Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

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THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION 9 kitchen contains a wood stove, with a large oven, in which is baking a stuffed spare-rib of pork and a generous chicken pic. The children look forward to the cranberry sauce, sweet cucumber pickles, and currant jelly, as they are not served every day. Pies, cakes, plum pudding, nuts and raisins are all pro- vided for dessert. All the relatives have gathered here for the day. The young people rush off. with their skates, to the pond, while the older ones sit and talk of olden times. At last, to the delight of all, dinner is ready, and the long table is surrounded with happy faces. At dusk the kerosene lamps are light- ed, and all gather around ihe organ to sing old-time songs. Then both young and old play “blindman’s huff” and spin-the-cover,” until grandfather and grandmother come in with cider, apples and doughnuts 1913. Mother gets her family down to a nine o’c-Iock breakfast, chiefly prepared at the table by foe use of the elect it toaster and coffee percolator. The large turkey is placed to roast in the oven of the coal range. The veg- etables and pudding are steaming in the tireless cooker, and the gas range is ready for any quick cooking. The automobile is waiting to take a merry load to the football game. The guests for the day are college chums of the son and daughter. Now the game is over, and they take a spin on the boulevard before coming home. In spite of the cut glass, silver and hothouse flowers, the dinner seems, at first glance, very simple, as little food is on the table at one time. It is served in courses, beginning with grape-fruit and ending with fancy ices from the caterer’s, black coffee, and imported cheese. The young people, after leaving the dining room, turn on the electric light at the piano, sing the latest songs, and dance the alarming new dances to rag- time music, while the older people play bridge in the library. No one has remembered during the whole day ihe notice of the special Thanksgiving church service, or has even thought oi the true significance of the holiday. Julia Currier, M7. A TURKEY TROT. Down the way the couple flew, While many natives turned and gazed ; For such a sight in such a town Was one at which to be amazed. A dip, a hop, and on they sped. Pursuers in hot haste; And none too gently were they seized When homeward they were faced. A few harsh words, and then a blow. In garnished splendor now they lie; No more they’ll strut about the yard ; Hurrah! for turkev dinner’s nigh! T). B„ ’15. THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY STABLE. The clock chimed twelve slow, solemn strokes. I awoke from mv doze to find the fire out, the room cold, and a dreary wind whistling around the corners of the house. 1 had told mother that I wasn’t afraid to stay alone, and yet, somehow, 1 hated to go to bed; sfill — horrors! What was that? A bright light filled the room with a sectral glow for an instant, and then was gone. I ran to the window in time to see an automobile stop before an old, deserted stable, which stood a little way down the road from our house. Two men sprang out, one of them quickly throw- ing a robe over the glaring headlights which had startled me so. Yet I could still see that the men entered the old stable. An instant later a dim light flickered for a second inside, and then a blanket was hung at the window, blot ting out the tell-tale light. f dont

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s THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION ■GYP.” Gyp always spent the mornings with me in my study. She would lie quietly, half asleep, on the sofa, only opening an eye now and then to see what I was do- ing. ( ne morning, however, she semeed restless, running from one window to another, and then to me, whining soft- ly. Suddenly the door of my study was thrown open. Hey, Professor, your barn's on lire.” I started down the stairs, but Gyp was ahead of me. By the time I reached the back door she was at the barn door, jumping against it. Then 1 remembered, and hurried to her. The smoke in this part of the barn was not as yet very thick, so we reached the loft in comparative safety. Gyp darted over to the old corn-bin. 1 grasped a struggling mass of puppydom and started out, the little mother following me. Leaving the puppies on the porch, and Gyp in charge, I returned to the fire. The season had been unusually dry, and the flames spread rapidly ovei the doomed building. The firemen did their best, but soon all hopes of saving it were given up. Suddenly a small, white body hurled itself against my legs, and 1 saw Gyp going back in the direction of the fire Better grab that animal, Professor; she may go back in the fire. They do sometimes.” I leached down to grab her collar, and, for the first time in her life, she snapped at me. Surprised. I stepped back. The fire was burning furiously, a burning beam fell in front of us. let- tering a piteous cry, the little dog dart ed forward, and was gone. The firemen yelled to the crowd to stand back, and a deep silence fell over all, broken only by the crack of glass the hissing of the flames, or the sound of falling limber. Suddenly, as if one man, the crowd looked up to the win dow on the second floor. Instinctively all held out their arms and began to whistle. There stood Gyp, her little trembling body outlined against the furnace of flames. In her mouth she Held a struggling puppy. The smoke grew thicker. A long, hungry flame shot out over the brave little dog. She pushed herself forward, and, grasping the puppy, which l had so carelessly left, jumped. A shout went up from the crowd, and they all gathered around her, then turned away, for the brave little body was still. B. K., ’17. TH REE THANKSGIVINGS. 1830. The whole family are up at four- o'clock, for it is Thanksgiving Hay. Great-grandmother's kitchen is a large, low room, with a buttery opening from one side. A long settle stands on either side of the fireplace. A few straight-backed, rush-bottomed chairs are arranged about the walls. i In those days only the elder members of the family sat at the table to eat; the children stood.) While the brick oven is heating, great- grandfather and the boys are out in the yard, wringing the necks of the turkey and the chickens. A great variety of pies had been baked the day before, and now stand ready- upon the pantry shelf. The older girls of the family are busy preparing vegetables of all kinds. A1 most everything used for the table had been grown upon the farm. At ten o'clock all depart for the meeting house (except Betsy, the hired girl i , for the two-hour service of thanks- giving. It is two o’clock, and the abundant dinner is served, but not in courses; everything is on the table at once in heaps. The children are very hilarious, while their elders behave very sedately. At candle-light, hymns are sung, a chapter from the Bible is read, and the children are sent early to bed. 1870. At grandmother's house, forty years later, they do not arise until six. Her

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io THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION know how long I crouched there wait ing, hut it seemed ages before I saw one man hurst out of the stable, snatch the covering from the headlights of the waiting car, and rush it away at full speed. Trembling with excitement, 1 sat there on the floor, feeling that some terrible mystery was being enacted be- fore me, and waiting for the next scene. Perhaps a half-hour later, the same big auto dashed up to the stable, and this time, without hesitation, its occupants got out and bolted headlong into the building. I did not have to wait long this time before the great stable doors swung back, and a huddled group of men appeared, bearing in their midst a long, black figure, draped with a cloth. This burden they placed carefully in the tonneau of their car, got in them- selves, and drove noiselessly away. When they had gone, I slipped, with a gasp, to the floor, whence I had risen in my excitement. There had been a murder! A horrible murder! One of the first two men had been killed, and his murderer had rushed off to get ac- complices to help him get the body away. Possibly they might suspect that 1 had been watching, and would come back any minute to silence me! Good gracious ! I must be prepared ! All these thoughts, and more, ran wild- ly through my head, and I'm rather ashamed to say that 1 spent the rest of the night seated on the top step of the stairs, with father's old cavalry saber across my knees. 1 must have slept towards morning, for 1 awoke to the sound of a latch-key rattling in tin lock. My tirsi bewil- dered thought was that Hie murderers had returned, and 1 sprang up, tripped over the saber, and fell headlong into the arms of my brother, who, coming over from college to spend Sunday, had just opened the front door. Hello, sis! he said. What's all the excitement ? Then, seeing the sabre on the stairs: Been having a lit- tle fencing match all to yourself? I longed to tell him my tale, but Jim is a great tease, and 1 was a little afraid that he would say I had been dreaming, so I put him off by asking about the outcome of a football match which had been held the day before be tween the Seniors and Juniors of his college. At the words, Jimmy grinned an ex pansive grin. “Dont’ know anythin: about it. I wasn't there, he said. Not there! I exclaimed, in amaze ment. Why, you're the very best man on the Senior team. That's what the Juniors evidently thought,” he chuckled. Sis. if you won't tell a word of this to anyone, I'll explain. I was kidnapped. Mercy ! I breathed in heartfelt sym- pathy. Oh, it wasn't gypsies, he said, laughing. You see, night before last, a crowd of the Juniors invited me to a feed that they were going to have in one of the fellow's rooms. I ought to have suspected something then, but l was flattered to think that the children wanted me, and went along as inno- cently as a lamb. Well, we’d eaten, and as we were drinking toasts, and so forth, suddenly out went the lights! 1 felt a woolly blanket wrapped around me, and about ten fellows, I should say, on top of me. In half a shake they had, tied my hands and wrapped something around my neck and the lower part of my face, so that I couldn't yell. Then they found my cap, put it on my head, ami the whole bunch escorted me to an automobile that they had waiting at a side door. They bundled me into the tonneau, and as soon as the car was well under way. bandaged my eyes, so that T hadn't any idea which way we were going. I guess we travelled about half or three-quarters of an hour before the car stopped, and we all got out and went into a building. They made me sit down on the door, tied my feet, took the bandage off my eyes and scooted. A lien they’d gone I found that T was in a large, open room, with my hands and feet tied, and with a long rope