30 THE CLASSICUM ENGLISH Florence Newcomb Accept from the English Department a gift—a gift that will be valuable only as you employ it consciously in correcting errors, in forming skills, in adding to your experience, and in building character. You will need this gift in whatever subject you take, whatever avocation you enjoy, or whatever vocation you follow; in fact, it is a language of common understanding for you who live in an English-speaking country. If you know the English language, there is no need for you to be "blind and deaf-and-dumb," since it will do for you what it did for Helen Keller: it wil save you from a living death. The English teachers have provided three shuttles. One is wound with straight thinking and individual effort; another with the resources of the library, as well as correct, effective, and interesting speaking and writing. The third shuttle carries literature of the past and the present. Using these shuttles accoding to directions, you will be able to weave the reading, the observation, the interest, and the experience of the past into an idealized, yet practical and individual, design of the living present. Although the teachers will be glad to assist you in the use of these shuttles, they, like the weavers of the famous Gobelin tapestries, work on the wrong side, but, unlike the weavers, never catch sight of the fully worked- out design. Only you can know the contentment in living as the man or woman you would like to be in a world created out of the best. DRAMATIC ART Mary Woolley Instinctively we are all worshipers of Dionysus. We like to act and to see others act on the stage. Some have the desire and ambition to become shining stars in the professional theater. That is a worthy ambition. But there is a great theater, a theater where there are no footlights; it is the theater of Life, and here, as Evreinoff says, "the creation of illusion is just as important as it is on the stage." Take away from life all the time spent hoping for the future, dreaming of the past, creating the characters you meet in life or literature, acting for your friends that you may please them, dreaming your dreams and planning the expression of those dreams, and you find there is very little time left. So, you see, we do act in life; we create illusions in life; we meet and mingle with people on this great theatrical stage. The parts we play are important and will be successful to the degree in which we are able to respond to the thoughts, the ideas, the emotions, and the actions of the characters with whom we play. They will be successful to the extent of our ability to express these responses effectively. The courses in Dramatic Art and Public Speaking offered at Ogden High School are planned for the purpose of helping you to become greater and more effective actors on the stage of life.