Fort Fairfield High School - Northern Light Yearbook (Fort Fairfield, ME)

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NORTHERN LIGHT ON GOING T0 BED - u ' Samuel Coleridge, a famous author, writes, f'Oh sleep! it 1S a gentle thing. In my view Mr. Coleridge must have been a light sleeper. Sleep tome is like the darkness, or a nar- 1:-otic, or even a dragon, it creeps upon you, and with your com- plete senses about you, you succumb to it and are utterly help- ess. I Just why do you go to bed when you could read a good book? or listen to the radio? or amuse yourself in several ways? Some people say they will be tired tomorrow. In that case they are far-sighted, and some far-sighted people are pessimists. If a person goes to bed so that he will be awake tomor+ row, he might miss something tonight, and live to see a lot of sleepy people tomorrow. Sleep is a powerful and mighty thing. Lindbergh, the greatest hero of the day, says that the hardest thing on his whole journey was to fight away sleepiness. Sleep has killed thousands of people. There is a sleeping sickness, peo- ple who have it go to sleep and never wake up. This is the most pleasant death I could think of for some sleepy-heads. Sometimes people driving cars succumb to sleepiness and wreck their cars, oftentimes causing their own death. In the army in time of war if a guard is found asleep he is punished by death. Sleep is so powerful that if a person were to go with- out sleeping and eating he would go to sleep before he would starve to death. Medford Locke, '28. NATURE Spring is to me the best season of the year. It is to our year what morning is to our day. The birds come back and build their nests where they can stay throughout the summer. The flowers also begin to wake up and push their heads ihrough the ground that had been frozen for so long.l With all nature working so hard to prepare for summer, it is im- possible for us to act indifferent. All through the winter we are kept indoors, or when we do muster up enough courage to resist Jack Frost we have to wrap ourselves up in woolen clothes unless we want to freeze. So when spring comes and we can sit on the porch steps and watch the thermometer thaw out, It's a grand and glorious feeling. G. Johnson, 28. 11

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NORTHERN LIGHT ESSAY ON CARRYING WOOD A wood box. Did you ever take a good look at one of 'e1n? Ain't they just the worst things ya ever saw? They 're all wood dust and chips and everything ya hate to look at. l'll bet Aristotle never seen a wood box, because- we never heard anything about him luggin' wood. My gosh! when Ma hollars Come, Johnnie, and get some Wood, hurry now, the wood box is empty and the iirels almost out. That little piece makes me feel runny, all over. Just think of haiinta go down in that old cellar were it's all dark and damp and split Wood. L'll bet George Washington never had to do that when he was a boy, because if he had it would have spoiled him just like it's doing to ine, and then We Wouldu't have any great President to talk about. Some day lim going to catch cold and die, then she'll be sorry she ever sent me after the old wood. Gosh, I canlt seem to get out of it any way. I hide, I make believe I can 't hear her, but it don't do any good ,cause I always have to get it in the end. Every time I come home Ma always meets me at the door, the iirst thing she says is, Just the boy 1'm looking for, that wood box has been empty all afternoon. And that is supposed to be enough. But I wait around saying, Uwait a minute, donlt hurry meg I'll get your old wood, and the first thing I know I'm down in that cold, black celler. My gosh, I'll be glad when I can live by' myself so I won't have to carry Wood. I'll bet that fellow that held the world on his shoulders would get so tired he would die if he had to hold an armful of wood while Ma iilled the stove out of it. I I don't see why when they build a house they dou't put the celler up stairs right next to the stove. Boy, I'll bet it would be fun living then. Every time Ma asks me to get some wood and I grumble she springs that same line of talk that l'll bet every mother has, Never mind I'll get it, but you'll be sorry when I'm dead and gone. Of course I have to go get the wood, cause I'm supposed to be strong. That's just the way my life is from day to day, and when I get a boy you can bet your bottom dollar he will not carry wood. Merle Benjamin, '28. 10

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NORTHERN LIGHT THE FATE OF THE AMBITIOUS GUEST .Attempting to escape from the approaching avalanche, the family rushed from their house. Before they were able to reach shelter, the avalanche overtook them and buried them alive. The guest, who was the last one, escaped by running back into the cottage. He tried to warn the others but they could not hear him. The slide passed by without touching a corner of the cottage. The guest spent all the next day hunt- ing for his friends but he never found them. After spending a few days at the cottage, the tall, yellow- headed, ambitious, wandering young man departed for Burling- ton. When he reached Burlington, he learned how the fam- ily who had disappeared, had taken pride in taking care of their cottage and their garden. He also learned that this fam- ily wanted their house always to be occupied by someone. Thinking how kind they had been to him, the guest decided to give up his desire for wandering and look after the cottage until someone came along to buy it or to claim it. The happiest days of his life were spent in that little cot- tage in the notch of the White Hills. Many a day he spent writing about the surroundings. f One cold, windy evening, sitting in front of the fire, the guest thought how jolly the family had been before their destruction. As quick as lightning, a thought passed through his mind. Why not write a story about this family? Eagerly he began to work on it. He spent many nights writ- ing. Finally it was finished. The next time he went to Bur- lington for supplies, the young man had his book published. He returned to his cottage well satisfied with his book. Each day'he grew fonder of his new home. He dreaded the thought of giving it up when someone should come to cl-aim it! As the days Went by and no one came, the guest decided that he could spend the remainder of his life there. He died suddenly with heart-trouble. While the stranger was spending a quiet life looking after the cottage, his book was being read everywhere, and meeting with great success. B After his death, people came from far and near to visit his grave and to see the little cottage, which had been de- scribed so well in the book. W M. Hacker, '29. 12