Bourne High School - Canal Currents Yearbook (Bourne, MA)

Page 18 text:

WITCHES Witches? “Fiddlesticks” is the word that our modern civilization applies to these eerie and mysterious creatures. But, — let us turn back the pages of time to a period known to the historical world as the Elizabethan Age. When the sun began to sink behind the high Scottish mountains, and the watchful shepherd had called his flocks to their protecting corrals, doors were bolted and all the win- dows were shut tightly in each peasant’s thatched-roof dwel- ling. Children scampered to their beds and quickly pulled the covers over their heads. Travelers, walking along lonesome and dark roads, cast nervous and cautious glances at every shadow and vague object that appeared before them. Grasp- ing their heavy staffs tighter, they quickened their steps and hurried to their destinations. The cause of all this commotion? Witches, of course. Hideous creatures appearing in the forms of old women, who were evil and ugly, with a potential hate for all human be- ings. Capable of any wrongdoing, they were believed to carry off children to their desolate caves, where they first cooked them in huge pots before devouring them with considerable relish. The majority of the population of this age believed in and feared them. — Flashing back to our present skeptical era, where men are men and witches are fables, we hear more “Fiddlesticks”, and with a shrug of shoulders the thought is dismissed from our minds. Still, when the sun has long disappeared on the distant horizon and the moon begins to peep out from behind a dark cloud with a misty, golden glow, I beg of you to heed my ad- vice for “You’d better be good or the witches will get you.” Walter Young, ’37.

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CANAL CURRENTS 15 YOUNG, JUNE (Juney) Sagamore Grammar School; Commercial Course; Sophomore Party Committee (2). “Here’s to the girl, so quiet and nice; Those copying her will be showered with rice.” ZEIGLER, FRANCES (Fran) Winthrop Junior High; Commercial Course; Hockey (1, 2); Upper Cape Symphony Chorus (2). • “Her interests are too many to mention. But roller-skating and dancing oft claim her attention.”

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CANAL CURRENTS 17 MY CHANGING LITERARY TASTES It is a known fact that everybody’s literary taste changes from time to time as does their age. You wouldn’t expect a man of fifty years to be reading nursery rhymes or simple adventure stories such as those found in boys’ magazines, nor would you expect a boy of eleven to be reading Shakes- peare or Milton. It stands to reason that a person’s literary taste turns toward deeper and more intense volumes which would be of more interest to him as he grows older. To make myself clearer I will illustrate, using myself as an example. I but faintly remember the days when I had to be read to so I will start at about the age of six when I entered school. At this age animal stories were the best liked simply because they were the books from which we learned to read. These stories gradually faded away and hero stories took theii place. Heroes such as Daniel Boone, Buffalo Bill, Abe Lin- coln, George Washington and others were held in great es - teem in my estimation. These heroes often became a source of inspiration, and will never be forgotten. The next step up the literary ladder finds me enjoying outdoor and adventure stories such as those found in boys’ magazines and series books. These gradually faded away and gave rise to the descriptive novels of Zane Grey and Cooper and a little later the phraseology of “Moby Dick”, by Herman Melville, and books by Poe and Dickens, attracted me. I never did express any love for poetry though I did find romance in Tennyson and some in Milton. I liked especially well Milton’s “11 Penseroso”. And now m.y taste is turning toward books of the sea such as those of Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Per- haps this is just another change in my literary taste which all people go through, but I think it is more likely because of the fact that all my ancestors were sea faring men, for I know a great many people who are not the least bit interested in sea adventures. Where my literary taste will turn next is a question which I can not answer. Robert Harris, ’38.