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

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 7 Eleanor, however, to confine your acting to the stage and not the school room. There is another one of your sophomore girls who trips the light fantastic toe with graceful ability. It would not be a bad idea for some of you to follow Miss Lyons’ art and thereby gain grace and poise. Verdant Freshmen: Do you realize that you are now almost sophomores, and it will soon be your duty to show another class just how high school students should act? Since we as seniors have been this past year located in a separate room from the rest of the high school, we have very seldom seen you freshmen, and indeed when we have visited the main room on special occa¬ sions we at first thought the front seats were empty until we heard childish voices proceeding from their depths. On one occa¬ sion when the freshmen presented a rhetori¬ cal program, in the midst of it the piano suddenly started playing. We were dum- founded, for we had not heard of our piano being changed into a “player,” and indeed we would not have allowed our beautiful in¬ strument to be so used. But when the room was filled with vibrating chords and crash¬ ing crescendos we were awed beyond ex¬ pression. But lo and behold when the music ceased, up jumped a sprightly freshman girl, who had been entirely concealed by the piano. You also seem to be a very studious class as a whole and cover a broad field of lead¬ ing, especially the boys. I have been told that our freshman boys can be found nearly every day reading from our World’s Refer¬ ence Books, looking up, usually, such data as the evolution of the Blastophaga Nas- sorum and various other biological subjects. Just here I would like to deviate from the usual custom and give just a few woi’ds of advice to the School Board. We think it would be an excellent plan for the Board to provide a few cradles and perhaps a nurse¬ maid if need be for the incoming freshman class. So much for the lighter part of my ad¬ vice; now for the more serious part. Your high school years pass quickly. You who continue your high school career, and you all should continue, will soon be graduating as we are tonight. Work hard and you will find that you will gain due reward for your efforts. You have strong class spirit. Weld that into a strong school spirit and strive to keep the standard of your school higher than that of any other. Make W. L. H. S. a school that you, your parents and towns¬ people can well be proud of, and to each one of you, individually, I can give no better advice than that which Polonius gave to his son Laertes: “This above all, to thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Malcolm Macdonald, ’20. ACCEPTANCE OF ADVICE Members of the Class of 1920: In behalf of the undergraduates, I wish to sincerely thank you for those precious words of advice which you have imparted to us this evening. We have listened attentively to your words of wisdom, and we have taken them all to heart. At this moment we are, no doubt, think¬ ing of the time when we, too, shall be seniors, when we shall have to leave our classmates and teachers, and pass on to the business world. We have learned many lessons from you as upper classmates, but we have, no doubt, learned something which we would have fared well without—the matter of talk¬ ing to yourselves on occasions. But, Seniors, I must confess that you have been a quiet and respectable class, and from the bottom of my heart I wish you the best of luck. Herbert Poulter. PRESENTATION OF GIFT In selecting our gift this year we have aimed to leave the school something useful. The appropriate gifts of former classes have attractively decorated the walls of the vari¬ ous rooms and supplied many valuable refer-, ence books to assist the pupils in their work. There was a time, long centuries ago, when it was no uncommon thing for a person to go through life without ever learning to read. Times have changed since then and great benefits as well as pleasures are de¬ rived from books and current magazines. The most obvious of all benefits is pleas¬ ure—pure pleasure entirely free from any idea of improvement. We turn to books and magazines for much the same reason that we join a merry crowd, engage in sports, or a tramp through the woods. But there are higher benefits. How de¬ pendent we are upon books for facts and

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6 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. deciding which essay was the best. And how we did work on those essays! Prizes mean a good deal to boys and girls of our age, more perhaps than the judges ever realize. And you must know that the town of East Windsor is very, very intellectual, for after a long and serious discussion our judges decided to confer the first and sec¬ ond prizes upon Neddy Compaine and Carl Larson, both of East Windsor. In May of that year one more of our classmates told us she would have to leave us. So we decided to have a farewell party. As there were but seven of us, we decided to enlarge the number and have our class teacher, Miss Hall, for chaperon. A never- to-be-forgotten evening was spent, and the moon was high in the sky when we reached home. To be sure, our chaperon and class president managed, because of a misunder¬ standing between them, to forget to bring to the house the principal object of our class party, namely, the little friendship pin we gave our departing classmate as a sign of our affection. Soon after that our teacher, Miss Hall, told us that she also was going to desert us that year. That left us but six in number to resume our studies for the final year. We were all determined to finish with flying colors and earn the praise and approbation of all, small in numbers though we were. On December 5 we gave a dinner to about one hundred visiting teachers, clearing about $45. When you consider the physics room was our kitchen, you will agree with us that serving the dinner was quite a stunt. But, needless to say, we managed the func¬ tion successfully, showing that we had do¬ mestic as well as dramatic ability. In February we attempted to give the usual midwinter dance. I say attempted, because for some unknown reason the weath¬ er man was against us, and only those who lived in the center of the town could attend. As this dance could hardly be counted a success, we had to try once more to do something which might add to our class funds. So we resorted to a whist, and added $20 to our bank account. On June 8 Johnson’s studio was chosen as a fitting place to pose for the pictures that are the most important we shall ever have taken, our Senior Class Pictures. And now tonight we come to the final chapter of our history as a class and begin our history as individuals. May the pages of these histories be as marked as those of our class history have been. Helen Shepard, ’20. ADVICE TO UNDERGRADUATES It is customary for the graduating class of a high school to give some few words of advice to the undergraduates of the school. Our class is going to follow this ancient cus¬ tom, and I am the medium through which these perhaps unwelcome but sorely needed words are to be given. By way of prepara¬ tion and warning, before I impart to you this valuable advice upon which I have spent hours of diligent toil, let me say that the undergraduates are supposed to give careful ear to my solemn words and to obey them in every detail. Juniors: We compliment you upon your progress this past year. You have truly outgrown to a great extent your babyish ways. However, we would advise that you learn to stand on your own feet. Don’t depend on othei ' s all the time, depend on yourself once in a while, and don’t have your wishbone where your backbone ought to be. You will naturally fall heir to the seats of honor vacated by us, and, although you have progressed so admirably this past year, we hardly believe that you have quite reached that high intellectual stage attained by us or that you are really fitted to occupy them at once. We would advise you, there¬ fore, to retain your old seats until you be¬ come capable of filling ours as ably as we have done. By the way, Juniors, you have an orator in your midst. One Redmond Lynskey, who has achieved fame as a speaker in the re¬ cent national democratic convention held in the school. May you always appreciate hi 3 flowery eloquence. I would also advise that John Shaughnessey, otherwise known as “Shock,” get a pair of shock-absorbers so that when he does his acrobatic feats in French II and gets “landed” on, it will take off some of the jar. Sophomores: You are known as the quiet¬ est class in school, and quietness is truly an admirable characteristic. Incidentally, how¬ ever, you are known as the most nearly dead class that we have. You seem to be for¬ ever in a trance. Come out of that mental fog which seems to have so completely en¬ wrapped you! Wake up and show some signs of life, and don’t go around as though you were all afflicted with sleeping sickness. Your class seems to possess considerable talent, however. You have one amongst you who bids fair to become a second Bernhardt. For one of her age, Miss Root possesses re¬ markable ability. We would advise you,

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8 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. ideas. We all have ideas which we call our own, but for the most part they are merely ours by adoption, they come directly or in¬ directly from books. And this leads natural¬ ly to a sober reflection: “He who read-; little is apt to live a little life.” His range of information is so narrow, his stock of ideas is so meager, that he is poorly equipped to do things. He can hardly hope to keep pace with those who are “well read.” Pure, temporary pleasure; an abundant store of facts and ideas; the broadening and refining of lofty ideals and universal truths; power to think, power to appreciate, power to express; these are the benefits derived from reading, and it is with this idea in view that you may secure these benefits that we, the Class of 1920, present to the school this gift of subscriptions to two of our best mag¬ azines. We hope that you will make use of these and derive both pleasure and knowl¬ edge. Margaret Root, W. L. H. S., ’20. ACCEPTANCE OF CLASS GIFT Members of the Class of 1920: In presenting to us the subscription of two of our best magazines, you have again dis¬ played that characteristic which has been yours throughout your high school career, namely: Common Sense. You give us a privilege which has not been yours during your four years at High School, thus showing your unselfishness. We are indeed glad to possess a means whei’eby we, as students, may keep in touch with current happenings and may enjoy reading the best stories and articles of the day. • While your gift is not a large one, it is one that will be of great help to us all and should prove invaluable to the English De¬ partment of the school. We shall make the best use of your gift and hope to keep up what you have started and enlarge upon it whenever possible, thus putting your “Alma Mater” in a position to compete with any school when it comes to discussion of the live topics of the day. In behalf of the teachers and undergrad¬ uates of the W. L. H. S., we extend to you our heartfelt thanks and sincere apprecia¬ tion for your splendid gift, and hope that in coming years all your work will be crowned with success. Joseph Halloran. THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION We students of today take our present high school training as a matter of course and do not stop to think that it has taken over twenty-five centuries to build up the high schools we now enjoy, and that it is only a century ago that high schools were instituted. Real educational progress began with the Greeks. In their gradual development they achieved individuality, and their outlook seemed always to have been toward the fu¬ ture rather than the past. And as a result of their development the world has ever since turned to this source of learning for inspiration and counsel. Greek schools offered their youth a full rounded education. The boys were given rigid physical training and courses in mil¬ itary duty; they were taught reading, writ¬ ing mathematics, grammar and rhetoric, the study of literature and music. The un¬ derlying purpose of all Grecian education was the training of their boys to serve the state and become goood citizens. We must remember that this education was only for boys of the wealthy and leisure classes. It is said that Rome amalgamated the Greek civilization with her own. And we are inc lined to believe thi -. for until the Romans began to adopt the Greek ideas of life they were narrow and little adapted to national development. We find the Roman schools very much the same as those of the Greek, but perhaps a little more rigid. Both these nations through educational influence spread their intellectual culture through Macedonia and the Orient. During the Midd ' e Ages monasteries grew up to counteract the prevailing wilderness, and as a result the literary work of the monasteries soon led to the establishment of regular schools within their walls. The curriculum of these schools was at first ele¬ mentary and narrow, but finally initiated classical learning in the form of “seven lib¬ eral arts,” viz., grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Their greatest accomplishment for civiliza¬ tion was the preservation of history and literature. A very important effect upon education was made by the founding of medieval uni¬ versities, w r hich institutions grew out of the old monastic schools and offered only three branches of study—ministry, medicine, and law. The medieval student not only ac¬ quired a knowledge of his studies, but also debated upon them. However, from a mod-