High School of Commerce - Caduceus Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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COMMERCE THAT SCOUT CAMP AT CHESTER Myron J. Boedeker. Troop 18, the Commerce unit of the Boy Scouts, was one of three troops in- vited by Mr. Campbell to camp on his farm in Chester during the Easter va- cation. Eight of the Troop 18 Scouts reported in Chester Monday morning, being joined there by others from Troop 9. Later in the day, representatives of Troop 35 appeared, having been led in a 27-mile bicycle ride by Scoutmaster C. T. Powers of the Commerce faculty. Finally a loud rattling and chugging was heard in the distance, smoke was seen upon the horizon, and beneath a huge moving pile of luggage (the equipment of Troops 9 and 18), triumphantly ap- peared Scoutmaster Fred Stone, and his redoubtable Ford. Monday was a beautiful day, and was spent in settling camp, admiring the scenery, and preparing for the week of fun to follow. Some scouts walked the three miles to town, where Frances R. Senneff achieved the record at the soda fountain. The first night was spent in perfect discomfort. “Hey! Take ya knees outa my back.” “Aw shut up.” “Gim- me half that blanket, or Pll land you in the eye, Youngie, old Sport.” These and similar remarks helped make the night horrible for those who wished to sleep. The climax was reached, however, when Fred Stone chugged merrily away to aid a party of distressed motorists on the hillside, returning in the wee, small hours when all was quiet with two new camp- ers, who managed, with admirable ease and nonchalance, to disturb the entire camp, recalling from the arms of Mor- pheus all those who had been lucky enough (and warm enough) to fall asleep. Finally, however, after hours and hours of shivering and kicking, sleeping and waking, the day dawned, and at 5 A. M., the camp was stirring. After breakfast, fishing was next upon the program of the day. Although pur- sued by a dozen or more enthusiastic fishermen ( ?) all but two of the trout in the streams near Chester succeeded in escaping the wiles of the tempting bait. Through superior knowledge or exces- sive good luck, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Stone each succeeded in attaching a trout to his hook and line. The remainder of the party, tired of drowning worms, re- turned to camp in the forenoon. 0

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COMMERCE their hair-cutting process. Reita then began to relieve Sylvia of her curls, which she thought were troublesome. Her main object was to appear like her little pal, Edwards, who had just shown them his new hair cut. When Patty’s work was finished, and Sylvia had a goodly start, the mother appeared and was stunned by the appearance of her once pretty babies. The following day the twins visited Gebo’s, where their hair was evenly shorn, to their great delight, and their mother’s perturbation. Thanksgiving day gave the busy little twinnies another opportunity to employ their active little brains and hands. Their mother, expecting out-of-town guests, had prepared an unusually tempting dinner. Among her various courses were four luscious apple pies. The twins had con- fiscated a box of paprika, which their mother had been using in the preparation of the turkey. As they were pie lovers, they were very interested in the making of pies. Therefore, they had noticed their mother sprinkle cinnamon on the tops of her pies before placing them in the oven. As the pies were to be served with ice cream, the mother decided to place them outside to cool. The twins immediately decided to put the finishing touches on the pies by sprinkling them with a generous amount of paprika on each one. The distracted mother was horrified to notice the different expres- sions on the faces of her various guests, and wondered what could be the matter with what she thought was her greatest success in pie making. Being suspicious, she stepped out into the kitchen and sam- pled her pies, and then knew immediately that her naughty twins had been at work again. When she announced what had taken place, the amused guests burst into hilarity. After having been chastised for their naughtiness, the twins gave the members of their family a rest for some time. Their mother, thinking she would reward them for their good behavior, took them calling on their aunt, where the twins were always well treated with cookies and candies. As the day was hot, their cousin, Ray, a boy of fourteen, was rest- ing in the couch hammock, on the shaded front porch, interested in one of Jack London’s stories. His mother and fath- er were in another part of the house en- tertaining their guest, the twins’ mother. Unknowingly, he had the twins for com- pany. On one side of the porch was a smoking stand, which had a few stray matches on it. The twins immediately seized these, and then hid behind the hammock, where, after a few minutes’ scratching, they finally succeeded in ob- taining light. They held the matches in their hands for only a few seconds, and then threw them on Raymond’s book, which imemdiately became a mass of flames. He threw the book from him, and jumped up, yelling: “Fire! Fire!” in a terror-stricken voice, which immediate- ly summoned his moiher, father, aunt and many interested spectators to the scene. The twins, frightened at what they had done, fled to avoid the dreadful “spank- ing” which they knew was coming their way. The fire had spread rapidly, and played havoc with one side of the porch, when the firemen finally arrived. They after a few minutes use of the hose ex- tinguished the fire, and the now uninter- ested crowd dispersed. After having found the cause of the fire, by question- ing the twinnies, the firemen also left, and peace reigned again. Do you all realize why I close my sto- ry without giving the details of what took place after the firemen had left? SOME HEAT (Leo Dunn to Oscar Jazz) “Can you prove that one swallow makes a summer?” (Oscar Jazz) “Sure! Just the oth- er day 1 took one swallow of pertubus bickorometer by mistake and I thought I was in the tropics!” TOO EFFECTIVE. “Chick” Cerago’s personality is very effective, isn’t it?” “Very effective, it enables her to pass without working.” 29

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COMMERCE Aided by two or three trusty Scouts, Fred Stone proved himself a friend of all present by preparing a dinner which was not only eaten, but enjoyed, by the members of the troop. Baseball was the next feature of the program. Suddenly the entire camp was startled by the ap- pearance of Sniff (Senneff, for the bene- fit of the uninitiated) who had supposed- ly been fishing since early dawn. It seemed that he had fallen asleep in a meadow by the brook, exposed to the full rays of the midday sun, and behold, what a spectacle. Sunburned! Yes, dear reader, but in what a way. West of a perpendicular line from forehead to chin, the features of Frances R. were burned a ruddy red, while east of that line not a ray of sunlight had penetrated. The cause—asleep with one side of the face only, exposed. Result—too, too awful to describe. The effects may still be seen upon the handsome countenance of the individual described. Wednesday dawned cold and dismal. Snow had fallen during the night, fine rain still fell as the disgusted campers made a pretense of “washing up” in the icy spring water. “Let’s beat it home.” suggested someone. “We can make the 8.56 if we hurry.” The suggestion took immediate hold, spreading like wildfire throughout the camp. By 8 o’clock lit- tle groups could be seen, struggling down the hillside under full packs, on their way to the station. Troop 35 disappear- ed in a body. Only the “Faithful Few” remained in the once happy camp upon the mountain. All day Wednesday the remaining scouts camped around the fire in Mr. Campbell’s kitchen, telling stories, read- ing, playing cards and checkers. Here, again. Scoutmaster Stone showed himself superior to the scouts under his com- mand by beating all comers at checkers. Senneff and Boedeker met ignominious defeat at the hands of that brilliant strat- egiam Need more be said of him as a checker champion? On Thursday, the scouts were reward- ed for their stay by good weather. A hike in the morning and a trip after ar- butus in the afternoon, filled the daylight hours. The evening was spent in ar- ranging the flowers gathered during the day. and many bunches of beautiful May flowers were the result of the day’s trip. S-cncff r cdrd, 3 1