John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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I LIKE the summer with its sticky, humid weather. I like to ride, all alone, through the hot, dim woods, with spots of sifted sun beating on the hard ground. In a minute I come to the hollows: the terrible, deep-bot- torned hollows, smelling of decaying leaves and dead water, where there is insufferable heat. The sound of the horse's feet is a confused heart beat on the swampy ground. I dismount and stand for a while, as the sweat HEAT WAVE trickles down my back. The green gloom is sultry, mystifying. From far away in the upper meadows a cicada reaches an unbearable, sharpening crescendo. The queer atmosphere is too much for me. Dizzy and faint, I climb upon the horse and find the path that car- ries me to a long field. The meadow grasses are dusty gold in all this heat and when I kick my horse and gallop, a million flies fly from the horse's neck and get lost in the eternal cloud of dust. A hot wind caresses me. It scrapes my temples and rakes my hair. Faster and faster, hotter and hotter. Veins begin to bulge through the horse's 28 body of muscle. Straining and throb- bing, I pull up at the end of the field. The sweat pours down my face making my hair cling, dank and damp to me. I slide down the horse's wet side and slowly we walk into the woods. The water in the swimming hole is soup-warm and dappled with leaves. Sitting down under a tree, I realize that I shall never stop sweating. My mind goes round and round, being submerged by the smells, the touch of bark under my fingers and the sick- ening taste of flowers on the stagnant air. This heat is immense, breathing, terrible. It throbs within, pulsating and liberating, like Indian tom-toms. How I wish for a breeze! I press my fingers desperately into the damp earth and I can feel the exquisite touch of wet grass against my cheek. 4, v ntl! yy x ff' bp lvf' Z' lk full' lit ll f X but flx G ll P. f 4 gf if A x ,, . 1 .. 'W 1 .-li' -mV'-1 V i:-ii--' -. V-..1t,:f.t.. It v.,::Jqf-- Qs. ffaliwf 11- t Q ,.,i,l'g5.. Q, 5 vga A. f1Q.kE,5 X 'VV 5 -V, 5 I I r t, , ...fr-1 ' IX fix if K f' llll '9f ' Xvll X ,- . . ', ' 2 'Yr'- 'Xjlb 37 ' lt if f 4,7 'Q ff- ' Y u Illustration by Norman Brown

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HOW OFTEN and in how many differ- ent lights have I seen that statue. I've seen it when the bright sun twinkles the bronzed eye and transforms the clothing into blazing armour. I've wit- nessed the same statue on dark. dismal nights when the rain is iust a saturat- ing torrent. Yet to see his stalwart form. to capture the radiant smile of confidence seems to wann the icey rain. But today. the spring air is en- riched with the scent of flowers, the trilling' of birds and the statue of Ken- neth Duncan appears in a new light. a light of rebirth for the l-ong, cruel winter is over. I read the inscription as I have done so many times before. Believeth in Him that hath created ye. and ye shall be saved. As I do so I can only think of the story which places Kenneth Duncan in the hearts of all Kildare. Though, the statue wasn't in rememberance of the boy. but in commemoration -of his belief and faith in his Creator. Kenneth lived two hundred years ago when this town was sparsely set- tled. His father was the village smithy and when it came time for Kenneth to attend Sunday School. Mr. Duncan forged his son a cover for his Bible with the finest -of Scotland's blue steel. Ken- neth would never come straight home after Sunday School. He. like all boys. loved to roam through the woods with his dog. The two were inseparable. One Sunday as the two were roam- ing. Kenneth spied a cave. Without deliberation he entered. the dog be- hind. Darker and darker it grew until he was lost in a maze of inky black- ness. Then. in this dark black cave. he stumbled. he tried to move but his ankle pained him so he couldn't move. Of Scot'land's Blue-Steel HELEN WOLTMAN Suddenly a roar split the silence. Ken- neth. terrified. huddled himself against the wall. shaking with fear. The dog. sensing his master's danger. barked and snarled excitedly. edging his way forward. A low growl. a flash of fur and the fight was on. Kenneth strained to see the combat but he could only hear the gnashing of teeth and the scuffle that would soon result in death. They fought clos- er and closer to Kenneth who could make out the dog's opponent to be a mountain lion. As Kenneth struggled painfully to his feet to aid his bleed- ing. tom companion. the dog yielded his last painful howl as the cat's teeth sunk deeply into the dog's throat. Kenneth. tears glistening on his cheeks. rushed at the cat with his only weapon. his steel-covered Bible. His blow was swift. striking the battle- weary animal below the ear. The dull thud of the blow re-echoed from far into the cave as the cat fell motion- less. The boy limped painfully and mournfully home where it was de- termined that he had a broken ankle. How then could he have stood? How could he. so young and so excited have wielded a death blow to a moun- tain lion with merely a steel-covered Bible? So we have erected a monu- ment to that small boy who has proven to us that: Ye who believeth shall be saved. 27

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LAUNCHING into the new fall term not only means turning over a new leaf to Some people, but to the majority of girls it bears the joy and excitement of shopping for new fall clothes! I, be- ing one of this vast majority, experi- enced this physically and financially tiresome experience, one brisk Satur- day aftemoon. As I descended from the bus in front of the department stores, my eye was immediately caught by the devastat- ingly bright colors shown in the store windows. It seemed that very high shades were featured, with toast, cin- namon and purple in the lead. I entered one of the department stores and browsed around the main floor awhile, before taking the eleva- tor to the junior department. Feeling in a gay and frivolous mood, I bought my scent of perfume, to lift my spirits, which would inevitably become slight- ly down trodden. I hopped onto the elevator and soon found myself in the collegiate atmos- phere of the junior department. The tirst thing I noticed, because it was so obvious, was that the trend leans to- ward the smart, pert, feminine look, re- placing the sloppy joe and bobby-sox era. After looking at casual clothes for quite some time I noticed that tweeds were very popular this year, even more so than plaids. Everything from coats to skirts seemed to be made of tweed. The same applied t-o courdu- roy. Both of these fabrics looked very smart when worn with brightly con- trasting wool jersey blouses. Wool jersey also played a major part in clothing displays this fall. Complete dresses were made of this fabric in very flattering shades. I observed that this year velvet is the most versatile fabric of all. Clothes made of velvet ranged from elaborate dresses with rhinestone buttons, to stylish little dressmaker suits which could have been worn for nearly all occasions. Having made all of these important observations, I hopped on to the eleva- tor again and went down to the mil- linery department. SAILING IN STYLE ARLENE RANDEL The catastrophe of catastrophes oc- curred! It appeared as though today's high school girl was destined to wear a hat! The hat designers took them in- to consideration and have designed the most youthful and irresistible hats imaginable. Leading the array was the old standby, the beret, and something comparatively new, the skull cap. Act- ually, a hat is most essential for one to look complete: it really adds some- thing to an outfit. ' It seemed as though I spent a rather useless but thrifty day, not having bought anything but perfume. So, to life my spirits I put a dash behind each ear, went down to the main floor, once again walked out to the street, filled with busy shoppers. 29