Windsor Locks High School - Herald Yearbook (Windsor Locks, CT)

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 19 might be free to govern themselves and to have freedom of worship. Is it any wonder that we, to-day, love and cherish the freedom that was won at such a cost? Over half the settlers who came over that first fall were in their graves by spring; they either died of privation or were massacred by the Indians. But when spring came and they had the chance to return, not one who remained would consent to go back to their old land or their old homes. Far from it! They were all the more determined to stand by their faith. And what courage they had to have ! It is told that when any of them died that first winter, that each grave was carefully levelled and sown with grain, in order to conceal from the Indians the extent of the losses of the Colonists, lest the sav¬ ages take advantage of their weakness and attempt to exterminate them entirely. But such hardships only made these brave pioneers the more determined to build up a strong democratic government in their western home. To-day the nations of the world see America, not the young, struggling colony which I have just shown you. but a big, powerful nation—prosperous, peace loving, liberty loving, justice loving, ready to be¬ friend weaker nations, to secure Democracy for everyone, even while we have no desire to force it unon anyone. What nation like ours could to-day stand idly by and see Belgium crushed by Autocracy, or France bleeding at the hands of Prussian ter¬ rorism ? This is one of the reasons why we, Americans that we are. are now partic¬ ipating in this great struggle. We could not stand by any longer and see Autocracy trying to rule the world. We had played the part of a spectator long enough, we had to change our role, and in every sense of the word we had to “get into” the strug¬ gle. We had to? Do you ask. whv? Why did we. peace loving Americans, the Americans who had been warned bv Wash¬ ington to avoid entangling European alliances, we, the espousers of the Monroe Doctrine, why did we have to enter the great world struggle? Is it any wonder that we had to? We could not keep out of it. Whv not? Because, as President Wil¬ son said: “This flag which we honor and under which we serve would have been dishonored had we withheld our hand;” because we are our brother’s keeper; be¬ cause we believe sineerelv in the Monroe Doctrine and its application; because we believe in the rights of neutrals; because we know that God is on our side as he will ever be on the side of right and justice. And thus be it ever, when free-men shall stand Between their loved homes and grim war’s desolation. Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land Praise the power that has made and pre¬ served us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause it is just. And this be our motto: In God is our Trust. And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. John P. Byrne, ’18. CHEMISTRY AND ITS RELATION TO THE PRESENT WAR. Chemistry is a branch of natural science. It deals with the properties of matter, with the changes which affect the composition of matter together with numer¬ ous laws and theories which govern those changes, and with the manufacture of a vast number of different substances indis¬ pensable to the welfare of mankind. Chemistry is an exact science, yet it offers to all who are really interested in it an excellent opportunity for advancement and progress by the evolution of new theories and the constant study of new combinations of chemical elements and com¬ pounds. To verify these last words we have only to go back to the past to find out what progress has been made since the t«me of the ancient Greeks who were our first chemists—really our first natural scientists. Aristotle, rightly called the pioneer of natural science, was bom in Thrace. 384 B. C. He made an enthusiastic tho very gen¬ eral study of science and finally come to the conclusion that the universe is composed of four fundamental elements, fire, air. earth and water. As a pioneer of natural science he advanced in knowledge very slowlv and this is only natural for he lacked implements with which to work; he had no laboratories, no books, no people with whom as equals he could work along lines of science and research. Consequently after davs and years of hard toil he gained very little definite knowledge of natural science as we know it to-day, yet in the truest sense, he laid a firm foundation for later

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18 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. SALUTATORY AND ESSAY. “Is It Any Wonder.” Parents, Teachers, and Friends, in be¬ half of the Class of 1918, I extend to you a most hearty and cordial welcome. Parents, you who have made it possible for us to pursue our education; Teachers, you who have done your utmost that we might gain that education, and so lay a foundation for later success; Members of the Board of Education, you who have been ever ready to furnish us with all the neces¬ sary advice and who have ever been friends and supporters of our school; Friends, you who have shown highest interest in the school and the school work; we greet you all here to-night with the greatest joy. To-night as I look into the faces of the many friends and well-wishers of our grad¬ uating class, my thoughts go back to the beginning of our High School career. It is then that I fully comprehend the meaning of this great gathering of pleasant and fa¬ miliar faces: it is then that my heart goes out in gratitude to those who looked out for our every need during the past four years. Always, we hear a great deal about the hard work which boys and girls do to attain an education, but there is sometimes less said ahout the unselfishness of the parents who often sacrifice a great deal more than we ever know, in order that their children mav have a better chance in the world than they had. So, again, on this our Commencement night, we greet you all, Members of the Board of Education. Parents, Teachers, and Friends, and heartilv welcome vou to these everc ses which will be the last in which we. the Class of 1918 of the Windsor Locks High School, will participate. After watching the great conflict in Europe for nearly three years, we Ameri¬ cans are now, as a Democratic neonle. fighting upon what we know to be the side of freedom and justice. Three years we waited ! Is it any wonder that we delayed so long? Were we afraid to become one of the combatants in this world struggle? Never ! We are Americans. and Americans are not cowards ! We. after living nearly two hun¬ dred years in Freedom, could not realise at this late dav that any nation would he insane enough to trv to establish a world supremacy, we could not believe that such madmen existed anywhere in the world, and is it any wonder that we could not believe it? We had lived under a Democ¬ racy too long to believe ambition for world dominion anything but madness. Could we not see the right and wrong of the war long before Anril. 1917? Of course we could, and we knew without any question upon which side our symnathies were. Perhaps, we thought it would be a shorter war than it has proved to be. because we as a democratic people found it practically impossible to realize the colossal stupidity and obstinacy of the Prussians.—impossible to realize that the Kaiser was actually planning to conquer the entire world as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar. Theo- doric, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon had planned before him. These men dreamed of World Wide Empire, but they failed—failed completely at the last. Will the Prussians fail? That question must yet be answered by the men who are now fighting for us on the battlefields of France, men who are determined that that ouestion shall be answered and answered right. Is it any wonder that America is de¬ termined to answer that question? For is it any wonder that we are what we are,— steady, sturdy, determined that all men shall have their rights? How was this government of our founded? Under what conditions and hardships did early American settlers live that Democracy might have its being? To answer these questions, look at some of the outstanding features of our three hundred years of American life. At Provincetown. where the people of New England first landed, houses were built by later settlers on sand, which was their enemy, never their friend, for it drifted from the shifting hills like snow and more than on e threatened to destroy their homes. Whenever a strong wind came up, it carried the sand with it. sometimes burying houses and frequently causing damage enough to greatly discourage the men and women who so far from home were trying so hard to wrest a living from this new western land. But their determi¬ nation to succeed helped the early settlers to overcome the natural conditions of their situation. Earth was brought in vessels from a distance and laid around the houses and this earth was later cultivated into lawns and gardens. Always the Colonists remembered that thev had left their com¬ fortable homes and the people they loved to settle in a wilderness inhabited by Indians and wild beasts in order that they

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20 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. day chemistry. Since the time of Aristotle, 2,000 years ago, a vast amount of knowl¬ edge in regard to chemistry has been ac¬ quired; then chemistry was speculative based upon guess work; now it is built upon facts and theories that have been proven and is one of the most exact sciences known to mankind. After the death of Aristotle, almost 2,000 years passed with very little progress in the knowledge of chemistry. Then in 1873, Lavoisier, a French scientist, called the founder of modern chemistry, evolved the explanation of fire burning and com¬ bustion. Up to this time oxygen, having only recently been isolated had never been much experimented with; but Lavois¬ ier discovered that one of the properties of oxygen is that when united with certain other substances it causes combustion. John Dalton was the first man to lay the foundation of theoretical chemistrv. Nearly 2.200 years had passed since the G eek pioneer of natural science had fin¬ ished his crude work, before any man had delved into the mvsteries of possible chem¬ ical formulae with ability and persistence sufficient to bring about any noteworthy result. Such a result was attained when John Dalton evolved the atomic theory; when chemistry began indeed to assume a new aspect. Now one might think that chemistry has to-day reached its zenith on the path of progress. But look back onlv 100 years; see the advancement that chemists have made in that limited time, to say nothing of the ma»welous progress they have made since the time of Arstotle, then consider the words of one great student who maintains tfiat the fields of chemistry are reallv lim¬ itless. The further we go the more vast, the more unlimited, appear these fields, yet unexplored, that stretch out before us. To-day if chemistry had not made its recent great strides, we would not have fine paper, soap, dynamite, powder, illunvnating gas, kerosene, baking powder, bleaching p »wde» glass and petroleum, for all these things are due to the study and experimenting and infinite patience of students of chem¬ istry. So far T have tried to show you the advantages that we derive from the study, the research, the hard, unremitting toil of the patient chemists of the oast. Now let me show you something else, something not so pleasant. Consider the study, the unremitting toil of the patient chemists of one nation alone, a nation who like a great crouching, malignant beast, is ready to spring at the throat of the world. Con¬ sider what German chemists have done for their native land during the past one hun¬ dred years. They have accomplished some of the most remarkable work—they have made some of the most remarkable discov¬ eries ever known to man. They have done wonders; they have overcome difficulties that seemed insurmountable. For years German chemists have sought to perfect liquid fire, the most dia¬ bolical weapon of terrorism yet used on any battlefield;—a weapon which the Au¬ tocrats of Berlin fondly hoped would be of inestimable value in the war for which they were preparing. At the head of all German chemists stands the Kaiser, and his eye is over all, watching chem’sts in his own lands and other lands, that he may glean from every possible source knowledge that will help him in his mad career. He has had expert chemists working along different lines for over forty years, assured that thru their secret formulae he would some day overcome the world. In the war he knew to be approaching, he intended to bring out his deadly and disastrous chemi¬ cals which should destroy army after army. But he found that other nations of the world had been keeping pace with him. American chemists had been working too, and some of them now say that Germany has come to the limit of her inventive genius. Yet Germany had thought that now would be a good time to carry on an aggressive war as no other nation could get possession of her formulae or be equal to her inventive skill. But the Kaiser has yet to learn that in spite of the wonderful organization and progress in Germany of which he is so boastful, he will some day have to admit a great failure. He has failed to take into account that other people are progressing as well as Germany, and that America, for one, is wide awake; and we must be wide awake; we must be on the lookout always, must ever do our best to overcome the cun¬ ning of German chemists. Our chemists must keep ahead of the Kaiser’s men every moment. We know that Germany has now, and for years past, has had thousands of spies and conspirators thruout the United States, in fact all over the world. They have been placed in all large manufactur¬ ing plants, they are forever on the lookout for information about chemical formulae to send home to their native land, and every bit of information they obtain is just so much help to Germany and so much deadly injury to our United States.