Arms Academy - Student Yearbook (Shelburne Falls, MA)

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Page Sixty ADVENTURING ON FLOOD WATERS This is a true adventure which I experienced in Hatfield, Massachusetts, in 1936. I was with three companions. two of whom I shall call Nigger and Cark. The other, whom we called Shag, was a dog. I got up early and. after eating a scant breakfast. was out to see the damages and sights caused by the flood, which had reached its peak at about eleven o'clock the previous night. As I hiked along the flood-washed road which led into Hatfield from the north, I sighted the two boys with whom I had this adventure. While we were scrambling around on the ice at the edge of Hatfield Pond, Nigger suggested that we get Cark's row boat and see what we could see. We arrived at Cark's house at about seven o'clock. After taking his boat down from the second story of a shed, we put it onto a two-wheel contraption designed by Cark for this sole purpose and made our way down the main street to the pond. Here Cark and I launched the boat and bolted on the oar locks while Nigger ran home for his rifle. It was a little out of season for hunting muskrats, and Nigger didn't have a license, but adventure was ahead and such trifles did not burden our minds. We hid the rifle in the bottom of the boat, and Nigger shoved off. As Nigger was the heaviest. he seated himself in the stern: Cark took the oars: and I took my position in the bow. The air was filled with a light mist, as it was raining slightly, and there was quite a stiff breeze. which ruffled the water into tiny waves. The wind and waves were against us. so our headway was not very fast. As we made our way from the pond toward the swollen and angry Connecticut. I remember a giant elm tree about five feet in diameter, which was submerged in the flood waters to a depth of ten or twelve feet. This tree stood in the middle of an open field, and we sheltered ourselves from the wind and rain for a minute or two as we passed it. After another fifteen or twenty minutes of rowing, Cark landed us on a high part of the Connecticut's shore. We handed the dog ashore and walked along the bank, watching huge ice cakes float down the river. Nigger took a few shots at some birds riding downstream on the ice cakes, and then hit on the brilliant idea of getting out in the edge of the current with the boat and having a good swift ride. Cark was not to be stumped, so we got into the boat: he rowed upstream in the flood waters until he found a desirable place to pull out into the current. The big ice stayed in the middle of the river where the channels were. so I don't suppose the risk was very great. Nevertheless, I was a little nerved up about the idea. The ride was a swift one all right. but with Cark's rowing we managed to avoid hitting any ice or being hit by any. The current carried us downstream for about a quarter of a mile, and there Cark pulled into quiet waters in the midst of some small ironwood trees. By this time it was about twelve o'clock, and we decided to start for home. The wind was with us now, and we moved along a little faster. Nigger and I each took a tum at the oars on the way home. About half way across the pond we noticed a flat piece of ice, roughly ten feet square. which had probably backed up from the river. We decided to row onto it and have some fun. I pushed the side of it down, and Cark gave a mighty pull on the oars. We got about half on when. for some reason unknown, it decided to bob up again. It lifted the front of the boat up. and the back sank deeper, taking on a little water. This would never do: so while Nigger sat very still, Cark handed me an oar. and I pushed off. We decided not to try it again and continued our homeward voyage. Cold and hungry we landed on the main street at about one o'clock and decided that we had had enough boating for one day. Allan Kelton, '39

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FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE In Arms Academy some twenty to twenty-five pupils are carrying on an entertaining and worthwhile correspondence with boys and girls of other countries. The idea started in the French department where those who were greatly interested in the French language and customs decided it would be fun to become acquainted with students in France. At first only names of French pupils were secured. Then, as letters were received, other students became interested in the project. and more names were obtained by writing to the Directory of Boys and Girls of All Nations in Boston. New we are corresponding with students, not only in France, but also in ten or twelve other countries, including Africa. Australia. British Isles. Sweden. Switzerland. and South America. In addition to le.ters, some of the corre- spondents have exchanged souvenirs. photographs, snapshots. and stamps and coins. Stamp collecting seems to be an international hobby, and our pen-pals have been generous in contributing to our collections. Luella Tetreault received as a birthday gift a beautiful. beaded, leather belt from her correspondent in Morocco. It is interesting, as well as educational. to leam the differences of opinion between people of different nationalities and some of the mistaken beliefs each has of the other's customs. For instance. Clayton Barry's correspondent in South Africa writes: Iudging lrom the letters that some of my friends have received from their pen-pals. you people over seas seem to know absolutely nothing about South Africa. You think we are black, live as savages. and have absolutely no sense. One girl even went as far as to tell one of my friends the days of the week and the number of seconds in a minute. Pen-pals in other countries like many of the same sports as we do, but they cannot always enjoy all of them because of the climate. In a letter to Eleanor Goodnow, her friend in England writes: I am sure I should like tobogganing and skiing if only we had the snow, but actually we haven't had any snow for nearly three years. Some of the people who are almost surrounded by warring nations feel sympathy for those who have lost their homes because of war. My own pen-pal from France wrote in his last letter: In France we have refugee Spaniards. What a poor peoplel It is mournful to see them. When the correspondents are not quite sure of our language, they will often translate literally from their own tongue. Thus it makes us aware of the countless idiomatic phrases which we use every day and which must seem as strange to them as the following excerpts do to us: What a weather does he do at your country? I am not gone at home, the last month. Near Christmas we have a hard snowfall and since then we believed that winter was over, but last Friday snow began to fall again and it was allowed to hope to ski. However, during the whole winter there were only a few days when on snow it may be very well skied. Sentence construction is learned more easily by reading the errors of others. Anyone who has studied another language knows how easy it is to mix the agreement of subject and predicate in a sentence. If we really are anxious to leam the language, such state- ments as the following renew our hope: My sister know no English and Let me tell you that your French is much better, I ask you also to tell me either my English is ever good. We hope this foreign correspondence will continue for a long time. We also would encourage more people to make it one of their hobbies, as it helps one to become better acquainted with hitherto unknown brothers and sisters. Wouldn't it be thrilling if these pen-pals should at some future time have the opportunity of meeting and further strength- ening the friendships begun at Arms? Ethna Walden, '41 Page Fifty Nino

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MY WORKSHOP My workshop is a small building in the rear ol the main house. This building ol mine is about twenty by thirty feet in dimensions. Iust recently I wired it for electricity. The wiring, of course, is not as good as a professional could do, but I have had it approved by a good electrician. In my shop I do everything from woodworking to photography. In the woodworking department I have a lathe, a iigsaw, and several hand tools. With the tools in this part of the shop I make lamps, bookcases, bookends, and radio tables. My grandfather seems to enioy working in my shop almost as much as I do. He has made several things for his home, such as a plant table and some other pieces of furniture. The carpentry part of the workshop is powered by a small one-third horsepower motor, which is used lor both the lathe and the iigsaw. In another part of my shop is the radio department. I have had several old radios to take apart or repair. Although I was told that I should not succeed in making radios work, I have finally succeeded in getting them to pull in the electrical waves from the ether. In tact, I have repaired and made work the small battery radio that belongs to the Science Department of Arms Academy. In the radio department I have such a maze of condensers, wires, tubes, and switches that anyone not knowing the layout is apt to get in a mess if he tries to fool with them. Still another department of this building is the photography room. I use this small room to take pictures in. The lights in this room make it almost as bright as day. After I take the pictures I develop them with a developing kit which I purchased recently. I can develop my lilms lor about one-third of the price that I have to pay in drugstores. I have saved the best part of my workshop till last: this is the chemistry laboratory. In this laboratory I have running hot and cold water, a gas system, several acids, an array nf test tubes and bottles. and a ten-dollar chemistry set which I bought for twenty-five cents. The water system in my laboratory consists of a large fifteen-gallon tank for cold water and a smaller tank for hot water. This system works on the principle of the syphon. The-e is a pipe that reaches to the bottom of each tank and then extends up over the top of the tank and down to a faucet. Although there is not much pressure in these faucets, the water does run fairly fast. One of mv verv best inventions , is the gas svstem, which consists of an old oil pump taken from a Pierce Arrow motor car, a large tank from an old water pump. and a motor from a discarded exhaust fan. The principle on which this system works is the vaporization of gasoline. I vaporixe the gasoline by pumping air through the gasoline in the old tank. All of the system except the pump and motor is encased in reenforced concrete, so that in case of an explosion there would be no danger from fire. As a further precaution the system is installed outdoors in a separate building. A brooder stove from a hen farmer furnishes enough heat even in the winter. I have a visiting list in the workshop and on it are the autographs oi visitors from Brattleboro, Vermont: New Haven, Connecticut: and Springfield, New Bedford, and Shel- bume Falls, Massachusetts. I have a lot oi good clean tun in my shop during my spare time. In fact, I am sometimes kidded because ol my love of working in the little building in back of the main house. Winfield Peck, '39 Page Sixty Ono