Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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THE ORACLE. 3 the ground, broke away from them, and rushed through the window to the lawn. With rage in my heart I watched them, back there in the lighted chamber. They were merry, and my poor crucifix lay on the floor all trampled or, until their smirking chaplain came through the room and res- cued it. ““Eh, eh, my children,’ says he, and that was all. And beneath the stars of Heaven ! swore to be revenged.” “Ah, boy, how soon was that! The revolution came, liberty, and the cursed aristocrats.were dragged to Paris for food for the hungry lady, La Guillotine. And with them came she, and her fair-haired brother, the fool! Ah yes, then it was that they called to Guilbert, when the judgment hall had ghem:in its clutches. Save them? ]?” “ There is no case,’ said the judges; but Guilbert knew. Guilbert whis- pered a word to a friend, and the friend spoke to a prison-keeper. Viola! the prison-keeper whispered to the judge, and there you are, my fine lady and my pretty boy, riding away with plenty of company. How 1s this after vour coach and vour carriage?” The peasant’s shrill voice grew thick in its utterance, and the wide-eved child pressed nearer to hear the better. “How they rolled, the tumbrils, always rolling, like thunder; and the tooth of I.a Guillotine, there you have your lightning. What a merry storm !” “Along she came, with her white hands tied behind her, and her white neck bare. And her brother, too, the fool of the fair curls, he sat beside her. A priest darted out from the crowd. It was the chaplain, and he was holding up my rosary. But no, my curé, Guilbert attends to that. Swifter than the Destroyer herself, I reached forth my arm and snatched it from him. It was all bloody, but I seized it, and grinned at them. ““Oh, Guibert!’ she cried piteously, ‘But save me, Guilbert, and thou shalt have—’”’ ““Ah! Ah! What a pity to cut her short, Samson,’ they cried, laughing loudly at the pun, and shaking hands and embracing one another, as one more head rolled into Samson’s basket.” The peasant heaved a deep sigh. “Those were brave days, garcon,” he chuckled, “and it was this crucifix, fancy, and so long ago.” He yawned and surveyed his wasted form amusedly, no longer savage, but facetiously good-humored. “Well, well, Guilbert could not do it again,’ he lamented. “No, no, little aristocrat, thou wilt have to find another to assist thee to thine end, should La Guillotine come into fashion again.”

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2 PHE ORACLE, “Why dost thou do that?” he queried, pointing a soft little forefinger at the crucifix, which the rough, work-hardened hand held poised. ““Thow’ ? ‘thou’?” fretted the peasant. “Thou little aristocrat! Hadst thou lived when Samson played his merry little game in Paris, thy pretty head had not saved itself from a cooling in his basket. And he went so fast, so fast. We could not count. It was all blood, and moans, and the tumb- rils rolied in bringing more, always more.” The old man moved in his chair, and sucked in his shriveled lips with a grimace of unholy delight. The child looked troubled. ““Guilbert! Guilbert! they shouted,’ continued the peasant, mumbling to himself and searching the landscape with his eager little eyes. ““Guilbert, save us!’ But I, Guilbert, I did not hear them. The beads were all bloody, but I snatched them, and I laughed in their faces.” The boy clutched the old man’s sleeve and shook him impatiently. “What art thou talking about?” he demanded. “Tell me, now, I wish to know.” Guilbert brought his roving eyes back to the child, but they were bright, hard eyes. His wrinkled face looked like a mask of Tragedy, with exag- gerated lines about the mouth, and a cruel lift to the eyelids. “He locked like thee, the fool!” he muttered. “Silly yellow curls, like the gold he would not give us for bread, and a fair skin like the roses he threw at mein mockery. But she was mine, mine, not his. And was she not mine?’ minced the peasant, changing his tone, and assuming an affected falsetto. “Was she not mine, and did I not do with her in the end as I liked?” His voice dropped. “But she was my foster-sister, and I loved her. Ah, there was no dif- ference then. I took her through the fields, and we peeped at the nestlings in the hedges. and I brought her the first violets that raised their pretty faces to the sun. But they took her away from me, and she grew to be a fine lady. There was no food for us, but she fed the choicest from her plate to her doves and her lap-dogs. For me there was work, work, work, from sun- rise to sunrise; but for her all was pleasure and beauty. “Eh, garcon, but I loved her, peasant that I was, and I went to her fair- haired brother and told him all. I went to him in his grand salon, where he stood alone, awaiting his guests. And what did he do? He laughed at me, and he callecl his servants to hold me until his sister came. She came, and the guests came, too, men from the court and the King’s very presence, and they dragged me out and ridiculed me. ‘“Monseigneur,” they called me, and the women flung their flowers at me in scorn. Roses they flung, and the blossoms caught in my old rosary. Maddened, I tore it off and threw it on

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4 THE: ORACLE. Baseball Seldom, perhaps never, has the Plainfield High School enjoyed such a successful baseball season as it has this year. Material for teams was so plentiful that two good teams were formed instead of the usual one. The lack of a coach did not prevent fine individual playing, excellent team work, and thirteen substantial victories, as follows: Ferasmus bl ait Ei Sd to cite ree e ik Wiseman ea ct, a nia aie enna see 7-0 Reals School crys cts opt et peeie pte atthe Seneca hg esr seen sen hee ee 10-0 Pin gry SCHOO IN ry rocranctays oe teeter one IIe te ee EE Scat ace nal gh ree 6-0 Crantord sll Si Bt dhe k ae etc tek ett erg een el ir ar Re Neen na ne re ca eae 10-0 ING warksAcadenry Sia) hase StSs cos tie ead fee nae 16-2 I MTay are Wk oe by ase Sea ean Cre EAI WO RAI oy eee ee Bnd pre OS nee Tins Ges 4-O Deals SCHOOL mece ch ap. atte nlc we eh ian hence ect yee Pea ae 29-1 Routoer sil reps SCHOCIT IA} acc Seas tonne een ne er ee ee 21-3 INIGWATIC! Ede som ws Rot nee rere RET Ns eas tery” Me ay Rk eC A 4-2 Ritger'ssP reps Chooliyd: 2 magia whet cee ee A ey ck ete ee 10-1 Grate Gid TESS aia rec coiatge as tobe ea re ore ok Ree NE Ce EE I a ae I1-4 Reading sacadeniy urs cog ten ae canoes ee A ae ae. ent en oe ae ee ae 19-1 PICKS orci e ye Bacal emt OTN ne ae STON ane on Set Ea ht Se ae 5-1 We were defeated by: j Brooklyn Boys - HAS 2 fees asad ee cere cog eres cane hee Li-a2 Gampsbowser® Glib iAg ans. Seals der sel erots sie eae nie ee a eee ae tee 5-11 eo b hae eN ee Merete ele Urea Nien WENA yh Ate Ti ery t nd MAG LO 6s 65 2- 6 These defeats we do not regret, nor have we any excuses to make. The “Camp Bowser” and Blair Hall teams are composed of college athletes who receive fine coaching. The defeat by Brooklyn Boys’ High was received after having played the first game of a double header and walking about three miles to their ball grounds. Not thinking a margin of one run a fair proof of the superiority of the Brooklyn Boys’ High team, we tried to ar- range a second game with them on either their field or ours. No reply was received. Newark High School and Pingry School, after having been defeated by us on their grounds, both cancelled their second (scheduled) game with us less than twenty-four hours before the game was to have been played. For our home supporters this made a sad windup to a successful season, but the knowledge that our team knocked all of the sportiness out of these teams in the first game ought to be a sufficient compensation for the loss of the home games. The title of “state scholastic champions” is a hollow one, as the high