasant occasion, for graduations are happy events, although the thought of parting with our friends occasions sadness. This year we are more than usually joyful when we think of all that has happened to make us so. Que hundreclxyears ago there came a day when a treaty of peace was signed be- tween England and our country, which has never been broken. Fifty years ago the Civil XVar ended, and now, what is most important, we have managed to maintain peace while practically all the rest of the world is at war, although relations with the foreign countries have been strained at times. VVe have a right to congratulate our- selves that we live in a land where educa- tion may go on unhampered by war or rumors of war. How little of that can be said of any country in Europe just at present l fn every part education is most seriously affected. Atithe beginning of the war, the buildings at Qxford and Cambridge 'Universities in England were turned into hospitals and quarters for the soldiers. From an enroll- ment of two thousand students. the enroll- ment of Oxford dropped to two hundred, and the very young men, who were students in those colleges, today may be lying in the same building as wounded soldiers. Even at Eton and other preparatory schools. like our-high schools, the boys formed com- panies and went off to war. In Germany and in probably every other country now at war, the same thing hap- pened. ln one town in Germany, a girls' school had to delay opening until the sol- diers who were quartered there might be moved. But the taking possession of school-buildings is not as harmful to educa- tion as the sending to war the scholars and teachers, the best young men in the country, who occupied those buildings. Une particular boy, only seventeen years old, left school with a number of his school- mates last fall, full of enthusiasm and desire to serve the Fatherland. I-le was in train- ing ten weeks, and at the end of that time he went to the front and was killed in his nrst battle. Again a story is told of a Brit- ish commander, who, advancing to meet the foe, saw a battle-line approaching, which was so ragged and uneven that he could not believe that it was a trained army. I-le took up his field glasses to ascertain more closely what it was and then issued the command, Shoot low, they are only boys. Qnly boys !-no older than these boys who are to graduate tonight. Thousands of young men, just like them. are being shot down daily in the trenches or in the line of battle, killed or wounded or maimed for life with all its pitiful consequences. lt is not only the older boys and men whom this war af- fects, but also the younger children, who are left at home and many of whom have had to be taken out of school to help their families. Every day increases the number of widows and orphans and of homes bereft of some loved one. To America, our own dear land, where the people rule and intelligence and justice prevail. where public schools and family life dominate, wet pay our grateful tribute! Never until this year have we realized what we owe to our country, although from ear- liest childhood we have been taught to honor it. NVQ pray that the desolation of war may

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Valeclictor- ALTCE ARMSTRON G LADIES AND Cw1iN'1'LEM12NI RAYELERS who have been on the top of a mountain when the clouds were hanging low have described the view as like a turbulent ocean, with here and there the peaks of a few mountains ap- pearing above the clouds like islands. Of course, there are many less lofty hills, but these are submerged in the sea of clouds. So the student, who scans the pages of history, notices a few great names that stand out like the mountain peaks above the clouds. Yet he knows that there are untold multitudes of people who have helped make history, and without whose aid the few great men could not have attained their greatness. These masses may be compared with the scenery covered with clouds. VVhy is it that the few so outshine the rest? We. might ask with Cassius, when he was speaking to Brutus of Caesar, XVhy should that name be sounded more than yours F Caesar rose to prominence be- cause of his fitness for generalship and his remarkable ability as a statesman, and he has been remembered because of these qualities and because of his memoirs, while on the other hand, Brutus' name has come down through the centuries chieliy as the assassin of great Caesar. One article of our Declaration of Inde- pendence reads, All men are born free and equalfi, Politically speaking, this may be true, but it is what a brilliant orator once called a glittering generality. Viewed from an intellectual or any other standpoint c,1'ccfvt political, it is far from true. l.Vho in our times has been born the equal of Plato, or Bacon, or Shakespeare, or Milton? Great men and thousands of lesser note outshine the mass of men by reason of their genius, which someone has called an inborn endowment that enables one to accomplish with ease great tasks which the ordinary man could not do. Another, himself a genius, has said that genius is but the ability for close and perseverant application. A distinguished teacher and president of a college called it the power of making efforts. llutifon said of genius-it is patience. Not every genius becomes great. Gray in his beautiful Elegy says, Some mute, in- glorious Milton here may rest. lVhy mute? why inglorious? From lack of ambi- tion, of application, of perseverance, or of determination, perhaps. Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness, but fortune is not as blind as men are. Anyone who studies life carefully will Iind that fortune is almost always on the side of the diligent. Success usually attends every good effort. Though success is often overestimated to the extent of almost deify- ing it, still, in any worthy pursuit, it is meritorious. The qualities necessary to in- sure success are few, but they are not at all extraordinaryg the most important is deter- mination or perseverance. Genius is not necessary, but even genius of the highest sort does not despise the exercise of the most ordinary qualities, for the greatest re- sults in life are usually attained by very simple means. -X celebrated French author has made the remarks that no man ever pushed his capa- city as far as he was able. Even men of the greatest acquirements and ability can look backward and see many neglected op- portunities which they have let slip by: and there is hardly anyone, T fancy, but thinks that if he were to begin life over again, hc could make far better use of it. lin the ordinary course of life, persever- ance can do all that genius can do, and many things which it cannot do. Genius is often