Governors Academy - Milestone Yearbook (Byfield, MA)

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T H E M I L E S T O N E SENIOR OUTLINE OF HISTORY HILE in Singapore during my sojourn from school last autumn I had a very amazing experience. Now amazing experiences, it seems to me, rarely happen at Dummer, though often in Singapore or for that matter in any place east of Suez. This incident quite delighted me. I have no special sympathy with people who every so often consult a clairvoyant or astrologer or lay everything that happens to them on fate, nevertheless, whether I was visited with delirium or hallucinations at the time, I will leave it to you. Some friends I met there inveigled me to go and see an old Hindu for- tune teller who was quite the craze among European residents at the time. The first thing I knew I was in some dirty den with a little old crooked brown man bending over a crystal globe. And let me tell you before I left the place I believed in that queer Oriental belief of reincarnation that the Hindus and other Eastern people rave about. I believed we all once belonged to another age, that I or you or anybody might have been Nebuchadnezzar or Napoleon or some nut of the Pre-Volsted days. VVhen I was asked whom I wanted to see in the magic ball, the first thing I Wanted to see was our class, that is, each member as he was. I was satisfied and I will endeavor to reveal to you what was revealed to me by the obscure arts and sciences of the East. I remember the old fogy passing his gaunt, claw-like hands several times over the globe, muttering Arabic or Chinese or some tongue-twisters. An inward glow became apparent within the crystal ball and things began to happen. The past unrolled, the present faded away. I became a specta- tor of various scenes. First I beheld a prehistoric forest, deep, tangled, and unearthly. Un- couth creatures crawled or climbed about the wild landscape, antediluvian monsters, of which I caught glimpses, crashed about in the vicinity in search for prey. I became aware of an ape-like man in the picture. His unkempt hair and beard fell to his waist. Under a bushy pair of eyebrows two fierce eyes glared. Below them was a short, gorilla-like snout and a savage mouth. Uttering a few guttural grunts, he shouldered a bludgeon and slunk off presumably in search of mastodon meat. I was not long in de- termining that this was Mose, primevally. I marvelled at what the mutability of years had done to this brute-like creature, now such a gentle- man of polish and intellect. The next scene presented was a hanging garden of ancient Babylon. On a terrace planted with tropical trees, where expensive peacocks strutted about, was held the court al frfsco of an Eastern monarch. Purple silk canopies were stretched from tree to tree while rich carpets were spread over the greensward. On an ivory throne sat the king surrounded by l23l

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T H E M I L E S T O N E 221 ANDREW ELDRIDGE VALENTINE 'var' Ami thou art long, and lamb, and brown AJ if thf ribbed :ea-rand. -Coleridge. Entered School, 1923. Preparing for Norwich Football Squad, '23 Track Squad, ,24 Class Basket Ball, ,23-'24 Baseball Squad, ,124 Photograph Editor, Milestone, '24 GJ Q t

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Q 9 T H E M I L E S T O N E cringing slaves. His trappings were gold and blazed with gems. His hair was twisted into long ringlets, his beard carefully groomed, in fact he was a very expensive looking objez fart. He was chastising his cowering vassals with a tyrannous tongue. Evidently his word was law. It was scarcely difficult to recognize this Chaldean despot as our own king and leader Ferdie. Another scene materialized before me. I saw a broad plain with moun- tains beyond on whose sides gleamed white temples and marble shrines. In the distance a figure approached at a rapid pace. Drawing nearer my line of vision it took on the semblance of a runner. It was a young man whose agility was deer-like and whose celerity was that of a racing car. I made his features out to be those of Tray, the originator of the Marathon race, who brought the tidings of a Greek victory to Athens. Next-a Norwegian vessel ploughing over the waves. Above a fan- tastically carved prow stood a tall young Viking looking over the broad blue sea. His armor flashed in the northern sun and the salt spray beat upon his haughty face imprinting upon it the indelible signs of a blush that should remain permanent through out his life. This was 'cBoydie, it could be no other. The scene faded. I was in the desert under a tropical sun. Over the sandy horizon gal- loped a band of Arabian horsemen, their snowy robes flying behind. At their head was a veritable sheik, swathed in bizarre raiment, be-turbaned, brandishing a wicked, curved scimeter and letting forth eerie war whoops. Here was Tommy,', on a marauding expedition searching for a new prize for his harem, full of the zest of the hunt. A cloud of dust obscured the scene. When all had cleared I beheld a wild scene of revelry. In an enormous hall lined with gilded pillars was held an elaborate banquet of the days of the Caesars. Here present were the jeunesse doree, the flaming youth, arid all the good fellows of Rome. Lolling on inlaid couches in attitudes of abandon Cand perhaps inebriationj were these happy-go-lucky carousers, encircled with garlands, plucking at the appetizing victuals or listening to the barbaric sounds of a classical jazz band. At the head of the table reclined the emperor, the life of the party, wreathed and in purple robes. He was very pleased with his gay surround- ings and liberally joined in the rites to Bacchus. The face of this enthusias- tic host bore a striking likeness to '4Fitz.,' This orgy faded from view and I beheld a long, winding road. There approached a glittering cavalcade of armoured men. An imposing proces- sion was this, fluttering pennons, Hashing lances, all the color of medieval pageantry. This band of brave knights were none other than the Cru- saders setting out for the Holy Land. At the head on a spirited white horse rode a noble knight bearing a banner of the cross. As he came into l24l