Chelmsford High School - Yearbook (Chelmsford, MA)

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1947 YEAR BOOK CONCERNING PIANO LESSONS Maybe some of you intellectual and clever people from Chelmsford High would like to take up music for a hobby or some other reason. Well, l'll tell you a few of the things I know about it that might enf courage you a bit. In the first place it helps to have a pi- ano, or need I mention that. It's usually better for you if half the notes don't play, so you can blame something for the poor lessons you will present each and every week during your period of instruction. In the second place the teacher is very important, vital in fact. Be sure you get a good one, the fatter the better, for the fat ones fall asleep more often and don't hear as many mistakes. If hy good luck you are successful in engaging such a one, make sure the piano bench is extra sturdy please, as I once had a teacher who had a tough time with ours. He sat down a wee bit too hard, but I needn't go on about that-it's beside the point anyway. Just draw your own conclusions. In the event that you're allergic to fat people, go to the other extreme and get a young, handsome, and slender young man, unmarried naturally. Then one day while you are resting after a strenuous workfout with the Warsaw Concerto, he might ask you what you're doing Saturday night. Usually this won't happen, for you'll prob- ably never get beyond the scales in D, but you can dream anyway. After you procure a teacher, he sure to arrange a good day for your lesson, prefer' ably one a year hence, for scales are ter' ribly complicated to learn. I can still ref member all the times I had to untie my fingers. They knot so easily! But the best part of the piano lessons is practicing. I can still recall my happy child' hood when I used to spend my happiest hours at the piano. There's nothing quite so nice as practicing when the day is simpf ly beautiful and all your friends want you to come out. It's astonishing that you real' ly want to practice! What else can you do when your mother is standing over you with a firm expression about the mouth and a fierce glint in her eyes? Probably by now you are ready to push right home and announce that you would simply adore taking piano lessons. If things shouldn't turn out as well as I have said, by all means don't blame me. The only thing to do is quit and take up something else, the violin, perhaps. I'm sorry I can't tell you about that, but you won't mind, l'm sure. My only advice is tuck it under your chin. VIRGINIA BILLINGTON '47 HOW TO COME IN LATE AT NIGHT Of course your boy friend's car can be heard for miles down the street. Let it rum' ble to a stop with aloud screech on the sidewalk in front of your house. Shout uproarious goodbyes to the crowd just to let everyone know what a good time you have had, and make sure you bang the car door. By this time every light in every house on the street is lighted. Be sure to drag your feet up the sidewalk, making plenty of clatter. Open the front door noisily, and if it is stuck, just kick it a few times and slam it shut when you get in' side. - It is next in order for you to storm into the kitchen. It's only 2:30 A.M. by the clock, and since the evening is young, you open the refrigerator door, and rattle the dishes and milk bottles freely. You eat your little snack and clump up the stairs to bed. The end of a perfect evening is also the end of all your perfect evenings. Mother awoke-how could she?--Ato find you were two hours late! MAR,IoRIE WIIITE '47 PURPOSE The purpose of life is growth. A seed is so strong it can split boulders and push up concrete walks, but like all living things it thrives best under certain conditions. The first requirement for flourishing seed is good soil, in which there must be includf ed all the essentials of growth. In this nourishing soil the seed is placed. If it is planted too deeply, it rotsg if it is planted too close to the surface, it will be burned by the sun. It must be placed at just the right depth. Once the seed is sown, it starts to grow. Now it must have care. It must have water, sunshine, and air to combine with the elements in the soil to make food acceptable to its growth. When the plant

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CHELMsEORD HIGH SCHOOL ON TAKING CARE OF CHILDREN Buzz! The telephone is ringing. I dash to answer it, thinking of what I will do this afternoon. Hello? Oh! Yes. NO, I'm not doing anything this afternoon. Certainly. I'd love to take care of Janie and Tommy. All right. Bye. Bang goes the receiver and gone are my plans for the afternoon. As I ring the doorbell of the darlings' home, bang, a cap pistol goes Off in my ear. That's Tommy, Mummy's little man. So playful. Finally my hat and coat are off, and here comes Janie to kiss me with cook' ie smeared all over her. That's Daddy's lit' tle sugar plum. Mummy leaves with instructions as to what to feed the darlings for supper. Janie, trying to be so helpful, decides to give her kitty some milk. Result, one quart Of milk on the kitchen floor. At last, the children are in bed for the afternoon. Thank goodness. Peace for an hour or two. The dishes are done and put away in record time and I am comfortably on the couch with a good book. My good' ness! What's that thump on the stairs? To my surprise there appears Tommy sliding down the stairs on the laundry bag. Mummy's little man once again in bed, I start down the stairs. Janie decides she wants a drink. As nothing can induce her to go back to bed, I get her dressed. I hear Tommy cough, so I go in to see him and am met by a room full of feathers. Mummy's little darling got a pair of scisf sors and cut up a pillow. Now the three of us are Outdoors, swing' ing. Soon the clock strikes five and time for supper. Janie doesn't like potatoes so she decides to throw them at Tommy. The food is gone, the dishes done, and there's Mummy. Were the children good? she asks. Oh, yes, I reply. Wow derful. Now I'm home recuperating from my af- ternoon's fun. MAUREEN DANE '47 WHY PARENTS GET GRAY When I recall my childhood days of so long ago, I chuckle to myself to think of some of the amusing incidents that oc' curred. One recollection in particular en' tertains me. I was about five years old. My mother called me for supper. As I sat down, I did not fail to notice a delicious chocolate pudf ding, and my mouth watered. Father prof ceeded to fill my plate with carrots, steak, potato, and spinach. I began to pick at the steak, I ate none of the carrots and just a small amount Of spinach. Mother said, Brown, you haven't touched those carrots, and you know you must eat them before you can have your dessert. I squirmed and mumbled sulkily, I dOn't like carrots. My father interrupted firmly with, Well, you are going to eat them just the same. I retorted saucily, I don't tell you what to eat, do I? At that moment a large hand reached me. I jumped from the table and ran to my room, slamming every door as I went. In seclusion I made my future plans. I'd show them. I'd run away and then they would be sorry, and when they had huntf ed for years and cOuldn't find me, my fa' ther would die of a broken heart. I dragged out my suitcase and began to pack. After Hnishing this, I went down and told my parents the drastic decision that they had driven me to. Then I put on my coat, took my suitcase, and left with great dignity. Five minutes later found mc standing on our front porch. I couldn't de- cide where to go! I stood there for ten min' utes more. I went back into the house, and my mother asked me if I was staying. I said, No, I just want a glass of water. After taking five minutes to drink my water, a magazine with colored pictures caught my eye. I asked if anyone would mind if I looked it Over. My father gave my mother a peculiar look and said it would be perfectly all right. SO I settled down in a big chair and poured over the pretty pictures for nearly an hour, until my eyes began to droop and my head to nod. At nine O'clOck mother announced casually that it was time to retire. Her daughter went out On the porch, got her suitcase, hastily scurried to bed, and I don't think Mother ever heard any more from me about running away--or about refus- ing vegetables either! FLORENCE MORRELL '47

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CHELMSEORD HIGH SCFHOOL has grown so it has a few leaves, the ob' jectionable weeds must be removed, for they tend to choke its growth. Finally, aff ter much care and trouble, the seed blosf soms and bears fruit. As with the plant, so it is with people. The home into which we are born is like the soil in which the seed is planted. Books, teaching, and all patient instruction are our water, sunshine, and air. Eventually, if we grow well, life blossoms for us into some' thing fruitful and fine. This is the end of life, and to this end our efforts are bent. GEIIRCIE MERRILL '47 BUSSES Convenience and comfort, is a famous slogan of bus companies. Sure, that is a good idea, I decided. Con' venience and comfort, why not? Since it was necessary that I go to Lowell, I def cided to take the bus instead of arguing for the family car. So I started down to the bus stop, wondering how long I would have to wait for comfort and convenience to come along. I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after twentyffive minutes of standing, first, on one foot and then on the other, the bus jolted into view. I was tired from standing, and my feet ached, and I thought to myself what a welcome relief a nicely upholstered seat would be! Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I turned around after paying my fare, to discover that there were no vacant seats! I lurched to the back of the vehicle and clung desperately to one of the hangers that dangle so deliriously from the roof of every bus. We went our uneven way, around dizzy corners and over holes and bumps. It seemed as if we dropped off a cliff every time we hit a frost heave. We stopped at every door step to pick up passengers. We started, we stopped, we started, we stopped all the way until we got into the city, and every time we stopped, we stopped with a jerk, and every time we started the bus was more crowded than before. I was pushed, trampled upon, kicked, and elbowed all the way. When at long last I reached my des' tination, a lot of pushing and shoving, which I now secretly enjoyed, won for me an exit. No, I won't try to explain how it was coming home, for that would be too much, but if this is what the bus companies refer to as comfort and convenience I would much prefer to walk, thank you. LESTER FLETCHER '47 THE DENTIST AND I After sitting in the dentist's office for more than half an hour, my turn has final' ly come! I now find myself seated in a large, roomy, black leather chair above which hangs a huge light extending from the ceilf ing. Placed on a white tray in front of the chair are the various odd looking instruf ments to be used in the approaching or- deal in which I am to play a major part. There at the left is the instrument that the dentist holds dearest to his heart. This is called a drill, and what a bore that thing is! Suddenly I wish I had taken an aspirin, two aspirins, morphine-anything! I have never been able to account for the pictures every dentist has tacked up on his wall. Why he selects humorous subjects and enjoys looking at decayed and def formed teeth is too much for me to under' stand and personally I have never found anything either soothing or encouraging in displays of Xfray irregularities, or in exhif bitions of false teeth. Here comes that man in the white coat now and he seems to be in quite a hurry. I must be cool, and collected, and I am to keep my eyes closed. Peeking out under halffclosed eyelids, I see the long needle he has made ready for me. You just can't imagine how this makes me feel! The man apparently gets a big kick out of punching holes in people's gums with it! I seem to be the only one who feels reluctant about the whole affair. Well, what a relief, that's over with! Now for the drill! I can see where I'll be here for hours. There's something about the noise of the fiendish contraption that fascinates its operator. Too bad he isn't privileged to try it on himself once in a while. I am really growing quite vicious. I truly wish the dentist were in my place, and I in his. I The fellow even proves to be quite a chemist! He is now putting some silver