Dexter High School - Signet Yearbook (Dexter, ME)

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THE SIGN ET 15 runs the girls' camp in Muskoka, wants a young girl to teach swimming and diving. I've applied for the position and if I get it I shall be away during July and August. The girls are going camping the first two, weeks in June so you see I won't have much time for the office. All right, but remember the position is always open, her uncle said, smiling. Three weeks later a party of five girls boarded the steamer at Mayfield for the long sail up Lake Muskoka to Fairy Cove, where they were to stay. They were met by a gay party, and a tall girl with quan- tities of fair hair and dancing blue eyes acted as spokesman. I'm Emily Richards and these are my cousins, Billy and Francis. We've been dying for company and as soon as you are ready we want all of you to come over to our house for dinner, she announced. As soon as they reached their own cot- tage Dorothy collected her flock in the big living-room and a schedule was drawn up so that each girl would have her turn at different things. Betty protested because she could not cook but the girls said it was time for her to learn. To her dismay, she found she was to cook the first two din- ners. While they talked a mischevious look flashed into Betty's gray eyes, for she had just thought of a plan which she believed would soon end her cooking for the rest of the time they were in camp. When the girls started on trips of exploration next morning Betty was unusually cheerful, and warned them to be back by one. Sharp at one o'clock the girls filed into the dining room and found the table neatly set with a dish of scalloped salmon at one end and piles of tea biscuits adorn- ing the sides. When the girls had been served there was a moment's silence be- fore Dorothy choked suddenly and reach- ed for a glass of water. What's the matter, Dorothy? A bone ? Betty asked anxiously. Elizabeth Thompson, how much baking- powder did you put in those biscuits? she sputtered. Several tablespoons, returned Betty meekly. Wasn't it enough? The rest of the food was just as bad so the girls decided to appoint Betty bedmaker- in-chief rather than be martyrs again. Billy and Francis planned water sports for the last Saturday the girls were in camp. There were to be canoe and swim- ming races, diving stunts and supper around a bonfire afterward. In the canoe races Betty and Francis Richards came in lirst and Phyllis 0'Connor won the swimming race, beating Betty by a yard. In the div- ing contest, however, Betty found herself without a rival. The sports over, Betty had finished dress- ing and was ready to join the others on the shore, when Helen came flying into the cottage. Betty Thompson, she cried excitedly, Miss Knowles was here all the afternoon watching us and left just a few minutes ago. I guess you have made sure of that position this time, you lucky thing. I guess I have, Betty smiled bliss- fully. When Betty sank lazily into the sand beside Emily she noticed a distinguished- looking woman sitting beside Mrs. Rich- ards. Mrs. Richards asked what Betty had contributed to the feast. Not a thing, Betty confessed. I hate cooking. I'd rather do other things and so I determined to make the girls hate my cooking. I simply doubled about half the ingredients in the recipes, put in an extra dose of salt and pepper and baking powder so that the food was horrid. It worked like a charm. I haven't done a scrap of cooking since. She laughed delightedly, then suddenly became aware that the impressive-looking lady with Mrs. Richards was looking at her as if she were a sort of criminal. After the girls reached home Betty learn- ed that her rival, Phyllis 0'Connor, had received the coveted position. Phyllis did- n't' want it but Miss Knowles had said that Betty couldn't have it. Some thought it was because she had heard Betty's remark about cooking for Miss Knowles had not gone home, as the girls thought, but had been the impressive-looking lady with Mrs. Richards.

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H I H LITER RY ALONG THE ROAD We stood alone on the station platform, four girls, looking with dismay at the towering mountain peaks around us. We had missed connections and were stranded there without friends in a strange place. Our dismay did not last long, however, for the fresh mountain breeze set the vagrant Gypsy blood in us astir and the white road beckoned us alluringly. In a few minutes we had picked up our bags and were start- ing. That walk has since been called by different people, courageous, foolish and dangerous but we know that it was both necessary and wonderful. We started out on the automobile road through the Notch, with the next station twenty miles away at the end of the long white road which curved in and out beneath overhanging white birches, and dark hem- lock, skirting the sharp rugged grey cliffs, and running along smoothly at the foot of the soft green mountains. The day was perfect! There had been a heavy shower the night before and every- thingg was thrilling with new cleanliness and life. The birds were singing and the brooks babbled delightedly as if trying to obliter- ate the gloom of the previous day. There was nothing awful about the moun- tains then as they rose so high around us. Their very height and immensity as well as their beauty was inspiring. The rocky ledges far, far up on the mountain side were wet with rain and sparkled in the sunlight as if covered with snow. Here, reflecting the peaked shapes of the sur- rounding cliifs was a dark pool catching frequently a golden glint of sunlight through the shadowing trees. Farther on from over the tree tops came a crow flap- ping his dark wings high above us. Even his harsh caw-caw was beautiful in the stillness of the hills. Suddenly we came to a little bridge with water dashing and tumbling beneath our feet. Looking up we saw the stream as it came down the mountain side rushing and foaming, but dropping, dropping always to the rocky depths below, only to plunge on again to more rocky paths. It was most entrancing, but we could not stop. Always around us were the mountains, tall, majestic and beautiful, seeming to rise continually and move slowly back as we moved on, wending our way on and on, over the long white road. It was a day we can never forget and although the thrill it gave to us then can never fully be expressed in words, the memory of it is still firmly embedded in our minds, enriching our garden of memor- ies. Winifred Sanders '25, BETTY THOMPSON'S TRAYCLOTHS With a longdrawn sigh of satisfaction Betty Thompson came out to the shady porch where her uncle sat. Well, the ironing is done, thank good- ness, she said, That is, all but the tray- cloths. I always leave them for Alice. Pretty hard on Alice, isn't it? her uncle asked. Is that how you are going through life? Leaving the disagreeable things for someone else? Now don't scold, Uncle Joe, she coaxed. I've found that if one never learns to do the disagreeable things she never has to. Some- one always bobs up to do them. That may be all right, but if you work in my oflice I shall see that you have all the disagreeable things to do. Betty laughed. I shall not work in your oilice and have you boss and bully me, she told him gayly. Miss Knowles, who

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16 THE SIGNET At home Betty found that Alice hated ironing traycloths as much as she did so she decided to abandon the theory that someone else liked to do the tasks she dis- liked. She planned to iron the traycloths and work in the detested ohice during the summer. About the middle of August her uncle called her into his office. He told Betty that she had been doing such good work that he dreaded to lose her but an old friend of his was looking for a young lady to tutor his children till the middle of Sep- tember and to teach them how to swim. And I thought you might consider the position, he said. Uncle Joe, gasped Betty with shining eyes. You aren't fooling? Is it really true ? Of course it is. And the salary is quite adequate. So, after all, Betty, you haven't lost much this summer. Lost very much, Betty repeated the words and then suddenly her arms Went around her uncle's neck. Why, I haven't lost at all, she cried between laughter and tears. Alice and I are chums at last, and you've been a regular old dear, and now I know that this is the best summer in all my life just because everyone has taught me that it's worth while to do work well. Bless your heart, said her uncle gruffiy, and then with twinkling eyes he added, I think I'll give Miss Knowles a vote of thanks. She's earned it, Betty admitted dimp- ling. ,Y Ruth Lawrence '27. A MIRACLE Scientists predicted the eclipse, newspa- pers proclaimed it, and everyone prepared eagerly for its arrival. This phenomena occurs but once in approximately two hun- dred years, so naturally I was interested especially since I had hoped for the last fifty years to see the wonderful sight. Therefore, I determined to travel toward that spot on the globe which was to be to- tally dark as a result of the reunion of Sol and Luna. So I left home and went to a small town in Connecticut to await the event. The morning dawned bright and clear, and I could scarcely curb my impatience until the time for the eclipse. While wait- ing, I walked to a hilltop in order that I might gain a better view of the reunion of the ancient lovers. Finally, I perceived a faint shadow ap- proaching old Sol. This dim shape seemed to move slowly but within a few minutes it had obscured the sun from my sight. A great silence settled on my soul as I watch- od with fascination the most superb heaven- ly display upon which mortal eyes were ever privileged to gaze. All around me was a clear white light resembling moonlight only more glorified. Surrounding the velvet-black spnere, ap- OF SCIENCE peared, a dazzling golden aurora. This halo threw its beams outward and downward rather than upward. In the darkness, every star was visible, shining with a soft illumi- nated glow against the broad expanse of darkened sky. As I watched, the black spot on the sun, which I knew to be the moon, flamed with color, first a faint rose then gradually a magnificent shade of ruby. For a brief second, my gaze left this ruddy surface, and looking across the valley, I 'beheld this riot of color refiected everywhere on the milk-white snow. Glancing upward once more I saw a startling resemblance to an engagement ring. The golden halo consti- tuted the circle while at one end flashed a blood-red ruby. Softly and reluctantly Luna departed from Sol, her steadfast friend and lover, who cast a path of bright light before his beautiful lady-love, a mute symbol of his love and protection. Through the still twilight day, I slowly retraced my steps. My heart was filled with awe because of the miracle which I had just witnessed, but my soul glowed with an inner warmth at the wonderful and glorious creations of God. Beatrice Titcomb '27.