Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

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6 ARLlNr.TON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION. cilia, holdin up her head proudly. Do not forget that.” “So we are, suaijpcd Miss Maria, but ladies have to live. Miss Priscilla sighed gently. Sudden- Iv a bright thought entered her mind, and she said timidly, “W ' e might take sum- mer hoarders.” “Summer boarders,” screamed Miss Maria. Summer boarders! My dear Priscilla, are you daft ? Summer board- ers who are always wanting you supply enough cookies in the middle of the fore- noon to feed a regiment, and small boys who would want to tease our darlii ' .g Prince, and swing the kitten around by the tail.” After much discussion, however, they at length agreed to try it, and after wait- ing a long time finally made arrange- ments with a well known club-woman from a large city, who wished to come there with her little daughter. At last the eventful day arrived. Aliss Priscilla had pictured to herself a tall, graceful woman in black velvet, with cordial and gracious manners. The old carryall drew up to the door with creak- ings and groans which sounded decided- ly dangerous, and there alighted a stout woman with short, iron-gray hair, and a ery short skirt, carrying over her arm a huge black bag. and wearing a golf cap tied down with a green veil. She was dragging along by the hand a little girl with tightly-braided little pig-tails of hair standing out from her head. Her freckled face was shaded by an immense broad-brimmed hat, and she was busily engaged in sucking a large health crack- er. Prince, whose disposition was at times rather sensitive, jumped at her with a growl, but subsided on being pre- sented with a dog biscuit of the most hygienic kind. Miss Priscilla timidly tried to make advances to the child, but Elizabeth Anna being of a shy dispo- sition, retreated in alarm behind her mother’s skirts, and was seized with such jianic at supper, that she retreated under tl ' ie table until only the tips of her pig- tails were visible. That week was indeed a reign of terror. The clnb-woman stared in amazement at the supjier-table, and pityingly at Miss Priscilla, who. Ijeing of an apologetic dis- position, usually received the scoldings, said patronizingly, My good woman, is it possible that you allow on your table hot doughnuts, griddle-cakes and cream-of-tartar bis- cuits. in defiance of all scientific rules? I have here some hygienic bread, health crackers and wheat biscuits which you should never be without.” Elizabeth Anna, tired of health crack- ers, was munching a huge doughnut, but meeting her mother ' s astonished gaze, she dro])ped it and slid under the table. The industrious club-woman, who was said to have great executive ability, turned the house upside down. They breakfasted on oatmeal, shredded-wheat biscuits, and health coffee ; dined on shredded-wheat salad, and supped on hy- gienic bread. She cleared out most o f the furniture in the parlor because, so she said, it collected germs, and with .sacrilegeous hands deposited in the woodshed the chair on which the minister always sat when he came to call. She even obliged Miss Priscilla to listen to the last paper which she had written for the club, on Housekeeping of the h ' uture, and discoursed with Elizabeth, Anna on The Advantage of Cultivating the Philanthropic Instinct in Children,” and The Advantage of Hygienic Liv- ing. After a week of skirmishes IMiss Maria ‘ and Miss Priscilla rose in revolt, and the enterprising club-w ' oman was politel reejuested to depart. Her comments on departing are better left untold. As the door closed on her portly figure. Miss Maria, raising her hands, said. Don ' t ever speak to me again of sum-

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ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION. .S LITERARY DEPARTMENT I “COMING THROUGH THE RYE.” The western sky, all aglow with the setting snn, was fain tly reflected in the small pond by the roadside. A path ran from the road by one side of the pond in among the trees, just beginning to turn into red and gold. On the other side of the ])ath a great field of rye sloped to- wards a white farmhouse. At the stile stood a man with a frank, open counten- ance, somewhat browned by the sun. ( )ne foot was resting on the lower bar, his elbows on the top bar: his hat was pushed far back on his head, and he was looking expectantly along the path to- wards the woods. Presently his eye grew brighter, and his face lit up with a happy and affectionate smile. She had just emerged from the woods. - t first she did not look up ; she broke off the head of some gay autumn flower, then looked up for a moment with just a little smile of welcome in her brown eyes, and an expression which plainly told that she knew he would be there, lie had not failed her a single afternoon all summer, and then, perha])S, she had heard him whistling faintly a few minutes before. She diu not hurry at all, and even stopped now and then to look into the clear, quiet water. He waited and never moved, onl ' the smile broadened on his face. ■ t last she reached the stile ; then he slowly took his foot down, removed both the bars for her to pass through, put them back again, and stopped a moment to look at the great red sun just sinking over the distant hillside. Then he turned where she was. patiently waiting for his usual caress, with, perhaps, a little look of . dis])leasure at his evident admiration of the sunset ; he threw his arm around her, and lovingly they walked off down the lane, (juite happy together, farmer John and his brown heifer Bess. M.VKG. RET CflAMPNEY, ’ol . A SUMMER BOARDER. At the end of a winding lane shaded by young birds ' trees, and flecked with ])atches of sunlight, in a peaceful little country village among the hills, is the dearest little house ever secluded from the inquiring gaze of the public. its weather-beaten gray shingles are covered with a thick green vine, whose tendrils curl around the old-fashioned brick chimney which extends to the ground. Hollyhocks of the richest shades grow luxuriantly in a mass of glowing color around the moss-covered stone door- siep. and add the necessary touch of color to the landscape. A canary in a wooden cage at the window continually ])Ours forth his most beautiful melodies in appreciation of the surroundings. Ev- erything is spotless, from the much- scrubbed kitchen floor, to the glass-cov- ered wax dowers on the parlor mantel- ];iece. ( )n the door-stei), the old dog, who goes by the rare and. unusual ap- pelation of I’rince, slumbers peacefully, only waking now and then to give a dis- turbed grunt at the naughty kitten, who delights in i)laying with his tail. In this delightful place live two maiden ladies. Miss Priscilla and Miss Maria, who are in straigthened circumstances, and are obliged to resort to various means to better their lot. They were dis- cussing the ])roblem of existence one morning, while washing dishes. “We are ladies. Maria, said Miss l ris-

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ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION. 7 he rose to the surface, and found himself in five feet of water. Proceeding cautiously, he was soon out of the water entirely; but in darkness. After groping about for some time he came to the live coals of a fire. The cave was about twenty feet long and twelve wide ; and was held up by planks and logs. In this cave was a perfectly appointed distillery, with a water supply from the river. P ' ollowing along the tunnel, he came to a second outlet like that by which he entered. Retracing his steps until he reached the log across the tunnel’s mouth, he dove and came up at the feet of his companions. ' I ' here were several gallons of liquor in the tunnel. It was agreed to occupy the distillery and capture the gang on its re- turn. They did not care to reach the cave by swimming, so they dug to it. Just after da ylight the moonshiners re- turned and were seized one by one. For thirty-two years the distillery had been in successful operation. It had taken months to complete the tunnel, which had been made by de.serters from the Confed- erate Army during the war. Only a certain number of moonshiners were allowed to possess the secret of the retreat, as great danger had been faced in carrying on the business. It was the old story over again, great labor and ingenuity wasted, when perhaps one-tenth of the same cpialities better ap- plied would have brought profit to them- selves and to society. Arthur J. Hendrick, ’05. “EARLY RISING TO JOHNNY.” I believe that the mothers and perhaps some of the fathers will sympathize with me when I say that calling a boy in the morn- ing, whether big or little, is no easy task. And it is a little singular that the next hard- est thing to getting a boy out of bed is get- ting him into it, especially the big boys, who delight in going to see their lady friends for a short call in the evening; or perhaps it is from studying late evenings trying to find out why the square of the weeks in vaca- tion hasn’t the same ratio as the weeks of school divided by forty. The mothers know this; so do the boys. But the mother seems to go at it in the right way. She opens the door and gently procailms “ Johnny. ’ There is no response. “ Johnny.” Still no sound. Then there is a sharp, short “John,” fol- lowed a moment later by a long and em- phatic “John Henry.” A grunt mixed in with a gape and a few bed clothes, coming from the upper regions, signifies that an impression has been made and the mother is encouraged to say, “You’d better be get- ting down here to breakfast before I come up there and give you something you’ll feel.” This so startles the young man that he immediately goes off to sleep. The father all this time knows nothing about the trouble. He merely opens the door calmly and the “John Henry” rings all up and down that stairway and goes into Johnny like electricity, and pierces the deepest re- cesses of his nature. And he pops out of bed, into his clothes and down stairs with the running time of the “elevated.” It is rarely a boy allows himself to disregard the paternal summons, and if he does — not more than once — there will be trouble. But all the same Johnny believes that early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, or otherwise. W. M. Partridge. E. E. UPHAM PROVISION DEALER. The Choicest Beef, Pork, Lamb and other Heats. BUTTER, EGGS, LARD, CHEESE. GAME and VEGETABLES of all kinds in their season. TEL. CONNECTION. The Best Place to buy . . ( ’OXFEG’TK )NKRy . . IS at the Mystic Street Waiting Room« A. O. SPRAGUE. i: . i i. d. DTOiVTIST, 22 POJST OFFICE I5I.OCK, AHI.INOXON.