Guilford High School - Rostrum Yearbook (Guilford, ME)

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4' ......m..-..,.......,.-..,.-....-....-.i..-.M.-...4.1..,,..................,........-...-.......,...1 ............,......................- .,.. ..,.,.........-...........,......... 'Q' I 1 I LITERARY , AUNT PRISCILiLA'S SIPREE Aunt Priscilla had decided to go on a spree! This was the awful truth laid bare. She trembled with a wick- ed delight when she thought of it. For years she had yielded to her daughter's will, but now, before her son and his wife came, she would have one riotous good time! Prob'ly Jim and Caroline'll order me 'round, so I'll just do as I please 'fore they come! she mused. The next morning at ten o'clock she was standing in her dining room surrounded by pails of paste and un- cut rolls of paper. Her white hair was in a state of wild disorder, and on her nose was a dab off flour. There! I reckon this will do for a start, as she unrolled the paper, disclosing a vivid length of black and white stripes dotted with large crim- son roses. How Martha did carry on when I wanted this paper! I al- ways did like something bright. At two o'clo-ck she surveyed her work and chuckled. The walls were cer- tainly dazzling. My! Won't the neighbors stare! Let me see,-what'll I do next? . Oh -the circus I The townspeople watched with open mouths that afternoon the sight of Aunt Priscilla seated upon the board bench bravely eating peanuts and pop corn. However, Aunt Pris- cilla was not worrying. No indeed! She was enjoying herself. She watched breathlessly the hair-raising stunts of the acrobats, laughed at the antics of the clowns, and said with motherly concern, on seeing an actor tie himself into a double-triple kifot, Poor fellow! He must find it hard when he untwists himself to tell which is his head and which is his feet. She even squandered twenty cents on a song book, and cared not when it turned out to have only advertise- ments of songs inside. At last it was over, and she was tripping along ho-me, quite uncon- scious that her hat was on one side and her skirt torn. Later in the evening she stood by her window looking at the stars. The moon smiled back at her and a shoot- ing star flashed across the sky, mark- ing the end of Aunt Priscilla's spree. Linwood Flanders '40 - D0 UNTO oTHERs Driven out of Bostcn and delfeated at Charleston. the British determined to strike at New York. 'Their plan was to get possession of the city and of the Hudson river. They could then prevent the New England colo- nists and those south of New York from helping each other, for Amer- ica's force on land was small and it had no proper war ships with which to attack the British by sea. General George Washington fore-

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8 THE ROSTRUM WHAT IS TACT? Being only a high school student, I don't pretend to know all that there is to know about this very deep and complex subject. There are many angles and viewpoints to be consid- ered when one is writing on tact. It is impossible to say, truthfully, that tact is a good thing in every sense of the word: and it is as equally impos- sible to say that it is a poor thing. Where the exact truth of the matter lies, it is hard tzo say, but probably 'between the two extremes. One well-known fo-rm of tact is that which is employed in all politi- cal campaigns. Everyone is doubt- lessly familiar with the baby-kiss- ing politicians who go around all summer making rash promises. Most people usually believe that a large part of a politician's campaign sounds something like this: How-do-you-do, madam. My, what a lovely baby you have there! He is the living image off you. What's his name? Percival, you say? Why, what a coincidence! My own little son at home is named Percival. Dear little Percy! How I do long to see him. fAt this point he sniffs and wipes his eyes.J Do you mind if I madam? Csmack, smackl kiss him, Good-day, madam. I'm glad to have met you,-er, by the way, here is my card. Yes, I am running for Con- gress this year. If I am elected, Ii intend to see that all mothers are compensated for their trials and trib- ulations. I stand for the women's rights. And so he goes on down the street, muttering, Co-ntemptible brat! He drooled all over my necktie. Madam will proceed on her way homeward and will convince all the members of the 'household and of her fbridge club to vote for that nice Mr. So-and-So, whom she meets on the street. Then Mr. So-and-So stops his 16- cylinder car at a farm house and has a little chat with Paw Perkins. Of icourse, as Paw is the only one around there who knows anyt'hing about politics, Maw and Elmer, who has just passed 21, and the hired man and his wife will all vote for that city guy that was so interested in the crops, and who is standing for the rights off the farmers . Of course, when the gentleman is elected, it never occurs to him to keep the promises he made all summer. That form of tact is decidedly a poor thing. The person who employs that form o-f tact wherein he makes promises that he never intends to keep, is getting himself into deep wa- ter, because some day there will come a day of reckoning. Consequently, some people believe that tact is merely another form of lying, but it isn't and should not be classed as such. Tact, in the true sense of the Word, is an art. It is the ability of some people to persuade others to their way of thinking with- out arousing antagonism. They have that delicate sense of discrimi- nation that allows them to make their words and actions invariably agreeable to their associates. Tact in this sense, is a characteristic very rarely found in the common person. A person so gifted should consider himself indeed fortunate, for it is a trait that tends to make one success- ful in life, regardless of occupation. iThus, the conclusion might be drawn that tact is a desirable thingy but that the word is misrepresented, in that it is used to define graft and corruption that could more properly be called prevarication. Cleo Bishop '35

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JO e THE ROSTRUM saw the intention of the British and prepared for it. When General Howe with his brother, Lord Howe, who was commander o-f the British fleet, reached New York in the sum- mer cf 1776, they found Washington in possession of the city. They also found that they could not send their ships up the Hudson as easily as they had hoped, for the Americans had built Fort Washington and Fort Lee to prevent it. Still the British were confident of being victorious. Howe and his brother were inexperienced military commanders. They had the aid of of General Clinton and 'General Corn- wallis, and over thirty thousand well-armed soldiers, men who fought for a living. Washington had less than eighteen thousand, most of whom knew noth- ing of war. while many had no mus- kets fit to fight with. But Wasliing- ton held the city and the forts on the Hudson and he had possession of Brooklyn Heights on Long Island, di- rectly across from the city on the south. General Howe was on Staten Island with his army. He saw that if he could take Brooklyn Heights and plant his cannon there, he would be able to drive Washington out o-f New York, just as Washington, bv seizing Dorchester Heights, had driven him out of Boston. General Putnam was in command of the Heights with a force of nine thousand gallant Americans. In the battle of Long Island, August, 1776. the gallant little Rebel army met with defeat. f Putnam with his whole army would surely have been captured had it not been for Washington's energy and skill. During' that night a dense fog came up and under cover of it Wash- ington got all of Putnam's men safely across the river in boats to New York. In the morning, when the British commander stretched cut his hand to take the nest of rebels as the called it, the rebels had fied. Washington was now forced to abandon New York and retreat up the east side of the river. He was naturally very anxious to find out what the British meant to do next. Captain Nathan Hale of Connecticut volunteered to try to get the informa- tion for him, but the brave young man was arrested and hanged as a spy. Washington ordered West Point, the strongest place on the west bank of the Hudson, to be fortified, to pre- vent the redcoats from going up to Albany. He then crossed to the west bank of the river, but could not hold his ground against Ilord Corn- wallis, and he lost both Fort Wash- ington and Fort liee. I-Ie had left some of his best soldiers, under the command of General Charles Lee, on the east side of the Hudson. He now ordered I..ee to join him, but that traitorous officer disobeyed him. Washington with his small force now began to retreat across New Jer- sey toward Philadelphia. He broke down bridges after he had crossed them, destroyed the provisions Cornwallis ho-ped to get for his army, and so delayed the enemy that it took them nearly three weeks to march about seventy miles across a level country. Cornwallis and his redcoats fol- lowed the retreating Americans sometimes at a distance. then again close on their heels. There were times when the redcoats would be entering a town just as the rebels were hurrying out of it. Many patriots began to despair of success. They did not see how the rebel army, consisting of only three thousand men. who were wretchedly armed, scantily clothed, and half fed,