Phillips High School - Phillipian Yearbook (Phillips, ME)

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THE PHI of the station and stopping in the yard said to Betty Ein a western drawl: A' Guess you 're the new school teacher? Iym Nick Keen. Mrs. Jones sent me to get you. Are those bags yours? Better bundle up warm. It 'sa long ways up to the ranch. 1 f Very soon Betty was in the sleigh and the lhorse which she learned was called Dample was dashing along the road at a merry pace. Nick told 'her quite a bit about the schoolhouse and pupils. She learned that :boys and girls 'went to school until they were eighteen or nineteen. He went when Phe was not too busy. His de- scription of the schoolhouse was not as she had hoped and she felt a bit disap- pointed. Anyway she determined to ac- complish what she had set out to do. Sfhe had dreamed that Chinapee would be a small town with little white houses but her surprise was great. Tihere was a storehouse, general store, and several shabby dwellings. Disappointment was written all over her face. Nick sensed it and said, Guess this is-nit 'what you were expecting, is it? Betty admitted that she was disap- pointed. At that moment they turned the curve and the ranch 'house came into view. It was a large, wooden, unpainvted struc- ture. The corrals and -barns, on the back side of the house, were also unpainted. Mrs. Jones met them at the door. She was a motherly sort of person and Betty liked her at once. Sihe ate a small supper and immediately went to bed as she was very tired. She cried herself to sleep and wished for the twentieth time that she had her brother, Nick, who ihad been stolen many years before. The next day Nick took Betty to the scihoolihiouse. It was a small red building and the wooden benches were covered with initials and writing. About 8.30 the pupils began to arrive. They :were very curious about the new teacher. At 9 o'clock when Betty rang the bell she found LLIPIAN 23 twenty-five pupils of all sizes assembled inthe yard. Ben Kenniston, the bully of th-e school, was the las-t to enter. He 'had made his braggs that no teacher could make -him behave. . 'The other pupils thought that what Ben did was all right. Nick had told 'her of Ben and his actions. It was evident that Ben had no inten- tion' of behaving. He' threw chalk ,rand did funny things to make the others laugh. In short he was very unruly. George Bacheldor, one of the smaller pupils, started out to 'the waste paper basket. When he was opposite Ben he fell down. Everybodyg knew that :Ben had tirifpped him up. Betty 'felt 'that her time had come. Ben, she said in a stern voice, you may come,out in the floor. A . He sneered and said in a loud whisper, Let 's s-ee her make me. 'lv' 1 Betty didn't know what she would 'do but she hurried up. Nick was ahead of her. He grasped Ben's arms and took him out in the floor :amid the s'houts of the pupils. Ben had found -his equal and he was very much ashamed. After that incident all went along very smoothly. Betty had no more trouble with the pupils. They were devoted to her and always tried to please her. Nick, espe- cially, was progressling very fast in his studies. V One day when Betty's term was nearing its end Nick stayed to get some help. After 'they had finished studying they talked of Nick's future and B-etty told him he must not give up his education after she had gone 'hom-e to her mother. I wish I had a mother to go home to, Nick said -wistfully. But I have no par- ents or I think they must be dead. I was stolen when I wa-s a baby. One morning Mrs. jones found me in their front yard and I have always lived with them. Some day I shall find them, if possible. I am very sorry, Betty stammered. Perhaps I can help you find them.

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22 THE PHILLIPIAN the pail over the fire and soon the water is bubbling merrily. f Meanwhile she has taken the only broom she has, made of rough bristly hides, as a cover for cloths bound together. With this, she sweeps the rough floor, partly covered by rugs which she, herself, has braided or hooked. Then she dips it in hot water and dusts off the spinning wheel, and sweeps the cobwebs from the beams aiboveg finally she shakes the home- spun blankets which cover the rude bunk in one corner. Then, exhausted lby her long, hard dayis work, she sits down by the ire to wait for her husband who is still at work, and soon is dozing peacefully. Next let our fancies drift to a modern apartment. Here we see a young housekeeper in her cheery little home with its 'bright color schemes, its devices to 'save time and labor, the best possible use of space, and the furniture convenuiently arranged to save steps, and everything made as easy as possible for her. Our young housekeeper rises in the morning, prepares a light breakfast, mak- ing coffee, toasting bread, etc., and even washing the dishes afterward, all by elec- tricity. If she wishes to wash or iron, electric appliances are always ready. Even the 'spring and fall rhousecleaning, which her grandmother took three or four days to do, is done in a single afternoon by our modern housekeeper. Indeed, elderly people have been heard to say that the younger generation is growing indolent because they have so lit- tle to do. But if there are machines for everything, then, :why not use them? y G. W. W.. '33, A STORY HE train was rumbling through a small town of the west and Betty was wondering how' she would like it. There was one reason in particular why she should try to do her best. A few years before, .her aunt wtho was very rich had died. She had said in her will that her fortune and fine home should go to Elizabeth Wilkins if she proved that she wasscapalble of earning her living by the time she was twenty-one. If not it would go to a certain charitable institution. Since Betty's father was dead she felt that it was her duty to do this for her mother. So she had obtained the position as teac-her of a country sclhool in Chinapee in the mountainous district of Montana. She started out in high spirits with visions of a log 'schoolhouse with a cheery' stove in one corner and especially lhad she thought of the background and how she would deco- rate it. With these thoughts in mind she dozed and ha-d' a dream of her schoolhouse in winter. All of a sudden she awoke. The porter was tapping h-er shoulder and say- ing: Chinapee Junction's next station, Missf' Bet-ty picked up her that and magazines and prepared to leave the fwarm car. In a few minutes the train stopped in front of a small, shabby station and Betty got off. There were several horses standing around but no one was in sight. She asked 'herself why she was disap- pointed. Had she expected someone or a large nunfber of people to Welcome her? Where was the home of the people with whom she was to board? A lonely feeling came over her as slhe stood al-one on the platform and watched the train vanish in the distance. She al- most wished that she was in 'her humble home witlh her mother. Then she knew that she must not turn to be a coward. Her friends had all told her that she could not do it. She would show them. About that time a team appeared around the curve. She could see a white horse and a young man. He drove up in front

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24 THE PHILLIPIAN I have only a picture of them. Would you like to see it? This is a part of their home. I remember there were many flowers, Nick sa-id eagerly. He took a small locket from his pocket. He opened it and passed it to Betty. She look-ed at it and then at him. Where did you get my parents' pic- ture? Betty asked, ther face very white. Your parents' picture? he asked in a puzzled voice. Why that is my parents' picture. And this is their home. The picture was of her father and motfher and a piece of her back porch. She had a picture like it which her mother had given her. It had been taken many years before in front of the rose bushes. Suddenly the truth dawned on her. He was her baby brother, Nickie, whom the gypsies had stolen. She remembered 'how her father and mother had wept and searched for him. Nickie, she said, laughing and crying at the same time, you are my long lost brother. With her arm about Nick, she told -him about their mother, their home, and her long lost brother. They decided that as Betty's term wias nearing its end they would wait until after school closed and then go east. Nick was very anxious to see his mother :and could hardly wait for the time to come. They decided that the next fall Nick s'hould enter the University. The days sped along until finally the day of departure came. They had made their farewelsls to Mrs. Jones and vwere started home. Betty's heart was singing. Nick thought the train went all too slowly because he was so anxious to see his mother whom he could scarcely remember. When they arrived at Brownville they found Betty's mother waiting at the sta- tion. She was very much surprised to Hnd Bettyls companion a young man in- stead of a girl. Betty had written her that she was bringing somebody home with her. Both Nick and Betty had agreed that it would be better to wait until they got ihome before they told who Nick was. The house soon appeared and Nick cried, 'K It is just as I had imagined it. When they -were inside Betty said eagerly, H Mother, see the present I have brought you. Why, don't you know him? He 's my baby brother, Nickief' Nick tenderlly took his mother in his arms and said, You are just as I had dreamed you would be, Mother. Mrs. Wilkins wept and said, U Could it be my baby boy? Let me see the back of your neck. Nick had a scar there. They looked and there was the scar. A little later Betty was telling her mother how she had discovered Nick and of the locket. .The mother told them how she had clasped it around Nick's neck the day on which he was stolen, just for fun. A' This is the best present I have ever had, she said happily. M. E. B.. 232. HOW TO STUDY T was one of those hot days in Indian summer. The dormitory fairly siz- zled with heat. I threw my Macbeth book on the desk witih as much vehemenc-e as I could muster and lay down on the window seat. Study was useless and term exams wer-e tomorrow! Oh, well, ,perhaps I could rest a while and get cool before be- ginning to study in earnest. I must have gone to sleep, for the next thing I knew it was getting dark and there were several girls in the room. One was sitting on my feet, another had a book propped against the back of my head. I was angry. Informality is all right but I didn't see any need of carrying it so far. Mabel Prescott was speaking in that know-it-all voice of hers: 'fDoesn't it seem sometimes that you just couldn't remember all the things you are supposed to? Did she think she was the only one who had difficulty along those lines? Why talk