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

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School Cure-alls Years ago, back in the era B. S. (Before Sinatra) when little Johnny or Susie broke out in a rash, developed the sniffles, or complained of a pain. Mother knew exactly what to do to get the youngster back to normal. Some cough medicine, hot lemonade, a few pink pills, and a good stiff dose of castor oil usually made the child feel like a young colt and gave the needed strength to carry on the destruction of the neighbors’ cherry trees, and the supreme task of worrying the school teacher to a point of distraction. But all that has passed with the bustle, hip flask, and high buttoned shoes. Some- thing horrible has happened! It seems that hundreds of diseases which Grandmother never heard of are ever present in all human beings and that if they are not treated, they will put us all in early graves, or, at least, leave us tottering old wrecks before we’ve reached the age of thirty. Strangely enough, it has only been since we’ve all been able to afford radios that these unknown diseases have been discovered. One need only to turn the dial any time, day or night, and at least six new terrible diseases with the most fantastic names will be revealed to the listener. You are prob- able feeling like a June-bug in a barrel of cider,” fit to whip your weight in wildcats, but after listening to the announcer shout at you that you are suffe r- ing even now from some kind of itis” that will shorten your span of life, you begin to wonder if your feeling of well-being amounts only to an illusion, after all. But, don’t despair, for the smooth, silky voice promises you relief in a cure-all that can be had if you will only rush to the nearest drug store, put your quarter on the counter, and ask for an economy size package of Dr. Dinglehoofer’s Multiple Vitamin Tablets! In this age of change and increasing knowledge of the unknown, my only wish is that as quickly as these new diseases are discovered, some genius will produce a cure for each one. I’m afraid if this doesn’t happen, these yet un- named ills will overtake us all and soon wdpe out the human race. Athena Karalekas, ’44 Simply Impossible Hey! Wait a minute, Clark!” yelled Jack from the other side of the school yard. Hurry up. then! I’ve got to take this masterpiece home and show the old man,” answered Clark from his place at the hedge, near the edge of the school lot. It was a beautiful spring day, the kind you read about in those pas- sionate novels. The trees were in their full splendor and the small towm w as still and peaceful that afternoon, up until two o’clock, when the local high school let out. It was a memorable day in the heart of each and every member of the Junior class of Bourne High School. This thing that had finally happened had a direct effect on the lives of each and every student. It w as wonderful. Page Twenty -one

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School Very important would be the fact that she w ' ouldn’t go out wdth every Tom, Dick, and Harr) ” She would be loyal to the boy she was going with. She would be able to carry on an intelligent conversation and would be up to date on current events and especially she would know something about spons, all of which should interest her. Above all she would have a pleasing personality. She should be able to get along with the boy’s friends and be well liked by everyone. The boys all agree that there is no ideal girl” living, that she is just a dream. Oh well, they can dream, can’t they? The Most Unforgettable Character I ' ve Met She probably isn’t a person one w ' ould ever notice in a group. She’s only a little over five feet tall, rather slight and her hair is quite gray. Her face is a little sad but her eyes are bright and in spite of her seventy-one years, her step is quick and alert, and the amount of work she accomplishes in a day would put many a young person to shame. Her youngest daughter is an invalid and to her she is devoted. This is a twenty-four hour job in itself but her apparently unlimited supply of love for doing things for others finds her at the bedside of any of her family or friends who need her care. I know that she has held the hand of many a dying neighbor and has eased the sorrows of those left behind. A call for help in the middle of the night to accompany a friend to the hospital or to help a young mother whose baby is ill. has always been answered wfith, Of course I’ll come.” Hot biscuits, cake, or pie are always being made and sent to some one who doesn’t cook or perhaps liyes alone. She is very clever wdth the needle, so calls come to hem a dress or shorten a coat for some one who is going off for a special occasion. She always finds the time to do it and sends the young folks off happy for a gay affair in their new ' clothes. On one occasion w ' hen her three girls w ' ere small, they were all dressed up for Easter in new ' dresses, hats, and coats, and on their w ' ay to church, when someone remarked how ' w ' ell they looked and then asked w ' here her own new ' coat w ' as, the reply was that next Sunday w ' ould be her turn. That is an example of her life — complete devotion to her family w ' ith thoughts of herself last. This unforgettable cha’-acter is Ding” — Ding” to me and our im- mediate family but my maternal grandmother to others. She has been Ding” ever since I could first say a few w ' ords. Just w ' hy I called her that has alw’ays been a mvsterv ' but oerhaps if my baby thoughts could have been interpreted, the reason w ' ould have been found. Perhaps the sure and steady dintj. dong of a bell svmbolized to me the ste.idfast and enduring love of my Ding,” even to my baby mind. Thelma Row ' e, ’46 Page Twenty

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School or as the teen-agers would say, super!!” It couldn’t happen again in cen- turies; it probably would never happen again. The Junior Class, class of 1945, was experiencing a rare event. And this is what it was: every Junior was promoted into the twelfth grade with an A in every single subject. Imagine it!! An A in every subject! ! Marilyn Wing, ’45 An Afternoon In Bourne- 1954 It is one o’clock and after the closing bell sounds in the school, every- ofie rides to the front door on an escalator. From there all walk to the large hangar behind the school, each student getting into his own heli- copter. Soon a whining sound is heard and the sun is literally blacked- out” with about two hundred helicopters bearing the same number of Bourne High students on their way home — with no homeivork! Not far from the school, the planes land, this time in front of At- wood’s new Recreation Block.” This includes an automatic bar — strictly soft drinks, of course (at one cent a glass), where all one has to do is press a button for the drink he desires, and it slides down the bar, stopping directly in front of him; a streamlined roller-skating rink, where one rides through a door on an escalator, puts his feet on a stool, and his skates are automatically zipped on; a new bowling alley, where the pins are auto- matically set up and each person’s score is marked on a bulletin board at the end of each individual’s alley; a large dance hall, where, if preferred, the roof may be slid away to allow for an open-air hall — any sort of game may be played here and whenever a mark appears on the floor, it is immediately rubbed out by some invisible means; a moving picture theatre, where once a week a well-known actor appears in person! These are just samples of some of the recreational facilities set up for teen-agers all over the country, where one may spend his afternoon in peace, with no homework to worry about, wood to chop (since all houses now-a-days are automatically heated with electricity! ) , etc. When the youngsters feel like going home for supper, they hop into their helicopters and in a few minutes, land on their own flat house-tops. Taking an elevator, which includes a machine in which one needs only to place his hands and before reaching the dining room one’s hands are com- pletely washed and dried, one is taken to the dining room with no time wasted. SuDper is a delicious meal with coca-cola instead of milk and a big dish of any flavor ice cream desirable for desert. Of course the dishes automatically slide into an electric dishwasher when supper is finished, where they are washed and dried and placed in their own respective places in less than five minutes! Did I hear someone say the preceding actions are impossible — even in 1954. Well, this is supposed to be wholly imaginative, isn’t it. Barbara Harrison, ’45 Tiventy-two