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

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School The Blackmailing Of Wimple Street VVTIMPLE Street.” The sign hung high up over the street in the fog and as I passed under it, it creaked in the wind and I drew my cloak closer around me, for if it was afternoon, the fog was thick and the wind was cold. I went slowly up the street until 1 came to No. 16 Wimple Street. It was next door. Did I dare go there? It had been so long that I was afraid. At just that moment the door of No. 17 Wimple Street opened and a woman was carried out in a chair to a waiting hack by two big, husky men. That must be Elizabeth, Bertie’s wife, I thought jealously. The hack drove off and I went to the door. After a considerable wait, 1 heard something coming. I held my breath, and then the door opened and there stood Robert Browning. Hello, Bertie,” I said. SADIE!” If the neighborhood weren’t already looking out of the win- dows, they were then. Sadie,” he continued, what are you doing here?” I’m coming in, Bertie. I am so glad that you remember me. I was afraid that you wouldn’t.” My tone was sinister. Sadie, you can’t come in here!” Oh, can’t I! Til love you ’till I die, and no other woman can ever take your place.’ It doesn’t look so. Ouch! what was that?” Elizabeth’s little lap- dog had nipped at my heels. Here, Flush!” Bertie called. What do you mean by saying that? You can’t mean those letters that we wrote to each other in English class in school. Oh, Sadie!” Don’t put on the innocent act, Bertie. You know very well that I wouldn’t go soft-hearted and burn those beautiful letters you wrote me before you met your darling Lisbeth and I intend to keep them and use them more.” How much do you want?” Bertie was getting angry now. I admit that you seem kind to your wife and seem to love her, but after all, I gave my best years to you, confidently thinking you loved me. 1 could cry when I think about it.” Sob, sob, sob. Look, Sadie,” Bertie said flatly. My wife will be back in about ten minutes and I would be out of here if I were you.” Oh, you are so unkind to me. I don’t know why you don’t tell her that you really love me. If I go, will you send me some thoughts home from abroad when jou go again?” At this time I was hanging over his chair. Just then Elizabeth came and stood in the doorway. I cried out and sprang away from the chair. Elizabeth — ” started Robert. Perhaps you would like to know one of your husband’s former girl- friends. Introducing Sadie Gloutz, of 1924 Red Cock Avenue, of the East Side.” I was sickeningly sweet. Get out,” said Elizabeth between set teeth. Page Twenty

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School If there was too much noise in the entry- way, the boys were thrown outside. The girls, for the most part, didn ' t cause any trouble. Mr. Bullen, the teacher, was very studious looking and always had an armful of books and papers to carry around as he hustled here and there. But then, his duties were such that he had to hurry in order to get them done. Among the subjects which he taught were Latin, mathematics, physics, and bookkeeping. There was no shorthand taught and the typewriter had barely been invented. The janitor came in the morning and swept and started the stove of which the stovepipe went the full length of the school. The stove and a pile of wood were near the teacher’s desk and it was his duty to keep It going. Mr. Bullen’s assistant and the only other teacher w as Miss Anna M. Star- buck, who lived in Bournedale. She taught French and literature. In the entry was a pump, a cup, and a tin dipper for students to get a drink of water. Ther e w ' ere only two rooms other than this one — a main or study room and a recitation room. Miss Starbuck took charge of the students w ' hen Mr. Bul- len was having a class or recitation. The students were arranged according to their intelligence. The smart students were in the front of the room; the not- so-smart ones were near the back. Because a high school education w ' as optional, examinations w’ere given during the spring, near the end of one’s grammar school career. These in- cluded the knowledge of square root, cube root, interest, discount, figuring for papering walls, and laying a floor, spelling, geography, history, etc. If a student failed a test and desired to go to high school, he was coached during the summer. High school was at this time arranged in a three-year course. The school day began with morning exercises, followed by a spelling test which consisted of twenty words. The students had no idea what the w ' ords were going to be in this daily spelling test. They came to school on the eight o’clock train; classes began at nine o’clock and were in session until twelve o’clock with the exception of midmorning recess. The noon recess w ' as one and one-half hours. Classes reconvened at one thirty and continued until four o’clock. There were only two trains down and two trains up the Cape; so it was necessary for the students to busy themselves and w ait for the six o’clock train in Buzzards Bay. This made a long, tiresome day. The town paid for the students’ winter-term carfare which amounted to about three dollars per person. It was about this time, too, that books first began to be paid for by the town. Levi Leavitt, of Sagamore, w ' ho later had his leg taken off by a train in an accident at Buzzards Ba y, was superintendent in 1885. He was followed by Charles Burgess of Bournedale. On Friday afternoons the school was open to friends and relatives of the students who wished to see how well they were doing. At this time essays were read and the pupils sang songs to the accompaniment of an organ. One of the school projects was sponsoring an annual fair; the money from which went to financing the school library. The school was lighted by kerosene lamps on dark days. There were not enough lamps for every desk so part of the schoolroom remained dark. Page Nineteen

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School Outside I met one of my cronies, Roughhouse Mike, and he said, Did it work-” I said, No.” Sadly Mike answered, Who else do you know. ” Well, now, there was old Charlie Lamb — ” Eleanor Raleigh, ’45 My First Day In School ■jVy| Y first day in grammar school was perhaps not the most eventful of my entire life, but 1 will tell you what 1 remember best. At recess time we were given bottles of milk and I was having a terrible time trying to get the cap off. Finally a little boy whom I had already begun to admire decided to rescue me. He gave me a very superior look, pressed down on the cap, and squirted nearly half a pint of milk in my eye and down the front of my new dress. 1 thought, he was terrible until he gallantly passed his bottle to me and scrubbed me off with his handkerchief. Later he was one of my best friends, up to the time he was killed in Europe. The little boy’s name was Bud Crump. Barbara Gardner, ’45 And Now ? W HEN you read and hear people on the radio raving about economic sys- tems, national security, labor, civil service, social problems, and a world peace, what do you think of. Probably the same thing I do — Wonder what the show is tonight?” — but certainly, this post-war business of a world peace IS no insignificant issue. It is affecting the lives of millions of peoples — peo- ple in China, in Europe, in America, and even in Bourne High School. America has fought many wars; the world is always fighting. Bet a nickel the c olonists would never have bothered to fight a Revolution and pay such a very dear price for independence, if they could have taken a peek into the future, only to see more wars being fought. We fought the Revolution to win independence; fought the Civil War to abolish slavery; fought the World War — well, why did we fight the first one? If it was to make the world safe for democracy,” it was rather a futile attempt. As the rhyme goes: I wonder if the men Who planned it all were satisfied? They played their game of checkers And eleven million died!” I have no conception of eleven million people. All I know is, there are 131,669,275 people in the United States, and without the senior class, there’d be only 131,669,247, but outside of those long figures, eleven million doesn’t mean so much. They could have lived, those eleven million, and contributed Page Twenty-one