Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR The Lull Before the Storm A vivid sea, a lowering sky, A strip of leaden beach, The wreck of a boat looming high and dry, And a sad colored bird with a desolate cry Flitting away out of reach. A line of white on the sandy bar Where the fitful surf runs high, A pallid mist rising near and far, And the dream of a night without a star, And the night wind's mournful sigh. JAMES CURRY, June 1934. Lozfe in Reverse T was 2:45 o'clock, the end of the school day in the Middleton High School. Students were rushing toward the exits, depositing and with- drawing books from lockers, and standing in groups in the corridors discussing yesterday's football game, in which Bill Dawson, the tall, heavy-set, right half-back, had made a sensational sixty-five yard run which won the game for Middleton. There had been two minutes left to play. The score had been thir- teen to seven in favor of Sussex, Middleton's traditional rival. Then Bill had made a brilliant end-run, and almost miraculously dodged tacklers all the way down the field for a touchdown, thereby advancing the score to thirteen-thirteen. After this brilliant comeback it was the least Red Jackson, Middleton's quarter-back, could do to gain another point by making a successful kick, making the final score: Middleton, fourteen, Sussex, thirteen. The thrilling game was approximately the only topic of conversation all next day. The faculty found it difficult to keep the attention of the students. Some of the younger teachers didnlt even try to do so, but spent most of the period gabbing with the students about the mo- mentous game. A middle-sized senior, too small for a varsity football player, but just the right size for a cheer leader-and he was the head cheer leader-stood staring through keen, gray eyes into the interior of his locker. A casual observer might think he was deciding which books to take home to study. But the observer would be mistaken. Jimmy Hunter did all of his homework in his study periods. His books, like those of many high school boys, seldom saw the interior of Jimmy's home. No, it was a quite different problem that perplexed him. His best friend, Red Jackson, had told him that Bill Dawson was bragging that he was going to take Betty Harris, the recently voted most popular girl in the school, to the Junior Prom. ' This prom was sponsored by juniors in honor of the seniors, and was the biggest social event of the year in the Middleton High School. Twen ty-five

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THE REFLECTOR and finally the diamond skull. As he reached for it he tipped the chest over. It fell with a great clatter. The buccaneers awakened, rushed into the captain's cabin, and found him dead. Shark knew of a little door fastened with a padlock, through which he could escape, but then he thought of all the women in the settlement and how they would be sold into slavery. Virginia would be among them. He weakened. He could fire his pistol into a keg of powder and blow up the whole ship. He was torn between his desire to save the women from slavery and his desire to escape and be rich. Finally he broke open a keg of pow- der and shot into it, holding the bag of jewels before his face as he did so. To the people on the island it seemed as if the whole ship rose slowly in the air, then settled back broken. Then, as if from heaven, jewels rained down upon them. And they at once left to settle in Virginia. But all the treasure was not found. In the year 1930 some campers near an uprooted palm found a skull studded with jewels. The jewels were not set in the skull but scattered, as though thrown there by a giant hand. JOSEPH HUGHES, June 1932. Wanderlzzsf Q 151 ELL, folks, you all know me. I'm your old friend, Jim Haw- yl ' kin, from Treasure Island. Remember? Sure. Have you .Ili Ml ever wondered what I did with my. share of the treasure? ik, f: Like me to tell you? All right, I will. After I had had a joyous reunion with my mother and had told her of all my adventures on the island, I immediately set out to pay off the debts which had accrued during my absence. Then I sold the Admiral Benbow and established my mother in a cozy little cottage looking out over the sea. This I did because I knew she had always longed for just such a place, and I was happy to be able to fulfill her heart,s desire. I, too, liked this little cottage with its tiny garden and flower- bordered walks, in which mother took such joyous pride, and decided to settle down and spend the rest of my days there in quiet comfort and contentment. At first I was perfectly content, but I fell to watching the deep blue horizon and froth-capped, restless green waves. One day I saw the white sail of a tall ship tossing on the waters of our little cove. Then the old adventure bug found me again. The wanderlust was upon me once more. I felt the irresistible call of distant lands, far- away places, and strange peoples. And so I am off on another glorious adventure! Perhaps Fate may decree that we shall meet again in another book. That is as the Maker may decide it. At any rate, I'm riding the sea with the misty spray in my face and the canvas pulling hard, while the rudder bangs in the stern! A rover! A wanderer! Carefree and glorying in my return to the great expanse of the open sea that leads to-where?,' JIM HAWKINS - HAL REID, June 193 5. Twenty-fou

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THE REFLECTOR This plan of Bill's, however, did not fit in with Jimmy's. He was hoping to take Betty to the prom himself. It was something he had been anticipating for a long time. He could not escort her to the prom held when he was a freshman, because his freshman year was spent in the high school at Rochester, New York. During his sophomore year his family moved to Middleton. A few weeks after he entered the Middleton High School the Junior Prom was held. At this time he suppressed an urgent desire to ask her to accompany him to the dance on the grounds that he did not know her well enough yet. And then, too, she was so popular and he knew almost no one. However, he did not take any one else to that dance. In his third year he had asked her, but was too late: Bill had beaten him to it. He had been determined that no one should beat him this year, but it seemed that Bill had done that very thing. But perhaps Bill had not asked her yetg perhaps he was just bragging. Bill was a conceited fool anyway. He was, Jimmy must admit, an exceptionally good football player, but that was about all. Because he lived on the eastside and his father was considered the richest man in town, he snubbed the students from the westside, whose fathers had to perform manual labor to support their families. He even snubbed some of the students from the eastside who weren't quite so rich as he. The only person living on the Westside whom he did not snub was Betty. Jimmy knew Bill hated him. He called him chief squealer,'- he always made fun of the cheer leader-and tried to belittle him every chance he got. But if Bill had not yet asked Betty to go to the prom with him, he soon would. Jimmy must act quickly. He must see Betty, ascertain whether or not she had accepted an invitation from Bill, and, if not, he must extend to her his own invitation. Upon deciding this he closed his locker, proceeded along the hall, descended the back stairs, made his exit through the rear door, and con- tinued to the girls' exit. There he accidentally-or, at least, he hoped it seemed accidentally to her--met Betty. Hello, Betty, he greeted her. f'Mind if I walk home with you? Fm going your way today-over to the library. Well, you'll have to walk fast then,', she answered. I have to get home as quickly as possible, then mother and I are going to Magee's to select a new dress for me to wear to the Junior Prom. I guess I can keep up with you, Jimmy accepted. If my car weren't in the garage, I could've saved you some time by driving you home. Thanks for the kind thought, but it will be all right if we don,t waste any timef' There was a short interval of silence as they walked rapidly up a small hill. Twenty-six