Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

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THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION ) not a horse or rider was in sight, but in the distance 1 saw something ap- proaching. As it came nearer I could make it out to be a hug” or in other words a small sport runabout, bright red in color with an extremely loud cut-out. Whether it was the color or the cut-out that spurred Lady on, I never really knew. But as the car came within ten feet of us, Iter Honor” reared on her hind legs, pranced about for a minute, then with a mighty leap started galloping down the road. Oh yes it was great to ride, and all that! — but when one lands on the back of a balky horse, whose ribs penetrate one’s legs like a saw, why it isn’t quite so much like sport, as 1 soon found out ! Standing up in my stirrups, I pulled muscularly on the reins, but without any effects. Lady only seemed to lake this as a bidding to move faster, which she readily did. On and on we gal- loped until we caught up with the others. But catching up with them was not enough, for precious “Lady- bird” stopped not at them, but kept on going at her excuse my dust” speed. Presently 1 fell something give away and myself being thrown for- ward on the horse ' s neck. All 1 could think of for the moment was that she was on the verge of a fatal collapse but found out presently that she had only stumbled over a stone in the road. I had hardly been settled in the saddle again when Lady, still going as strong as ever, suddenly turned down a side road. “Gee,” I gasped, what is she going to do now?” She was headed straight for the lake, which was about fifteen feet ahead. Suddenly I heard a roar and a splash of water and before I knew it my old faithful nag was carrying me far into tin depths of Lake Sunapee. Long be- fore I had seen visions of angels but now I saw more than visions! How- ever I did not completely lose my senses, so loosening my feet from the stirrups I plunged into the unknown depths of the water. 1 soon found out that the water was not over the noise’s head and as luck would have it, the stump of an old tree was protruding out of the water. I threw the reins over this and then started to swim back to shore. Just as I reached the mainland who should come dashing up, but Maurice to the rescue ! One by one the other riders approached the shore and all began to talk and joke at once. The only thing I could do was to point to my dear enemy,” and the groom took in the situation at a glance, laughed heartily and said : Let her stay there awhile, maybe it will cool her oft.” “Yes, let her stay there,” 1 agreed, but say, Maurice, that horse certainly did change her mind.” “Well,” drawled Maurice, grinning broadly, it’s the privilege of a lady.” Pem” Brown, ' 25 . CONCERNING A DREAMER ANI) BOOKKEEPER AND NOT VERY MUCH ELSE Jason Jefferson was a man and he dreamed dreams. Also, lie worked in a millinery establishment as second as- sistant bookkeeper. Not because he was particularly interested in book- keeping as a profession but because eating was one of his habits. He sat all day on a high stool in the corner of the office of Brockton-Smith, Milli- ners, hunched over a ledger with his legs wrapped around the legs of the stool and made figures. There are ex- actly ten different kinds of figures and

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THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION 8 straightened out again we were even and we won by a length. In winning we made sixty points, won the contest and the twenty-five thousand dollars, the first prize. C. Coi.lixs. THE PRIVILEGE OF A LADY It was a crisp, cool morning, in the latter part of August, a kind of morn- ing which can only be found among the New Hampshire hills. A crowd of young people, (including myself) had decided to go horseback riding before breakfast, so at 5.30 A. M., it was a rather sleepy looking, yet lively group that finally assembled at the stable doors. They stood eagerly awaiting the appearance of the groom. He had been out until the unheard of hour of 11.00 the night before and found rather difficulty in rising. At last, he arrived on the scene, still chewing at a great rate, the remains of his breakfast, (a shredded wheat bis- cuit) as could easily be seen. With his right hand lie was 1 savagely trying to comb back his curly locks, which persisted in forming “cute” ringlets on his brow was causing him much disgust. With his left hand lie was clumsily fumbling with the buttons of his jacket. “Hi there, Maurice,” called one of the boys in the party, “Need any help?” “Guess not,” responded Maurice, blushing deeply. “Are the horses ready?” “Well I should hope to tell 1” piped up quick tongued, Jean II. Hall. If they weren ' t, why you wouldn’t find us loafing around here at this late hour ! No sir ! Why your royal high- ness, do you realize we have been wait- ing for you just a solid thirty min- utes? ' ' With that she dashed towards the stable and quickly mounted her horse. The others of the party all did the same but me. I still stood gazing in awe at the groom, who during Jean H. Hall’s little speech had stuffed into his mouth, two piping hot rolls. At last I came to my senses when I heard the gleeful voice of Harold Hall (Jean ' s younger brother and general nuisance) call out teasingly, “Oh Tim you’ve got to ride Lady, you’ve got to ride Lady ’cause I ' ve got Dixie, tee hee!” Ye Gods and Little Fishes! My heart dropped like a lump of lead to the soles of my feet ! Ride Lady ! Why she was the slowest horse in the stable, and here all the morning I had been just aching to ride! Not just go, but ride! I couldn’t have Dixie, for well I knew that young vagabond, Hall, would never give her up while he was in tantalizing mood ! Plead, beg, or bribe, I knew nothing could stir him so I decided not to try, but calmly mounted that old, worn out, half don- key-like nag, termed “Lady.” “All set?” called the groom. “All set!” came the general chorus, which drowned out my emphatic, “No!” And before I could settle myself in the saddle the others were half way down the road, while her Ladyship was calmly partaking of the grain set aside for the work horses. Trying hard not to lose my temper, I spoke soothing words into her long, lopped ears. But she heard not! Sud- denly I remembered the sugar which I had bought for Dixie. Leaning over I stuffed two large lumps into her mouth. These she devoured greedily, and I guess they must have brought her back to earth for she seemed to discover that the other horses had gone on ahead, so we started off at a slow trot. When we reached the main street

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10 THE ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLARION they look like this: 0, 1, 2, .° , 4, o, 0, 7, 8. 1). Jason made these figures ah day long and lie finally became so expert that lie could say, “Put 4 and carry 1-G and 5-11-19, and 6-25. Put 5 and carry 2 — with one part of his mind while with the other he jour- neyed from pole to pole in a highly- improved aeroplane of his own inven- tion ; sat on a Sultan’s throne and or- dered Mr. Brockton, the partner with the walrus mustache, to choose between losing his head and raising his, Jason’s pay ; or joined a gang of Western cow- boy desperadoes and held up trains or kidnapped the daughters of cattle kings and held them for ransom, then mar- ried them, after getting the ransom money from their papas, however. Rather silly for a grown-up man, you say? But then grown-up men are apt to do idiotic things. Ask any woman. Each Saturday Jason received a small white envelope which always con- tained exactly twenty dollars. Twelve dollars of this he gave to his landlady, in return for which he was granted oc- cupancy of one nine by six hall-bed- room and the privilege of partaking of the boarding house meals, which had a singular sameness of flavor. After supper the boarders divided into two groups: — those who were go- ing out that evening and those who were not. Jason was of the group who were not. In winter this group adjourned to the parlor, where Mrs. Jenkins, the plump widow, promptly took posses- sion of the large armchair (the only really comfortable seat in the place! which stood under a pink-shaded floor lamp. These articles had been pur- chased during the period of war time prosperity and were now slightly frayed, but then continued to have the most conspicuous place in the room, as they undoubtedly would for some years to come since the remaining fur- niture consisted of two types not cele- brated for beauty — Mission and Victor- ian. Miss Jamie, the thin spinster, a 1 way- arrived exactly fifty seconds after Mrs. Jenkins and her scarf, necklaces, eai rings, bangles and bracelets had set- tled themselves. Miss Jamie then cast an indignant glance at the aforesaid Mrs. Jenkins who pretended not to set; it. After looking helplessly around Miss Jamie sat in the same corner of the Mission sofa upon which she had sat for the past seven years. 8he then produced from a small black bag a small white doily upon which she im- mediately set to work after murmur- ing something about “very poor sewing light over here, really” which Mrs. Jen- kins did not, hear. More ladies entered along with a few men who proceeded to look un- comfortable as the women began to chat and then to decide they needed a cigar and, finally, to slip out of the room, one by one, until Jason was usu- ally left alone, sitting on a genuine horse chair with black walnut carvings. He always sat stiffly upright (it was impossible to sit any other way) with a newspaper held open before him but, although the light in his corner of the room was very dim, there was little danger of his straining his eyes, for he never turned beyond the second page. If you have not already noticed that Jason was a remarkable person, here is proof : — he could sit in a room with eight or nine women all talking at once and think! On summer evenings the people of the square came out and sat on their steps or strolled round the little park in the center and sat on the benches. Jason, by reason of a claim established