Bellows Free Academy - Alpha Omega Yearbook (St Albans, VT)

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12 THE MERCURY us elect for a second term our present dictator, Francis O'Connel1, and his most competent assistant, Betty Cor- liss. I looked at the speaker again and again as she was completing her speech. Surely enough, it was Adele Laselle. I did so want to speak to her, but Apollo had willed that I should be present in spirit only, so I had to be content with seeing her. I then noticed that around the room were stationed desks Which seemed to be the headquarters of various trade unions and professional organizations. Over the one which I was facing was a sign, Aviators' Welfare, and be- hind the desk sat Ruth Little, the rep- resentative of the aviators' union. Ira McDonough was sitting at another desk, looking after the interests of civil engineers. I heard a delegate say that he was one of the country's best. The presence of Leonard Sweeney, as the choice of the Undertakers' Union, took me somewhat aback. It consoled me, however, to picture how well he must look in a swallow-tail coat and silk hat. Separated from the others was a desk around which a large crowd was continually revolving. There sat Eli Greenfield, a lawyer of exceptional talents, whose services seemed to be in great demand. Frightened away by the great activity at this desk I turned to the next where I saw Robert Derick, whom we had all believed would be a great musician. He was the envoy of the World's League of Beauty Ex- perts. Somehow the sight of Robert turned my thoughts towards Joseph MacDon- ald, and the scene shifted. I was in a hospital room. Joseph lay there rather wan but still smiling, and by his bedside sat Marjorie Hodge, a de- mure Salvation Army lass. Joseph was telling Marjorie how he had been en- ticed by his own advertisements to smoke a special brand of black cigars, and as a result he had been obliged to spend a few days in the hospital to re- cuperate. Their conversation drifted to Edith Daily and her matrimonial bureau. This made me wish to see Edith, and immediately I was transported to her office. Edith was talking with Dorothy Wells, who obviously was her secre- tary. They were complaining because people married without consulting them. For instance they said: Hildreth Russell has married and gone to live on a ranch and we have had nothing whatever to do with it. Charlene Moffatt, whom we had consid- ered a good prospect, has married her employer without even asking our opin- ion. Paul Garey has become a hermit -a queer idea. If everyone took such fancies we should soon be among the unemployed. James Curtis, however, will soon be visiting us, since he is now securing a divorce on the grounds that he is always spoken of as Lady Whal- en's husband instead of as Mr. Cur- tis. If Billy Renaud hadn't started that expedition to the moon we might be working to insure his matrimonial happiness. That last remark made me wish to see Billy. In a flash I found myself in a lunambulator-which you know is the motor vehicle newly invented for trips to the moon. Here I found Cap- tain Renaud. Norman Phelps was going along as a surveyor and Ernestine Best as a missionary. Robert Fitz- gerald was also going to the moon, but his aim was by far the noblest. He wished to redecorate the moon so that

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THE MERCURY 11 known to you all, but with our future yet to be revealed. Let us all hope that Whatever the future brings to each of us as individuals, We may meet with the enthusiasm and the undaunted spirit that characterizes the Class of 3 32. ELIZABETH DEWART ,32 Class Historian. Class Prophecy The hot Mediterranean sun woke me as it peeped over the top of Mt. Parnassus and looked into my state- room. In an inconceivably short time I was up on deck and discovered that the steamer on which I was cruising as a guest of Isabelle McCann, now mar- ried to a big business magnate, was an- chored in the Gulf of Corinth only a short distance from the shrine of Apol- lo at Delphi. The very closeness of the ancient Greek temple turned my thoughts back twenty years to my high school days when We had studied about the oracle either in our Greek History or Latin classes. My thoughts were interrupted as the other guests came trooping up on deck, but to my satis- faction they suggested a visit to the shrine that very morning. It was not long before we had dis- embarked and were travelling on the road to Delphi. Soon we were on the very spot where Aeneas had implored permission to visit the lower world. Despite the fact that there was no longer any priestess or any mystic va- por, I could not long remain prosaic in the proximity of a place of such romantic associations. My thoughts immediately wandered back to my schooldays when Delphi had seemed such a fantastic place. I pictured my- self as a faithful believer of Apollo, almost breathing aloud a fervent prayer that I might know what the years had done for my fellow-classmen. O Apollo, greatest of the gods, protector of youth, fosterer of flocks and herds, lord of oracles, patron of art and music, most admirable prophet, shatter time and space for me, your most humble servant, and let me see my classmates of '32 as they are today. Let me see them in their various walks of life. Let me know that they have prospered and are happy, O great Apollo. I felt a queer numbness come over me. I groped with a frightened feel- ing and, in vain, for reality. A gray mist appeared before my eyes and I heard a voice saying: Time and space are of no avail. You shall travel wherever you wish, and return without having departed. The mist disappeared as suddenly as it had come and I found myself in a huge convention hall. It was a place of restless activity. A constant stream of people were pushing in and out its wide doorsg small groups were gather- ed here and there in earnest conversa- tion, others were listening to speeches which were being delivered from a plat- form in the center of the room. Ban- ners hung from the ceiling read: 'fMore speed and greater ease For dictator Kenneth Donnelly. I was to all appearances in the midst of a political meeting. I approached the platform where a woman was speaking. The people of this country won't have it, she said. We want stability and strength, and We will have it. VVil- liam Dempsey, as boss of the Macalsey party, has failed his countrymen. Let

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THE MERCURY 13 it would not have such a disastrous effect on high school students. I-Ie said that it had become his ambition when, still in high school, he had seen the unfair advantage the moon had over some of his fellow-students. This made me think of lVIa1'jorie Mc- Kenney. I found her teaching swim- ming to a group of young children at a familiar spot, Saint Albans Bay. Charles Hickok was sitting on the beach with Edson Perkins. They were read- ing from the Saint Albans Messenger about their exploits in deep-sea fishing. I looked over their shoulders and saw that a criminal, caught by Constable John Callaghan, had been condemned to life imprisonment by the Chief Jus- tice of Franklin County Court, Marie Maxwell. From the personal and social column, I learned that Lillian Bascomb, the prin- cipal of the new Art for Artis Sake School, had left with the matron of the Saint Albans hospital, Marguerite Laselle, to atend the opening of a wide- ly advertised play taken from a novel writen by Robert Soule and starring Sheila Partlow, America's most popular star, and Reginald Sweeney, the stage fans' idol. I next found myself in New York at the very theatre where this play was to be presented. What surprised me most when I saw the cast was the mar- velous way in which they had kept their youth. It seems that they had been making use of Mctlcolm I-lodges' youth- preserving serum, a wonderful new dis- covery. Approaching the chorus girls, I notic- ed familiar faces. Dorothy Myott and Evelyn Stevenson were talking with their director, Elizabeth Dewart. They were discussing stage door popularity, and in doing so they gave me some rather startling information. They said that Bob Sweeny had been acclaim- ed by chorus girls the most popular stage door Johnny on Broadway. I had barely recovered from this shock when who should enter but Robert H. Brown, an ardent stage reformer who seemed to wish to reform the theatre to the point where it just wouldn't be. I had never expected that of Robert. In some way or other I began to think of Dorothy Cummings, whom I found in a China and antique shop run by Zeb,' Larry. While examining a statue, carved by James Scully and posed for by Lena Nardine, Dorothy was enu- merating her trials and tribulations as the inventor of the new I-Ielter-Skelter filing system. Zeb interrupted her continuous flow of talk to speak about Persis Start's latest achievement in the world of sports. It seems that Persis had just won another of the numerous cups which she was collecting as cham- pion archer. Zeb then asked Dorothy whether she had heard about Agnes Jennings, who had ridden her horse to victory at the last sweepstake races. Dorothy declared that she knew noth- ing about it, but retaliated by telling of Jack Sweeny's new book of poetry, a book which she maintained would revo- lutionize the literary world. But she added, Two members of our class have done even better than that. Lois Brown has just been given a position as expert economist in the secretariat of the League of Nations, and Linus Leavens is a World Court Judge. Zeb just couldn't let her leave with- out a parting shot so he told her that he had heard from Dorothy Deso, and that she was running a dude ranch in Colorado. Then I found myself in a large draw-