Holbrook High School - Echo Yearbook (Holbrook, MA)

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10 THE ECHO HARLEQUIN AND COLUMBINE H arlequin and Columbine were cos- mopolitans. They danced in Vienna, Copenhagen, and Paris, and were now in Moscow. It was revolution time in Russia, and the city of Moscow was a magnet for the com- munists. Everywhere one went one would see a thin, mad looking man on a crazy box addressing and declaiming to a crowd of excited bystanders. Harlequin and Columbine were much too silly and frivolous to be at all interested in such heavy and serious matters, and would probably look blank as if they had never heard the word if you spoke to them of the communistic plan or Russian wheat mon- opoly. They had spent their life flitting from one gay capital to another and would be leaving Moscow now if it were not for the fact that their flnancial resources had become very low through living too near the center of the city and Columbine’s fond- ness for bonbons. Finally this sedition came to a head, and war was declared. All foreigners were very firmly and not too politely requested to leave the country, and all able-bodied Rus- sian men were compelled to bear arms in the army. Harlequin and Columbine did not worry about being deported. In fact, it never en- tered their minds as they continued their nightly appearances at the Play House where audiences were becoming smaller and smaller and more unresponsive. Indeed they were as light-hearted as ever. But both Harlequin and Columbine had forgotten the fact that they were Russian citizens until it was brought forcibly to their minds by communist officials. Harle- quin joined the huge army and was lost among the crowd. Columbine returned to her hitherto forgotten home in the monot- onous Russian steppes, where she stayed with three Russian peasants for servants while her father was away leading the Cossacks on their ransacking maraudings. She was lonesome for Harlequin and spent long days morosely toasting marshmallows before the open Are. Then one day word came to the lonely manor that the great Cossack leader had been slain in battle, and Harlequin had been court-martialled and shot for insub- ordination. Poor Harlequin, the clown, was not cut out for the army. Columbine went back to her public, to the stage. Sometimes in the audience Har- lequin’s happy laugh would ring out. And, although the excellence of the performance on such evenings was always testifled in the morning papers by the critics, Columbine was never happy again. Marion Jervey, ’31. Mr. Walsh: Who was Homer? J. Sullivan: The fellow who made Babe Ruth famous. A WARNING! A LONELY house in the woods! It is a large, barn-like affair. The windows are grimy and broken. The shutters flap dis- mally in the wind. The trees cast lurid shadows on the house. The moon sheds a ghastly green light over all. The dilapid- ated old porch creeks dismally as a tall, thin, waving flgure groans and creeps up the stairs. The door opens mysteriously and it enters. We follow. The “thing” is seen going up the dusty, old stairs. Everything but the stairs is dark. These are covered with a livid, red light. We follow. It sharply turns a corner. We follow! Our eyes must be deceiving us.’ It has vanished. We step cautiously down the dark, dismal hall. We light a candle. Suddenly! A ghastly, ungodly moan is heard! Then a shriek! Another! Then si- lence! When we regain our courage and look around, we shiver with fear. One per- son is missing! We turn, bolt down stairs for the door. As we turn the corner, a cold, clammy, wet wind blows out our candles. Frightened and in the dark, we cling to- gether. A long, low, wierd moan is heard rising up to a shriek and then dying away, only to begin with increased volume. We have been here a long while now. “Look!” The old grand-father’s clock was bathed in a very cold, blue light. Over it hung a horrid yellow face. The door of the clock slowly opened ! A white-clad flgure slowly floated o ut! Screech after screech was heard. We turned and ran for the door. It stuck! We looked over our shoulders and there a hideous figure with a horrible face was coming after us. Oheehohee! Ohmeho- ho! Hah! Hah! Hah! The hideous screeches rent the air. With a final tug the door came open. We fell headlong into the arms of a horrible, faceless monster who carried us back to the house. I let out one shriek ! And with that shriek I awoke and found my- self on the floor with my lovely dream rudely interrupted. But a lesson was learned from that visit and, I impart it to you, so you will not visit the faceless monster’s home. Here it is! Never, never eat ice-cream and pickles before going to bed. Leslie Thorud, ’33. There was once a young boy they called Bob, And they say he was out of a job; So he stepped in the car And went hunting afar For the women, his favorite job. There is Mike, a boy whom you know. It is said he was quite all the show For one night he did tip And his pants took a rip For poor Mike wasn’t slow! Oh no!

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THE ECHO 9 BILL’S EXPLOITS B ill HARRISON, who was spending the summer at Popham on the bank of the Kennebec River, left his cottage with the intention of exploring and possibly making some interesting discoveries in his small motor boat. You could hear the cling-cling of his engine until long after he had dis- appeared from sight. When some distance up stream, he heard shots from a near by island and quickly turned toward it, determined to find out what this meant. On nearing the shore, he saw a boy who was racing along at great speed followed closely by a man with a rifle which he repeatly aimed at the boy and fired, although missing him each time. Bill jumped ashore thinking only of res- cuing the young chap from the hands of his enemy, but he had no sooner started towards him than he himself was tackled by a number of men. He was immediately bound, and thrown into a hut with no pos- sible chance to escape. Later he Avas brought before what seemed to be the chief of the gang, who asked him what his busi- ness was in this particular territory. Bill replied that he was just hunting. They took him and tied him hand and foot and locked him in the next room. The men then started a discussion as to what they should do with him. Some of them wanted to let him go, but others said he would give away their hiding place, sp they decided to keep him until they had carried out their plans of robbing the bank. Bill was kept there for two days, not seeing anyone except when he was fed, and then he was closely guarded ; during this time, however, he was making his plans of escape. All the next day the robbers continued to make plans for the robbery which was to take place the coming night. As night cam° on. Bill began to carry out his plans of es- cape. During the day he called for a glass of water, and purposely dropped the glass, which broke when it hit the floor. His cap- tive kicked it angrily into the corner. Before leaving, the robbers made sure that Bill was securely bound so there could be no possible chance of escaping; then they departed for the city. As soon as Bill thought they had got away from the island he rolled over to the comer where the brok- en glass was. After feeling around the best he could, he found the glass and proceeded to cut his bonds. He would cut a little, then the glass would slip, and inflict a cut on his arms. After receiving a number of cuts, he finally freed himself. Quickly he untied his feet, and without stopping to think about the wounds he had received, he made his way hastily towards the door. Finding it locked, he threw his weight against it. The door failed to give way under his weight so he took a heavy bar which he found among some rubbish in one corner of the room, and with a number of quick blows smashed the lock. Bill now rushed out and down to the shore, where much to his dismay, his motor boat was gone. He quickly dived into the stream and swam to the opposite shore. When he reached the shore he started off on the run through the woods to the road. After a half mile run through the un- traveled paths. Bill was quite exhausted when he reached the road, but when he thought of the robbers and the bank, it seemed to give him new courage, and he raced on down the road. Soon the lights of the city loomed up before him, and he never once faltered until he reached his destination. Rushing into the Police Sta- tion and yelling, “The Bank! Robbers”! he fell to the floor, unconscious from exposure and exhaustion. When he regained consciousness, he was in his own home. The president of the bank came and told him that the robbers had been captured, and gave him a reward of one hundred dollars. Later the state authorities gave him a reward of five hundred dollars for making possible the capture of a notorious band of robbers long wanted by states and counties. Kenneth Stanley, ’33. JANE’S DREAM J ANE sat in the large Morris chair be- fore the crackling fire place. A lamp on the table threw its rose rays on Jane’s English book that she had in her lap. She sighed and began again. “A spar row chirped a thirst- ty song. Now what rhymes with song? Poems ain’t so easy to make up as I thought.” Jane became sleepy, and the next thing she knew, a little man popped up and said, “I am Mr. Line of a single foot. My chil- dren call me Monometer. My wife has two feet; she’s Dimeter. Brother has three feet; Trimeter we call him. My sister has four feet, and we call her Tretrameter. My aunt has five feet, and her name is Penta- meter. Mother has six feet, and Dad has seven feet; we call them Hexameter and Heptameter. Now poor grandmother, we call her ‘Blank verse.’ She has rhythm too.” Jane awoke with a start. “What an ab- surd dream I’ve had. I had better get to work, or I’ll get a P. M. session. “Now, let me see, every two lines can rhyme, and then I can have one that doesn’t, and then two more that do. Or I can have every other sentence rhyme. — Oh, what awful stuff poetry is!” Frances Ahern, ’32. E. Mann: I’ve fired my chauffeur. He nearly killed me four times. 11. Wiggins: Oh, give him another chance. ♦ ♦ ♦ R. Whitcomb: It was kind of you to give me this dance. C. Jervey: Well, this is a charity ball.

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THE ECHO GOLD HUNTERS O NE hot morning in July, 1857, John Herman and Jack Delphry with sev- eral others were riding through the Chico- pee Valleys where most of the time the In- dians were having their councils. While they rode along, they sang cowboy songs, each in turn, and then a conversation would rise among them. When noon came, the boys made a fire and cooked their dinners, and practised lassooing a post until off in the distance they could see smoke signals. “Those Chicopee Injuns are after us again,” said Jack. “Yes! and it looks as though they were going to surround us. Look in back,” said cne of the others. And off on the opposite mountain they could see the answer to the other signal. “Let’s get a move on,” said John as he felt for his guns and jumped on his horse. “We had better stick together while the sticking is good,” shouted Harry, who was another member of the crowd. After riding for quite a while, they could hear the hoof-beats of the Chicopee horses and the beating of their drums. “They are coming and hot on our trail, too”, said John as an arrow whizzed by his head and stuck in a tree which was near by. “Get your guns!” he shouted as another took off his hat. He turned around just in time to see an Indian draw his bow, John fired, and the Indian fell to the ground, his arrow going into the air. “There goes one of ’em”, shouted John as Harry fired and sent the chief to the ground. “Turn around on your horses, the rest of you guys, and fire at them.” All at once a shower of arrows came whizzing by the crowd as the Indians de- parted in another direction. One arrow pierced Harry’s back, and he fell to the ground. The boys, stopping as if by magic, fired at the same time until their guns were empty. They went over to Harry who was groan- ing. They got the arrow out of his back and put him on a soft bed of pine needles where his head was placed in John’s arms. “I guess this’ll be all, boys,” he said as he grasped for breath. “I hope you will have luck in finding gold. Will you please tell my sister how I died?” and his head dropped over — He was dead. “Well,” said Jack as the tears rolled down his face, “he was a good pal”. Later they dug a hole and had a regular cowboy funeral. They placed a board where he lay with his name on it. When they saw his sister, they told her how he died verj ' bravely after a fight with the Chicopee Indians. Three years later the boys discovered gold which was worth a million dollars. “Gee!” said Jack, “I wish old Harry were here now.” Gordon Whitcomb, ’33. WORLD BROTHERHOOD How different the world is today from what it was in 1620 or even in 1776, when America declared her independence. To the people of that age, it was a great event to visit a relative or a friend in a neighbor- ing village. All transportation was done by horse and carriage or by oxen and wagons. People of different classes lived in different places; people of different trades lived by themselves; in fact, everybody kept pretty much to himself, at home away from so- ciety. As years passed and civilization pro- gressed and advanced, the steam-train, tele- graph, steamship, and many other devices came into daily use. With the advent of the twentieth century science has progressed so rapidly, that it is hard to realize that a little over twenty years ago, radios, auto- mobiles, and airplanes had not come into existence. Where radios were a novelty, now they are seen in almost every home. The telephones and telegraphs have made communication between distant places a common occurrence. Airplanes, trains, and modern ocean liners have made transporta- tion to the remotest corners of the world a simple thing. Mussolini spoke to the Ita- lian people, and we listened to him over the radio. King George spoke to the Indian Conference; we heard him over the radio in our homes. All these things have helped to draw the people of every nation together in closer bonds of brotherhood. People under- stand each other better because of com- munication with each other and listening to each other’s views of world affairs. The League of Nations and the World Court are two organizations which facilitate friendly relations of understanding between the people of the different nations. Even the youths of the world have their organizations, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Y. M. C. A., and the Y. W. C. A. all of which have members from every nation in the world. Their goal is to promote world brotherhood which means world peace. In one of the magazines published for boys, called “The Open Road for Boys”, I found a list of boys from every country on the globe, who wish to correspond with American boys. In the list were boys from thirteen to twenty-three years of age. The magazine encouraged correspondence with these boys, even offering prizes for those who wrote a certain number of letters and got a certain percent in reply. Then, there is a large prize of a trip abroad to visit the boys with whom the winner has been cor- responding. All these things promote friendliness between the numerous nations and races of the world. There can be but one result to all this, and that is world peace. p]mory Mann, ’32. E. Tibbets: What would you give for a voice like mine? L. George : Chloroform.