Hartland Academy - Ripple Yearbook (Hartland, ME)

Page 21 text:

dy yet, he thought, Gee, it's wonderful to be home. Home! Maybe he hadn't learned the meaning of that word during the past two years of fighting. How quiet it seemed. Why, even the noise of the elevated and the remem- bered roar of the sulbway seemed quiet be- sides the guns' roar that he was accustomeid to now. It's nice to be able to walk securely and not have to keep looking behind, always expecting' one of those slant eyed .laps to pop you off. What's the use of reliving that hell? Nights were still full of nightmares. He wondered how long it would be before he could fully realize that he was home, and safe! Funny, people are so understanding about the leg. They don't pry about with questions of how it happeneld, and did it hurt, and all that stuff. But then, that's the American peo- ple, the people that he gave the leg for. Any- way, it's a help to avoid' all those questions because it's hard adjusting to being home. Ann is swell about it too. In fact, she and Mom are most swell of all. S'pose the people who love you would naturally be. Here's the corner. Remember the fun with the boys playing marbles here? Golly! How we did hate to go on to school after the noon hour here. It was a perfect corner to play marbles on. The hole for the pot was gone, but memory puts it back completely, right where it belonged. Well, almost home now. Mom and Ann will be waiting and anxious. Mom said not to hurry, but she'll want him there for dinner. Mom's dinners-another thing worth fighting for, and boy, were they good? -Beverley Wood '44 MY FIRST AIRPLANE RIDE Never, if I live to be a thousanld, shall I forget my first airplane ride. It held excite- ment and more sensations than anything I 'had ever experienced. Did you ever ache to do something that you were scared to death to do? And did your skin ever get all goose pimples and your teeth clatter on the hottest day of the year? If you've been through that, you'll know exactly how I felt. I made my first ascent in Bangor. The plane was, a large one, capable of carrying seventeen or eighteen passengers. Anyway, I seemed to be all rigiht until I saw two or three people come down. They said they wouldn't advise anyone to go up just then, so I didn't feel so gay. At that moment of indecision, the man who opened the door -I don't know what you'd call him-pointed his finger at me and shouted, Nez-rt! I hoped that the ground would open up and swallow me on the spot. The ground 'did tremble a little, or was it my kneesm? Encouraged by the shaking. I stood a moment waiting to be swallowed up. No such luck, however, and in another mo- ment I was actually inside the thing, holding hands very tightly with myself. I silently -thought I would like to swap places with the lowest creature on earth. I' gave one long last look at the surrounding landmarks. and thought of all the good times I had had there. Then we were starting skyward. I distinctly remembered eating breakfast that morning. so I can't account for the hollow feeling in the bottom of my stomach. To my intense relief, it was great fun after the first few moments of anguish. Neverthe- less, throughout the trip I didn't trust myself to let go of my own hands! When we came down, it was too soon for me. An airplane ride is like an oliveg you have to learn to like it -Ivan Crocker, '44 WAR Johnny crept as quickly as he could, without taking the chance of being seen, behind' a vacant shack. He hoped his enemies hadn't seen him, for it would surely mean destruc- tion of him.. It was he against a battery of perhaps fifteen. What chance had he? He sat down on the damp ground and breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't seen him! He sat there motionless for five minutes, his gun ready to shoot if he heard the slight- est movement. I gotta go on, he thought. He had run only a few yards farther when the bullets whizze-d around him. One struck his leg, and he sank to the ground. He threw his gun a few feet from him as several soldiers gathered about. They ordered him to march toward a small hut in the dis- tance. He limped ahead of them. They shoved him through the door. The masked chief made his voice ve1'y gruff when he spoke. Search him for hidden wea- pons, and then to Johnny, Have you any- thing to say before you are courtmartialed? Nothing, he answered meeklyg but when -E 19 1-

Page 20 text:

scriber will answer, I want Mr. Smith's res- idence, the one that lives in the brown house on that street over there. Of course, that is extremely defiinte information. The operator feelgf that perhaps she is a trifie dense this morning so she asks for additional informa- tion. The reply is apt to be: Well, for hea- yen's sake, don't you know anything? I should th'nk they would get some operators that knew something! The operator bites her tongue for sticks it outl, but politely says, 'Tm sorryg I'll try to find the number for you. In the distance you can hear the sub- scriber sputtering away about such terrible service. It is most interesting to be a night opera- tor. You hear the day's gossip hashed over and over againg you can listen in on the long distance callsg you may even find time to call up a friend of your own. But eventually, you decide it's safe to attempt a nap. Whango! the night alarm goes off and some person with no consideration for the operator wants to know the correct time, The easiest answer would certainly be a grouchy Time for you to be in bed! But very politely, instead, you say, Exactly 2:07 A. M. Many conscientious operators are beaten before they begin, hut many, even after twen- ty years of such cruelty, can still say polite- ly, and even enthusiastically, Number please? -Keith Cunningham '44 il .i- THE RIGHT T0 LAUGH Laughter in the United States is something that has been fought for through genera- tions. The gurgling laugh of the blue-eyed ba- by as he sits contendedly in his crih in the early May sunshine: the laughter of school chilidren as they fill the streets in the late afternoons: the cracked laugh of an old, white-haired couple as they look through the old snapshot album,-all are tr e a s u re s. Laughter is what America is built of. Every day, yes, a hundred times a day, a laugh fills our face and heart. Today the greatest iight of all is being fought for the right to laugh. The Americans are a sentimental people and they are proud of it. We laugh and cry about things in spite of the scorn of other countries. But it makes us stronger, for should we ever lose the right to our senti- mentalities, we would fight with all the soul -I for our wonderful country, until that right was regained. Today from our war-torn world there are homes from which all laughter is gone. People have had the laughter torn from their hearts to be replaced by bitterness and tears. All over the world homes are sad, robbed of joy 'by the selfishness of dictators or the necessity of sending their loved ones, to quell the am- bitions of dictators. America is filled with homes like these. Yesterday at the post office as I glanced over Mrs. Murphy's shoulder and saw the words, The government regrets to inform you that your son... I knew that another heart had had its laughter cruelly wrenched from it to be crushed and trampled to extinc- tion. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy had only Johnnv, and he was so young, hardly eighteen. But do we realize what a priceless thing was taken from this couple besides their son? The power to enjoy everyday existance, the capability of a smile spreading over their faces at trivial homely things-these are gone w'th their precious possession, Johnny. It isn't the people of this generation who are losing their laughter, for the boys will try to smile as they go into battle. It is rather the last generation. who are mothers and fathers now, that are bearing the loss. Someday the laughter will return to ns. Life will he simple and enioyaible again. Parents will see their boys grow to manhood instead of being cut off at the ouick of life. This day can come only when the papers and radio: scream. Unconditional Surrender! The na- tion will go Wild. bells and chimes will fill the still air. people will dance in Times SUVTPTE and Fifth Avenue. The srmall towns will he filled again with happiness. The neonle who have given their sons will think it was almost worth the sacrifice. Then. and only then. will the right to lanrrh be wholly regained by the American people. -Marilyn Mills '46 HOMECOMING The soldier sauntered. it' it is possible to sminter with a wooden leg. along a street in Brooklyn. He kept looking about him intent- ly and breething-deep! He had a look of serene peacefulness on his face! As he walked on slowly, a trifle awkward- 18 1-

Page 22 text:

they started to search him, his fists :began to fiy. Tain't fair! one cried out. No sir!, shouted another, He's supposed to let us shoot him down. The leader, a red-headed youth pounded his fist on the desk. 0rder! he shouted, Rat, we're going to do something worse than shoot you. We're going to starve you and then hang you. So there! Johnny looked at the old clock on the shelf. Jeepers, five o'clock! Maw'll kill me if I ain't home for supper on time. I'll see you guys after school tomorrow and we'll play war again. -Ruth Pearson, '46 A TEST BLACKOUT Oh! I must hurry with these dishes, thought poor Mr. Peabody, whose wife is in the WACS, Or I will be late for the Black- out. Today was Friday the thirteenth, and Mr. Peabody, who was very superstitious had dreaded the day. Not only had he cut his fin- ger but he had also burned the meat to a crisp. While he was drying the last dish, the Blackout signals blew. He was an air raid warden, and he always responded immediately to the call. He began shaking and trotting around like a hen scurrying after her chicks. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Where did I leave my wraps? he whimpered. Everything went well until he had gone three blocks up the street. There he saw a house aglow with lights. He started up the walk bolldly when he heard a sudden barking and roaring. Instantly he wheeled and ran like mad. When he reached the security of a distant street corner, he stopped, and thought, I must put those lights off: it is mv dutv. Back he went, and sneaked along and out be- -hind the house, when something struck him sharply over the eye. It was a clothesline post. Giving the task up as an impossible iob, he went back to the street and shouted. Put out those lights! He stood there and saw them extinguislmeld. With this mission accomplish- ed, he commenced running away because a horrid monster in the shape of a tiny bulldog was chasing him. He continued his work with a few mishaps, and then saw more lights. He rushed up to the house and shouted for the inmates to put out the lights. With no results he crept up the walk watching carefully for a dog. He rapped on the door, but got no answer. At last he wrote down the number in disgust, and walked away, swearing at ineiiicient people. over, he went to After the Blackout was headquarters to make his report. He claim- eld loudly that the persons living at 237 Elm Street should be lectured severely as to the rules of a Blackout. Anyone who takes no interest in a Blackout or forgets and goes away leaving the lights on, should be penal- ized. When he had finished, the chief turned to him, and said, Abner, don't you live at 237 Elm Street? -Jack Neal, '46 CALL-ING ALL STUDENTS Calling all students! Calling all students! Wanted! Rosco Roughneck, for violently disturbing the peace in the auditorium and elsewhere. Last seen walloping Cuthbert Meek as he plowed down the aisle. License number not available, but culprit arrested previously on charges of speeding down cor- fridors, sideswiping one and all by the water fountain, destroying pwblic property, and suspected of upsetting the American flag! Wanted: Miss Demeanor, for defacing school property, chewing gum in assembly, coming hair in public. Last seen wearing a soiled skirt and shrunken sweater. Wanted: Blewey Bluff of Chatter Corner for trving to take over Miss Biank's study ball. Guiltv of: mumbling stupidly, rattling papers, whispering devotedly, dropping anv- thing at hand. sharpening pencils needlessly. adjusting windows and curtains at three min- ute intervalsl, and whistling through teeth. Last seen throwing chalk at Mr. Bookworm. Wanted: Flosisie Flirt, for making passes at innocent Freshmen boys. using excessive make-up, speaking in a loud voice to attract the attention of all, interested or uninterest- ed, writing mushy notes in class. Last seen wearing a collection of boys' club pins, class rings, and army insignia. Wanteld: Willie! De Wolfe. for stealing other guys' girls, whistling openly on all nc- casions at girls, giving the dated damsel a line breaking up high school romances. Last seen wearing a light blue tweed jacket and fiourishing a gilded cigarette lighter. Under suspicion of monopolizing sophomore girls. Wanted: fdead or alive, preferably the -I 20 1-