Waltham High School - Mirror Yearbook (Waltham, MA)

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I4 THE MIRROR Humph! thinks I, so it's you, my boy, I have to thank for all the compliments. Well, I'll go in spite of your inviting me and take all the trade away from your beloved freaks anyway. And so suiting actions to words, on the morning of the 25th I arrived at the old fair grounds bright and early but not before hundreds of others had come also. I immediately began to look about for familiar faces and found one in the shape of Harold Pngsley, who was selling tickets at the en- trance. After waiting about fifteen minutes while Pugsy made my change by the latest Pratt algebra methods I finally gained admittance to the fair. Just inside the gate stood Charles, in fish and soup, a real master of ceremonies. He smiled charmingly at me and I grabbed tight hold on to my pocketbook and disappeared into the crowd far from his hypnotic gaze. I decided first to make the round of side-shows. The first one I entered was the home of a snake charmer. My suspicions were up when I had first looked at the huge canvas picture outside and my worst fears were confirmed when I got inside, for the snake charmer was Charlotte MacNaonara! She disentangled herself from a gigantic rattler's firm embrace and rushed into my arms. We cooled off shortly and I asked her how she had happened to be chosen for this role. She answered she was married now--and so of course knew all the finest methods with which to deal with snakes. I immediately thought the lucky C635 man must be Ernest Concannon, but Charlotte assured me that she and Rick had always valued their friendship too highly to get married. Right here we were interrupted by other customers. Mac leaped gracefully back into the snakes, wound one prettily about her waist and was then ready for business. I had my back to the visitors and didn't turn till one of them cried out, Oh, how sweetfv Then I recognized Pauline Kraeniek at onceg she was accom- panied by Irene Bain and Lois Mansfield. Polly was now the most famous pianist in Greater Boston-Cher name brands her as a geniusl, and Irene was her manager, because she had such a knack of borrowing that she could just borrow engagements for Pauline. Lois was now a self-confessed public nuisance, which is in simpler words, a concert singer and was also, as a mere detail, married to her old school com- panion, Werner Bachonan, who had made a million or two in partnership with Kenneth MacCrae, inventing some sort of compressed wormcakes for baby chicks. But Lois assured me neither the greater worm, Cmean- ing hubbyj, nor the lesser, Cmeaning the cakesj, could ever come be- tween her and her art. I then decided that I had had enough of this atmosphere and so I went out to give Charlotte and her pets room for expansion. The next stall I visited was a lemonade stand. I descended from my high horse C I could get something a hundred times more tasty in my own

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THE MIRROR., 13 Glass rnpberp Brr-r-ing! The bell in my private office awoke me with a start from my pleasant day-dreams of home, happiness a.nd husband Cbelieve it or not, I had managed to hook onej. I got up, removed the In Conference sign hanging from the door and admitted a person, who is my very confidential private secretary, Arthur Eaton by name. You see, I am, fifteen years after my graduation, editor-in-chief of that illustrious two-penny paper, The Waltham Tribune, and so am by authority of my high position, entitled both to a private ofHce and to a secretary. Well, to get back to my subject, Arthur was carrying a note for me which had just been delivered. I dismissed my menial. and with great curiosity opened my ma.il. It was an invitation, to my surprise, and read somewhat as follows: Dear Classmate: The class of 1927 holds the fifteenth anniversary of its marvelous escape from Waltham High School this year in the form of a field day. The celebration will be carried on by the skillful UID aid of va.rious members of the. class. CWe are, in I this way, endeavoring to raise enough money to pay off the of- ficials at our last reunion.D Side shows, brass bands, a. three- ringed circus, .contests of all kinds-these are a few of the amusements supplied. C Beside of course, the added pleasure of seeing once more in just what condition those school girl com- plexions are nowlj We have picked the participants to fit the different exhibitions according to their natural abilities and inclina.tions. Thus it was that the committee had almost decided upon your being the right-hand ha.lf of the Siamese twins they have assembled, but later found better specimens in Greta Modine and Eleanor Pierce. And since the dog-faced boys, monkeys, elephants, and all other beasts have been supplied in profusion C I never realized how talented our class was along these lines beforeb, we finally came to the decision that your presence there would make up for your appearance as any of the above-mentioned freaks. So please come and don't disap- point the expectant kiddies. June 25th, nine-thirty, at the old I Fair grounds on lower Main Street. Bring loads of dough. CAnd We don 't mean Hour and water U Signed: Chairman, Charles Smith, in Committee, Charles Smith.

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TI-IE MIRROR 15 cellarl, and stepped up to the counter to buy a glass or two. Inside were two old familiar friends-Thelma H etnletn fGolwayJ and Everett Galway. I told them they were a. sight for sore eyes, thereupon practi- cal Everett-waiited to know how I had guessed he was an optician now! Teddy told me they were finally married after waiting so many years for her to finish her college education. While we were gossipping thusly, a tall stoop-shouldered man passed up. I asked who he was and Everett informed me that it was Arthur Wolfe, the famous poet. I knew that he had had three books of rhyming words-I'll concede him that much- printed, and Teddy said he was even now waiting for inspiration for a fourth. He was also a member of the House of David, which had formerly been his boyhood ambition. Closely following on his heels strode a tall, athletic-looking woman who, I was surprised to learn, was Caroline Conley. She wore on her sweater an emblem composed of three K's, bearing the official insignia of the Kruel Katty Klub, of which she was president and I, honorary member. Well, Teddy and Everett here became too busy for more gossip and so I said goodbye and moved on. The next object to attract my attention was a pop-corn stand, run by J olzn Bellevean. Hadn't I always said he would make a good poppa? During our conversation I learned that Johnnie and his wife, Barbara Gooclell, were living comfortably on the wages which he made, drawing comics for my paper. At this moment we were rudely interrupted by the shouts of a tall man with a long black moustache, who was standing on a high wooden platform raised before the booth next to Johnnie 's, alternately beating a drum and extolling the charms of a certain Hulu Hulu dancer about to appear. This was Eliot Ryan, of Royal Vagabond fame, who had so admired his part in that operetta that he had assumed the outward character of its villains, but was in- wardly nothing but a hen-peeked husband. He had married his wife, Arlene Taylor, in a glamourous moment and the glamour was beginning to tarnish. They were on the stage together now in an acrobatic dancing act. Now, with a last roll of the drum, the curtains were dramatically drawn aside and out rolled the latest model Chevrolet. I beg pardon, Helena Maxwell, charmingly garbed in a costume of shredded wheat, followed by five other little wheat biscuits, whom I recognized to be Edith Caughey, Gretchen Havenar, Rachel Slayton, Aurora Ball and Peggy Welsh, who made a fine showing in a little Gilda Grey number entitled Shredded Wheat Is My Meat. But they had gathered such a crowd Qshredded wheat is such attractive stuff U that I found it im- possible to see anything, so I moved on to the next stand, which hap- pened to be a torrid canine booth, in which stood its proprietor, John Wingate. While he was waiting on me, he told me all about those girls back on Eliot 's stage. He said they were all Follies dancers and were