Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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her victory placed her hand upon it. The duke, wishing to emphasize his superiority, wheeled about to re- move her hand and in doing so, knocked the shield from the sill and it fell down, down, down, and splashed into the cold, inky black moat which surrounded the castle. Lady Ellen stood frozen to the floor for a moment. Stupefaction over- came her and then she rushed toward the window and would have I thrown herself out after the shield had not the duke, jumped in front of her. She fought furiously while the duke, ejaculating oaths, strove to keep her from leaping out of the high window. Lady Ellen, glancing out, saw Sir Roderick on the wall, his men having surrounded the castle on all sides. At the sight of him she shouted and fought all the more vig- orously. Sir Roderick, hearing her cries, saw the duke’s great burly should- ers framed in the window, saw him struggling, and saw an occasional flash of the white of Lady Ellen’s betrothal gown. On the first im- pulse he grasped the shaft of his spear and sent it flying toward the window. At precisely the same mo- ment Lady Ellen gained her way to the window and leaned far out to catch a glimpse of her lost shield. The spear whizzing through the air struck, but its victim was not the intended one and the body of the beautiful Lady Ellen slid from the sill and fell down, down, down, in- to the still, cold moat through whose inky waters showed a faint silvery glimmer. Sir Roderick, seeing what he had done and knowing that life no long- er held happiness for him, bowed his head for a brief moment as if in prayer, and then leaped to the side of his loved one in the moat. There was a splash followed by the cries of men and then the moat, disturbed for a third time within a quarter of an hour, settled to itself. The rays of a fiery setting sun shone quietly on the Castle of Marl- borough,the wind died away, and [hat little portion of the world was quiet once again excepting for the occasional chuckle of the Duke of Marlborough as he grinned down upon the still, cold inky moat. — Edith Richardson. 17

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piorceil the Klooni. The silence was enhanced by the slij ht murmur of the winds which stirred the vast tract of i)ine below him. To his left the moon bi ' oke through the thick foliage of the trees to cast a dancing silver ray upon a silently llowing mountain brook. Suddenly the silence was broken l)y the sound of crashing underbrush and the man held his breath as a beautiful stag stepped into the patch of moonlight with his antlers lifted high and his sensitive head poised gracefully. The man scarce- ly breathed as the wonderful crea- ture slowly drank from the clear, liquid depth of the stream and then whirled around and with another crashing of foliage was gone. Si- lence reigned once more as the man slowly climbed the path to his cab- in and, looking back, he saw a sil- ver spangled scarf sparkling against its black velvet setting and further off a large glowing jewel flashing. — Phyllis Haggerty. THE VICTIMS OF THE MOAT Taken captive on the day of her betrothal to the gallant young Sir Roderick Maseville, fair Lady Ellen stood there, in her cell-like room in the turret of the castle of her cap- tor, the Duke of Marlborough, and watched the rays of a fiery morning sun usher in another day of mono- tonous captivity. She had spent a sleepless night knowing that this very day her lover would storm the duke’s castle, capture the duke, and rescue her. It he should fail — ? The very thought was horrifying. She lifted the mattress of the bed and took from under it Sir Roder- ick’s shield which she had secreted beneath her big cape during the flight. She went to the massive win- dow and opened wide the shutters and the bright sun’s rays danced and sparkled on the shield. For a long time she gazed fondly at it looking out across the hills occasion- ally to get a glimpse of Sir Roder- ick’s banners when he should come. It was thus that the Duke of Marl- borough found her when he came to pay his daily visit, do his daily pleading for her hand in marriage, and then threaten her very life when she refused him. On this particular morning, the duke, having heard of Sir Roder- ick’s plans, was in no mood to list- en to a refusal, much less to look upon this picture which presented itself. He entered suddenly, giving Lady Ellen no time to conceal the shield, and upon seeing it the duke rushed forward, seized it (not with- out effort), and recognized the coat of the House of Maseville engraved upon its face. A struggle for the shield ensued making stronger La- dy Ellen’s love and increasing the duke’s hatred. Lady Ellen would never, as long as she breathed, al- low that shield to fall in anyone else’s hands. Suddenly there came the sound of a trumpet and from the window La- dy Ellen saw Sir Roderick crossing the distant hills at the head of two hundred brave knights. The duke was strong and cowardly, the lady’s love young and strong. She would have fought to her last breath but the duke was willing to come to terms for Lady Ellen’s cries could be heard throughout the bare old walls of the castle, and already Sir Rod- erick had gained the outer wall and had only to get control of the draw- bridge in order to reach his fair one. The duke laid the shield on the sill of the open window; Lady Ellen, as if to reassure herself of 16

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Graduation Essays IPSWICH AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE (Mary Henderson) No one has ever been able to i-ealize the full significance of the stirrinj - sentence, “Taxation with- out rei)resentation is tyranny,” bet- ter than our own Ipswich forefath- ers. Ever since they had landed on these shores, they had clung to their rights as true sons of England to make their own laws, elect their own rulers, and above all, levy their own taxes. Now comes a hated British tyrant sent over from the mother country to keep the state of Massachusetts in subjection. The first act of the new governor, Andros, is to disre- gard utterly the rights of his sub- jects by highhandedly ordering a tax of a penny on every pound of money in the Colony’s possesion, to be paid as a source of revenue, with- out even consulting the representa- tives of the people. Later, he lev- ied many other taxes without the consent of the people, but no other act of his enraged the Massachu- setts patriots so much as this first one — the ordering of a tax small in amount, no doubt, but very far- reaching in result. Ipswich has a well-founded claim of being the birthplace of American independence. Several other towns before this time had shown signs of discontent, but none had dared to oppose directly the will of Eng- land as Ipswich did. The evening before the day set for the town meeting at which the momentous decision of obedience or disobedience was to be made, a group of well-known men of Ips- wich and Essex gathered at the home of John Appleton, Junior, to consider the question of whether it was right for the citizens to pay this tax. Among those present were the Reverend John Wise, pastor of the chui ch at Essex, William Hubbard, pastor of the Ipswich church, and Mr. John Whipple. After much de- liberation and argument, they de- cided that it was entirely contrary to their rights as English subjects to pay this tax, since they had had nothing at all to say concerning its levying. The Reverend John Wise was then appointed the spokesman to present the views of these men at the town meeting the next day. Early on the morning of August 23, 1687, the people began to as- semble at the old meeting-house up- on the green. They gathered very quietly considering that it was at this very meeting that the first blast of the trump of liberty was to l)e sounded. As soon as the build- ing was filled, the men holding tight to their muskets, for there had been recent threats of Indian attacks, the governor’s warrant, ordering the tax to be paid and tax collectors to be appointed, was read to the as- semblage. There was very little discontent show until the honored pastor of Essex, Mr. Wise, began his impas- sioned appeal to their love of lib- erty. His opinions were very much respected then, and his memory is still held in high esteem, as is shown by the recently proposed plan to make his homestead, with some ad- joining land, a national park. He can truly be called the father of American independence for, al- though his acts preceded the Amer- ican revolution by nearly one hun- 18