Girls High School of Brooklyn - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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,-i 1 TY ECI TI-I N DAY A 8 0 OYCE SI-IAPIRO. 2 J A Jin lfill ' Illllllllllllll nm Si n n I n n nn The sound of a Train whisfle could be heard in The darkness of The nighT. I was on ThaT Train, bound for New York. As iT moved onward, The monoifonous raTTle of The wheels caused my mind To wander To ThoughTs of The day before. Louise, a friend of mine, and I had arrived in WashingTon. Safurday evening aT nine o'cIock. We planned To spend The enTire day sighfseeing. We IefT The house very early Sunday morning wiTh a greaf deal of enfhusiasm. My uncle, wiTh whom we were sTaying, gave us a map of The ciTy. One Thing we noTiced differenT from whaT we were accusfomed To was The exfreme friendliness of The ciTizens of WashingTon. When we were riding in The bus, The oTher passengers had noTiced ThaT we were from ouT of Town, and Ten of Them goT TogeTher and improvised a IisT of places we mighr like .To visiT. The firsT Thing IisTed on our ifinerary was The Capifol buildings. IT is an impressive sighT, buf To our dismay, iT looked To us exacTIy like iTs picTure. We visiTed The various press rooms and spoke To a few reporTers There. Congress was noT in session aT The Time, and The building seemed reIaTively quieT. We Then. IefT The CapiToI. AfTer making a sTudy of our map, we realized ThaT if we followed ConsTiTuTion Avenue, we would pass nearly all The places on our IisT. We walked a few blocks and found ourselves in The Archives Building. The collecfion of famous documenTs and records reminded us of The Freedom Train. We Then visiTed The world-known Smifhsonian InsTiTuTe. Passing Through iTs doors, we came face To face wiTh The plane Admiral Byrd used on his fIighT. Confinuing our sighT-seeing Tour down The avenue, we visiTed The Medical Building, The Supreme CourT, and finally The Pan-American Union. I was parTicuIarly eager To see The Iasf, because in hisTory we had learned how much This organizaTion is doing To help beTTer relaTions beTween The UniTed STaTes and The LaTin American counTries. The Medical Building, besides being inTeresTing, proved To be very educafional. IT is like a miniafure museum, conTaining pcTures, diagrams, and models showing eTfecTs of various diseases on The human body. In The afTernoon, we visiTed The Jefferson Memorial, and The Lincoln Memorial. On The sfeps of The laffer is The famed sTaTue of Lincoln. IT is so lifelike we feIT ThaT any minuTe he was going To rise from his chair and speak To us. We were indeed lucky To be in Washingfon in March when all The cherry blossoms were in bloom. We caughf sighT of Them from a disTance, and iusT looking aT These exquisife Trees gave a IifT To our feelings. The slender branches wiTh Their broad oval leaves were covered wiTh a feaThery mass of small pink flowers. Louise and I agreed ThaT They were far more lovely Than people had described Them. The IasT place on our IisT was The WhiTe I-louse. When we arrived There, we were Taken on a Tour of The easf side of The house. The rooms seemed To be furnished in various colors. l:irsT we enfered The Green Room, Then The Blue and finally The Rose Room. They are lavishly equipped wiTh expensive furnifure, rugs, and drapery. CosTly chandeliers hang gracefully from The ceiling. The Tour ended in The beauTifuI gardens. The Trees and flowers wiTh The WhiTe House in The background formed a breaThTaking sighf. We Took picTures of This view, buT no phoTograph could possibly depicT The beauTy of This scene. A narrow paTh led 'x

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4. 'wi W BITTER MEMORY CHRISTINE VILLANO, 8 The TirsT exciTing evenT oT my school IiTe ThaT I can remember occurred when I was seven years old. IT was a windy, IaTe OcTober morning, and I walked slowly To school because I knew IT was Too early Tor anyone else To be There. The leaves had all Tallen Trom The Trees in The school yard, and The wind kepT blowing Those on The ground around in circles like IiTTle elves dancing gaily. As I enTered The basemenT, I was surprised To see rriy Teacher. She was siTTing aT a small Table in The Tar corner, and I didn'T know wheTher To walk over To her or To siT quieTIy on one oT The benches: I could see ThaT she was very busy. I decided noT To boTher her, as I had noT worked very hard on my reading The nighT beTore, and now I could look over iT again. Since I was busily reciTing To myseIT, I didn'T noTice my Teacher walking over To where I was siTTing. When she was quiTe near, I saw her and lumped up quickly. She, Too, was surprised and laughed gaily. Miss Convery-ThaT was her name-- be middle aged and was quiTe young, Though I ThoughT ThaT a Teacher should ausTere. She asked me IT I would like To do someThing Tor The principal and The resT oT The school, and I wondered whaT she meanT. ATTer all, whaT could I do? She said ThaT she would Talk To me again aT lunch Time because many OT The chil- dren had now arrived. ThroughouT ThaT morning I could noT siT s+iII. I TeIT proud and imporTanT, buT I ThoughT ThaT The Two hands on The clock would never meeT To say ThaT iT was lunch Time. Finally They did, and mosT oT The class was dismissed excepT Tor several oTher girls and me. Miss Convery gaThered us inTo a small circle and Told us The secreT. Before she did This, however, she asked if we would be willing To give up our recess Time in order To do someThing To make The school proud oT us. We agreed eagerly, and Then she Told us. There was To be a ChrisTmas enTerTainmenT, and we were going To wear cosTumes and dance. I hurried home To lunch, running, skipping and dancing all The way. I bIurTed ouT everyThing To my moTher, so exciTed ThaT I could eaT very IiTTle lunch. The oTher girls passed my house on Their way back To school, and we all wenT back TogeTher, so happy ThaT we sang. The nexT monTh or so we were TaughT dancing sTeps during recess. ATTer school we wenT inTo The basemenT To pracTice. We were Tired each evening buT also very happy. The closer The day Tor The enTerTainmenT came, The harder we worked. Then, before we knew iT, we were reminded ThaT The nexT day was The Day. We worked Teverishly ThaT aTTernoon because we wanTed To be perTecT. ThaT evening aT home I pracTiced again. My moTher was worried because I wouldn'T eaT. I sIepT resTIessIy ThaT nighT and woke up wiTh a Tever. OT course, I could noT dance Tor The principal or The school. The nexT day I recovered and wenT sadly To school. My Teacher cheered me by Telling me ThaT, enough Though I hadn'T danced, I would have my picTure Taken in cosTume wiTh The oTher girls. I was iubilanT again, and I have Treasured This picTure ever since. Five i I agcfi LJ' .-or H. M. nf V' - gf T! X f'5TT' 4-413

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us ouf of fhe Whife House grounds. This ended a day of exfensive sighfseeing, and whaf a day if had beenl Suddenly fhe frain iolfed fo a sfop. lvly fhoughfs, which had been wandering. came back fo realify. The conducfor called ouf a familiar name. I was back in New York Cify. Alfhiough I was happy fo be home, for many years fo come I shall remember fhe day I spenf in fhe fascinafing cify of Washingfon. THELMA LONDON, 8 Lasf nighf, from my window, I gazed af fhe infinife number of sfars fhaf sfud fhe sky. As slumber overcame me, I dreamed fhaf I gained wings and floafed, unhindered by winds, afrnospheric pressure, or gravify, fo a disfanf con- sfellafion. I landed on a planef similar fo fhe earfh. I was asfonished fo find ifs civilizafion more widespread and advanced fhan ours. In one of ifs greaf cifies I was amazed fo see many kinds of people living amicably wifh one anofher. I was confronfed by people wifh green hair and red faces, blue hair wifh yellow faces, and brown hair wifh orange faces. They were smiling, happy, cheerful. These people were living in complefe harmony. I mef one of The hisforians of 'rhis planef, and he fold me fhaf ifs name was Paz. Upon quesfion he eagerly described fo me fhe admirable accomplishmenfs of his civilizafion. Whaf is fhe secref of fhis phenomenon? I asked him. I-low old is your world? I was fold 'rhis sfory. If I had visifed Paz one hundred years ago, I would have found a world froubled by polifical corrupfion, and fear of war. The people realized fhaf war would annihilafe fheir civilizafion and decided fo work for everlasfing peace. Whaf was The insfrumenf used? I asked. The people of Paz organized a world governmenf, fhaf fhey called Unis meaning unifed. This infernafional governmenf af firsf received world encourage- menf. If was hailed and acclaimed fhe frue symbol of peace. Unis soon became ineffecfive, however, because a major nafion decided fhaf only if if were allowed fo exploif neighboring counfries, would if cooperafe wifh fhe ofher nafions of Paz. Soon fhe nafions of fhe planef were divided info fwo camps. A munifions race began. War, and consequenfly fhe ferminafion of Paz's civilizafion, seemed inevifable. i If was fime for fhe common people of fhe planef, who compose fhe maiorify, fo acf. They sformed fheir governmenf offices wifh demands for fhe renewal of frusf and faifh in Unis. This oufbreak of emofion was fruly unusual, because fhe pafience of fhe common man is usually exceedingly wide and immeasurably deep. Leaders of all nafions mef and discussed fheir grievances. By being honesf wifh Themselves as fo whaf fheir real mofives were, 'rhey laid foundafions for peace. This movemenf was no quesfion of saving face: if was a maffer of saving civiliza- fion. Gradually condifions improved, and fhe dreams of a securify-hungry people sfarfed coming frue. The resf of fhe sfory I could see for myself in fhe pleasanf life of fhe planef. When I awoke, I was sfill on earfh, buf my fhoughfs were cenfered on fhe planef of my dream and ifs enviable condifions. I fhoughf We could have fhem for our world if we'd only fry. Seven f ' 'i-411 puma- TV' ...- . --s if ' 1' NF' '-'---l' , -,,.... .... ..-- Z.f...Q-. . ..un ,ie - ,,.........., '23 Z..-i --.k4 - V qv-It . 1