Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

Page 25 text:

4 Nj .- ts l I MY DEBUT NEVER shall I forget my first appearance in the annual town band concert. This concert was the great event of the year, and Peter Watson and I were to play a trumpet duet as the opening number of the program. My family was looking forward with pride to my appearance. They, poor souls, had endured my in- cessant practicing for weeks without too much griping. I had practiced nAmerica, the Beautifuln for the last time that morning when I decided to wash the trum- pet. I did a thorough job of cleaning it and finished by removing and wiping the three valves which are nearly alike. All was apparently in readiness for the after- noon. My new blue suit and the carefully pressed red and white jacket which members of the band wore had been neatly laid out on my bed. Perhaps I'd better try it once moref, I thought, thinking of the trumpet, but just then mother called. '6You'd better come along to dinner now, Roger,', she said. If you can't play that thing by now, you never willf, So I scurried along. The concert was to start at 3:00 and by 2:45 the bleachers and chairs which had been moved into the park were all filled. Sitting on the wooden platform in the center of the park, I looked out over a varied audience-elderly people sit- ting placidly anticipating the performance, small children scampering about or pouting to restraining mothers, worried parents, proud of their children's ac- complishments, bored parents who were sighing disinterestedly at the thought of the ordeal to which they would soon be subjected. Mother was obviously proud of her son, as she exchanged greetings with near- by friends, and father seemed pleased too. My whole family was seated in the third row so they could see and hear everything. Gramp, uneasy in his best clothes, bore the look of stubborn doubt which he had assumed from the first of my musical career as a trumpeter. My older sister Iane in her new pink taffeta dress was exchanging long and frequent glances with her boy friend Bob on the other side of the aisle, while Alice, the younger, when she wasn't making faces at me or tittering over some private joke with the girl behind her, was gazing listlessly about the park trying to catch someone's eye. MJ

Page 24 text:

DONALD WILLIAM BROWN, Brownie GENERAL COURSE Born February 14, 1932 Residence, Lynn, Mass. Football CI, 2, 3, 453 Basketball C2, 3, 45, Baseball f25g Track Q2, 3, 455 Skiing CI, 2, 3, 453 Glee Club CI, 2, 3, 45, Varsity Club Q2, 353 Student Council QI, 45, BELL Board f25g Class President f2, 35. Ambition To get away from it all Weaknesx Being a Wolf Favorite Saying Look, Skippy peanut butterf' STANLEY EDWARD BROWN MECHANICAL ARTS COURSE Born March 16, 1933 Residence, East Fryeburg, Maine Football f45g Future Farmers of America Ambition To win an argument with T. B. Weakness Excuses Favorite Saying No suh-can't be clone. WILLIAM EUGENE NIEMAN, IR., Bill COLLEGE COURSE Born November 15, 1932 Residence, South Orange, N. I. Entered from Columbia High School, '5o. Football Q45g Basketball C455 Baseball Ambition To inherit a li'l ole bank Weakness Women Favorite Saying Aw, gee! ROBERT YORK PRESTON, Bob GENERAL COURSE Born February 24, 1933 Residence, Freedom, N. H. Entered from Manchester High School, ,49. Football Manager - Ambition To get 84 pts. lflfeakness No. 4 Favorite Saying ???

Page 26 text:

g4 The ef4C6Z6f611'ly 'Bell By the time the bandleader had finished his opening speech, the bright sun- light streaming through the trees had already forced all except the few who were lucky enough to be shaded for the moment to mop their brows and fan themselves with the printed programs. Peter and I walked forward and raised the trumpets to our lips. I could feel my legs tremble and wondered if Peter's were too. The slowly moving programs stopped, and all eyes were glued on us. We started to play our piece, America, the Beautiful? The boomff-ruff-oof-blah-fff-brr-urr-ruff that emitted from my trumpet startled me and electrified the audience. They were too surprised to respond im- mediately with anything except a blank look of wonder. We started over again. This time all I could manage was a succession of squeaks amid muffled tones and blasts of air. A burst of laughter followed, and clapping and jeering greeted my efforts. Mine was the melody part, and I was on the verge of tears. Mother's eyes glistened sympathetically, and she dabbed at them with the corner of her green silk handkerchief. The expression on my father's face plainly showed his amazement at the unexpected turn of events, and Gramp was laughing heartily. Alice clapped and giggled with the others, but Iane did not look in my direction. She had a very vague, far-away look in her eyes, as if something beyond the limits of the park had suddenly commanded her full and undivided attention. She had obviously disowned me as any kin of hers. By this time I couldn,t muster enough breath to blow the trumpet at all, and I realized that the only way to avoid the catcalls was to sit down. I did so, my lips quivering, leaving poor Peter to carry on alone as best he could. I kept my seat throughout the concert staring Hxedly at the knot in the Hoof under the drummer's chair, not daring to look at my friends or relatives in the audience. It was not until afterward that I discovered I had put the valves in the instru- ment in the wrong order. I wouldnit tell anyone except my parents and teacher, but Alice overheard. So within a few hours all my friends had heard about it, and my mistake was the subject of much teasing for a long time to come. MAYNARD SEELYE, ,52 A DAY IN THE OPEN THERE was paper-thin ice clinging to the reeds along the weir bank the morning I slid my battered old canoe into the chilly river for the long trip downstream. Tom, my faithful old retriever, lay at my feet in the canoe. It was an early Oc- tober morning and the foliage was ablaze with red and yellow from lack Frostis palette. The air was clear and had the clean, tangy taste that only a fall morning can possess. Old Tom's nose was a-twitch with the wonderful smells drifting to him on the lazy breeze from the nearby uplands. We were after duck or snowgeese or the highly valued honkers. Even as we dropped swiftly downstream in the early dawn light, there were large Hights