Bancroft School - Blue Moon Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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36 THE BLUE MOON ON EATING AT BED-TIME HAVE an inexplicable passion for eating between the nocturnal hours of ten and two. To me, there is nothing more dissatisfying than to go to bed hungry. One fascinating part of this extra meal is that there are so many things you can eat at night which you did not have room for before - cream cheese, cold stuffed peppers, a turkey leg, a tomato sandwich, a glass of milk-it is possible for me to enumerate indefinitely. The food you choose for this snack depends on the time of year and what you have been doing, If you have been out in the cold and it is late, I advise, from personal experience, that you have hot milk and some delicious looking food that should be served warm, such as cold rare steak, ham with piles of mustard, a greasy lamb chop, or a chicken limb. Then for a kind of dessert, which you have the privilege of eating before the main course, a piece of mince pie, some crispy fresh ginger snaps, a few sweet p-ickles, or jello. I hate jello. That is, at meals. But irrational as it may seem, in the wee small hours jello tastes like another food. Somehow it loses all of its stiff formal manner of the dinner table and becomes more gracious -- even seduct- ive-and lures you into the sin of gluttony. It melts in your mouth, leaving a sweet nondescript taste on the tongue. It slips its way down to your stomach, and a delicious cold feeling follows in the narrow path behind it. Then it snuggles coyly into the hungry crevices. In the summer, eating before retiring has not half the thrill. The soothing things to eat are not so intriguing. In the first place, it is too hot to eat most of the foods I have mentioned. Ginger ale, orangeade, or lemonade. and cookies, cakes, or pies blend well with the atmosphere. Where and how you eat, adds to the enjoyment. If youtare all alone, get your eatables, take a hot bath, and crawl into bed with a mystery story. Be sure to open your window, and if it is winter, you will have the pleasure of trying to keep the covers over you while you read and eat at the same time. If you have insomnia, by the time you have finished eating you are too worn out to continue reading. If you have a friend staying the night with you or any bothersome brothers and sisters, gather them all together and raid the pantry. Then adjourn to the living room, spilling crumbs for mother to scold about in the morning. Manners do not count. If you want to eat steak or pie in your fingers, no one will stop you. There are no Worries about which fork to use or about polite conversation. Everyone is at his full ease. The pleasure of this gluttony is immense. The effects are tremendous: tremendously evil. You dream -your dreams are sometimes pleasant, but more often they are horrible, all about tigers and lions chasing one off high cliffs. The fear of them! - then to wake up and lie trembling, wondering if

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THE BLUE MOON 35 his work completed, he would eagerly sit down to an evening of poker playing: and then his wife had an arduous task getting him to bed. In the summer he loved the beach. He was neither good at aquatic sports nor beautiful in a striped bathing suit: but he would hurry through his work so that he might get a swim before dark. He always reminded me of a beetle walking on its hind legs, and then plunging into the water and splashing about to see how much foam it could make. Except for week-ends, we spent the winter months in the city. Upon going to the country for one of these week-ends we discovered that Andre was the proud possessor of a car. It did not matter that it was a dilapidated 1920 model Dodge, which could barely make thirty-Hve miles an hour, so long as it was a car. Because of his poor eye-sight, Andre was skeptical about getting a license, but he knew one of the policemen who let him pass the test. Although he had driven an ambulance in the war, Andre was not a very reliable driver, and before he had owned a car a month, it was completely demolished in an accident. This mishap, however, did not daunt him, and he promptly bought a 1923 Buick touring car for fifty dollars. If we needed half a pound of butter, Andre would scuttle out to his car, jump in, and drive the two blocks to the grocery store and back, returning with the half pound of butter, and an expression which seemed to say, Did you see me make that curve down there? I really think my car and I are quite remarkable. We thought so too, because we never were quite sure whether he would make the curve. Being familiar with his impulsiveness and impractical judgment, Mother made me promise never to drive with him: and, although it may seem strange, I obeyed, because I valued my life. However, when Mother tried to extract a similar promise from Father, he only laughed, little realizing LI presumeb how genuinely worried Mother was all the time Andre was pompously perched upon a pillow chauffeuring Father around town. During the three years I have known this man, I have learned more and more about him: but I do not think I shall ever completely understand him or know what to expect next. Kind-hearted, loyal, and sedulous, he is also impulsive, stubborn, and rash. There is hardly a person in town who does not know Andre, and although they are not so close to him as we are, they all like him for his individuality and enthusiasm, and admire him for his ability. LESLIE BAER, 1932

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THE BLUE MOON 37 the nightmare really happened. After a short lapse of time, you enjoy the pleasant fading back into oblivion. A drawback for slightly plump people is the fact that before going to bed is the worst time to eat if you intend to stay thin. Still worse is the reaction of your parents who are provoked, when awak- ing in the morning, to find the ravages done by the feasters. Mother worries about the effect of the food on your stomach and father thinks of the loss of his pet cheese. They cannot understand an appetite like yours. In spite of all this. there is no hour so good for the pardonable sin of gluttony as bed-time. CHRISTINE NYE HAVILAND, 1932 A BOHEMIAN NEW ENGLANDER WHEN you meet Great-uncle Howard, he kisses your hand. Your first sensation is one of bewilderment and surprise. Most of us have never had our hands kissed. We have watched fair ladies of the screen and stage having this honor bestowed upon them, with secret admiration for the pomp and dignity of our grandmother's day, We modern ladies believe ourselves too matter of fact to enjoy such a romantic tribute. When we meet a man, we are satisfied if he nods his head, shakes our hand. and says, 'iHowdiyado or Pleasedtamecha. Uncle Howard's way of making our acquaintance far surpasses other methods. This great-uncle of mine resembles the pictures one sees of French diplo- mats. He is less than medium height and carries himself with a ruler-like straightness to make himself seem taller. Startling and yet fascinating are his little pointed imperial and his long drooping moustache, above which pro- trudes a long, thin, and slightly aquiline nose. His lips are always parted to talk or smile, showing remarkably white teeth for a man of nearly seventy. His eyes are the blue of a hard and cynical character: but the manner in which they regard the world is wistful and dreamy, as if at his great age he felt that life had been kind, but there were still some dreams of his boyhood to come true. The top of his head is bare, egglike, and rosy in hue, and is fringed with white hair. What can be seen of the baby-like skin of his face matches the shade of his head. He is always methodically dressed. On Sundays he wears a double-breasted blue serge suit with high yellow shoes, black cotton stockings, a wing collar, and black tie. Then with bowler, cane, and a dark blue top-coat with a velvet collar, he sets out for church. Week days we see him sporting brown shoes. black stockings, the same derby and cane, and another double-breasted suit of a mottled brown mixture. Topping all is a gay-ninety collar and a vivid red tie.