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

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD CLASS SONG. (Tune. Thine Own”) Gone are our school days which we loved so weli In years to come of those glad times we’ll tell Our mem’ry will take us back to those happy ways Our school days. We’ll all remember our happy times in High We’ll ne’er for-get those years which too fast rolled by We’ll always think of those gay, happy ways When we were classmates in our school days. Hours spent in that dear school were glad and joyous And make thoughts of those days seem sacred to us. But there were times when we had our troubles and sorrows there Which seemed e’en too hard to bear In Windsor Locks High, the school on the hill. Where for all our laurels we worked with a will, And we will cherish them and keep them ’till we’ve gained life’s hill. Farewell or e’er Dear Windsor Locks High. To-night we are together for the last time, 1 he ladder of life we are about to climb; When we look back On the years winding track We shall see our school days standing out bright and clear Midst the shadow and fog of our years. Farewell, teachers! Farewell, classmates! Farewell, dear Windsor Locks High! Corrine Burwood, ’20. -(o)- ESSAY AND VALEDICTORY. Our Educational Heritage. We Americans, like many other peoples, are often so busy struggling to gain ma¬ terially, that we forget to be thankful for certain blessings which we have. We for¬ get that the liberty and privileges which we enjoy are almost unknown in many lands. Many ideals and many principles nave been handed down from our fathers which should be as dear to us as they were to their originators. One of our greatest and most cherished heritages is our Ameri¬ can educational system. 25 From the very beginning of English col¬ onization in America, there have been schools. The earliest compacts and char¬ ters in Massachusetts settlements contained articles pertaining to provisions for the education of children. Several of New England’s oldest and largest cities began with a few farmhouses, a meeting-house, and a small one-room schoolhouse. Each settlement of fifty families was compelled to build and support a common school and provide a suitably trained “master.” Every settlement of one hundred families was fur¬ ther compelled to support a school in which boys could be prepared for the English Uni¬ versities, and later, for Harvard and Yale. As the population of the East increased, people saw the necessity of improving the school system. Larger public secondary schools were established upon an entirely new plan, and even to-day remain strictly the product and development of the New VV orld. Many private schools were formed and were usually modeledl after the Eng ¬ lish preparatory schools We need mention only a few men whom the old, undeveloped educational system produced. Franklin, Monroe and Jefferson speak better than words as to its results. Such men as they, realizing the advantage and necessity of education in these colonies were the ones who supported all good suggestions for its development. A glance at the literature produced so early in our history is ample proof that this new experimental education was ob¬ taining nearly as good results as that in the Old World. The Constitution of the United States is a noteworthy piece of writing, for it gives an example of clear, precise, forceful, American prose. Since our forefathers were especially students of law and government, we find that much of the literary production was of a legal nature. However, the lighter type of prose cf this period is found in the works of Washington Irving, who ranks with the famous authors of the world. Schools of all types continued to increase and improve. Much was done for them by forensic and legislative means. Daniel Webster, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner and many other men helped to advance edu¬ cation and did much to bring about greater equality among the different races repre¬ sented in our schools. Notable among the achievements of the nineteenth century was the founding of col¬ leges for women on an equal standing with Harvard and Yale. This was a splendid step forward in American education as has

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24 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD honor of occupying the seats in Room Two left vacant by our English Class. We hope that you will not complain of the frailty of the chairs and that you will have a little more patience when using them than we had. I give, devise and bequeath to the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-eight an extra period. By using this extra period some time during the day, you will not have to stay after school to try your many experiments in Science. I give, devise and bequeath to the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-nine in¬ structions on how to take care of the li¬ brary, Freshies, when you get through using the reading matter in the library, you will arrange it in the proper order in which you found it as did your upper class- men. To the various members of the lower classes, we as individual Seniors, do be¬ queath the following items of inestimable value and to their heirs and assignees, to have and to hold forever. Sophie Markman leaves to Hilda Rego her knowledge of the milk business. We hope, Hilda, that by putting this knowledge to good use you will be able to take care of those six customers without the assist¬ ance of “Sparky.” Margaret Brett gives to John Pohorylo a bottle of ink. “Pullet,” by keeping this bottle handy, you will not have to trouble anybody for ink for the next two years, as you did Margaret. Mary Poloski gives to Angelo Marconi a book on “How to Do the Charleston.” Read this book carefully “Wazzi” and you will soon learn that the Charleston begins at home and not in Room five. Edward Micha wills to William Crowley a basketball. “Crow,” by keeping this ball in your possession you will not have to fight for one, down the hall next winter, and break a leg trying to get a shot. Corrine Burwood bequeaths to Marie Midden her secret in typewriting. Marie, if you will keep this secret to yourself you may be able to keep time to the “Stars and Stripes” next year and not have to tell your teacher, Mrs. Leary, you’re tone deaf. Ruth Drake bequeaths to Wesley White a pair of boxing gloves. Now, “Cow,” the next time you are sparring down in the basement you will not hurt your worthy opponent by your terrific hitting if you will only don the mitts; and also you will not dislocate your thumb. Marcus Lawson gives to Leon Pascoe his ability as a baseball player. Now, “Jasper,” by practicing this ability you may be able to hold down the “dizzy corner” next year as well as “Red” has. Edna Mocklis wills to John Karges her ability in dealing ice. Johnny, I’m sure that if you start the juggling of these cakes early, soon you will be in the pink of con¬ dition for the gridiron next fall; for Edna has broken a few chairs lately in Room Two due to her great physical condition and powerful strength. Florence Migliora gives Lucille Knowles her seat in Room Three. Lucille, I hope that you will not follow “Fluff’s” example and decorate it with all sorts of flowers so that it looks like a flower garden instead of a desk. Agnes Connolly bequeaths to Rose Polosi instructions on how to run a ware¬ house. Rosie, we hope that after follow¬ ing these instructions for a while you will be able to distinguish a broadleaf from a cabbage leaf. Agnes has often become confused as to which was which. Dorothy Phelps wills to Jul ia McKenna her disguise as a boy. Julia, next year if you happen to have a part as a boy in the Senior play you will have no difficulty in appearing in this role. Elizabeth Jackson gives to Edward Byrne her copy of Cicero. By studying this book very carefully, “Eddie,” you will be able to tell your teacher about Cicero, the orator, and not Cicero Sapp. Sarah Compaine bequeaths to Joseph Moran a dummy girl, so that he can pull her hair to his heart’s content without en¬ dangering the scalps of any of the Senior girls. Take good care of her, “Joe,” and maybe you can enjoy yourself for a feu- years to come. Mary McHugh gives to Joseph Gatti a book entitled “How to Become an Usher.” Now, “Joe,” some evening when Mary is absent you will have no trouble in escort¬ ing the people to their respective seats. I do nominate and appoint Mr. Grafmil- ler to be executor of this, my last will and testament in the presence of the witnesses named below, this twenty-first day of June in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-six. Spirit of the Class of 1926. Signed, sealed, declared and published by said Spirit of the Class of 1926, as for his last will and testament, in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names as witnesses hereto: Fred Kennedy, Lucille Knowles, John Sullivan, Harold Wallace, and Mae White. Henry O’Leary, ’26.

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2G THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD been so well proved since. After the Civil War, great strides were made in developing pubuc schools. Vocational and trade schools came into existence and immedi¬ ately proved their worth. This period is remarkable for men who were devoted to education. Eminent among these are Horace Mann and Bronson Alcott, men whose foresight and conscientious work helped to bring about the great revolution in the public elementary schools and even in the institutions of higher learning. Horace Mann once wrote, “The common school is the greatest discovery ever made by man. It is supereminent in its univer¬ sality and in the timeliness of the aid it proffers The common school can train up children in the elements of ail good knowledge and virtue.” This remark, coming as it did from so influential an educator, shows that our schools have been striving to train chil¬ dren not only to acquire knowledge, but also to live more abundantly. It is well to consider the literature of this period, also, for literature always re¬ flects the scholastic backgrounds of an era. Such men and women as Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett Hale, Louisa M. Alcott, Henry YVard Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe aid much to abolish class and racial prejudices and to advance American ideals. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” is a model of American prose, and it expresses better than volumes of books the ideals of liberty, freedom, brotherhood and peace which we wish to instil into American youth. Coming down to our own period great progress has been made in the elementary and secondary sshools. In most states education is compulsory between the ages of seven and fourteen, and in some states up to sixteen or eighteen. A child can start school at the age of five, obtain the best of training from well-educated teach¬ ers, advance into high school, and graduate without any, save ordinary expenses. Many states have large, splendidly equipped agricultural, normal, and vocational schools which their own pupils may attend without tuition. Thus an American boy of to-day can avail himself of a full professional training if he so desires and if he has the will to try to maintain a fair record. Children of tc-day are given every op¬ portunity money and experience can afford. Great thought and consideration are given to their comfort and well-being. In most places they have none of the countless difficulties to obtain education with which their parents were obliged to contend. As our forefathers were continually stressing the ideal of equality for all men, so to-day our educators are continually stressing the ideal of equality of educa¬ tional opportunity for all children. They want the rural child to have as good an opportunity in life as the urban child. They want the little East-side orphan to have as fair an educational advantage as the Fifth Avenue millionaire’s son. They say that all the youth of to-day and of the future must have an equal chance to devel¬ op and to use theiir individual talents. According to the Constitution they have an undeniable right to freedom and equal¬ ity. Only by the acquisition and wise use of this right may we ever hope to attain the goal of a true democratic nation. Edu¬ cation and democracy are very closely related. Herbert Hoover has said “And democracy is a basis of human relations far deeper than the form of government. It is not only a form of government and an ideal that all men are equal before the law; it is also an ideal of equal opportunity. Not only must we give each new genera¬ tion this spirit of democracy, but we must give to them a fundamental contribution, to an equality of opportunity through edu¬ cational equipment.” However, if we should be content with merely giving equal educational opportun¬ ity, wonderful as that would be in itself, we should fall short of our great duty and responsibility. To teach and learn solely for the purpose of acquiring a mass of facts is not the aim of modern education. We must build character and we must instil ideals. Since the beginning of the Great War, the school has had to take over much of the work which was formerly done by the parents in the home. Mothers who have entered business and professional life, have placed a heavy responsibility on the school and upon its faculties. To-day in¬ spirational and spiritual help must come, to a large extent, from the teacher. In order to be able to meet the still greater respon¬ sibility which the future is almost sure to bring, we must give our present school child the best instruction and training of which we are capable. We can do this only by untiring and un¬ selfish effort on the part of all. The great¬ est evil which threatens the school to-day is politics. We must keep factional feeling and discontent out of the classroom in order best to live up to our heritage. The lives of children are too valuable to ruin simply to satisfy the unwarranted hatred or selfish aspirations of a politician.