FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 14 May 1925, Page 3

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

IIISTOKY AND RECORDS.. OLD TIME RECOLLECTIONS. EARLY DAYS RECALLED. “Ah me! the fifty years since first we met Seem to me fifty folios bound and set By Time the great transcriber on 'his shelves Wherein are written .the history of ourselves. What tragedies, what comedies are there! _ What joy and grief, what rapture and despair! What chronicles of triumph and defeat, Of struggle, and temptation and retreat! What records of regrets a.nd doubts and fears! What pages blotted, blistered by our tears.! -What lovely landscapes on the margin shine, What sweet, angelic faces, what divine And holy images and love and trust Undimmed by age, unsoiled by damp or rust! Whose hand shall dare to open- and explore These volumes, closed and clasped for evermore ? , Not mine. With reverential feet I pass I hear a voice that cries, Alas! Alas! Whatever hath been written shall remain, Nor be erased, nor written o’er again: The unwritten only still belongs to thee-; Take heed and wonder well what that, shall be.”

Those beautiful lines from Longfellow, inspired by the occasion- of thefiftieth anniversary of the Bowdoin College class of 182 5, will no doubt tit in and harmonise with the thoughts, of many who participate in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of any event, and are singularly applicable to celebration of a school jubilee. Probably one of the greatest, if not the most important event in.the history. of any district, is the celebration of fifty years in the life of, any school, and, when the celebration concerns the largest school,in the- district, the event is of the highest importance, to the whole- community. Everyone whether lie- has been at the school or hails from another district, must be touched with a feeding of sympathetic interest when lie remembers that, to the many thousands who have been through the. school whose jubilee is being celebrated, the reqoid established hv that school is something of which they are; all very proud. , ’ ... Perhaps what, will appeal to each specially, .will be the recollection of some of the masters, under whom they worked, and whose personality lias left an impress on their lives and those of many others who were members of the school. They, are those to whom the poet refers as “The teachers who in earlier days Led our bewildered feet through learning’s maze.” Many are no longer here, but gone into the land of shadows. “Honour and reverence and the good repute That follows faithful service as its fruit, Be unto them, whom living we salute.” Those who laboured in their sphere as those who live In the delight that work alone can give. Peace be to them: eternal peace and rest And the fulfilment of the great behest: “Ye have been faithful over a few things,' Over ten cities shall ye reign as kings.” Then the thoughts of former pupils go out to hail the boys of their own years, those especially with whom they were intimate, and whose ideals of life marched with their own. Some, no doubt, have gone on before to the land of shadows. Many are ■scattered; a few-bnly are left here, but,as the poet says so .well —‘

“When I survey This.throng of faces turned'to meet

' my own, Friendly and fair, and yet to me

unknown, Transformed the very landscape

seems to be. It is the same, yet not the same

to me. So many memories crowd upon the

brain; So many ghosts are in the wooded

plain, I fain would steal away with noiseless tread.

“Hail, my companions, comrades, classmates, friends! And- now, my classmates, ye remaining few That number not the half of those we knew; Ye against whose familiar names not yet The fatal asterisk of death is set. Ye I salute! The horologe of Time Strikes the half-century with a solemn chime. And summons us together once again, The joy of meeting, no-t unmixed with pain.”

The occasion is one that must inspire (all aid pupils and make them realise the value of the school with all its associations. When they consider how many thousands have entered the portals of the old school and laboured within its walls, and in contrast how few have been with them in the jour-

ney of life after leaving the school, they will realise perhaps in a. way they never did before, the chances and changes of life. The solemn dignity of tlxe occasion must appeal to them. They muist realise that it is an. event, which calls for rejoicing for the many blessings they enjoy, but also for regret that many whom onc-e they knew and loved are not able toi be present. They think of the' boys whose lot was laid in a hard; place, of all those who have “gone West,” either in the natural order of tilings or perhaps in the service of their country. And the thought naturally is one of sadness for those who l met ill fortune, and pride arid' reverence for those- for -whom “the, path of glory lea but to the grave.” So it is that xhe celebration of a. jubilee, while it recalls -so much of pain, so much of joy; should inspire on© to' do, noble deed® and to live one’s life better mid more unselfishly, remembering all those who have gone before, and to determine that so much as in him lies, he shall, do h,isi best to

miake the world a. better place, and to help others wherever and whenever he •its able. If that is the result, then it will please best the great masters and boys whose good influence we feel sure must hover round the celebration of a, great and glorious event, recording a® it does and recalling all that has been good and noble in an institution whichi exists for the good of the people of the district and of the world. Through, those distinguished sons of the school who have gone abroad the influenceo f the school for good i:s carried out into the wide world and does its .part in the history of the country and the Empire to which all tare so proud to belong.