Bar Harbor High School - Islander Yearbook (Bar Harbor, ME)

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111I12lC 6 X ,,.,4 MARJ oR1E Sray ENS I WN I The only name he had ever been known A X y 1 by yy rs Bmnacle lNo one on Osprey Pornt is could remember ever callmg hrnr anythrng mwn but that and he seemed not to object, so EB! I -A Brnnaele he was for as long as he lrved rn W E our yrllaffe up You couldnt deny that Bumacle was 'sg old lNo, hrs whrte harr and wrrrrkled skrn Num ,A attested to hrs age He had once been tall, se-'N' but now hrs frame was bent lrke a gnarled oak tree and he seemed to twrst and shrrnk strll more as the years went by Brnnacle had a magnrficent whrte beard of whrch he w as mordrnately proud Folks sard he had grown rt to hrde some hrdeous scar on hrs face, but hrs explanatron was that rt kept hrm warm and free from throat colds The beard was always as whrte as a gull s breast, and reached almost down to hrs warst We used to wonder how he was able to grow sufh an amount of harr, untrl someone 14' Except for that wonderful beard, Brnnacle was as bald as one of the sea worn pebbles f to use hrs energy to Grow harr on hrs head XIX - 1fl f ' 1, we collected along the beaches Brnnacle s shanty was perched lrke an eagle s nest hrffh up on Mesmer s Clrff lt was a fas crnatrng burldmff, wrth oddly shaped wrndows and sudden juttmgs and starrways Oh the house of Bmnacle w as a wondrous house rndeed' He had hurlt rt hrmself, from odds and ends of wrecked vessels and old burldmgs, so that rt was a queer jumble of true sallor s specrflcatrons and landlubber s earthy rdeals One room had been fitted out as a chart room wrth all the lnstruments Brnnacle had used when ht was rn command of hrs own shrp the Lady Neptune There were hrs compass, sextant, soundrng leads shrp log and even the funny lrttle figurehead that had graced the bow of the l ady Neptune from the very first yoy age faptazn Bmnaele had made The house was not wrred for electrrcrty but lrght was proyrded by the hangmg kerosene lamps salvaged from the Lady Neptune The fact rs, rf you used your rmagmatron as we drd rt seemed as though Bmnacle s shanty was the Lady lNeptune We would stand behrnd the wheel rn Brrrnacle s chart room pretendrng to be plrates of old Vile would srght a rrch merchant vessel whrch to all ey es but our own was merely a weatherbeaten fishmg smack and bear dow rr upon our prey, gloatrng over the rrch booty we would presently w rest from her terror strrcken crew The krtchen was fixed up lrke a sh1p's galley so mrnute rn srze that only one person could possrbly fit rnto thrs shoe box yersron Brnnacle never allowed anyone else rn there he sard no crazy landlubber could do justrce to the mess krt Best of all were the cupboards and cases and hrdeayyays wherem lay hrs accumulatron of treasures Besrdes a yast store of Oflelllal curros th y held hrs shell and pebble collectrorrs Brmratle was '1 bf at h momba r of sorts, you see, and every day he carrrm d hack to hrs home the thmgs he had gathered along, tht bf ac hes l rm mc mbcr how delrghted I was whenever Bmnarle aw fit to allow me to Ylgll hrm Such an ouurrt me was a red letter day for me, or for any oth: r chrld at Osprey Pornt, for rt meant a trme of T c c ' 7 7 -.. .. by JX fig c , s mx' Jiwuiyy 1 s g - v . 1 . fry ' f .4 A' U' 2. . I H ' , , ' 4 . X h Wx ,W .I 1 VV , M - rf f' ,ffl 2 ' . v ' ' ,I ' i Mg ,' in s 'T xii D . T fs ' K T f f ' , ' X: 15 3. . I , rf - y, ,A . IW ' l - f - yfgf it ' 7 ' ' - ra f-' -'- ' 2 ' ' . ' ' . .1 1 T., ,. ,nr ,?fq K f Y XT:-, I . . , ' y ---11 'NSA reasoned that rt was because he drdn t have 'gy' B n My D n al ' ya. ' 1 - f f X V 1' T . ' . , . , . , . U i . . . . . ' . . Q . . D 7 T T I-n.: 7 L. . AV . . N ' . . , . .M l , L , L L I L L , I Y ' n nl I G6 2 77 Y 5 1 K K 4 , , , . , . - 2 kv ' n 7 . ' 1 7 ' 7. A V I ' . L V U . . Y ' . T L .' . , , . ' 1 ' - ' . . 7 v ' ' - I Y Y - I - . Y . . Y . . ' 7 T Y X . . . y I V i - t y k A V L ' I Q . X D . . 'l ' 4 Y ' f 1 , -1 m u 1 ' 1 ' - S Y v fb' ' ' 1

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vlcarxous adventure Sometlmes we would travel to Bah or Chma or lndla through the omnlpotence of Blnnacles fand our lmaglnatlon He told of strange slant eyed people of dragons elephants and burled treasure He brought out from h1s collectlon cases strange curlos and allowed us to look at and play wlth them l remember ln partlcular a funny golden buddha that had elght arms and a wonderful jeweled headdress Blnnacle Sald that lt had been glven htm bv a Chlnese priest He used to let me bum lncense ln the llttle pot the buddha held 1n 1ts lap and I would Slt entranced to see the smoke curl lallly upward about the buddha s head and finally disappear as lt rose hlgher and higher On other days Blnnacle would cook some strange food by way of celebratlon We would all slt down on the rough floor planklng before a low table pretendmg to be really truly lndlans or Chlnamen On these occaslons Bmnacle would allow us to choose a certain cur1o from hls collectlons, and he would tell us 1ts hlstory To us chlldren he was a marvelous old man who was our frlcnd but to our parents who were not lmaglnatlve 1n the least he was only a bent old man who spent hls days gatherlng up useless odds and ends along the shore and whose tales were hlllng our heads wlth nonsense We knew Blnnacle could always be found elther walkmg along his beloved Sea Cllff Path or s1tt1ng out on the Pomt watchlng the breakers and the gulls Each tlme he returned from these outlngs he would brm back to hls shanty an odd tumbled assortment of crmkly shells small pebbles with sparkhng p1nk vems ln them snalls fiddler crabs sea cucumbers fwhxch he consldered a great dellcacy and star fish Durmg the whole sprlng summer and fall he would gather such thlngs ln the wmter when the beaches were cold and desolate he would fashlon these materlals lnto qualnt bracelets and plns whlch he would sell to the tourlsts ln the summertlme Bmnacle went clammlng too and HShlI1g lf he could wrest Mr Waltham s leaky old dlnghy from that mlser s grasping hands Bmnacle used to mamtam that the dmghy was legally hls and many tlmes trled to assume ow nershlp but each tlme he was unceremonlously turned away and after years of thls useless tug of war Blnnacle gave up He never agaln mentloned the questlon of ownershlp but he stlll used lt every so often Bmnacle wasnt one to be tlod upon' Our bay was subject to frequent squalls whlch came out of nowhere and sometlmes sub slded so qulckly they were hardly worth the bother On these days we were kept at home because of the raln and because of the 1IlStlIlCt that led us hke homlng plgeons to Bmnacle s shanty and haunts These storms never fazed Bm lacle 1n the least on the contrary he would often clap on h1s sou Wester cast off the moorlng rope of the dmghy and venture out 1nto the storm maddened bay He had no reason for golng on such trlps except that perhaps It let hlm recapture for a short tlme at least the feelmg of mastery and hrgh adventure Our parents often sa1d that some day Blnnacle would overturn ln his boat and be drowned and they even told hlm so but he llstened wlth only half an eal and went rlght on wlth h1S ventures One evenlng after a partlcularly bad gale that had lashed and snarled at our shore all day and had done a conslderable amount of damage to the wharf and sea wall some of us went to see how Blnnacle had weathered the storm We really dldn t expect to find h1m at hlS shanty for we knew how he loved to battle the sea so findlng that lf wasn t at home we trooped alon the beach callmg and halloolng wlth all our mlght We weren t worrled but after half an hour of frultless searchmg we dld thlnk It strange Prevlously Blnnacle had almost always tumed up by that t1me ln one of the many coy es and caves that pockmarked the shore Early the next mormng after belng told of Blnnacles disappearance our fathers renewed the search meetlng Wlth more success than had our quest of the prevlous evenlng They found the dmghy battered overturned and empty half floatmg ln a collar of seaweed but Blnnacle hlmself was nowhere to be found They supposed hlm to be drowned and there were many ltold you so s No one really mlssed Bmnacle except us chlldren Small comfort that lt was we knew the sea was Blnnacle s llfe and subsistence that he belonged to the sea and that there was a rlghtness ln the seas havlng reclaimed lts own - 1 1 1 - 1 ' 1 1 1 . I , 1 1 1 1 . , Q . . . . , . 7 v 1 . . U Y- . . . 1 ' . . Y 1 s 1 1 1 1 , . . . 7 . . . . 1 - . , . , g 1 1 J 1 s 1 1 4 J 1 1 - ' 1 1 1 . . . . , . 1 1 1 - - , - 1 . . Y . ' . . e 1 1 ' 0-- - ' 1 - 1 . . . , U s 1 1 ' . 1 . . . . U . . , , - . . Y . . , s 1 1 1 . , ' . 1 1 1 , . 1 1 1 7 . , . . . I 1 1 . , . . . . 1: or or 1 -11' 1 1 0 1 - 1 1 - 1 . Y . . Y . , . . . . , . 1 1 1 1 , . . V v . . , , 9 9 ' 7 7 - , v cs 1 39 . 1 ' ' u . . . . Y . , . , 1 . . i . . , . . , , - .