Agawam High School - Sachem Yearbook (Agawam, MA)

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rence Houlahan, vice-president; Audrey Phillips, secretary; and Paul Fer- rarini, treasurer. In the operetta, “Windmills of Holland,” many of our talented class- mates were given prominent parts, in which they covered themselves with glory. Preston Leonard, as Hans Hertogenbosch, in his band selection, and the vocal duet by Emily Burnett and Audrey Phillips, have been recorded by the “Howler” Recording Company and now are sold at Woolworth’s Five Ten Cent Store. Here are the records. The next event of much importance was the Senior-Junior Kid party. It was hard to play the part of kids, but we did manage to dispose of some of our dignity with the help of lollypops and funny caps. Here’s a flash- light of Paul Ferrarini dressed as Santa, coming in the gym window. Some of our class are naturally gifted with a sense of humor of which they are totally unconscious, especially when making such remarks as these: Ferrarini declares, “All slaves born at the age of 25 will be free,” while Doris Stedman asserts, “At this time both Lincoln and Douglass were run- ning for a seat in Congress.” There must have been a crowded house! Vivian Brown declares, in French class, “She had flaxen eyebrows almost black.” What color do you call it? Perhaps our sense of humor has been increased by our English instruc- tor for she remarked one day, when discussing Johnson and his wife, “Mrs. Johnson had children old enough to be her sons.” By the way, our class will always regret that we couldn’t get out to Mabel Johnson’s place to see that old heifer she writes about. Here’s a picture of the cast of our Senior play, “The Charm School.” See Houlahan in the front row as the leading man. He surely showed us how to handle the unruly bunch of girls made up of Edith, Doris, Rachel, Ellen, and the two Vivians. We can hardly blame Phyllis Letellier, our leading lady, for falling for the Greek god. We won’t forget Dorothy Skin- ner and her “Isn’t that stupid of me?”, and Mary Holmes with her unusual dignity. Houlahan was well supported by Preston, the noisy young lawyer; Frank Consolati, the frivolous dancing teacher; Ccsan, the love-sick account- ant; and Paul Ferrarini, the man behind the moustache. And now for the Prom. We were the honored guests of the Juniors. Here’s a snapshot of the tastefully decorated stage. To the typewriting and shorthand contest Marion Blair, Vivian Brown, Caroline Cascella, and Hazel Marsh carried the name of Agawam. This contest was held by the Connecticut Valley Commercial Teachers’ Association at Brattlehoro, Vermont (Miss Button’s state). We note she started to learn to typewrite in September. Maybe she had visions of a free trip to her native state. We understand she has reached the speed of fifteen words per minute. This is our Class Day book with a beautiful copy of our school ring on the cover. Esther Stebbins was a peach to put so much work into it. This publication is a new venture and, while it is modest, we are very proud of it. Thus ends Volume I of the history of the Class of 1927 of the Aga- wam High School. May Volume II, yet to he written, which will deal with our history as alumni, be even more interesting and worth-while than the one which we have completed. r 3i Hazel M. Marsh

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How well I remember those four intelligence tests we took in our Sophomore year. Here’s a clipping from the New York “Blatter” about them. “SOPHOMORE CLASS AT AGAWAM HIGH SCHOOL RATES AS HIGH AS COLLEGE FRESHMEN IN INTELLI- GENCE.” In this same year we realized through newspaper notoriety that mem- bers of our class were connected with celebrities. Here is a picture of the eclipse egg, owned by Edith Bessette’s grandfather. And here are the pup- pies which were so kindly treated by a hen, all of which were owned by Paul Cesan’s brother. All of these stories have been preserved for posterity in the Agawam Mirror of June, 1925. Here arc the class officers during this Sophomore year: Gordon Wal- lace, president; “Dot” Skinner, vice-president; Phyllis Letellier, secretary; and Paul Ferrarini, treasurer. In September, 1925, we came back, facing a hard year, one of hard studying as well as hard work in other affairs. In our Junior Class election Gordon Wallace was chosen president; Grace Pond, vice-president; Phyllis Letellier, secretary; and Paul Ferrarini, treasurer. It was at the beginning of this year that we welcomed Mr. Davenport as our new principal. So, of course, here is a picture of him. In May, 1926, our class shone. We were the first producers of a school cabaret. Needless to say, it was a great success. The idea originated with “Dot” Skinner. Here’s a picture of how the gymnasium looked all decorated as we had it. There’s Mr. and Mrs. Davenport with Mr. and M rs. Harmon Smith sitting at the table at the end, eating banana salads. May was the month of many important events, a gymnasium exhibi- tion at our school, and a typewriting contest conducted by the Connecticut Valley Commercial Teachers’Association at Springfield, which was attended by two members of our class — Marion Blair and Mildred Swarts. Then came the Junior Prom. That was the climax. What heated disputes we did have about the selling of ice cream! Had the ice cream been there, I am afraid it would have melted very quickly. The auditorium was prettily decorated with apple blossoms, laurel and toy balloons. At the end of the Junior year, Mr. Davenport announced in assembly that two of our class, Vivian Brown and Hazel Marsh, had been elected to the Pro Merito Society. After the close of the school year, we all journeyed to Congamond Lake for a picnic. Here’s a picture of Preston Leonard trying to be funny, as usual, and falling into the water instead of landing, as he should have done, in the boat he was pushing out. I can remember his saying, “Just heft that sweater. Heavy, isn’t it?” We were tired when we got home, but we had had a wonderful time in spite of the weather — it rained in the afternoon. We were very grateful to Mr. Duclos, Evelyn’s father, for the use of his garage as a girls’ dressing room. Then we all separated to meet again as the Class of 1927 in a Senior year. Fittingly at the beginning of the account of our Senior year is a photo- graph of Miss Smith, who was also our guide during our Junior year. And here is a picture of the Senior class officers: Grace Pond, president; Law- [12]

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(conservation he first white men came to this country expecting to find great wealth in minerals, but instead they found a greater wealth of fish, game, and forests, and, consequently, food and shelter. We have all read how the pilgrims managed to survive the hard winter by partaking freely of Nature’s stores, and it is interesting to know to what extent they used these stores. Some families lived almost wholly on venison, and for their hides hun- dreds of deer were ruthlessly destroyed by their system of fire hunting. They used to light a circle for miles around and as it burned into the center the result was a wholesale slaughter of game and destruction of wood. At this time deer were sold for a sixpence. Turkeys weighing thirty pounds, which came in flocks of hundreds, brought only a fourpence, and pigeons which came in flights that darkened the sky and broke the limbs of the trees on which they lighted, sold for a penny a dozen in Boston. There was an abundance of game birds including pheasant, partridge, woodcock and ducks. Captain John Smith and two companions at one firing of their inferior flint- locks, killed one hundred and forty-eight ducks. This may sound like a big story, but it seems highly probable when you consider that these magnificent flocks were sometimes a mile wide and seven miles long. Rabbits and squirrels were so numerous that they became pests, and many towns offered bounties on them. Pennsylvania paid a bounty of three- pence a head on squirrels, and in one year took in six hundred thousand heads. All the surrounding bodies of water teemed with fish which furnished food not only for the colonists but for the whole world. The settlers used to scoop the fish out of the brooks in pans or kill them with a stick. Horses fording streams would crush numbers of them. In one cast of the net the governor of Virginia caught five thousand sturgeon, some twelve feet long. Lobsters six feet long and weighing over twenty-five pounds were caught at Salem and in New York Bay. Fine cod weighing a dozen pounds once sold for a twopence. Shad, which now bring a dollar, taken from the Agawam, and Connecticut rivers, were sold two for a penny over in Springfield and they were frowned upon, at first, as inferior food. Men hired by the farm- ers of this valley stipulated that they should not have shad for dinner more than once a week. But when it gained a better reputation, it was estimated that there were fifteen hundred horses a day at South Hadley Falls to be loaded with salmon and shad. And now because of the pollution of the rivers they no longer come up to Agawam. 1 he forests not only gave wood for fuel and building, but also contrib- uted huge stores of wild honey and gallons of pure maple syrup. Moreover these forests were, are, and will be the homes of our fish and game. As the colonies made inroads upon the forests, their depletion resulted in the deple- tion of game. And as the population doubled, the demands also doubled. As early as 1698 farsighted men began to legislate game laws in their assemblies and though it was impossible to completely enforce them, they [I4l