Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

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Sawyer did so. Somehow, when he came to the deeper maze of the translation, he began to breathe hard. Sur la voute, et patfois une off rate — On the roof, and sometimes by an-a-a — I couldn ' t find that in the vocabulary. Did you look for it? demanded Madam Hart over her glasses. Huh ? Sawyer looked at the word as though it was a sud- denly discovered continent. Did you look for it ? Well ! It wasn ' t in the vocabulary. How do you know? There ' s a page of O ' s missing from my vocabulary. Never mind, said Madam, scanning her other victims. Brown ! Tell him what it is. Brown withdrew his gaze from the depths beyond the win- dow and looked at her sadly. Miller ! Osprey, said Miller, grabbing his chance. Oh ! Yes ! On the roof, and sometimes an osprey, sur- prised in his sleep — Sawyer halted before: deployer ses ailes et plonger dans V abime noir de la tempete — deploys his — er — er — Oh — a — and plunges into the dark a — abyss of the tempest. Have you studied this lesson ? demanded Madam sourly. Sawyer looked at her with mild reproach, and sat down. Yes? Madam raised her eyebrows slightly as she put down a mark, and then said in usual octaves, Tucker, go on. I took home the other book last night, said Tucker, and studied the wrong lesson. Well, you come in and see me tonight. Tucker objected; but being a teacher, and therefore confi- dent, Madam Hart over-ruled. Hawkings, she said, Lisez la francais Please, mam, said Hawkings, who was a meek little boy, What ' s the construction of defiler in line two? This was merely a meandering to gain time. Never mind, sir, we will come back to that later. At this, Robert Montgomery Mckee sat up and took notice. Such vindictiveness was not usual in the French teacher and it made him wonder about his own fate. Besides, he was acutely aware of the approaching limited — very limited — portion of the lesson that he had studied. So he stirred, sat up, sighed, and looked anxiously at the clock. There was only one way for [5]

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I ITTING idle at her desk, the teacher gazed up and down at the rows of seats with rising emotions, i The slight breeze, coming in at the window, flicked i the curtain to and fro and stirred the papers in the 3 file. Faintly a distant, crashing cry came from the close-cropped diamond, where active candidates gamboled on the green. Robert Montgomery Mckee was draped over the back of the third seat in the fourth row, in a state midway between ob- livion and consciousness. To the left, to the right, behind and beyond him rose grim blackboards where a great deal of knowl- edge had never found its way, and within which the memories of pleasures without, seemed hazy and indistinct in the gloom. Giant windows adorned the eastern side and above their panes the pigmy world arose in the distance, giving fresh food for dis- consolation, grief, and youthful sadness. Long rows of seats ran down to the teacher ' s platform. Enthroned there, Madam Hart, the Ancient and Honorable, was opening the lesson. Mckee gazed dreamily at the expressionless legs of Bugs Saw- yer, in the opposite seat, and listened to the usual sermon. La leqon pour demain — Chardenal, page cent-trente-huit. Ecrivez la franqais. Now we will take up today ' s translation. As I have told you before, this class is very far behind the other classes at this time of the year and we must hurry ex- ceedingly to finish the alloted course. That means you, Mr. Brown, as well as anybody else. In order not to waste any time please tell me beforehand whether you have done your lesson or not, and if you have not, please come in after school and tell me the reason why. Mr. Brown ! Pay attention ! You need to hear this as much, if not more than anyone in the class. We will now take up the translation on page sixty-two. Traduisez, M ' sieur Harris. Harris scorned to rise, but gave an immediate, vivid, convinc- ing excuse. Don ' t you think you are going too far, Mr. Harris ? This is the third time this week that I have called on you and you have been unprepared. Sawyer, you go on. Sawyer, by several spasmodic efforts, rose to his feet, and cocking an eye on his book, he half sat on his desk while he painfully translated. Lisez la franqais said Madam, warningly. [4]

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Robert Mckee to be a credit to his name and his country, and he took it. He glanced out the window, then he coughed, moved restlessly in his seat, and looked at the clock as though it might be walking away with the wall. Failing in this, he be- gan a series of fidgetings, and evinced a sudden interest in one of the pictures that hung before him. The teacher eyed him over her book, but paused in doubt, and called on Donk Brown to recite. Mckee sighed ponderously — an unmistakable sigh of relief — but resumed his anxious bearing when Donk fal- tered, held his head above water for a few seconds only, and then sank despairingly to flunker ' s depths. Madam Hart took a mental stock of her scalps, waited, and then finally said, con- tinues, M ' sieur Mckee. Robert gave a very creditable start, considering that he had been watching her from beneath his lids for the last two min- utes. But he remained motionless in his seat. At last he rose. That ' s it, Mr. Mckee, said the teacher, It won ' t cost you anything to try. Then Mckee gave an exact translation. Why, Mr. Mckee ! I ' m really surprised, said Madam, when he had sat down. Mckee pinched himself, and said under his breath, Took a fall out of you that time, Madam. It ' s somewhat of a novelty to have you respond at all, but — this — How ' d you do it ? Her tone was wholly agreeable. Mckee replied languidly that he didn ' t know. Possible! Possible! murmured the teacher, Now turn over to page 108. Yes ! Page 108, and apply your talent to the translation there. What ? Can ' t do it ? Not prepared ? Why, Mr. Mckee, this certainly is curious. How do you account for it ? Thought the lesson ended on page 107 ? Well, I ' m sorry. I don ' t see why you can ' t do page 108 after such a beautiful translation. Mckee swore under his breath. Well, you come in tonight and see me. No, a dentist ' s ap- pointment won ' t excuse you. Come immediately after school. When Mckee dragged himself into the room that afternoon it was empty, save for the teacher. She was sorting papers, and bade him sit down. He did so for one hour. The breeze came in at the window and on its breath the scents of spring. Shouts came up from the diamond, cries from the walk below. The tramp of feet grew less and less heavy in the corridor and finally died away altogether. The school grew as silent and as ( Continued on page 2$ ) [6]