Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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BASKETBALL TEAM—FOOTBALL TEAM PHotTo BY STONE LUCKEY

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14 THE ORACLE “ Antonio, what kind of a toy are you making?” questioned Therisina, one of the wood-carver’s toy-lovers. ‘I don’t think you ever made one like it before, did you? How smooth it is,—how pretty.” “Yes, my child, this is a new toy,—zy toy it is. I am going to play with it.” “Why, Tony, won’t you look funny playing with toys!” “Maybe so, maybe so.”’ The toy was, indeed, very graceful with its pretty curves and lovely wood. As Antonio picked it up, he asked, “Child, do you know how many kinds of wood and how many separate pieces there are in this? No? Altogether there are about fifty-eight different pieces and six kinds of wood. Nearly every piece came from the various trees that I have chopped down.” But though graceful, the toy was very queer. It was rather large, but very light, for it was hollow. Stretched tightly across the top, which was made of the finest pine, there were tiny steel wires and long’ pieces of cat-gut. One end was large and flat, while the other was slimmer,—slim enough to easily grasp it. [his part was made of sycamore. At the narrow end were small black pegs of ebony, which regulated the tightness of the wires and cat-gut. The back was made of ash, while the sides joining the top and the bottom were composed of six different pieces of maple, bent to the required forms by a heated iron. “The whole toy was varnished an exquisite orange color, so transparent that the curls of wood beneath looked like clouds. But queerest of all, was a stick that went with the toy. It also, was very light of weight, but very straight and smooth. From end to end were hundreds of strong white horse-hairs, so tightly stretched that thev seemed as cne. It was on this that Antonio was working while Theri- sina, with her feet on the rounds of the chair, looked on with black, wondering eyes. With a last twist and rub, he exclaimed, ““There! At last I have finished it.’ “How can you play with that, Tony? What do you do with it? It’s the queerest thing I ever saw in all my life.” For an answer he picked up the larger part of the toy, placed the larger end of it under his chin, with the long slender part in his left hand, and drew the side with the many hairs across the strings. Back and forth, back and forth he drew the stick, at the same time pressing the different strings with the fingers of his left hand, and lo! from the depth of the toy came the sweet plain- tive voice of his daughter, Amelita, who still lived, and lives today to comfort and to cheer, for it is her voice that sings from the soul of the violin!

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GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TEAM—ORACLE BOARD