Arms Academy - Student Yearbook (Shelburne Falls, MA)

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I LEARN TO ROLLER SKATE Tonight we are to go roller skating. With these words still ringing in my ears, I got out my tweed skirt and suede shoes in preparation for a thrilling evening. But when we arrived at the rink and as the evening wore on, thrilling didn't describe my state, either mentally or physically. 'My dear, you do know how to roller skate. don't you? asked my hostess with a beam- ing countenance. Well, I- That's finel It really is simple. you know. Merely put one foot before the other and push. Nothing to it. Yes, I-- Well, there's Margaret. Goodbye. Enioy yourself, won't you, dear? Enioy myself? Enjoy myselfl How sweet of herl How many people. supposedly the receivers of good wishes. have felt that the Good Samaritan idea can be carried to an excess. Like a convicted prisoner, I went forward to the inevitable. Up to that time. I believe, no one in the records of mankind had ever defied the laws of gravity as I did that evening. With one leg at a precarious angle I did the difficult iack-knife dive that no swimmer since has equalled. To those sages who indoctrinate the innocent with poppycock about mastering their destinies. and to Cassius. who said, The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. but in our- selves, that we are underlings. I wish to say that it's all just hooey. Try as I could, my luck didn't change. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. More boshl Such an audience I hadl It was queer how quickly they all made way for me as I sidled down the rink. Little did they realize that they were seeing a genius in the raw. But consider the number of great men who have been ridiculed by the populace. A prophet is without honor in his own country. As all things must come to an end. so the party finally began to think of home and bed. With an affected air of lightheartedness and a frozen smile for the benefit of the more successful. I decided to call it a day. My suede shoes, having seen better days. were now has beens : my tweed skirt, from hard usage, has a shiny finish: and I- How lovely seems home to the wanderer: how peaceful one's own bed when one is utterly exhausted by the vicissitudes of lifel Ioan Davenport, '40 THE BOOTBLACK On the comer stands bootblack Ioe, Who shines the shoes of those who go To night clubs, parties, or to work: The task is hard. but he doesn't shirk. His pay is small and the hours are long, But he greets his customers with a song: His friend, the policeman on the beat, Gives him money for food to eat, But he buys some flowers for his mother And a pretty toy for his baby brother. On the comer stands bootblack Ioe, Who shines the shoes of those who go To night clubs. parties. or to work: The task is hard, but he doesn't shirk. Walter Upton, '39 Page Sixty-Two

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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

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CIRCUMSTANCE lim and lane Loring were the two happiest people I have ever known. lim was ambi- tious and dependable-an outstanding. successful young business man. lim liked to be the center of attraction and was. for he was a favorite of everyone. Iane wasn't like that: she was quiet-so quiet and unobtrusive that you never noticed how beautiful she was until you saw her alone-and then, after a while. you iorgot. But she was the sort you liked to have always near: when she was in the room everything seemed to shine as she sat in the chair and listened: you see. she was so completely happy that her happiness became contagious. lim and lane had one child-a beautiful little girl, who, outwardly was the replica of her mother-inwardly, why, she was Iim all over againl Iim was cashier in the town bank. lt was the prophecy of many that he would become its president before many years, because everyone knew Wentworth looked pretty bad. Nothing could possibly stop Iim Loring. we thought. Then one cold autumn day. when even the weather was depressing. the bank inspectors came to look over and check the books. Confidently Iim brought them out. After a while the inspectors worked with their mouths set in grim lines. Slowly Iim leamed that he was suspected of embezzling over S3.0U0. That night Iim kissed his wife and child, opened the door, and stepped out into the beckoning darkness. He tumed to tell them he would be back soon. That was the last any of us saw of him ior many years. Iane changed completely. She appeared for a time to be crushed by this disaster: then she got a iob. Often she talked to Leslie of him: always she protested his innocence. The winter that Leslie was eight years old Iane became very ill. She never got well. Her last words to Leslie were. When your father comes back, tell him I knew he didn't do it. Be good to him. my dear. He has suffered, too. Leslie. Leslie hated her father from that time on. Seeing her mother die had frozen her heart: he had done this. that gay. laughing. thieving Iim. Old Wentworth rapidly lost his health after Iim's wife died. After his death a letter of his was found in which he confessed his guilt. Ioyfully Iim's friends tried to get in touch with him. but to no avail. The years rolled on and Leslie entered her 'teens-a child. yet old far beyond her years. One day a middle-aged man bearing the marks of suffering walked into a large, exclusive shop. Give me something appropriate for a sixteen-year-old girl, will you please? he asked the courteous salesgirl. Have you any idea what she would like? Well, no-no. you see. a friend's daughter-I want to give her a present. The salesgirl selected a fat compact from a tray containing many and held it up for her customer to see. No, that wouldn't do at all. Why, she's iust a childl The salesgirl laughed at his stupiiied expression. Oh, she'll like this all right: it's the very latest. All the girls love them. Ill at ease, not knowing what else to do, he bought it, feeling all the while that it was a very foolish present indeed. You see, he was thinking of a curly-headed little kid. Meet- ing a lad on the street. he stopped him to ask. Could you kindly tell me where Mrs. Iames Loring lives? Mrs. Loring, sir? Why. she's dead, but her daughter, that's Leslie, lives in that big. brown house with old Mrs. Wentworth. lim stared dazedly at the boy. lane deadl Then vaguely he thanked him and walked quite a while. unconsciously. Then up the steps of the house he strode and rang the door- bell. The door was opened by the image of a young. glorified memory of lane. It seems lim had made good in one of those large westem cities and had come back to make up to lane and their daughter for all they had suffered. He was too late to make lane happy fyet, I wonder if maybe she wasn't-in that life beyondl: but there was Leslie. Of course Leslie forgave him. What else could she do? Occasionally I get a letter from Leslie. She is very happy with lim in their life out there. In the last letter Leslie sent she told me she was going to marry some young fellow. the cashier in her father's bank. Maysie Taylor, '39 Page Sixty Three