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

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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

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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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N NORTHERN LIGHT DAME VAN WINKLE Katinka Van Hopper was the plump apple-cheeked daugh- ter of old Hedrick Van Hopper. He was the descendant of a i:ne Dutch family, as was his Wife. Hedrick was very thrifty and industrious. He had a nice farm, plenty of live stock, and above all a well-laden table. His wife could not bear the sight of any dirt or disorder around the farm. It was in this atmosphere that Katinka and her three brothers grew up, and when she reached her eighteenth year she was as smart and industrious as her mother. gHedrick Van Hopper and his wife had picked Katinka's future husband from a group of promising young suitors. The parents' choice was lVilliam Tassel, who, on his fatherls death, had fallen heir to a large, well-managed farm and a beautiful iarmhouse. Williaxii and Katinka had been brought up together, played the same games, shared the same joys, and it was truly more a sisteris love that Katinka felt for Williani. Neverthe- less, she consented to be his bride in the following June. On her nineteenth birthday a party was given in her honor by her parents. Neighbors for miles around came, as no invi- tations were needed and a hearty welcome was insured to all. The iiddlers were juststriking up a tune when the door opened to admit John Van Winkle, his wife, and a tall, dark, lank young H1311 who hung behind the others. John Van NVin- kle was a young farmer of that vicinity. It was rumored that a family quarrel had deprived John of his father 's farm at the foot of the Catskill mountains and it had been given to Rip, his brother, who was very shiftless and lazy. Katinka went over and welcomed them. John introduced her to the stranger, saying simply, This is llly brother Rip, Katinka, who is visiting me. Katinka made a. little cour- Icsy. Thereupon Rip asked her for the first dance. Katinka complied, wondering all the time what VVilliam would say. Thus began a series of meetings with Rip, and as time went on Katinka found herself deeply in love with this quiet fellow. About a month before she was to be wed, she went walk- ing along the brook O11 her father's farm. lt was a beautiful spring evening and the air was laden with the scent of wild flowers. About a mile from home she saw Rip Van Winkle sitting dejectedly on the bank. 13