Waltham High School - Mirror Yearbook (Waltham, MA)

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Arthur Newell Burke fl? ,Mn 73u1fke The greater the man, the less need be written of his deeds-who does not know of them? The greater the man, the less need be written of his personality-who is not familiar with it? Mr. Burke needs no eulogy. When at this time we pause to praise, no words can How, for they would be entirely superfluous. Thus simply, but with the sincerest gratitude for all his services, we now dedicate this, the year's most significant issue of the iiMIRROR,','fO our beloved principal, ARTHUR N. BURKE.

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The Waltham Senior High School Class Poem NEW PATHS IEAN HARRINGTON We start, today, to follow pathways new, And where they lead we may not prophesy, Some go along the plains and by the sea, Some scale the cliffs, to heights that terrify, Some run amid the busy, crowded streets, And others lead where quiet valleys lie. This path is rough and rocky: that one smooth, This one is winding, narrow, yet another, steep, On one, one travels with a host of friends, Others are trod alone in silence deep. Each has a choice, a path, to call his own, The trail we choose to follow, we must keep. How shall we tread the road, when once we start? Some will go bravely forward, mile by mile, With faltering footsteps, others mark the time, And some with song and laughter will the way beguile There will be those who walk alone, enrapt in thought, While others offer helping hand and pleasant smile. He best will tread the pathway leading to his goal Who follows truly dictates of his soul.

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THE MIRROR, 1936 ARTHUR NEWELL BURKE ' The one sad note this year amid the pleasures of graduation comes with the knowledge that ARTHUR NEWELL BURKE, principal of Waltham High School for the past twelve years will retire at the end of the current session. MR. BURKE is beloved by all the thousands who have attended Waltham High School since he has been there, and all will feel many regrets at his leaving. , Although being principal of a large high school has its many worries, says MR. BURKE, there are many humorous incidents which will give me many pleasures with the completion of my school career. One of these that always comes to my mind happened when I was a class advisor in my first year in Waltham. One day a sophomore came to me and asked me what I suggested for a subject in which he would be able to do good work. Knowing that the student was interested in science, I told him that I thought he would enjoy Physics. The next morning the student returned with a note from his mother, saying that she could not allow her son to take such a course for the family had always been, and intended to remain, devoted Christian Scientists. With the exception of thesehappy occurrences, however, our Principal has had a very hard and sometimes rocky road to travel, this being especi- ally true in his earlier days. He was born a year after the close of the Civil War, on March 16, 1866, in Norwich, Connecticut. He attended Norwich Free Academy, which served as the high school for the town youths. Only the better of the students attended high school then, for a twelve-year education was con- sidered even more important than a college de- gree is today. In spite of all obstacles, however, Mr Burke attended college. He went to Wesleyan, situated in Middletown, Connecticut, having only enough money for one year. He was forced to work his way through his last three years of school, and he tended furnaces, ran errands, and delivered news- papers in order to have the opportunity of finish- ing. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts de- gree. At college he joined the Phi Nu Theta frater- nity, and in his senior year he received the honor among honors which can come to a college stu- dent, for he was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary fraternity throughout the country. After he graduated, he became a teacher at Westfield High School, where he taught Physics and Geology for two years, and resided directly across the street from former Governor joseph B. Ely of this state. Being offered a better position at Monson Academy, also in Massachusetts, he joined the faculty of that school in the capacity of sub- master, and later became principal, an office which he held for six years. In 1898 he attended Harvard University, study- ing Physics in Graduate School. The following year he came to Waltham High School, where he has been for the past 37 years, One of the first examinations he gave at Wal- tham, while teaching, was in a Physics class. One of the questions he .asked was: What is a vacuum? On one paper came this reply: A vacuum is a great empty space where the Pope lives. Im- mediately Mr. Burke realized that he was to en- joy life in Waltham. He conducted classes for twenty-five years dur- ing which time he established courses in Astron- omy and Geology. Upon the death of Willis Eaton in 1924, Mr. Burke was elected principal, this event taking place in April. Thus for over twelve years he has served as the guiding light for Waltham's younger manhood and womanhood. During these years he has graduated over four thousand students, and during this time almost seven thousand have attended the High School during one time or another. He served as faculty manager of football from 1903 until 1924, and