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

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 19 said he met one of the greatest surprises of his life when he entered this village. It then contained a church, a school and a doc¬ tor’s office. The houses were built of wood and very neat. The women even dared walk beside their husbands on the street, instead of walking behind them as they had former¬ ly been made to do. This is an example of what migration has done for the people of one Slavic town. Have I answered the question, “What has America done for the immigrant? Now what has the immigrant done for America? To tell the truth has not the immigrant made America? The original thirteen colonies, the nucleus of our great nation, were composed of settlements of English. French, Dutch, Swedes and Spam ish. All these people brought with them the ideas and accomplishments of their nr other country. More than that, they came to us as different kinds of men, with vary¬ ing characteristics—some valuable, some not so valuable, but none worthless, for they all in some way helped to build up an American character. In coming years this trulv American character was to give to the world the best in manufacturing and farm¬ ing, in law-making and military science, thus making a new world better than the old. As a result we have become the most independent nation of the world. Thruout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, millions of able-bodied men and women from all countries of the world, dissatisfied with conditions at home, came to America to try their fortunes. Here, unafraid of work, they have developed much of our unlimited resources and welded themselves together into the solid unit of Americanism which at Chateau Thierry was to prove to the world that democracy was a real thing and not a theory. A large percent of our army in France was made up of boys of foreign birth. They were all ready to make the supreme sacrifice for “The land of the free” which had become their second home. Therefore, if we can be a help to the immigrant, if we can make a bettre man out of him. and if he is ready to work and give up his life for America, shall we not welcome him to our shores and make him feel that America is his real home? Carl Larson, ’20. Great crowds are surging to and fro. It must be a gala day. Is that person now clambering on a box, so that he can over¬ look the great multitude, about to make a speech? It apparently is his intention to speak. But who can he be? He bears a marked resemblance to our friend D. E. Bate, the great orator. But hark—he opens his mouth! What does he sav? Hear! hear! Move up closer so you’ll get every word. Hear again! “Get ’em while they’re hot! ’Le ven cents.” COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES. SALUTATORY AND ESSAY. “The Value of an Ideal.” Board of Education, members of the faculty, parents and friends, we, the grad¬ uating class of 1919, extend to you our most cordial greetings. You alone, dear parents, have provided us the opportunity of obtaining a good high school education. You have sacrificed much for us and we indeed owe you a debt of gratitude. We thank you teachers, for your watch¬ ful care, and assure you that we shall ever cherish your instructions with sincere de¬ votion. We also wish to express our grati¬ tude to you, gentlemen of the Board of Education, for the privileges you have per¬ mitted us to enjoy; also, it gives us the greatest of pleasure, dear friends of our school, to see you assembled here this even¬ ing, to show our class your interest and ap¬ preciation. We now pass out of “School Life into Life’s School” and we need all our courage and strength for the years ahead of us. We have learned in the past that whatever course we adopt in life should have a noble purpose behind it and that we should always strive to develop and guard a good character. Character is the essence of the man, shining from every window of the soul, either as a beam of purity, or as a clouded ray that betrays the evil within. In order

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18 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. flourishing:, the college consisted of only one hundred students, one professor and two tutors, while in 1917 it was officially re¬ ported that Yale had 3,540 students and 784 instructors. You can see for yourself how our colleges grow. You probably have been following in the newspapers the changes which have been made in Yale’s entrance requirements and its courses of study. By means of these changes it is possible for students to enter the college and obtain a B. A. degree without Latin, moreover, many mathematic courses are not required in the Sheffield School. The “easy snap,” a special Sheffield course, has also been abolished. Another important detail of recent change is that an adequate knowl¬ edge of American History and Government are required. But the cardinal point is this, that Yale as well as many other large universities in our country, has began to see that classical and vocational work are both essential: neither can exist entirely without the other. There are really two classes of people in our country who are seeking an education. There are tohse men and women who have plenty of money and plenty of time to take up the classics; and to supplement the part of their educational training which pertains directly to the means of earning a livelihood with other studies called classical, and which are pursued more f orenjoyment than for strictly practical reasons; on the other hand there are especially those men who have neither time nor money for the gaining of all the education they might desire—but w ' ho desire immediate concrete results from the schools they attend, preferably in the form of an increased earning power. The United States is big enough to look out for both classes of people, and to pro¬ vide for both kinds of education. This we will do. and no one shall be able to say that the colleges and universities of Connecticut do not perform their part of our national educational duty. Nady L. Com paine, ’20. AMERICA AND THE IMMIGRANT. Now that the war is over, Atlantic steamers can make their trips across the sea without fear of being sent to the bot¬ tom, by some German submarine. Again, the great problem of immigration is going to confront us. Shall we allow the immi¬ grant to enter this country as freely as in the past century or shall we make greater restrictions ? In the discussion of this topic the ques¬ tion often arises “What effect has im¬ migration had upon Europe and upon America?” What have been the good and bad effects upon the American citizen of the foreigners’ sojourn in America? Have we done them any good? Have they done us any grood—or harm ? The best way to answer a question of this sort, is to con¬ sider a concrete example. One seldom fully realizes what immigration has done for the Slavic nations. A few years ago in their native countries the peasants were found living in mud huts; sometimes their “Home” was nothing more than a hole in the side of a hill. Such was true of a mountain of Montenegrro. The whole side was lined with holes and each hole represented the home of a family and all its possessions, a pig and possibly a cow and a horse. The people lived like the most primitive beings. They were utterly ignorant of religion, doctors and schools. As a whole they were very shiftless. They were satisfied with little to eat and with scantv clothing. Because of the scarcity of food manv were from time to time forced to leave the country. Some began to emigrate to America, where they mingled with all classes of people. They gained self respect, learned what churches and schools were and that doctors could be a help to man. not the “witch doctors” to whom they had been accustomed. A great many immigrants of this type remain in this country and become citizens but others return to Europe after accumulating what is to them a small for¬ tune. But greatest of all the treasures which they carry back are the American ideals are carried home and spread among the in¬ habitants of their community. They begin to feel it their duty to educate their chil¬ dren. develop their religion and improve their homes. A certain college professor visited a town similar to the one of which I told you. made up of dugouts in the mountain side. He wrote home to his peonle that he was dis¬ gusted with the way the women refused to have a doctor when the children were ill. If a child lingered long before death over¬ took him. the witch was the first aid brought into requisition. The professor made a tour of this town »bout ten years later, after the people had begun to emigrate to America and to re¬ turn with the new ideals acquired. He

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20 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. to develop that character we must always bear in mind the value of an ideal. An ideal is above price. It means the difference be¬ tween success and failure; the difference between a noble life and a disgraceful career, and it sometimes means the differ¬ ence between life and death. If man meas¬ ures life by what others do for him he will be disappointed, but if he measures life by what he does for others there is no time for despair. Our ideal should be far enough above us to keep us looking up toward it all the time, and it should be far enough in advance of us to keep us struggling toward it to the end of life. Our ideal should be permanent; it should not change; therefore it is im¬ portant that the ideal be a worthy one. Plans may change and even ambitions will change, for circumstances will alter them, but our ideal should never change. An ideal determines the character and man’s place among his fellows. Many labor¬ ing men have been able to support them¬ selves and many of them have been able to lay aside enough to gratify their ambition for a college course. What has enabled them to resist tempation and press forward ? It is their ideal of life. Not only must the individual have an ideal, but we mtist have ideals as groups of individuals and in every branch of life. We have ideals in domestic life. Whether a marriage is happy or not depends not so much upon the size of the house or the amount of the income as upon the ideals with which the parties enter the contract. In business it is necessary to have an ideal. It is as impossible to build a business without an ideal as it is to build a hone? without a plan. Some think it impossible to be strictly honest in business; some also think it necessary to recommend a thing not as it is. but as the customer wants it to be. Never was there a time when it was more necessary than it is to-day that bus¬ iness should be built upon a foundation of absolute truth. In the Drofessions also, an ideal is necessary. Take the medical profession for example. It is proper that the physi¬ cian should collect money from his patients for he must live while he helps others to live. The physicians who have written their names on the roll of fame, however, have had a higher ideal than the the making of money. They have had a passion for their gt.udv. They have searched diligently for the hidden causes of diseases and the rem¬ edies for such and they have found pleasure in giving to the world some great discovery. True it is also that political parties should have an ideal. No party can hope to succeed in a campaign unless its members have an ideal to fol¬ low and look up to. Our nation has its ideal; an ideal that has made it known throughout the world and which has car¬ ried it successfully through its wars and struggles. So it is with our class. Before we be¬ come members of Life’s School we should decide upon our ideal and follow that ideal through life. Having made our choice, we are fitted to go forth into the far-reaching depths of to-morrow. We should always work for success, remembering that it is attained by continued labor and watchful¬ ness. We must struggle on and not for one moment hesitate nor ever take one back¬ ward step, but push on and on knowing that some day we, too, may be looked up to as an ideal. No matter how many struggles and hardships we encounter during life, they should never cause us to forget that we must continue our journey in truthfulness and trustworthiness, and in the long run we will be honorably rewarded; for it is only the trustworthy man who wins in the be¬ ginning and end, for he does not become the prey of impending evils. Many young peo¬ ple starting out in the world sometimes for¬ get in the ambition of their youth that they must not undertake too great a task at the outset for if they do their efforts usually end in a complete and disastrous failure. They should begin at the foot of the ladder and gradually ascend it instead of trying to start at the top and finally landing at the bottom. Therefore, dear classmates, keeping our motto and ideal well in mind we are pre¬ pared to enter upon further duties in this life. We will be well able to fulfill these duties faithfully if we bear in mind that “Honesty is the best policy,” and that the formation of character is a work which con¬ tinues through life. Again, dear friends, we wish you to know that you are most welcome here this evening and we assure you that we shall always strive to live up to our highest ideal so that you may never be ashamed of our class, but ever ready to shower upon us your interest and respect. Anna L. Oates, ’19.