Bristol High School - Green and White Yearbook (Bristol, RI)

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16 THE GREEN AND WHITE AT THE BACK FENCE “Matilda White is the queerest, old maid house keeper I ever seen in all my born days,” said Mrs. Bowen to Miss Waden over the back fence. “She would rather wash her sink any Sunday than hear Parson Lawrence preach. Not saying she don’t like his preaching, but that old sink of her’n must be spick and span all the time.” “Yes,” replied Miss Waden, “she ain’t got no use for nothing but keeping her. house clean. She scrubs and sweeps the live long day. Too bad she can’t keep her soul clean besides her house. Of course I don’t mean she ain’t a good woman. She minds her own business. Well, that’s nothing, we do too. We never talk about nobody.” “Now. you know Ann Bullit, she never scrubs her house,” said Mrs. Bowen. “She goes to church every Sunday and even goes to Friday night prayer meeting. Why couldn’t she leave out prayer meeting and clean her house up once and a while? Why I went to call on her the other day and her kitchen was a mess. The sink was pack jam full o’ dishes and it was so dirty. It’s a shame she don’t wash it once in a while ’stead of talking to Mrs. Tones over the back fence all the morning. Well, anyway she’s got a clean soul.” “Well,” answered Miss Waden, “you know that fly-away Sally Smith is the limit. I saw her flirting the other day. Honest-ta-goodness flirting with that handsome lookin’ city feller. He smiled at her too. Don’t see how he could do it. Her skirts are so short I’d be ’shamed if I was her. She wears heels ’bout eight inches high and it’s a puzzle to me how she ever walks on ’em. Goodness me, her hair looks as though a nest of hornets had got a-tangled in it. I guess ya call ’em cootie—a—, I donno, something anyhow.” “Oh, yes,” answered Mrs. Bowen, “I know what you mean. Cootie nests. Ain’t them things awful. You’ll never catch my Mary wearing them things. If she does wear ’em her Pa’ll give her a good licking. Lan’ I smell my roast a-burning. Goodbye.” CATHLEEN BARTON, ’23. “THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER” The little round, ruddy face of Henry Noonan was pressed against the glass window of Baker’s Toy Shop. In his admiration of the double ringed circus paraphernalia displayed before him, he was forgetting the fun poked at him by the other children, whose mothers didn’t have to take in washings and go out scrubbing. He didn’t mind wearing dirty ragged shirts with the sleeves cut off and unhemmed, and he rather liked going bare- foot, but he did hate to be laughed at by the other kids” who wore shoes and stockings, and pants and coats in place of dirty blue overalls. He had waited patiently for them to get through looking in Old Baker’s window, and when they had gone running away down the street to follow an organ grinder, he had run across the street as fast as his little feet could carry him, and had fastenend his gaze and interest on the wonders of the toy shop. His earnest blue eyes, shaded by heavy lashes but a trifle darker than the short chestnut curls which rolled up all over his well formed head, shifted from one brilliantly colored toy to another. Near him in the front part of the window were Humpty-Dumpty men, little fat men and women all dressed in wonderful clothes, and clowns, oh, so many clowns. Clowns on ladders, clowns with ladders on them, clowns on their heads, clowns on one foot, clowns walking on their hands, clowns making up faces at him, clowns with hats on, clown's with hats off, clowns with black faces, clowns with red faces, and lots and lots of clowns with white faces and big red spots. Over there— why there was a clown on an elephant! Little Henry stood on tiptoe to see beyond the clowns. How he wished they’d all fall down now so’s he could see the animals. He raised himself on his toes several times, but the iron grating on which he stood hurt his feet when he stood on tiptoe. A thoughtful expression flickered across his face, and the next instant he ran like a flash down the little alley next to the toy shop. In a few seconds he was coming around the corner of the shop tugging a wooden box, not a large box, but large for him. When he had it placed on the iron bars, and directly in front of the window, he jumped upon it, and gazed and gazed in open-mouthed wonder and delight. Could he believe his eyes?—a real hill with a road coming down it, and real toy houses facing the street, and, best of all, a big, real, circus parade coming down the street— with elephants, and horses, and camels, and little ponies—yes, there was a little boy leading them—and no telling how many wild tigers, and lions, and other animals that get ugly and bite, were inside all those red and yellow wagons. Oh, at first he hadn’t seen the big red wagon down near the front corner of the window. A band in it! Band men with red band suits and gold horns and things, and it was “dragged” by white horses with big red things on their heads!—their harnesses were all gold. Each second he discovered something new, and he stood there motionless for several minutes. Within him his little soul cried out, “I want it, I want it. I wonder

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15 THE GREEN AND WHITE Other pupils late, because “misery loves company,” but there was no one to solace me. I must tread my guilty way alone. I ran all the way to school. Breathless I arrived. The first period was in session so I had to report directly to the principal. For the second time, my heart nearly stopped beating. Timidly. I walked into the office. I tried to tell him why I was late, but as I was gasping for breath I could scarcely speak. He sent me into the auditorium to sit there until 1 was able to talk. In about ten minutes he came in and I told him frankly what had happened to me. Whether my story amused him I am unable to say, but he was not as stern as I had imagined. He smiled slightly, and I was indignant, because I had made a mountain out of a mole-hill. However, I must admit that I resolved, then and there, to get up when the alarm clock goes off. M. BURGF.SS, ’23. LANKY’S DISAPPOINTMENT Adventure! How he loved adventure 1 Everyone made fun of him because he liked to read books about murders and pirates and all kinds of bloodthirsty stories; but that didn’t bother him. Many a night “Lanky,” as the boys called him, sat in the old graveyard reading by the light of a lantern. One of his favorite sports was scaring people by pinning queer notes on their doors, or by pounding on their windows at night. He was a terror. Everyone said so, and especially his mother. Even the boys with whom he played were afraid of his queer actions. One day when he had played unusually hard with the boys, being wearied towards evening, he climbed up into the hay-loft of the barn. It was dark there, and he liked it. He could make believe that some robbers had kidnapped him and were holding him for ransom. Very slowly his eyelids began to droop, and although he tried to keep awake, he was soon deep in slumber. Suddenly he saw a large figure coming toward him. The figure was a man, and the man was a pirate! A real pirate! His hair was long and straggly, and matched his mustache. On his head was a small, red cap. He was dressed like the old pirates whose pictures “Lanky” had seen in books. His breeches went only to the knees, and his legs were bare except for a pair of boots which were very muddy. Around his neck was a chain which Lanky thought must be pure gold (he had perhaps found it in an old treasure ship which his crew had captured), and hanging from his ears were rings of the same metal. He stood with his arms folded and when he spoke his voice sounded like an old foghorn. ‘‘I heard,” he said, “that you love to read about pirates and murders. If you will follow me, I will show you my pals.” Lanky was too happy to say anything. He jumped down from the loft and followed the man. When they reached the water, they walked along the shore for a little over a mile. From the pirates’s waist hung a sword and a dagger which Lanky hadn’t noticed before. If he could only have a real weapon like that! He was just picturing himself strutting through the village with a sword in his hand and all the boys admiring him, envying him, when these arose before his eyes the hull of a large ship, anchored in the water. The pirate and Lanky got in a small boat and rowed out to the ship. The pirate climbed up on the deck, and walking to the bow of the boat, descended a small staircase. Lanky followed closely, and at the bottom of the Stairs he heard laughing and talking. There in the cabin, sitting around a table, was a gang of pirates drinking and playing cards. They looked up as their comrade entered. “Hey, Billy, did ya bring him?” asked one of them. “Here he is,” answered Billy, pushing Lanky forward. The boy stood still and stared around him. The pirates looked as though they had stepped right out of a story book. Presently one of the men arose, cleared his throat, and began to speak. “We have heard that you are very much interested in us. It is a long time since we have been to this country, but years ago our ancestors plundered ships along these coasts. There is a great treasure buried around here, and we are going to give you the chance of finding it. Here is a chart which tells just where the money is, and if you and your friends do just as it says you will have not only the adventure but also an immense fortune. Lanky could hardly believe his ears as he looked from one face to another. How glad the boys would be to hear about it. and how much fun they would have getting the treasure! Suddenly the room, the noise, and the pirates faded away, and Lanky rubbed his eyes trying to find out where he was. Everything was dark, and he was sure he heard someone calling him. “Lanky! Lanky!” shouted his mother. “Come here this minute! You’ve got to chop that wood before it gets too dark.” “Aw, gee, ma,” grunted Lanky climbing down from the loft, “I was just in the best part of a dream. Why didn’t you wait ’till I finished it?” N. MATHEWSON, ’22.

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THE GREEN AND WHITE 17 how many baskets of clothes I’d have to help Jimmie drag to get enough to buy it,” he was thinking. “I’ll get Mama to come see it; she could read that sign and tell me how much. No, I’ll remember the numbers and tell her. There’s a two and a nothing—that couldn’t be much.” Just then a neatly dressed woman walked up to the toy-shop window. She had her little boy with her on his tricycle. The whole circus looked only a little nicer to Henry than this little boy. He had on a white, white suit, and a real sailor hat. His stockings didn’t have any holes in them and his shoes “shined,”—they “shined” more than his Ma’s stove at home just after she’d polished it. “Oh, Mother,” said the little lad of the sailor cap, “there’s a circus just like mine, isn’t it?” The mother smiled and answered, “Yes, dear, I think so. Papa bought yours here.” Then Henry, noticing that the little boy on the tricycle was no longer looking at the circus, but at his dirty bare feet instead, cast a defiant look at the newcomers, turned on his wooden bov, jumped and flew down the alley again, happy in the thought that two and nothing couldn’t make much. ANONYMOUS. Y.W.V.WWA,.V. Vm’W.WA,.VJ,AW 7M', | CLASS NOTES VAY.VW.V.,AA V .V.%V.V Y.V . WA,AAY( 1921 Once upon a time there came to this High School a group of timid, quaking, blushing, small people—the class of 1921. They were not an unusual class—reverencing the Seniors as all good Freshmen should, meek and mild as all good Freshmen should be— until the second year, and then, after seven long months of screwing up their courage, they finally announced, with the most bold and careless nonchalance, that they were going to have a May Walk! And with this same show of cold indifference they sallied forth at five o’clock one morning and started down the Ferry Road. By the next September, when the class of 1921 went by the name of “Juniors,” they had acquired a most remarkable ability to do things. They proposed a Hallawe’en Party, .and it was such a novel idea that the faculty decided to have one for the whole school. The Freshmen were the guests of the evening and they, especially, had a gay time. Later in the year when the snow was on the ground they made ready for a sleigh ride. Pupils and chaperons gathered at the school house at seven-thirty and waited. The sleigh did not come. About eight o’clock a few people went to investigate the matter. There was no sleigh. Plenty of prancing steeds, but no sleigh, so they went to walk down Lovers’ Lane —that is, the whole class went. The next night they managed to get both the horses and the sleigh and so they had a jolly ride to Warren and Barrington. Again they planned a May Walk but the gods intervened and the rain kept them in bed. The “Prom.” that the class of 1921 gave will go down in history as the great transformation scene. For the pleasure of the Seniors this was given, but how true it is that great deeds go not unrewarded. From the timid, blushing, quaking shadows they blossomed, in one evening, to their present dignity and poise, to their great executive and legislative ability and it is to the “Prom” that they owe their great successes in the November Dance and the Food Fair, which was given in the first part of February. This function was an event of keen enjoyment to both patrons and pupils. The class officers at this time were: President —Israel Makowsky; Vice President—William Rinaldi; Secretary—Kathleen Hodg-don; Treasurer—Virginia August; and with the help of the executive committee, the plans they made were truly remarkable. Cake and candy were sold at booths while the supper was served at artistically decorated tables. A program was arranged including the performance of the talented ones of the school, and at nine o’clock the floor was cleared for dancing. The School Orchestra jazzed for them in a very Southern style. The Class of 1921 is always and forever thrifty (this does not apply to the Food Fair) and is used to making the best of every opportunity. Last March when the snow was deep enough for sleighing the class went again to Warren. There was no trouble this time over the fiery steeds and the winged chariot, and no sordid obstacles kept their spirits dimmed. Another dance was held on the twenty-second of April and a larger crowd than ever before was present. Two plays will be given early in June. Those who have previously seen such per-