Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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HERBERT GAUDREAU TAXIDERMIST An Interview By Cliff Wilmath HE grubby-faced infant looked up at me with a glance which conveyed a mixture of hopeful curiosity and rather disinter- ested sympathy. “Are yuh goin’ ter get stuffed?” was the startling query which fought for issuance between two lic- orice-coated lips. ‘Surprised’ can at times be a very mild word. This was certainly no time when that statement was true. The cherub saw nothing amiss in his query, indeed he enlarged on his original theme without waiting for any reply we might have made. “Tha guy that lives in there,” pointing to the house which I was ap- proaching, “has stuffed everything but a red-headed ape.” I walked rapidly away from the urchin and took a dozen steps before the full portent of the childish speech struck me. Cold fear clutched at my heart, but mustering all my courage, I walked up to the door and boldly knocked. When the door was opened to admit me, imagine my surprise when I saw standing there, Herb Gaudreau, whom I have known for several years. “Shoot!” said Herb. I countered with a question about the processes involved in stuffing a bird and while he was making a technical reply, I took notes about him. Herb Gaudreau is a pleasant-looking, sandy-haired young man. It was only two years ago that Herb Gaudreau first took an interest in taxidermy. A friend loaned him a book on the subject which he eagerly devoured. The elementary knowledge which he gained from this little volume was all he needed to give vent to his enthusiasm for the sport. It was not long before his specimens attracted attention and soon he was mounting fish and game for sportsmen all over the state. Just a year had passed when Harvard University invited him to enter his mountings in their big exhibition. Here his work won the praise of experts throughout New England. Taxidermy is a study which requires a great deal of versatility. The taxidermist must be sculptor, artist, mechanic, ornithologist, zoologist, [Continued on page 26]

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OMER MORIN: ASTRONOMER By John F. Flavin HERE is a great deal more natural genius C and talent in the student body of our J school than most of us even remotely suspect. Omer Morin is interested in astronomy. He has been interested in the stars ever since he can re- member and intends to continue on that line. One of his most remarkable characteristics is his whole-hearted devotion to his subject. He lives astronomy. In an effort to bring the object of his hopes nearer, he is completing his three-year high school college course in two years, completing twenty-six points each year and five during the summer. Not only is he doing it successfully, but he is also doing high honor work in every subject. To say the very least, he deserves all the credit that can be given him. About four years ago Omer’s real study of the stars began when he read his first book about the heavenly bodies. With the information he gathered from books and answers to his letters to world-famous astrono- mers of this country and Europe, and with the aid of a pair of field glasses that magnify but eight times, he began to gaze into the universe beyond, learning the names and characteristics of the constellations. Read- ing intensely, he concentrated on the books written by Harlow Shapley of Harvard, recommended to him by Miss Mary Proctor of the Royal Astron- omical Society of England. Morin has been his own teacher and has ac- quired a fine knowledge of the subject, though only in his junior year in high school. Becoming interested in theoretic science, which deals with the forming of various explanations of the origin of the universe, Omer began to attend lectures on subjects pertaining to astronomy. The lectures were given in the Harvard Observatory, a great circular room with a cone-shaped ceil- ing, which is adorned with the wrought-iron figures of all the signs of the zodiac. Drinking in all that was said at the lectures, Omer began to build for himself a background for his readings. Visiting the Observatory whenever possible, he attracted the attention of some of the astronomers and soon made the acquaintance of Leon Camp- bell, well known member of the Harvard University Observatory Staff [Continued on page 35]

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NOTHING TO DO HAT do you do when “there’s nothing to do” ? Some people prefer ill spend their spare time at the theatre, or in other forms of passive amusement. Others go much higher in search of diver- sion, penetrating the fields of science in their dabblings with chemistry, astronomy, radio, taxidermy, and similar hobbies. It is not uncommon to hear of a person who developed his proficiency in photography, radio, or taxidermy from just an idle interest into a means of earning a good living. It can be done and it is done. One man’s hobby is another man’s living; anyone who calls a hobby a waste of time has never had one. During the recent hard times more than one stamp collection brought enough money for a few meals, and more than one individual, losing his regular job, was glad indeed to fall back on his hobby as a means of replenishing a cupboard that was fast becoming bare. So when “there’s nothing to do”, snap off the radio, put away the cards, and choose a hobby to your interest. Not only will it add to your earning power, but it will also give you solid enjoyment and a merited pride in us- ing time so profitably. THE HOUSEKEEPER The day does housework with the wind for a broom, And cleans with light dark corners of gloom. The day feeds trees and flowers by her one Eternally life-giving breast—the sun. Later she rises and goes. Does she hear Of housework in some other hemisphere? Selma Whitehead