Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR van ng BARB'RA o' MAMIE Hiram Briggs chuckled softly to himself and slowly turned when she was no longer to be seen But the smile still twitched at the corners of his mouth What a girl she was' Ye know, he said afterwards to his brother Luke-Luke was making the quarterly trip to the town to have his horse shod and do shopping. It wasn't often he drove the twenty-five miles- Ye know, that girl's a wonder, an, allus wuz. I sez that to ma last night, and I sez that I wisht that young un o' Mamie's had been like her. Well, ma- ye know how ma is-well, ma near blew my head off. Cause she used to say that Barb'ra o' Mamie,d be a great piana player, er op'ra singer, er author-authoress, I mean-her with her looks, ye know, an' wavy hair an' sweet smile an' all. She did use to be quite nice, Barb'ra did. But dang it all! I never seen a person change so in all my born days. Charlie made quite a bit o' money at gamblin'. CHe was jest one 0' the few lucky guysj . Well, when Charlie made that money, Mamie made up her mind to take advantage 0, it quick, and send Barb'ra to school out east-Noo York, I b'lieve. So off went Barb'ra. Well, that was the last I seen o' Barb'ra fer nigh two years. An' when she come back fer her vacation, Mamie wanted me to paint up the old buggy-red, ye know, so's everybody could see Barb'ra comin' through town. I did it-ma made me--but course I couldn't help that the paint Weren't dry, an' I couldn't go fer her. I said it was dry, but ma said no, so no it was. Ma said it'd spoil that new suit o' Barb'ra's. What d,ye call 'em? Oh, I ferget. Anyway it wuz one o' them things with that thing slung around their shoulders. Ma sait it wuz very stylish, 'though I couldn,t cell the diff,runce between that an' the black thing my old granny used to wear for Sunday-go-to- meetin'. But I'm a man an' an old one-so Mamie says. I'm not. Old, I mean. I wuz jest seventy-six, two months and five days. I figgered it up that night. Not a day older! An', by jingo, if that tan coat o' Carol's wuzn't twice as nice, I'll eat my hat! But, anyway, as I wuz tellin' ye, that paint weren't dry, so I couldn't go fer her. O' course, ma made me tramp down to the station jest the same, but that wuz fun. Shell I tell Jake to put medium or heavy iron on? Hey, Jake! Jake! CHe don't hear meh. Hey, Ja-a-a-ke! Put medium iron on that black mare. Yeah, medium. Well, as I think I wuz sayin' Barb'ra went to school with Carol, oney they chose diff'runt crowds. Carol knew some o' the ways o' the society world, cause her ma come from Chicago. Carol felt at home. With Barb'ra it wuz diff'runt, I guess. She wuz all alone, an' jest couldn't make friends quick. It wuz oney her looks that got her anywheres. I s'pose it didnit take her long to find that out. An' maybe she leaned on them too much. 1 S ELIT, if it ain,t Carol Bryan an' her little lassie!', Old ' . H . V Eighteen

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THE REFLECTOR VII IN Spring Fantasy Sitting at my window, I look into the past. It is spring. Soft feathery quills of tender grass Ripple and tremble with the soundless movements of people Who pass into the old farm-house, Where a ball will be held tonight, But the old house sighs in resounding emptiness, And a mouse scratches in a mildewed moulding. Golden cupped crocuses border the walk, The oriental spice of hyacinths drifts through the air, A rustling robed girl glides into view. A peep in the window reveals to me Noiseless laughter, and silent music, Starched formal manners of another day, The door opens but no light shines forth, A boy and girl wander into the garden. Pale wan moonlight lingers on the girl's young faceg Timid, half-fearful, the boy asks the old, old question. A sudden flood of cold, man-made light from a passing car Discloses the unpeopled garden in rude shadows. My misty dream is dispelled! I sigh and wearily seek my bed, But I shall always wonder how she answered. EDNA GRIMSHAW, February 1935 Wishes All the fluttering wishes Caged within your heart Beat their wings against it, Longing to depart, Till they shake their prison With their wounded cry, Open wide your heart today, And let the captives fly. Yes, some hearts are lighter While these captives roam. But, for their tender singing You'll soon recall them home, When the sunny hours With falling night depart, Softly they will nestle In a quiet heart. DOLDRES WAD E, February 1935 Seventee

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THE REFLECTOR YM IN When they wuz here, both of 'em-Carol an' Barb'ra-wuz both good at learnin'. But in the east, Barb'ra' sociates jest wuzn't the learnin' kind. Durin' the summer when she come home, there wuzn't no peace. Fer weeks ahead, we painted and papered an' fixed everythin' up, and when she come home, there wuz always some o' them city dandies lookin' cockeyed. I r'member one time when they wuz here, some o' our reg'lar boys decided to come around. An' kin ye imagine! They come in overalls an' shirt sleeves, an' them city fellers jest stared. Well, Teddy Brown-his father is Ted Brown, too, and he's our mayor an' a good one at that-well, young Ted had a good idea, so he dragged them city guys to see the cows an' the hogs in that ol' pen, and he left Ba-ba-ra-as them city folks call her-to the mercy o' the rest o' them teasin' rascals. Well, mercy it wuzn't, 'cause they wuz jest bent on teasin' an' mortifyin' Ba-ba-ra to death. Even Barb'ra's eyes an' lipstick an' perm'nent wave didn't do no good. They wuz reg'lar boys! We know how boys is, huh, Luke? Been boys, ourself, once upon a time, huh? Well, anyway, right after Barb'ra finished school-eighteen she wuz -she went to pay a two weeks' visit to her Aunt Lily fthat's Charlie's older sisterj . She didn't use to have nothin' to do with Charlie 'cause he married Mamie 'stead o' some girl she wanted. But when she learned Barb'ra was quite nice lookin' she thought it'd be fun to have her around. That's why she invited Barb'ra to visit her in her big city home. She don't really own it, ye know, there's lots o' mortgages on it. Well, Barb'ra seemed to like it there. Butler, maid, cook an' every- thin'. So, anyways, she stayed an' stayed an' stayed. An' ye know how Ma an' Mamie is. Ma said she'd orta come home right away, an' Mamie wuz worried stiff. An' oney notes came. Well, one day when Mamie wuz near ready to go after her, Barb'ra come breezin' in, hangin' on the arm o' a small, dark dandy. An' right after her come Aunt Lily, smilin', an' introduced him to us as Wilfred Northerton. She said he was a wonde- ful author, oney twenty-six, but I never yet seen any o' his books, an' he looked fishy. Things had sure gone pretty far-Barb'ra wuz engaged. An' her mother not even knowin' she'd met anybody. How she could ever live a lifetime with a guy like that, I couldn't ha' imagined. Well, ye know Barb'ra. It wuzn't long before Mamie got a telegram. It went somethin' like this: 'Mamie, send money immediately. Books rejected. Desperate need. Barbara.' We wuz all excited, an' Ma an' Mamie almost had an endurance worryin' contest. There wuz no answer fer the money order, oney another askin' telegram a few weeks after, until finally that wuz the customary way to hear from her. After a while, Mamie writ her an' told her to come home, if she Wanted. Barb'ra's oney answer wuz that she'd never be able to live in the country again. Of all dead places! So that wuz that. Nineteen