Erasmus Hall High School - Arch Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 17 text:

While sophomores Took Their exercise sliding across The back campus and swing- ing in ouT exiTs, we goT ours jumping on Trolleys going To The Annex, wading our way Through iTs muddy surroundings, and lugging our overTlowing brieTcases, rem- nanTs oT The elemenTary school days. NeverTheless, despiTe our physical resemblance To monkeys, we were very guainT. For example: iT is doubTTul wheTher anybody ever saw a monkey wearing horn rimmed glasses or smiling wiTh Two missing TronT TeeTh. NoTwiThsTanding, The TaculTy Tried To Teach us English, French, algebra, and civics, as againsT our preTerence Tor gym, guieT period, lunch, and dismissal. lT has oTTen been said ThaT The TirsT Tour years in -high school are The hardesT, buT one is apT To shiver and shake, jusT a liTTle more, when he recalls his Treshman Term in The main building. BeTore we leTT The Annex, The Teachers cauTioned us againsT Erasmians in general and upper-classmen in parTicular. BUT a Tew did noT heed Their warnings. ConseguenTly, ThirTeen chapel seaTs and TwenTy-one gym spoTs were sold To gullible Treshies. AlThough The girls would be The TirsT To deny iT, The second year was The Cave Man Era. We sophomores used To wander around drawing picTures and carving ini- Tials. The desk Top appealed direcTly To us as a place To scrawl our names or a

Page 16 text:

REMINISCEIXICES WheredayaThink yur goin, huh? , growled a service sguadder as he crouched menacingly aT The Top oT a down sTaircase. CanTcha read orya Treshman? , he queried in a deep bass voice la deep bass is a requiremenT Tor all sguadsmenl. We Tried To explain To him ThaT The sTaircase had been up The period beTore. When we Tinished, his Tace Turned purple as he Tried To unTangle his Tongue which could noT keep pace wiTh his uTTerances. BeTore he became ToTally asphyxiaTed, one oT his co'horTs, who was wear- ing more badges Than he, plopped down beside him and resoundingly Thumped him on The back. Then They boTh wenT inTo a huddle and became very mysTerious and sinisTer. ATTer we had waiTed an eTerniTy in The middle oT The TlighT oT sTairs, The ser- vice squadder, The locker capTain, and The arch-paTrol capTain, all in The person oT This second individual, glowered aT us and rum- bled, also in a bass voice, You are charged wiTh desTroying school properTy, using The wrong sTaircase, disTurbing The peace, and aTTempTing assaulT. Gimme your program! ThaT aTTernoon was spenT in Room I I4. De- TenTion is a very usual occurrence Tor some people, and diTTerenT habiTues adopT diTTerenT philosophies Toward iT. Some sTudenTs Tind ThaT The deTenTion hall is The only place where They can Tinish Their homework. OTher sTudenTs recognize iT as a place To brood. STill oThers Teel ThaT I I4 is invaluable in so Tar as peace and guieT are concerned. They mainTain ThaT The desk is very conducive To sleep and ThaT resT Thus obTained is soul-saTisTying. We belonged To The laTTer classiTicaTion, alThoug'h we did make an aTTempT aT homework. GOT The maTh homework? o. GoT The chem homework? Naw, l TorgoT To copy IT. Gee, l'm Tired. Me Too. Good-nighTl lVoice in The disTance, said wiTh TinaliTy.l Good-nighTl l 1 And our ThoughTs wandered ouT oT Room I I4 and back along The paTh oT Time. We Tound ourselves as Treshmen in The Annex, where boys were boys and girls sTill aTe wiTh Their Tingers. Ji'

Page 18 text:

'4 ,- thi , ggi X . ' sr Q s ' A .- 1 - if H A 'L h'Qz. T A couple ol wise-cracks. The lacl lhal lhe desk lop was never changed added lo ils bill-board lure. A name scralched deep enough would live lhere lor ages. The mosl popular molil seemed lo have been, l-lere lie lhose who died wailing lor lhe bell lo ringll' Since a cave man wilhoul a cave is like a ship wilhoul a sail, we were given lhe locker room and all lhe passages lhal wenl wilh il. These passageways look lhe lorm ol lunnels, and sludenls were known lo lake a shorl cul lhrough one ol lhem lhe lirsl period, and nol come oul again unlil lhe lillh. ll once was suggesled lo map lhe various roules and lhus lacililale lravel, bul sludenl opinion slaled lhal such an acl would dim lhe romance ol exploralion and conguesl. ln lhal merry age ol lale passes, sub- ways, delenlion, chapel seals, salely pins, and algebra, we came upon lhe noisiesl bi- annual allair ol all, lhe G. O. eleclions. Nine candidales vied lor ollice, and woe belide him who slood in lhe way. l-le was crushed by an avalanche ol lags and slrings. l-le was deluged wilh lhousands ol blollers, and dealened by hundreds ol horns. l-lis bullon-holes were iammed lull ol papers, while green crepe llowers wig- gled lrom his lapel. ll lhe person hap- pened lo be a girl, she would be weighed down by placards which adverlised, No more homework, a dance orcheslra in lhe lunch room, every day a holiday, and mo- lion piclures in sludy halls. Then in lhe lhird year came lhe lull day session, and wilh il lhe Dark Ages. We slarled oul lor school in lhe dark and we arrived home in lhe dark. Furlhermore, we had dark rings benealh our eyes and around our shirl culls. Nolwilhslanding lhose blolches, we grew up. Abridged panls slrelched lo lrousers, and lhe girls lwirled lheir piglails inlo very allraclive braids. Few linger