Hamden Hall Country Day School - Perennial Pine Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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CRABS My, how dull a crab's life must be, especially in the winter time when there isn't even anybody to pinch. In the summer time if he is a big crab, all he can do is go around and frighten ladiesg and if he is a small crab, all he can do is go around-that is, until he gets picked up by some nature for mealh lover and is put in with a lot of bigger crabs where he gets very much bruised. After some time he is dumped, with all the other crabs, into a kettle of boiling water and becomes somebody's meal. For a growing crab life must be extremely tiresome, there being nothing to do but play hide-and-seek with the fishes and pinch sand worms. CWhether these worms bite back and whether their bite is poisonous still remains a mystery to us.b A crab's diet must become terribly monotonous-sea-weed sandwiches and water, with the occasional rare treat of discarded fish bait and water snakes. Goodness, how boring a crab's life must be- Living all day on the Hoot of the sea, Living all day in salt water, not fizz. Oh, how boring a crab's life sure is. Nothing to do but to sit and to dream, Nothing to write-no, not even a theme! Not a use do they have for saws or for axesg Not a day do they worry about income taxes! Such is a crab's life, and you must agree How awfully boring a life it must be. Freeman Sleeper Form III THE STORY OF AN ANT This is the story of Caesar, an ant, as told by Caesar himself. My full name is Caesar Antipode. I am three months old and am a native son of New Haven. My father was born in the White House in Washington and came to New Haven in a loaf of bread. My life is a very miserable one, especially with the new age of science. All you humans are doing is inventing new poisonous liquids and powders and then improving upon them with your D.D.T. When I escape your poisons, someone is trying to step on me or someone is pouring hot water down my back. I can't see what I do to you humans except once in a while to take a little food from your pantry or crawl down your back. But even if I do take some food, I still leave plenty for you. Also please tell me what pleasure you get out of knocking down my house. I spend days carrying rocks to build up an entrance, and then you knock it down. That's why my life is so miserable. If I act a little harsh sometimes, I'm just paying you back for what you do to me. . Dick Narhman Form IV Forty-nine

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AN ORIENTAL PHANTOM Ming Tau thought that it was really quite a beautiful evening, in fact one of the most breathlessly lovely he had ever known. Full of expectant dreams, he strolled along the cobble-stone streets, fancying himself as the personification of all that he held in awe: extreme bravery, Confucius-like acceptance of all situations, terrifying or satisfying. Tau's contemplative mood was rudely interrupted soon, however, by a scratching, scraping sound that intruded upon his thoughts. Being too contented with his present mood, and not wishing to have the spell broken, he turned the next corner to rid himself of the annoyance that followed. But the thing turned too, and Tau felt an almost imperceptible tug at his queue. This queue was a great source of pride to Tau, for it was thick and extraordinarily long, reaching nearly to the ground. The little Chinaman's indignation at the unknown object that had pulled it was subdued only by his fear to look around and face this thing that turned when he turned, moved when he moved, and stopped when he stopped. The lovely evening, Tau noticed, had become the forbidding night, and the relentless scraping behind him was magnified by the almost ghostly silence that hung over the alleys. In contrast to the extreme tranquility which had pervaded his spirit only a short time before, Tau now became frantic, a hunted feeling pursuing him along the streets at a stumbling pace. All his ideals of bravery were flung to the winds as the terrified little man fled toward the sanctuary of his cottage, muttering unintelligible incantations and pleas between gasps, but ever on it followed, bumping and scraping, tugging at his queue. At staggered intervals Tau stopped unexpectedly, summoned his fast disappearing courage, and looked back . . . not even a shadow or the faintest sound. He ran, stopped . . . lurched on again, stopped, and so on until he recognized the little hut where he could rid himself of the monster that was intent on trailing and horrifying him. As the little man scrambled up his steps, the thing, nipped the back of his leg, and unable to control himself any longer, an anguished howl of sheer terror escaped him. As he tried in vain to batter down the door with his fists, he found that he was beating his wife, who, astonished and bewildered, dragged her convulsed husband into the hut. Tau was ashamed to tell her of his Hight, for a man should always be thought of as the strong one, abounding in fortitude. If he confessed, the woman would certainly tell the others of his panic, his lack of self-control. There was no reason to reveal the truth now anyway, for the inhuman thing had not followed him into the hut. There was no need for explanation, however, for Ming Tau had an under- standing wife who did not press him, but became all motherly and compassionate, brushing and straightening his coat and removing from the end of that fabulous queue-a tremendous bramble! Natalie Jaffe Form VI F any-ei gbt

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THE NEWSPAPER BOY With few exceptions, every boy and girl reaches a period in his youthful life when he wants to work at a part-time job. I wasn't one of the exceptions, my first sight into the great wide world came when I made a start toward being a newspaper tycoon by becoming a news carrier. We moved into a' small village for the summer. I felt that I wanted to get a job. The boy next door was going away and giving up his newspaper route. After much discussion my parents decided to humor me and let me have it. We had been living in the village only three days, I didn't know the name of the street two blocks away, not to mention the whole village. At the age of fourteen little things like that didn't bother me. I thought of a bike I had in mind and of having my own spending money. Little did I know. Saturday night the boy next door brought over the paper list. I asked him what time we would start in the morning. He told me that it wou1dn't be we, it would be I, because he was leaving that night with his family for their vacation. I told my father nothing of this, hoping everything would be all right. The bike didn't look quite so near. Three o'clock Sunday morning I began, or I should say, tried to begin. When I arrived at the corner to pick up the papers, I stood quite still for a minute looking at the papers. It looked as if there were enough papers for the entire state. I then stood close to the street light and looked over my address list, which was written in pencil on yellow paper. After I had walked six blocks and delivered the grand total of six papers, I came upon a house which I knew was supposed to get a paper. just as I was on the steps of the house, I heard a deep-throated growl. I saw out of the corner of my eye in the semi-darkness a dog which looked as large as a lion. I dropped the papers and fled. This was too much, the bike looked quite small at this point. I returned home, woke up my father and told him my long tale of woe. He agreed to help me deliver the rest of my papers. Already I felt better. Father knew twice as many streets in the village as I did, maybe he knew more than twice the number I knew. QThis turned out to be rightg father knew five streets.J Dawn by this time was almost ready to greet the world for another day. The great red eye of the sun began to peep out from his bed in the earth. When we returned to the house of the huge dog, we discovered the dog was quite lame, nearly blind, and had no teeth. I tried to tell my father it must have been another dog that had growled at me. Father just stared ahead. At the next house I knocked over a bottle of milk. Father had done a Hip on a roller-skate some child had left in front of a house. Father calmly proceededg to be truthful, he was so calm that I was nervousg he had a strange glint in his eyes. For the rest of the summer I didnlt mind pulling weeds from the garden to earn the bicycle. At least one could see them, and there were no dogs running through the garden. Frank Backos Form VI Fifty .