Farmington High School - Student Yearbook (Farmington, CT)

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f Y - f - A ,s armingtun Gituhent q'S-issue-vfff-Eiie-f.a- 1 ki?-E21-'?sstu:-s-Serb DANCING LIGHTS ,TN UMMER vacation had 'ust started and it seemed, lookinff at three irls . . 1 . . Q g fag, lounging in steamer chairs under the trees, that 1t was being fully appre- Wiia-. eiated. The girls, Anne, Mary, and Betty, had been discussing, with a N A great deal of animation, the camping trip, which they, with another girl, were goinff to take. D 'SI do wish Frannie-Y' Anne got no further for a fourth girl came around tl1e corner, threw herself on the grass, and her remark started a babble. A Whew! it's hot. Girls, I can go. I'n1 so glad. Let's start the sixth of July and so miss all the traffic over the Fourthf' So it was decided and on the morning of July sixth, these four girls started off on their first camping trip, a small lake upstate being their objective. Nothing of any importance happened on the trip, unless having to change a punctured tire would be called an important event. On the third day of their trip, they came to the lake and drove almost all the way around before they found what suited them. They finally found a pine grove, with a clearing just large enough to pitch camp, on the shore of a secluded cove. Everything was perfect, made especially for them, the girls declared. During the day everything was fine but that night, as the girls were sitting around the camp fire, queer blue and violet lights began to glide over the water. It was Mary who noticed them first and consequently dropped her marshmallow in the fire. 'LLook at those lights. They seem to be coming out of the woods at the end of the cove. Now it's blue, no green, no-, oh I don't know what color. Anne bring a flashlight quickly. You're seeing things, Mary. Oh-h-h, I do see it. Quick, Anne, with the flash. Betty, who said that, was the youngest of the group and very imaginative. Let's investigate, said Anne, coming out of the tent with two flashlights and a lantern. Nothing doing tonight. If you want to go chasing a dancing light and fall into holes and all that, I'm sure I don't,i' declared Frannie. Daylight is better to find things by, anyway? I say that, too, came Betty's voice, in a whisper. - Come, brace up, 'Bet'. remember you're not a green freshman any longer. You havcn't much to say, Frannief' snapped Betty. The next day the girls tramped all around but found nothing but some things left by chance picnickers. However, the lights continued every night and the girls were getting so frightened that they vowed they were going home if the lights didn't stop. Then IT, fBetty always reminds people that the word is capitalizedj, hap- pened, exactly one week after the girls first saw the lights. Mary, the lover of sweets, was toasting her marshmallows over the fire a.nd the other girls were sitting around, chiding her about her appetite, and watching for their fairies, as they laughingly called the lights. Soon they appeared, danced a very few minutes, then stopped. Almost immediately there was a crashing in the woods directly in back of the tent. This time the girls did not wait for daylight, but snatched their flashlights and went back to where the noise was coming from. 6

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71. - f, , ,s jfarmingtun ,ituhent Q i?gvZr e S-.?'5De-'wuziilb OUR LITERARY SECTION OUR GREATEST GLORY ei ARLY in the afternoon the sun dimmed and soon was seen no more. S1 Gradually the wind rose: first, it whined and moaned softly in the pines, then, it shrieked, its shrill cries growing louder every moment as it swept 9 ' ' through the forest behind our camp. Black clouds piled up from the horizon to the zenith, their blackness emphasized by a vivid streak of light at the edges. Branches creaked and groaned as they tossed in the wind. Darker and darker grew the day. Weird sounds began to come from the huge chimney in the living room, as they always did when the winds rose high. Secure in our sturdy cabin, we awaited the approaching storm, all of us awed and some not a little frightened, by the disturbance of the elements. Suddenly, like a great flaming sword swung with a firm, relentless arm, a blinding flash of lightning rent the blackness followed by a deafening peal of thunder. Then the rain poured down seeming to fall in sheets. In a brief instant of light we caught a glimpse of the forest bending before the storm, the brook filled to over- flowing, rushing headlong down the slope, then all was dark again. In the distance, above the roar of the' storm, we could hear the dull, heavy thud of great trees as they fell to the ground, or the crackling sound made when lightning strikes. Flash followed flash, the thunder crashed, rolled away and crashed again. Another exceptionally brilliant flare showed us again, the towering forest drenched with rain, and filled with grotesque shapes of storm-tossed branches. For more than an hour the elements battled fiercely, but at last seemed to tire themselves. As suddenly as it had begun, the rain ceased. The clouds parted and swiftly drifted away, the sun burst forth in a flood of ,golden light. A rainbow appeared glowing and fading in the east, a vast ark of irridescent color melting into the blue background. Raindrops glittered like countless diamonds as they fell from the leaves, the air was permeated with the fresh, fragrant odor of damp earth. Tiny rivulets trickled down the hills, birds sang their evening hymns, over everything was a silvery- green haze made by the fading sunlight on the wet foliage. In a blaze of red and gold the sun sank to rest. Long after the bright clouds lingered, giving promise of a pleasant morrow. Then, walking into the woods a short distance I found a great oak uprooted, once it had been a gigantic tree-tall and sturdy-bearing the marks of great age, and looking as though it had defied many a storm in its day. As I looked at this fallen monarch, a vision of Life rose before me and I compared, with this m'ighty oak, heroic men who had weathered the storms and sorrows of life, and had come out victorious, or falling, had not lost their courage, but had striven to regain their former position. Thus, for the first time I realized the full significance of an ancient proverb, given to the world by a great teacher countless ages ago- Our greatest glory is not in falling, but in rising every time we fallf' ANNA FLOOD, 1927. 5 , l4

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1' -7- 4 armingtan ,ituhent :sf-rags-'z-6iq'l'C:2.?Z ' 3:?S-.2s?'f?2riif-'B-3:6 f is There, entangled in the bushes, they found a ragged, old man. His hair was long and ill kept, his beard, a dirty gray, and his face and hands streaked with dirt and scratched by the bushes. I've found it, I've found it. I have it now. Keep away, let me go, I know what it is. Blue plus violet with a little green, that's it, thus was this man raving as the girls approached. What shall we do? He,s crazy and we are miles away from help. Betty was again starting her bewailings. This time the girls did not bother to scold for they all realized the danger. Give me food, lim hungry, starved-but I must go on. How can gl? Give me foodf' the man kept on raving. Now Frannie took the initiative and said, 'iAll right, we'll give you food, if you come this way, and turning, she led the way back to camp. There two girls started to fry some bacon while the other two guarded the man. At last he was through and the girls begged to hear his story, saying they would take him where he wanted to go. He agreed and this was the tale he told: Q 'Way back in '65, when I was in the battle of Gettysburg, I saw some queer lights and ever since then I have been experimenting to find the most uncanny light in the world and now I have it. Hooray! blue plus violet with a little green. It was told concisely and connectedly enough yet the girls knew he was not all there and in a hurried council, they decided to guard him during the night and start off for the nearest city early in the morning. In the city it was found that this man was supposed to have been killed in the Civil War, for no one had ever heard of him since. The authorities thanked the girls heartily for their service and bravery and promised correct treatment for him. After this they were all going back again to camp but nothing else happened during their stay. The girls always say they liked their dancing lights and will never admit how often they were tempted to leave during the first week. CHRISTINE YO UNC, 1928. TO THE SENIOR CLASS OF F. I-I. S. Oh, seniors, dear, of F. H. S. You now must leave foreier, From the ranks of a school you honor To a place, some know not where, It is hard, no doubt, to see you go, But we know you can do none other Than leave a hearty greeting to The ones who'll follow in your steps. You have toiled in gay contentment And have met with true success. Step by Stepn you'll onward go Yet in Life's future days we know That class of seniors ever gay Will ne'er forget us, ne,er a day! EMMA THARA U, 1927. 7