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

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 23 everything he could to earn a living. Now we see him one of the most famous men in the world. How did he win success? By hard work and perseverance. Thomas Edison did not find a way, he made it. Let us turn from Edison and consider the humble road to remarkable success trod by a poor boy, bom about seventy years ago, on Cape Cod. He left his home to seek his fortune in Boston, with but four dollars in his pocket—all he had in the world. On reaching the citv he set out to find work. After a day’s fruitless search he was strongly tempted to return home, but his stout heart rose in rebellion against the thought. He said to himself, “If I can’t find a situation. I will make one.” And he did. He found a board which he converted into an oyster stand on the cor¬ ner of the street. He borrowed a wheel¬ barrow, went to an oyster smack some dis¬ tance away, purchased three bushels of the hivalves, and wheeled them to his stand. He was successful in his business, and soon had enough money to purchase a horse and a cart. He also removed his business into a convenient room, where the first day. he made seventeen dollars. From that time on he continued to enlarge his business ranidly, taking on other departments, and adding daily to his property. This is the story of the late Isaac Rich, Boston mil¬ lionaire. He made a situation that he could not find. I have given you two examples of men who have made a way in the world, made it in spite of obstacles and handicaps that might well have daunted a brave heart. History is full of just such examples, some well known, some obscure, but all worth considering. Would you have more of these examples? Then consider:— Sir Isaac Newton spent long years on an intricate calculation, and his papers having been destroyed by his dog. Diamond, he cheerfully began to replace them. Carlyle, after lending the manuscript of the “French Revolution” to a friend, whose servant carelessly used it to kindle a fire, calmly went to work and rewrote it. Richard Arkwright, founder of cotton manufacture in England, began life by shaving people in a cellar at a penny a shave. George Stephenson worked fifteen long years for his first successful locomotive. There are many more men whose names might well be given at this time—but I believe you have heard enough to see how true are the words of our motto: “I will either find a way, or make one.” What has been done by others we can do. Let us resolve to-night to put forth our very best effort to achieve success in the profession which we have chosen. Let us “either find a way or make one !” And so we may learn our lesson— “If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.” Irene Gourley, 18. PRESENTATION OF GIFT TO SCHOOL. We, the class of 1918. following the example of classes that have before us graduated from the Windsor Locks High School, have voted to present to our school a class gift. Just at this time when American spirits are in their highest pitch, we as a class have decided that it would be most fitting and patriotic, to present to our school, a portrait of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States. This por¬ trait shall be hung in the Main Room of the High School. We desire it to be hung there that it may serve as an inspiration to you in coming days when war clouds are low¬ ering and all seems dark and gloomv. Then mav vou look at our President’s face, and find the help you need. We chose President Wilson’s picture as our class gift, because he, our President, is teaching the world a lesson, the lesson of “Justice.” and because he is a great man. well educated, strong in character, and calm in storm. He is an example to the Young Amer¬ ican to-day. He kept us out of the war as long as he honorably could, until all hones of peace were gone, then spoke those wo ds which set the American on fire. “The time has come to conouer or submit. For us there is but one choice, we have made it.” Aguinaldo C. Migliora, 18. A freeze is a highly ornamental border. Judge—You are accused of default in payment of that poultry bill. No sah. it wasn’t de fault of nobody but de chicken.

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22 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. Autocrats of Berlin to rule the world? Has such a thing ever been known before? Can Wilhelm Hohenzollem look into the mirror of history and see there anyone like himself, driven, obessed by a frenzied will to dominate all the earth and find a place in the sun? Look into that mirror of his¬ tory and you will see five men who sought to dominate the world bv force, by terror¬ izing, but all failed. Their names have come down to us in history and their cruelties will never be forgotten. Kaiser Wilhelm said, “From childhood, I have known the influence of five men, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, The- odoric, Frederick the Great and NaDoleon. Each dreamed of world empire, and each in turn failed. I, too’ have dreamed of German world domain, and my ma ed fist shall succeed.” But the time shall come when as Kaiser Wilhelm looks to these men for inspiration in his mad course he shall not see the haughty Roman, not the nroud Frenchman, not the young Macedon¬ ian, but a grinning death’s head—the mockery of all his insane ambitions and then, no longer haughty, but beaten down and conquered, he shall turn wearily from all thoughts of oast and present with the words.—After all. what’s the use? Abraham Lincoln said in 1864 in sneak¬ ing of another war for freedom, “We ac¬ cepted this war for a worthv object.—and the war will end when that obiect is attained. Under God, I hone it will not end until that time.” That same spirit lives to-day. Our soldiers will never give up until their object is attained. “And we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, and that government of the people, by the people, and for all the people shall not perish from the earth.” Aguinaldo C. Migliora, ’18. CLASS MOTTO. Aut Inveniam Viam Aut Faciam. (T will Either Find A Way Or Make One.) These are the words which we. the Class of 1918, have chosen for our motto. These words are symbolic of the spirit with which our boys and girls are about to go out into the world to wrest from it not merely a living, not merely something by means of which we mav continue to realize our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of hanpiness— but a way to something worth while. What is the goal of that “way” which we are to find, and if we are unable to find, we are determined to make? That is a question which every school boy and girl must answer sometime. If you were to ask this question of one hundred different peo¬ ple, probably ninety of them would answer —“success.” W ' hat is success anyway? Success may be defined as vigilance in watching opportunity, tact and daring in seizing opportunity,—force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of possible achievement. These are the martial virtues which command success. People born with the traditional gold spoon in their mouths seldom attain real success. They are blest with riches; they have had given them the best education that money could buy; they have social position; vet they do not attain real success. Why? Because they do not know the meaning of high endeavor, of earnest exertion. Charles M. Schwab, newly appointed President of the Shipping Board and Pres¬ ident of the Carnegie Steel Company at Bethelhem says, “The rich man’s son enters life with a handicap. Not only the handi¬ cap which a fortune is, because it deprives him of the necessity to progress and ex¬ pand, but the handicap of never being able to appreciate what he’s got. For every¬ thing in life that’s worth while is ten times more worth while when we yearn and work and climb for it. But the men who reap success are not the men who aim to accumulate millions: they are the men who aim to do one thing: to do it better than anyone else can do it: to take it up from the very beginning and push it through to the end. That is what makes success.” There are thousands of men who are holding high positions in the world to-day who have started in life as poor children, and perhaps thev had a handicaD greater even than novertv. Is it a misfortune to be poor at the start ? Garfield says. “Pov¬ erty is uncomfortable as I can testify; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can hapren to a youne man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself.” Of such a shining examole is Thomas Alva Ed son. He was bom of Dutch parent¬ age in Milan. Erie County, Ohio. When he was but seven years of age the family fortunes suffered such serious reverses that it was necessary for him to become a wage-earner, and for the family to move from his birtholace to Michigan. He was a newsbov on the Grand Trunk Railway of Detroit; he practiced telegraphy; he did

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. ACCEPTANCE OF CLASS GIFT. Members of the Class of 1918:— In presenting us this splendid picture of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, you have paid a valued honor to your Alma Mater, and a fitting tribute to the illustrious man whose messages have been read and commented upon in all our schools as being the most perfect charter of human rights I am indeed happy to have been chosen to express the sincere and deep gratitude of the Faculty and Undergraduates of the Windsor Locks High School for this gift which shall a lways serve as an inspiration to us that we may ever strive to emulate our President’s noble qualities. “He spake and into every heart his words carried new strength and courage.” May some of that strength and courage be ours in the coming years. May Nugent, ’19. VALEDICTORY AND ESSAY. The Liberal Education. Education has been a favorite topic with high school graduates for two rea¬ sons;—its close relation to the thought expressed in Commencement, and its vital¬ ity of interest. For these two reasons, and especially the latter, education is the theme of mv discussion to-night. Trulv it is a complex subject, manifest¬ ing itself in countless forms, the classical being the one which has had the longest neriod of sway. This has been the type which has moulded generations of thinkers from whose labor we have received tb privilege of living in a more rational world than that in which our grandfathers lived. This has been the tvpe which has made the men who have built up the world system of national intercourse and of trade, and the national systems of government. Following such a wide-soread advancement has come a natural broadening of educa¬ tional ideas—a gradual departure from established classic principles, and an ex¬ pansion into a freer field, called liberal. For those who would have an exact defini¬ tion of a liberal education, it is. concisely this—the study of subjects not directly re¬ lated to the pursuing of ones intended pro¬ fession. Thus, a future civil engineer is receiving a liberal education when he studies history and languages, and a future Latin teacher is receiving a liberal edu¬ cation when he studies stenography and bookkeeping. Under the present day motto of “Efficiency,” one is eager to con¬ demn the study of subjects for which there will b eno direct use. Should it be con¬ demned? Has the liberal education a real worth now, in June 1918? My answer is “Yes !” Is it not fitting that I should take an extreme position on this question, that I should urge universal adoption. The mid¬ dle course is most often the safest, and that is the one I purpose to follow, asking onlv for a fair considerat : on of the value cf a liberal education. Assuredly it is not the best course for everyone since we are not all made alike. A great many cannot afford to attend h : gh school or college, while oth¬ ers go merely because of the prestige to be gained thru graduation. For these, voca¬ tional training has been specially adapted. However, it is not my intention to discredit vocational training, but to show that the liberal education must not be abandoned as a relic of the past—both forms are needed in order to give a fine balance to the educa¬ tional system. The Tom Browns of Eng¬ land studied nothing but classics, and the Tom Browns of the United States threaten to study nothing but vocations. Now you ask. “Is not the earning of bread and butter the most important thing anyway?” To be sure it is the most im¬ portant thing ! Unhappy indeed is the man who cannot earn h’s own livelihood, yet I wonder how much less unhappy is he who cannot satisfv the inevitable longing for a life of mental activity. Because of this one-sidedness, vocational training is too narrow to become the educational standard. Consider with me now the four agents by which a liberal education brings about better social development. The first is a h x ad outlook cultivated thru the studv nf history. I do not contend that Ancient History is valuable in itself; it is not. There ' s pot a thing much more useless than a collection of facts memorized about Menes, Sennacherib. Khufu, Art- axerxes and other old worthies of equally unpronounceable names, bringing with them visions of mummies and tombstones. Still tne e is a benefit to be eained from history and that is the insight it gives into the civil and national problems which perplexed our ancestors We ourselves, if we studv his¬ tory intelligently, will have our paths to