Franklin High School - Voice Yearbook (Franklin, ME)

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THE VOICE 15 LITERARY MURDER DEFERRED THE house stood dark and desolate against the background of a starlit sum- mer sky. Mr. Morrison, who lived there with his servants, was evidently away on some professional trip or at one of the numerous lodges to which he belonged. He was a doctor, who had no conscience a.bout letting a person die because he lacked money. It was rumored that his young wife had died of poisoning, but as she had been coniined to charitable work, her death was attributed to hard work. At this particular time, a man could be seen raising a window and entering the house. He crossed to a safe in the wall, but his flashlight gleamedi on something, and on closer observation he found it to be a partially iilled whiskey bottle, from which he took a few quick swallows. Sud- denly he heard the sound of a key in the lock, and he hid himself in a small closet from which he saw Dr. Morrison enter the room. The doctor seated himself by his desk and drank the remaining contents from the bottle. Then, taking a maga- zine, he began to read. He sat thus for half an hour, but the intruder noticed that he had assumed a queer position. The doct:ir's teeth were clenched, his arms seemed to be immovable, and he stared straight at the wall. A noise behind him, like something hard scraping on glass, failed to attract his attention, even though it made shrill squeaks and drove daggers of fear into the very heart of .the in- truder. ' The sound of breaking glass could now be heard, and a man crawled through a broken window into the room and 'took a position directly in front of the doctor. The latest visitor walked with a sort of -catlike grace, and his voice, when he finally spoke, was like the hissing of a confined rattlesnake. He turned to the doctor, who had become sickly pale, but had never moved from his rigid position, and began talking to him. So it is the mighty doctor, himself, whom I have here, he said. You who let my brother die because he could not pay your fee g you who poisoned your wife because she would not tolerate your evll deedsg you have been at liberty only be- cause you had money and power 'enough to live outside the clutch of the law. Now you are in my power because of a drug which was in that bottle and which you so obligingly drained. This drug has paralyzed you, but as it was a weak solu- tion, its effect will have worn away in about two hours. I have some here in this little tube which will last for a thousand years. It is even stronger than that which holds you now, for it will stop your heart from beating, but still your mind shall live. Tomorrow, when you are found, people will think that you are deadg they will plan your funeral - and you will be pow- erless to prevent them. You will go alive to your own funeral and will hear them bury you. For a. thousand years you will live in your grave and hear the world above you, and at the end of that time, your heart will begin to beat and your lungs will crave for air. But in your cell there will be no air and you will die from strangulation , He was preparing to inject the drug into

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14 THE VOICE ever, this year we hope to do better, and Hardison hopes to make a throw of 44 feet. We also had a girls' track team. In the Achievement tests, Kenneth Weatherbee, who is now attending Ogle- thorpe University in Georgia, won first place in American Government. Gerald Wilbur, of Eastbrook, won fourth place in THE FRANKLIN HIGH THE Franklin High School Glee Club was organized October 26, 1937, the first meet- ing being held with Miss Gillings at the home of Edith Bradbury. There it was voted that the club meet once a, week and the following officers were elected: Presi- dent, E. Hardisong vice-president, D. Col- lar, secretary and treasurer, M. Jordang master of ceremonies, Celand Hopkins. At the second meeting the club decided on the name, The Franklin Harmony Songsters . Before the next meeting Miss Gillings, with the help of three other members, drew up a constitution, one of the rules of the constitution being that those not at- tending the first meeting who wished to join the club must be voted into the club and undergo an initiation. By means of a penny collection at each geometry. Donald Piper won third place in general science. This year we hope to do better in ea.ch division, with the help of our principal, Mr. Jones, and of the assistant, Miss Gill- ings, and with the co-operation of the students. -Verncn Dalzell, '39. SCHOOL GLEE CLUB meeting, the club obtained money to buy music. The organization has received many in- vitations to sing at school functions, con- tests, churches, and organizations, and were pleasantly entertained at the home of Mrs. Minnie Wilbur of Eastbrook. The club wishes to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. James Bunker for her faithfulness and helpfulness as club pianist. The members of the club are as follows: Edward Hardison, Celand Hopkins, Charles Bradbury, Paul Bradbury, Donald Collar- Gerald Wilbur, Stetson White, Erland Coombs, Bradley Bunker, Harold Bunker, James Bunker, Harriet Edmunds, Barbara Edmunds, Martha Jordan, Erma Joy, Betty Donnell, Margaret Eldridge, Evelyn Googins. -Martha Jordan. THE HARE'S ADVENTURE Cwith apologies to Scottl The hare at dawn had ta'en his rest And faced the daylight at his best. With utmost bravery he did start, With quick farewell did he depart. The hunter with his shootin' 'arn Commenced his hunt from Bradbury's barn. The hare loped to a. grassy spot, Knowing not of the hunter's plot. He had not nearly reached his fill When thunder broke the morning still. A swish of lead like wind tl1a.t pushes Went o'er his head into the bushes. Quick from the clover he did dart With speed of light right from the start. His skin the hunter did not get: For aught I know he's running yet. -Bradley Bunker, '39.

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16 THE Voice the doctor's veins when the intruder in the closet decided that he would end this cruelty. He tried to step forth into the room, but he remembered that he had drunk from the bottle and was held para- lyzed by its effects. He watched the man give the drug to Morrison by means of a little vial, and then he saw him leave the room. In about two hours he was able to move, and he, too, left the room. Two days later he saw a funeral proces- sion pass by on the street, and he alone knew that a live man was being buried, but dared not tell because of the suspicion it would throw on himself. As for Morri- son, probably he still lives in his death -cell waiting for that day far away when he shall die and end forever his worldly 'troubles -Gerald Wilbur, '38. THE INTRUDER 0NE day, when I was about five years old, a strange and terrifying incident, which I will never forget, came to my mother and me. My mother and I had been shopping, we came home about 6 o'c1ock in the eve- ning of a bleak wintry day. Dale, father won't be home to dinner tonight, so we will have to eat alone, and you must go to bed directly after dinner, said mother. After dinner, mother took me into my bedroom and helped me undress. Just one teeny-weeny story before I go to sleep? I said. Well, it will have to be a short one, re- plied mother, settling herself comfortably beside me on the bed, while I prepared myself to listen to her story. Suddenly, I felt my mother stifren. I looked at her inquiringly. Her face had a frightened expression, and her eyes had grown large with fear. She kept staring at something - something apparently on the floor. My eyes followed here. Mother, I began. But her hand closed over my mouth. Instead of telling me a story, she slapped me hard and began to sing loudly in Roumanian. Go to sleep. you bad girl, she snapped at meg then .S-ang more loudly than ever in Roumanian while I cried harder. What makes her act so strang1y? 1 wondered. But I was too young to reason. Then she pinched me-not too hard-but a defmite pinch. Loudly I screamed in anger, and higher rose her voice in the song. Amidst all the tumult, the doorbell rang. Mother kept on singing. Again the bell rang lnsistently. Mother called, Just a minute! Then, with shaking arms, she grabbed me closed and tried to walk slowly-I say tried to walk, for I sensed that she wanted to run, not walk. I felt, as she held me, that she was shaking with fear-of what, I didn't know. With an ef- fort she managed to open the door, and there stood our next door neighbor with a policeman at her side. There's a burglar under the bed! mother screamed in Roumanian, and col- lapsed. After the thief was led away and mother had been praised for her bravery and cleverness in deceiving the burglar, she .said to me, Forgive me, honey, for pinch- ing youg but it was the only way. Mother explained that after she saw the burglar's feet under the bed, she figured the only way to keep him there was to pretend she was singing me to sleep. She knew that our next door neighbor under- stood Roumanian, and so she sang in that