Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

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The Academy Bell 21 Grover Bancroft sat before the fireplace reading a yellow and faded newspaper. Susan sat across from him knitting busily. Neither spoke, but both seemed happy and content. Yes, they had died some hundred years ago, but the life they had loved had never really gone. They had lost nothing but the troubles of their mortal years and had retained the peace and contentment in the hereafter. Pos- sibly the children of the town were unknowingly aware of the old Bancroft House in its true sense. Perhaps that accounted for the awe they held for it. Fantastic? J Perhaps, but who can tell. IANE BROWN, ,AB BASKETBALL BLUES WHERE is the team? Where is the coach? Where is the gym key? Where are the basketballs? These and a million other questions were running through the minds of the two lone representatives of the F ryeburg Academy Girls' Basketball Team one afternoon. A-ah, here comes Miss Moore with a few othersf' There was a great rush for the gym door, and Midge, in haste to get a basket- ball, was the first one on the Hoot. She spied a ball under the bleachers and ran or started to run to get it. The dance of the night before had been forgotten and she had the entire sideline in stitches from watching her antics on the waxed Hoor. First she rolled back on her heels, then a leg went up in the air, the other lower limb deciding to go to the side, and poor Midge was just a tangled heap. No scrimmage today, girls, declared Miss Moore after seeing Midge's fate. We settled down to a routine practice, but later decided that the Hoof wasn't too slippery to try a scrimmage. Teams were chosen and Miss Moore had an over- viciousn guard as her opponent. During one of the rougher moments of the game the guard made a grab for the ball Capparently with both eyes shutj, got Miss Moore's head instead and tried to bounce it. This may be somewhat enlarged upon, but as a result we found our coach spread out on the Hoof with a somewhat sickly expression. A ball rolled under the seats and Ianie went to get it, but of course she couldn't stop at the edge of the court. Oh, no, she had to see if she could dive through the space between the seats of the bleachers. Her elbow hit the lower seat, her head made a dent in the upper, and approximately half of lane was under the bleachers and the other half out. Everyone was really going places in that scrimmage. Someone would run for the ball, catch it, and slide five yards from the momentum. An involved discus- sion followed on the question: Is she traveling? There have been many other picturesque tumbles, accidents, and mistakes during practices. Once Miss Moore, in an attempt to get the forwards to shoot more, cried out, Shoot yourself, Mary! at which words Mary quickly passed the ball to someone else because she wanted to play in Friday's game, and how could she with her brains blown out? NANCY DINSMOREI ,46

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LZl?7 6ll'Zl7 6 OUT, OUT, BRIEF CANDLE As the first rays of the early morning sun peered in at the Windows, the ancient house seemed to take on new life. Where, the night before, had stood a barren hulk against the sky, now reared the form of a shabby, yet picturesque building standing with pride upon the hillside. Two or three old elms on the lawn stood majestic guard over the old place that the people of the little town had come to look upon as a historic memorial to the famous family it had once sheltered. On the other hand the youngsters of the village regarded the Bancroft House with awe and not a little fright. The grounds were in excellent condition, it is true, and the house itself had undergone a few minor repairs at the hands of the local ladies' club, which sponsored its being open to the public, but it struck a weird note in the imaginations of the younger generation, nevertheless. Toward noon the seclusion of Bancroft House was broken by the approach of an automobile, from which emerged three middle-aged women of the town, the hostess committee of the afternoon to greet visitors to the historic landmark. From twelve oiclock on through the afternoon, groups of sightseers drove up to the house, and a few parties on foot straggled up over the hill for a tour of the in- terior. The inside of Bancroft House was in keeping with the outside in that, with the exception of a few sundry repairs, it was entirely commemorative of the colonial period. So completely had the structure maintained its original atmosphere, one scarcely would have been surprised to see Grover Bancroft coming in at the side door and his wife, Susan, running to meet him. In the dining room, the table was set as though, any minute, the wealthy colonial family might gather around to eatg and, in the kitchen, pots and pans adorned the walls, while an ancient tea kettle steamed on the old wood stove. Visitors marveled at the skill with which the rooms had been brought to life. It seemed hardly possible that this weather- beaten, yet stately, mansion had not been inhabited for nearly a century. The house appeared fully capable of carrying on the Bancroft name so it should not be forgotten now that the last of that renowned family lived no more. All afternoon visitors arrived, some with picnic lunches and others with sketch books and pencils in hand, but as dusk approached fewer came, until finally, as the sun began to lose a bit of its brightness, the three women came out, turned the key in the door and drove away. Once more the house was alone. Apparently nothing remained to break its soli- rude, yet it had no appearance of loneliness which most abandoned houses bear. Rather it seemed relieved to be unburdened of all those mortals who had invaded its rooms that day. if if 'X' W fl

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22 The Academy Bell OF SUPERSTITIONS AND THINGS ARE you superstitious? Do you believe in lucky numbers, jinxes, or even ghosts? For if you do, it,s a sure sign that not all your instincts and emotions are as civilized as you may like to think. Of course you know some of the common, every-day beliefs that we hate to be aware of, but are so vital. There,s the black cat, unlucky I3 for 3, or whatever your favorite may bej, and don't forget-never walk under a ladder! If you Find it necessary to explain away that curious action to some laughing friend, tell him the ladder might have slipped and fallen on you. It's logical. One of the most beautiful of our ordinary superstitions is that of wishing on the evening star, I-Iaven,t you ever seen the first star shining at night in a dark, blue sky and said softly: Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight, VVish I may, wish I might Have the wish I wish tonight?,' Confess, now haven't you? Don't feel foolish, though, we all have some little hoodoo that makes a disturb- ing appearance now and then. You won't be ashamed of yours if you know just a few of the queer superstitions commonly believed in in other countries. Sea- faring nations especially have some of the most interesting. For instance, the Nor- wegians actually believe in the existence of a hex, or a merman-a sea animal half Hsh and half man. He is popularly supposed to wear a small red cap and is never seen more than once in seven years. Think how tame 'lthree on a match is to that! If you want a really eerie superstition, one on which you could easily base a good ghost story, consider this one of the Skipamal,,' or speaking ship. It is said that utterances come forth from the hulls of old vessels, although it naturally fol- lows that few understand the strange language. A few superstitions may actually be based on scientific facts. Take an old French belief that the position of a drowned body may be discovered by a Hoating loaf of bread. If you really want an explanation, the most logical seems to be that the loaf will possibly be carried the same way the body was. That probably isn't fool- proof: better not experiment. Don't give a sailor friend any cause to mention a four-footed animal while he's on board ship, at least if you still want him to be a friend, for it will certainly bring bad luck. That little gem of a jinx originated in Scotland, and is one of a series of like superstitions that are as numerous as Fish in the sea. Now that you know these few, cross your fingers and hope for the best. The only good way to get around them is to believe in predestination. They may inter- fere even there, who knows? But in all seriousness, some dark, stormy night when you're all out of mystery stories, get an authentic source and look up some