Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

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20 THE ACADEMY BELL coming along the hall. XN'hat could he say? just then he noticed the name, lirown, on the door. A brilliant idea came to him. l'erhaps he could make a dignified departure after all. The door opened and he found himself face to face with a very stately, digni- Iied woman. james took off his hat and bowing, said politely, l low do you do. ls Mr. Thompson in? There! of course if Mr. Brown lived there, there would not be any Mr. Thompson. He was wait- ing for the woman to say, No, so that he could leave, when she said, Yes, come right in. XX'hat should he do? She was going into a waiting room. expecting him to follow. Of course he must. There was nothing else to do. Could he frame up something about his father and this Mr. Thompson having been friends in college? No. he could not. lle knew he was no good at blufling. The woman was saying, Sit right down. lIe'll be right in. Absently jim sat down, still searching his brain franti- cally for an excuse to get out of the place. lle shoved his right hand into his pocket--to aid him in thinking better, perhaps. lint if that was the reason, he did it in vain. XYhat would happen? he asked himself. Well, he would soon know, for he could hear some one coming into the room. Prob- ably it was Mr. Thompson. Yes, it was. lle was coming into the room. jim wondered what he would say. He must break that embarrassing silence. lle took his hand out of his pocket, un- consciously taking out the booklets of the Orphan Clulfs work in it. He had forgotten all about the fund in his ex- citement but now as he remembered it he gave a sigh of relief. At least, he could pretend that he came for that. After what seemed to jim an hour, he heard himself saying, How do you clo, Mr. Thompson, l am a representa- tive of the Orphans Club. There is great need of another home for the or- phans in this city. The club is trying to raise money to build one. l wonder if you would consider giving some- thing toward it? Mr. Thompson seemed very much interested in jim's description of the club's plan, and listened to him grave- ly. NYhen jim had finished, he thot for a minute, then said: Yes, my boy, l'll gladly give you some money. l have always felt that I should like to. l have the name around here of being rather stingy and grouchy. and none of the boys ever ask me to help any of their good causes along, XYhen l was younger and just starting in business, l had to be rather hard on the boys to get rid of them. Then they started passing by me. l thot nothing of that at first, but in the late years it has sort of hurt my feel- ings. You find out just how much it will cost to build the home. At the end of a month l will give what is needed to put with what you already have by that time. jim suddenly realized that this must he the stingy Mr. Thompson that the boys had been talking about. He wasn't really stingy at heart, after all.

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THE ACADEMY BELL I9 when we're through with him, pro- claimed another. XYhen school was over the boys asked Mr. Cleaves to go for a little walk. No, thank you, but I really cawn't. lJon'tcha see, l don't plan to remain long in this place and must see mother a few moments. Aw, come on, you stitfneckf' said -lohnny, You haven't forgotten the old swimming hole, have you ? Uh, but really, l prefer the bathtub, and there isn't time anyway, said VY. ll. C. looking nervously about him. Lay to, boys, we'll teach him to prefer the bathtub, and they carried him in a very undignilied manner down to the old swimming hole. Tommy took his eyeglass and walked around imitating him. Then they relieved him of his costly walking stick, spats, patent leather shoes, gloves, and derby hat. They threw his tall hat into the water and watched it float down with the current. Then they carried him gently to the edge of the water and as he screeched loudly they dropped him and ran, for they thought they had seen the new sub-master coming. Mr. Lfleaves certainly was wet before he could get back on the shore again and l don't believe that he ever went back to his old high school but what he acted as natural as he used to in the old days. n., 'za A PROFITABLE MISTAKE .lames Vvilson, while a delegate at a convention met a young lady, whom he had known in college. She asked him to call. The afternoon that he was to call on her, his mind was oc- cupied with a subject which had been brought up at a club meeting, that he had attended. The Orphans' Club in that city was going to try to raise money for a new home. They were about to elect a new president for the club. The one who proved himself best qualified dur- ing this lfund Drive for the ollice would probably receive it. jim was respected very highly by the members of the club. .lf he could only do well in this work, perhaps he would be elected president. lle was framing in his mind what he would say when he asked the prominent business men of the city to give money. .lim had heard some of the prominent men in the club talking about a cer- tain lllr. Thompson, who was very wealthy, but he was as stingy as he was wealthy. Their opinion seemed to be that the man who dared ask him for money and succeeded in getting any would be entitled to the presi- dency. jim forgot that the young lady, Miss Kennerson, had told him that she then lived on 12 instead of 8 Spruce St. Ile had called on this certain young lady quite frequently when he was in col- lege and without thinking he called at H Spruce St. and rang the bell. just as he pressed the button he re- membered, but it was too late probably. But then, perhaps the bell wouldn't be answered, he had given such a short ring. lint, alas! He heard footsteps

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THE ACADEMY BELL 21 l'eople had made him seem that way. jim was astounded at the wonderful generosity. lle thanked Mr, Thomp- son as politely as he could in his ex- citement. Mr. Thompson seemed to understand and only smiled and he went to the door with jim. jim called up the manager of the liund Committee and told him. The manager said that it really was the Mr. Thompson that the men had been talk- ing about. jim was too excited to go to Miss lxt-nnerson's then. lle went to his rooms to think it all out, pleading a headache to Miss Kennerson by phone. The next day jim received notice that he was elected president of the club. jim could not understand why everyone thot that that was such a great feat. After that time he and lllr. Thompson were great friends. jim had really broken the thickening wall between lllr. Thompson and the rest of the world. D. lj., '26, FRYEBURG This pleasant peaceful village is in the fertile Saco River meadows. james Ripley Osgood, well known in Boston literary circles fifty years ago. for his connection with the Atlantic and later with Harpers Magazine and Kate Putman Osgood, writer of verse, were born and spent their youth- ful years in the large house on the left, now marked Ye Inn. Commander Robert li. l'eary spent a year or more in Fryeburg .after graduating from Bowdoin, and is now an occasional visitor to the village. Fryeburg was granted to General joseph Frye of Andover, Mass., a vet- eran of the French wars. For many years it was the only town near the White Mountains and thrived as the market town of the countryside. Dan- iel NN'ebster taught at the Fryeburg Academy, eking out his slender salary of 3350. a year by copying deeds for the county register. llowells opened A Modern lnstance here and Ur. llolmes introduced a Fryeburg char- acter in Elsie Yennerf' THE BOSTON AND MAINE RAIL- ROAD STRIKE. The first nation-wide railroad strike ever called by union-heads was called on july I, 1922. The men who struck were the shopmen and yard workers. They were led to believe that this would cripple the service so much that the railroad heads would be forced to yield to their demands. This did prove to be the case on many of the larger, more eliicient roads, but on the smaller roads where poor service was common they stood the shock better and hired strike-breakers to carry on the work as best they could. This soon broke the strike and the strik- ers were forced to go back to their jobs or lose them. The one exception to this was the lloston and Blaine system 'in New ling- land. The strike-breakers who did go to