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

Page 13 text:

THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD 11 During our entire year we kept the hundred per cent, saving’s banner. At graduation time we did our best to aid the Senior Class by decorating the hall and by doing whatever we could. Our school year closed June 19, for the summer vacation. Our Senior year opened with a mem¬ bership of fifteen. We felt proud to think we were the leading class of the school, and gladly occupied Room 10, now known as Room 3. On September 25 we called a class meeting and the following officers were elected: August Midden, President; Ar¬ lene Hancock, vice-president; Josephine Frey, Secretary; and Clara Mather, Treas¬ urer. We chose Old Rose and Silver for our class colors and Sweet Peas, for our class flower. In the latter part of October we se¬ lected our class ring from O’Neil Cas- sella. We received our rings during the Christmas vacation and we are very much pleased with them. On October 27, we presented a rhetori¬ cal program in honor of the birthday anni¬ versary of Theodore Roosevelt. We were sorry to lose one of our class¬ mates, Sylvia Burbank, but later we wel¬ comed Mary Longo to our class, so that cur number remained the same. Our Class had a sleighride party to Thompsonville January 22. On our way home we stopped at Mrs. Leary’s for re¬ freshments. In the latter part of January, our President, August Midden, called a meet¬ ing for the purpose of making plans for our whist and dance. We held the Whist February 3rd and had a large attendance. The girls sold home-made candy. On February 13, we gave our Valen¬ tine Dance in Memorial Hall. The class, with the assistance of the teachers, dec¬ orated the hall. On May 22, we presented our Senior j lay, “Miss Buzby’s Boarders.’’ It was largely attended and financially success¬ ful. parties were given durin; Two class the year. On June 6, five of the Senior Class pat ticipated in the final debate. All through the month of June we hav been very busy sitting for our picture and preparing for graduation. Josephine Frey, ’25. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. One of the greatest problems in the country to-day is that of Capital Punish¬ ment. This subject is one which has occu¬ pied the minds of people for centuries. Ideas, in regard to law, have changed, but Capital Punishment has not been abolished. This problem is of very great import¬ ance of nation-wide importance because it is felt very keenly by all. Is Capital Punishment a wise public pol¬ icy ? The answer is not an easy one. If we were to follow the dictates of our sym¬ pathetic hearts and act according to the natural impulses of a human being we should be likely to say Capital Punishment should be abolished. ci very one is laminar with that law of God and that law of State which is, “Thou slialt not kill. If the murderer intends to kill, we would say that the murder is pre¬ meditated and was deliberately committed and it that state of mind is found to have been present in the murderer he shall be dealt with according to the law. Is there anything unnatural about a sovereign State making its citizens obey the law . We must not merely make a law but we must enforce that law. If some pen¬ alty for non-obedience is absent, the law «s a senseless and meaningless thing Those who would abolish Capital Punish- direr yt T h |. as say ° thc mur- derer, ou have taken away the life of one who had the right to live. You shall arp l J ie f a i nd i V he State wH1 see that you • lefended by an able lawyer, if you have no means to employ one for your¬ self. You shall not forfeit your life in return for the one you have taken. You day a d 7n n th Kht lab ° r ’ a feW hours each vfrfci d iu the evemn S s you will be pro¬ vided with entertainment.” And who pays for all this? The people who obey the laws must pay for the upkeep and en¬ tertainment of the State’s wards and hp ,ndividua J ,T re to be Murdered, and he were told that his life as m imminent danger, would he not fday, in self-defense, the one who was going to kill him? Now if that man as an individual, has the right to slay in s’elf- defense, why has not the State, which is nothing more than an aggregation of indi¬ viduals, the same right to defend itself against unjust aggression and unjust attack. Should we question the right of a State to kill in protection of its citizens?

Page 12 text:

10 TIIE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD CLASS DAY EXERCISES. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. Members of the School Board, Superintend¬ ent, Principal, Teachers, Undergradu¬ ates, Parents and Friends:— In behalf of the Graduating Class of 1925, I wish to express our thanks for your presence here to-r.ight and welcome you to our commencement exercises. It has been our pleasure to attend the Windsor Locks High School for four years from which we shall be graduated to¬ morrow evening. The four years which we have spent here, we may assure you have been four years of our life that we shall long remember. While at High School we have come to know the value of friendship and co-operation shown to us by our leachers and schoolmates. When we leave to-morrow evening there will be sorrow in our hearts for this will end our happy schooldays here to¬ gether. To-night you are to hear of the merr»er side of our school life and to-morrow night, of the more serious side. As members of the Senior Class, we welcome you here to our Class Day exer¬ cises and we shall endeavor to make Windsor Locks High School proud of the Cla ss of 1925. A. Midden, ’25. -(o)- CLASS HISTORY. On September 6, 1921, we began our studies as Freshmen of the Windsor Locks High School. After some confusion we found our way to the Main Room. Tho teacher, Miss Long, counted heads and found us to be fifty-two in number. We were the largest class that had ever en¬ tered and we felt very important. On October 15, a class meeting was called and the following officers were elected: Francis O’Leary, Pres : dent; Anna Sweeney, Vice-President; Charles Albani, Secretary; and Arlene Hancock Treasurer. On December 23, we gave our first rhetorical program. It was our first ap¬ pearance before the school assembly and we were very nervous. Frequent occasions in which we have participated since then, have heelped most of us to overcome this ner¬ vousness. As Freshmen we were very much in¬ terested m the high school graduation exercises because we hoped in three years more that we w’ould be in the coveted position of graduates. The following September thirty pupils from our class returned as Sophomores. Because of the great number it was im¬ possible for all of us to have the Physics Room as our class room. Some of our classmates were placed in charge of Miss Olive Doherty in the French Room. The upper classmen immediately felt it their duty to name us the “Silly Sophs.” On November 29, we gave a Thanks¬ giving Program. We spoke with much gi eater ease than we did when we were Freshies.” On one of the coldest nights of the winter our class went on a sleighride to Thompsonville. We stopped at the Palace of Sweets for refreshments. If the old saying of “Practice makes perfect” is true we surely knew by heart the old song, “Forty-nine bottles hanging on the wall,” which we sang all the way home. The rest of the year was uneventful for our class. Our Junior year opened on September 17, 1923. Mrs. Leary welcomed us, seven¬ teen jolly Juniors to the Bookkeeping Room. In the latter part of October we held a class meeting and elected the fol¬ lowing officers: Francis Draghi, Presi¬ dent; Arlene Hancock, Vice-President; Joseph Lodola, Secretary; May Duggan, Treasurer. During the year we lost four of our members, Doris Mather, Victoria Sabonis, John Bercury, and Harry Wadsworth. On March 4, we gave our Junior Whist which turned out to be very successful. Our Junior Prize Essay Contest took place in Memorial Hall on May 13. Ar¬ lene Hancock received first prize, and Francis Draghi, second.

Page 14 text:

12 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD Why should this right be questioned, when it seeks to protect its citizens and their lives and property against unjust aggres¬ sion? With the growth of civilization the citizens have given many of their privi¬ leges and powers to the care of the Jstate. We say the State and the Republic will protect our rights and it is unto the hands of the State tnat we leave the murderer. Judge Alfred J. Talley, a member of the Court of General Sessions ot New York said, “lhose who wouid seek to take away from the State the power to impose Capital Punishment seek to despoil the symbol of Justice. They would leave in her hand the scales that typify tnat in this country at least all are equal before the law and that scales must never tip from one side to the other, loaded on either side with the power or influence of the litigant that comes to the temple of Justice. They would leave oveer her eyes the bandage that typifies that she must be no respecter of persons, but they would take from her hand the sword, without which the other symbols would be meaningless things. For if Justice has not the right to enforce her edicts and her mandates, then her laws may be lost upon a senseless people.” Is life imprisonment a good substitute for Capital Punishment? The average per¬ son would say, “Yes,” but after it is re¬ moved the very advocates of doing away with it would be the first to argue that it is more cruel than Capital Punishment. In the statements above I have given some arguments in favor of Capital Pun¬ ishment but let us consider reasons for its abolition. After the war authorities have claimed that the death rate from crime, has in¬ creased because people have learned to kill. Is not our government in part responsible? If an individual is to respect human life, then the State should set an example by discontinuing Capital Punishment. It has been stated that because of the higher degree of equality in our own country homicide is more frequent than in Europe. If we want to get rid of the murderer by Capital Punishment because he is so terri¬ ble, why not have a punishment which is terrible? There is no physical torture in electrocuting or hanging because it lasts only a short time. As a preventative of crime Capital Punishment is nothing more than a stimulant. Do we not consider savage the punish¬ ments of a few hundred years ago? If we could live at that time would we not abolish those cruel, savage punishments? Do we not think those means of revenge are barbaric? But what about two or three centuries from now. Will not the future generations term our method of punish¬ ment barbaric? ” Are we barbarians, we ouu i into to be called such. We talk of murder in the first degree. What is murder in the lirst degree? It is cruel, calculated, cold-blooded killing of a fel¬ low man. It is tne most wicked of crimes. Is the State guilty of it every time it executes a human being? With the growtn of civilization the criminal mw should become civilized. It is true that the victims of the death penalty are sometimes innocent and that their execu¬ tion has prevented justice from ever being done. Cruel. calculated, cold-blooded killing has no place in the practices of a civilized community. Does not murder by the State belong to the savage past? Prevention of crime never can be ac¬ complished by the severity of the punish- meent. There is no logic in the argument that murder must be punished by murder. Such punishment is nothing but legalizeu revenge and revenge does not suppress crime. It stimulates crime. Furthermore an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a lite for a life is not the teaching of Christ, and should not be in the law in a Christian community. There is little rea¬ soning in the argument that frightful pun¬ ishment prevents crime through fear of consequences. Crime is suppressed by civ¬ ilization not by savagery. Education, enlightenment and social con¬ ditions eliminate crime which is generally born in ignorance, poverty, evil circum¬ stances and vicious surroundings. Clarence Harrow, the famous criminal lawyer, says that the solution to the crime problem is to educate the children to fit life and its problems. One who likes to see suffering, out of what he thinks is righteous indignation will hold fast to Capital Punishment, but one who has sympathy, kindness and under¬ standing will hate it and detest it as he hates and detests death. Here are two illustrations to show that the people of the United States are not yet prepared to take a definite stand on this question. The first example is the Leopold and Loeb case. It was the general cry of the public that they should die. The fact that they were wealthy increased the preju¬ dice of the people and that was all the more