Fitchburg High School - Boulder Yearbook (Fitchburg, MA)

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Vy: PROPHECY T hat this simple card — First Re- union of the Class of 1906, F. H. S., Assembly Hall, June 20, 1907 — could cause any trouble seems absurd, and yet, indirectly, it was the cause of a most won- derful and extraordinary experience. I hailed this announcement with delight, for it would give me an opportunity to show to my classmates a most wonderful explosive which I had invented during the year. At exactly 3 o’clock in the afternoon of June 20, all the members of our glorious class, with the exception of “Doc” McNamara, who had m ste- riously disappeared a few weeks before, were gath- ered in Assembly hall to experience the pleasure of their first reunion. As soon as the meeting opened, I arose and spoke of my discovery and offered to bring down a can of the powder from the “lab” on the fourth floor, if any one wished to examine it. They all seemed interested, so I hurried to the “lab,” selected one of the largest cans and started for the stairs, but had hardly taken a step when I slipped on a gumdrop which one of the infantile ’07 children had dropped, and — BANG!! ! When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a great white cloud, looking up at a wall of gold which enclosed a beau- tiful city of the same material. I knew at once that this must be one of the unexplored planets. In a dazed way I approached the gate and applied for admis- sion by passing my card through a small sliding panel to a white- robed attendant within, who told me that the High Potentate of the planet Prometheus, on which I had fallen, would soon appear. Almost immediately the massive portals swung inward, and imagine my surprise when I recognized the High Potentate, in spite of his long flowing hair and beard and his majestic stride, as none other than McNamara, our lost classmate. I started to 17

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tcMidcd not to mind it, it was very evident they felt (jiiite sore by several ])ointed allusions referring to the little ]3ain])hlet whieh a|)])eared in their elass hook. Two elass ])arties were sueecssfully eondueted during this year, and we were also honored by c ' lnother invitation from onr Junior friends at Gardner, whieh was aeeepted, but nnfortnnatelv only a small number were able to attend. It mi ht be interesting to mention that Wyman eame to the eonelu- sion that his “eonsin” had forgotten him beeause he was unable to find her at the picnie. 1906 had the honor of elaiming the elass baseball ehampionship, winning out at the last moment in a verv exeiting series of games. Our last year has made a fitting “finis” to our unsur]3assed reeord in the school, and our senior danees have been surprisingly sueeessful, both soeialh and financially. Gardner entertained us again in the “ehair town,” and we endeavored to return their kindness by giving a danee in their honor at Fitehburg. The Black Hand should also be remembered for suppressing the wild and vvoolh Juniors and for keeping things alive at the school building during our Senior year. The only thing that they regret is that Principal Woodbury declined to remain on the member- ship roll, the only plausible reason being that he thought things were too slow. He likes faster company, you know. We upheld our prestige of former years in athletics, for again we won the class baseball championship in a walk. To top the climax, the captains of the three athletic teams this year are members of the class of 1906. Our experience in F. H. S. has indeed been one of harmony and concord, and we now stand first among all the classes which have graduated from the school, with a clean and unparalleled record to prove it. We, as a class and individually, have noth- ing to fear or be ashamed of, and if in the future, no matter what our occupation may be, we are still able to uphold the good record which we have so well begun, socially, intellectually, and moralh we cannot help but reflect honor and credit both upon our celebrated class of 1906 and upon our dear old Alma Mater. IG

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rcct liiiii w. ' innly, l)ut lie held me off at arni’vS length and slowly and with great dignity informed me that I eould not he admitted to the eity, hut that I must return to earth and eomplete m3 ' work there first. I asked where m3 ' elassmates were, and he explained to me that the3 ' , being helow the eenter of the explo- sion, had heen blown half way through the earth, and that I, being above, had shot upward to Prometheus. Furthermore, he stated that if I should jum]3 off the eloud at a ])oint just opposite the gate. I would fall direetlv into the midst of my classmates, but that the fall would consume a ])eriod of twenty years. He then strode slowly back into the city and the gates moved together, leaving me well-nigh distracted. After careful delibera- tion, I decided that I should ]3refer to rejoin m3 ' classmates rather than to remain an outcast on the edge of this marvelous city. 1 walked to the edge of the cloud, when my nerve failed me. Sud- denl3 ' Patch’s earthly motto, “Nothing but crust,” entered mv mind and, shutting my eyes, I leaped wildly into the void. Thus commenced my drop of twenty years. Slowly, very slowly, the tiny point toward which I had been falling for nineteen 3 ears grew larger and larger, assuming the shape of a ball which gradually expanded until its outline was lost in the haze; then, as if by magic, mountains, rivers and cities sprang up below me bewilderingly, and I realized that I was fast approaching the earth. I had just prepared myself to resist the shock of landing, when — whiz — blank — ! I had passed directly through the earth’s crust and was dropping towards a eity which seemed to be located in the eenter of the earth. With a splash I struck a swamp on the outskirts of the town and as soon as I recovered my breath I began to yell lustil3 for help. Before long a couple of farmers passed driving a few obsti- nate pigs, and when they saw 1113 plight they hurried to extricate me from the mud. Although their faces seemed familiar, I could not place them until after they had disappeared around a curve in the road, and then it dawned upon my bemuddled brain that these “rubes” were my former classmates Dempsey and McManus, and that I was near the town where the High Potentate had told me I should find the long-lost class of 1906 . As I was very hungry, having eaten nothing but congealed ether waves for twenty 3 ' ears, I stopped at the first house, a large brick structure, over the door of which was the sign, “Old Ladies’ 18