Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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THE SASSAMON PAGE ELEVEN grant apple tree the fairies gracefully danced, singing: Oh sweet and happy springtime I With your little babbling brook, That trickles o'er the hillside, Through cool and shady nook. You whirl past bending birch tree And splash round mossy rock, While tiny purple violets Smile at your ceaseless talk. And all the birds of springtime Warble at break of dawn, But you, oh brawly brooklet, Just happily ripple on. MINNIE BERRY. A WINTE.R'S TRAGEDY Second Prize Any traveler entering the town of Hill- side would immediately conclude that the place was appropriately named. To the north rose a precipitous hill. Here and there among the massed boulders showed a patch of scraggly grass or heather. As your gaze follows up the hill, you may, in clear weather, see a small house, hardly more than a shack. In this lived a woman usually termed The Widow, by the vil- lagers, 'and her son, Billy. The Widow's real name was Mrs. Green. She was a frail, gray-haired little woman whose face continually wore a wistful, searching expression. Billy probably inher- ited some of his mother's traits, for he was a quiet, thoughtful, little fellow of about eleven, who seldom mingled with the other boys of his own size. in the village below. Instead, he spent his time wander- ing along the cliffs and ledges of the hill. On these various expeditions he was always accompanied by his inseparable companion, Shep. Shep was a shaggy collie that had just recently been added to the family pos- sessions. It was near winter when the boy started out one day for the other side of the great hill. It was a chill afternoon and he walked jauntily, with. the dog trotting ahead. He had a knife in his hand and was whittling a small stick. In a little less than an hour the pair had reached the other side of the hill, where the grass was in slightly greater proportion than rocks. At the further end of a grassy enclosure stood a cow, lazily cropping the scanty herbage. Go get her, commanded the boy. The dog circled about the cow, and with much barking and yelping forced her out of the tiny pasture onto the narrow path. The three were steadily making their way homeward when the boy chanced to look up from his whittling. Whistling soft- ly, he gave the cow a couple of sharp prods with his stick and put the knife into his pocket. The three quickened their steps for they were but half way home. The sky was ,now almost wholly overcast. A raw, biting wind had sprung up and the dog hung to the lee side of the boy. By the time they had reached home, it was blowing a bitter gale. Billy drove the cow into an adjoining shed, gave her some- thing to eat, and went out, closing the door behind him. He and the dog ran over to and into the house and slammed the door. Just then it began to snow. All that night and two more days and nights it snowed, a blinding, driving snow, composed of big, wet, heavy fiakes. On the afternoon of the third day a mild thaw started, but three days later another sonwstorm began and lasted half a week. Ik 41 8 A band of lumbermen were going, one day, up the great hill north of Hillside. They had just reached the halfway point of the tiresome climb when one member of them, Wishing to take his mind off the tire- some climb, began to talk about The Widow. Say, fellas, he ejaculated, what's the matter with takin' the widder and Billy to camp wid us? You all know she's a crack- erjack cook and Billy, well-he could drive a sledge! The suggestion was met with instant ap- proval and the small party talked it over as they laboriously climbed the steep hill.

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S A, ,, 9 N 7.1 Mfg' Past: LITERARY :reissue 'QF 5059! 54 fgirt gg, PRIZE CONTEST , Q SPRING First Prize The night was clear. The silver moon, round and full, cast a watchful eye over the silent earth. Stars, twinkling and bright, seemed to make the vast distance of earth and sky even greater. A faint rustle was heard, tiny bells tin- kled and a troop of fairies, clad in glisten- ing white, stole quietly to their castle, a castle of ice, dim, mystic, lighted only by moon and stars. The entrance revealed within a small open space. In the distance, barely discernible, a narrow path of bluish hue, wound in and out. Bending trees adorned the sides, and as the fairies en- tered, dancing rainbow colors overspread all. They had come to discuss the coming of spring. The gay princess fairy' took her accustomed place. Trippingly the other fairies grouped around her, while with up- turned faces, and folded hands they lis- tened to her with eager interest. Ah, they'd be glad to change their gowns of glistening white to dainty new costumes of pale spring colors. Yes, and they must find another palace, perhaps in the quiet of the forest, in a dusky cave, where the splash of rip- pling water would be heard, or in a valley bedded with mosses. The fairies, tired with their planning, at last became drowsy, and resting against one another, the small up-turned faces I drooped, and the bright eyes were closed in slumber. Quietness was supreme ruler of the castle. A joyous sunbeam peeped in at the en- trance. Drip, drop, drip. The jolly old sun had crept up from the hill and was way up in the sky. What did it all miean? Were they dreaming, or was their castle really melting? The princess fairy rubbed her sleepy eyes, then a cool drop dripped on her face, pushed away the hazy thoughts, and with a start she scrambled up, clasped in her hand the fairy wand, gracefully waved it over the sleeping faces, and, alas the spar- kling castle could be seen no more. Soon the whole fairy troop were wide awake. They looked with wonder at their princess. In place of her snowy costume she wore one of sparkling colors. Then to their amazement they happily discovered their own,-pale green, violet, yellow, del- icate pink and blue. Soon they would be gathering fragrant May flowers, and mak- ing daisy and buttercup wreaths. Joyous- ly they hastened away in search of a new palace. Bright days followed. The clear blue sky was all the bluer for soft feathery clouds. The fields and hills were tinted with green, and the wild apple trees were massed with color. The jubilant fairies, enthralled by the lovely spring, wandered through the woods. A little brook, awake from its long sleep, beckoned them, and near it, round a fra-

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PAGE TWELVE THE SASSAMGN It was finally decided that the suggester was to be the spokesman. At last, after a mile of tiresome wading through snow hip deep, and slush almost a foot deep, they reached the summit. The man foremost in the sombre procession ut- tered a muffled exclamlation. ' Somebody must have taken the shack away! he cried. Another member of the sensed the situation and broke into Daffy a run, the others stringing out- behind him. After a short run they reached the place the cabin once stood. where The thaw, after the first snow, had made a soft, slippery slush. A heavy snow had then fallen and the whole mass, with its slippery base started slowly to move down the hill. The great mass gathered moment- um and with characteristic force hurled it- self against the back of the tiny home. Curiously the front wall withstood the shock, but the roof and sides bulged out- ward like paper. The back wall was pressed snugly against the front like a horizontal press. Against the front window, which was still intact, were jammed the lifeless bod- ies of The Widow and her son. As this group of lumbermen stood spell- bound for a moment, a thought passed through the mind of each, just as it passed through mine, whether or not the pair had been killed instantly or whether they had just been pinned there to die slowly in un- merciful agony. Who knows? FRED' KUNZ. THAT RADIO Second Prize Mrs. Howard was calmly sweeping the back piazza. Suddenly she heard a terrible noise. It sounded as if someone was fall- ing down the stairs. Bob and Dick, her two sons, came rushing out to her. Mother, said Dick, it's my tum---. No, it isn't either, yelled Bob. It is too. It is not. Boys, boys, what is the matter now? Mother, said Bob, pleadingly, isn't it my turn to tune in on the radio tonight? Now, mum, you said I could, Dick yelled at the top of his voice. Boys, stop this noise at once or I won't let either of you even touch it, Mrs. How- ard sternly replied. This silenced the two boys, for they knew that their mother always kept her word. Each determined to ask father and see what he said. That night at the supper table Mr. How- ard was very much surprised to fmd the boys so quiet. Usually one or the other had to be asked to soften his voice a little. Every once in a while Bob gave his father a pleading look. Mr. Howard could not un- derstand it, but he was soon to find out. When supper was over and the family were ready to listen to the radio, Bob and Dick made a dash to see who could reach it first. Bob was lucky. Dick said nothing, but quietly sat down. WNAC-The Shepard Stores, Boston. Did you hear that? cried Bob, excit- edly. 'Tisn't very clear. Just turn that dial a little to the right, said Dick, in a know- it-all voice. Say, who's doing' this? asked Bob. Careful, boys, said Mr. Howard, in a quiet voice. WGI-Medford Hillside-Violin Solo. Isn't that woman a dandy player! Dick said, excitedly. I wish I could play like that. Depends upon what you call a fine play- er. Then Bob, with a twist of his thumb lost the station. Of course, there was a great hullabaloo. . Let me try it for a while. l'll get you something worth hearing, said Dick, in that tone that Bob could not stand. O, go ahead. I suppose we'll have some- thing fine now, said Bob, sarcastically. Dick had better luck than Bob and Mrs. Howard praised himl. You see, Dick was her favorite son. Bob could stand it no longer. With a dash he ran out of the room, down into the cellar and started to shake the furnace. Have you happened to