Canaan High School - Lasso Yearbook (Canaan, CT)

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match. In the midst of all this the dog barks and downstairs Cwe are clean- ing upstairs, you know, someone calls, Oh, Mrs. Gray, anyone home? l think that it is one of our fre- quent callers and call to my sister to tell him to come on up if he can find his way through all the junk, but sis- ter doesn't think it is who I think it is and parades down the stairs in her bright regalia with the the white pol- ka dots fthe whitewash, to see who the visitor may be. ln the meanwhile I run, stumbling over the furniture piled in the way, and look out the window, see the minister's car parked out in front, and do I laugh! Then I hear the many apologies for the dreadful clothing and that we are housecleaning. l arise early the following morning and run in to peep at the ceiling. For looks white and it is streaky in a short distance it smooth and again places. It reminds me of some people's lives, smooth and clean in some places and then rough and streaky in other places. Well, sister got out the whitewash brush again and did the ceiling over. This time the whitewash boils and the ceiling comes out a very pure white with no streaks. I can't say whether it was be- cause the whitewash didn't boil the first time or because sister was an am- ateur at such things that made it streaky. Anyway, it's white now The papering is the next procedure, but l don't have much to do with that as sister has the pleasant job of plastering on the paste and sticking the paper on the wall. CI wonder how long it will stay on?Q Later I hear her complaining of pains in her knee. When sister finishes, I wash the floor and the furniture. On Thursday the mattress is put back on the bed and everything in the room straightened out and made liv- able again. You may be surprised, but it did look very nice. I suppose all this didn't sound so very delightful and believe me-it wasn'tl I can think of loads of more interesting ways to spend one's vaca- tion, but when a family doesn't feel that they can afford to have a dec- orator it's the best way out of the sit- uation, I think. I admit it is a lot of hard work, but now when I enter my room it looks so nice and clean, and they say cleanliness is next to godli- ness, that I can't help being glad I spent my vacation housecleaning. Catherine Southwell, '40, BGOK READAIJG After telling of our extremely in- teresting novel course that the Juniors are having in English, this remark was made: Why do you spend school time reading novels? You can read those any time. We are not merely reading noVeIs, but we are learning how and what to read, that is, we are reading our books in much greater detail. In this course we have a variety of all types of books, from which we study the type of plot, which is character, set- ting, or plot: the style of author, which is a very detailed subject, in which we must study the whole book thoroughly: the qualities of suspense or surprise: and the topic the author has chosen. Through a thorough con- sideration of these we are able to I3

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stabilizer and fuselage. Yes, the plane age is indeed here and affords profitable occupations for those who have the ability and who are interested in aviation. Robert Cook, '40. SPRING HOUSECLEANING Looking forward to Easter is a very pleasant sensation. There will be more birds about, that have recently migrated North after a pleasant win- ter in the South, the grass will be green and a few of the early flowers such as the tulips and the narcissus will begin to blossom forth with their sweet fragrance. Then there will be that very pleasant thought, that only comes once people like new spring hat and all course, the forward to bunny and will also be a year to some unlucky me, that there will be a suit and a nice new straw the other apparel. Of younger ones will look the visit of the Easter the Easter dinner. There the pleasant remembrance from the religious point of view, but along with all this will come the spring housecleaning! My vacation generally arrives a few weeks before Easter vacation and the spring housecleaning comes right along about this time. The first thing that must be done is to tear off the old paper. My brother, my sister and l gather up a few old knives, that have endured plenty of hard wear in their day, a bushel bas- ket and commence tearing off the paper. We all wish for the side of the room where the paper comes off with one pull. It is quite a delight to have it come off that way instead of a little at a time. It reminds me of the time when l didn't want to eat my dried beef on toast, and would have gladly given the dog a feast only he wasn't there, but l had to eat it. So l ate it ever so slowly, bit by bit. Then the opposite reminds me of the ice cream that l can gulp down in one bite. The next step is the painting of the wood work. l mix the paint and mix it again, but when applied to the wall it still streaks, until big brother gets generous and lends a helping hand, and it goes smoothly from then on and finally the paint job is finished- at least l think it is until l awake the next morning remembering that l for- got to paint the outside of the win- dow. This is the hardest job of all be- cause l am bound to get paint on the window pane and forget to wipe it off while it's wet and sister says that l must get the razor out and scrape it off before the clean curtains can be put up. l tell her it is all on the out- side and has been since the big broth- ers painted the house, but apparently she doesn't believe me as the razor makes its approach and l begin scrap- ing. Yes, scraping paint! Big brother has to be in school the next day so sister whitewashes the ceiling. What a job for a lady! l run to the store for the whitewash, sister mixes it, and we both watch and wait to see it boil. Well, it doesn't, but she puts it on the ceiling anyway. It runs down her arm and all over her head, and the Hoor receives a good whitewash bath, besides. Sister is a sight, for she has no belt on, a red bandana on her head, sheltering those pretty blonde locks, and runs miles long in her stockings, the oldest and most worn shoes that she has, and, of course, a dilapidated dress to

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judge a book. Perhaps we could read at other times, but do we? There is a tendency to neglect books since the movies have become so popular, and since the increase of radios in the home. Both of these are entertaining, but they do not take the place of a good novel. ln one of Denys Wortman's recent cartoons, a young lady was complain- ing to her companion, Didn't do nothing last night-no date and the radio was broke. So l picked up a book, and first thing l knew it was twelve o'clock. Gee, was l burned up to waste a whole evening like that! Because of this and other evi- dences, it is no wonder that people get the impression that American people are becoming lazy and are losing both the taste and the ability for reading books. Perhaps we can say that this is due largely to the ra- dio, picture magazines, and other more exciting things which demand less concentration. We can not say that Americans do not know how to read, because they do. lt can not be that books are not available, because there are new books published every year, and near- ly every town has a library. l really think that people do not know books are entertaining. We spend a great deal of time reading newspapers and magazines which are both very helpful, but there is no sat- isfactory substitute for a well-written book. lam sure that no Junior, after reading some of the marvelous novels that we are able to obtain in school, will say that reading books is a waste of time, but on the contrary will con- sider his time well spent. M. Bailey, '39. ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY The Arlington National Cemetery is America's Military Valhalla in which more than thirty-thousand American soldiers are buried. On a brow of a hill which over- looks the cemetery stands the Arling- ton Memorial Amphitheatre, a white shrine of patriotism. lt is built' of white marble at the cost of one million dol- lars. The seating capacity is five thou- sand and the standing capacity in the colonnade is several thousand more. Directly in front of the amphithea- tre is the interesting tomb of the Un- known Soldier. This Tomb is also made of white marble and the sym- bolic features of Peace, Victory and Valor are on one end. On either side are three panels in each of which is inverted a wreath. An inscription fac- ing the Amphitheatre reads: Here an American God. Guard- ing the Tomb is a soldier who paces rest in honored glory soldier known but to back and forth each day and night and as one walks through the hallow- ed grounds, he experiences an inspira- tion which he is likely to remember all of his life. Frances Bate, '38. THE CAPITOL As the Capitol is approached from the front, it is very noticeable that it has three definite sections. The sec- tion in the center, that which supports the dome, is set back farther than the I4