Kent School - Kent Yearbook (Kent, CT)

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xt our leader. Sandy acted exactly like a floor- fascinated by his sophistication. Immediately following his election. G. Sanderson declared :YS Q walker in a very high-toned store, and we were 1 Q3 martial law. and with the help of other willing IA... , 2 , A. NNIHTMX helpers, kept the volca11o capped. The winter was memorable for being the last in which the No Visiting rule was enforced. No one but the spiteful had ever paid the slightest attention to it as llS6flll for anything but protection against West Hall. Also, this winter term saw Anson Gardner building delicate model airplanes, illlll Willard liuther and liilienthal Levering indulging their be11t in the upstairs room over West Hall. This duo barricaded themselves against i11vasio11, and went happily about their business, while fifth column- ists dismantled one wall of the room, and the remainder of the form stormed the door. Imagine the youthful airmen's surprise when their bastion crumpled, under the attack of Legs Kerr and Jock Lafferty, a11d they were inundated with water bombs. After an unsuccessful hockey season, during which the shifty defense was developedfa system better i11 theory than practice-the spring vacation drew 11igl1, Zillfl with the possibility of vacation came the awful reality of term cleanup. YYierum and Luther entered fully i11to the hygienic spirit, and threw Vtesty VVestlake's bedding out of the window. The culprits were brought to trial, convicted. and corporeally chastized by Schmidt illltl Read, the intrepid inspectors. Spring vacation went its hurried way. In the spring presidential ltose 0'Day Wallis, then known only as ltosy, was elected, due largely to Sl1af'fer's repeated i11- junction that the corn-fed candidate was The l'eople's f'hoice. In that last term invention flourished. Janboy Ilarvey, the boy electrical wizard, who was later to graduate to full-fledged death chairs, developed the ultimate in brooms, complete with fiashlight, bulb-and-hose attachment for blowing away the dust. and a bell to war11 passersby of his presence. Deviltry reigned supreme up and down Main and XYest Halls. liafferty and Kerr headed the West Hall legions, a11d fought with Buzby, Fhild and Boyd, who also fought with Balsam, Blair, a11d Bowman. These biblical encounters were not very good for Jimmy Child. as at that time Jim was of a micro- scopic size, knew no more than five or six languages, a11d was only kept alive by large doses of a mysterious white powder, which he secretively swallowed twice a day. Also, one night a delegation from the third form dropped over, and showed the brothers how to escape from the Blain Building by means of the window ledges, and frolic o11 the triangle during the soft and balmy spring night. Jerry Howe, who had take11 up My lteverief' made the second baseball team. to the accompaniment of cheers, while the rest of us puttered around, on diamond, court, Zlllfl BIGGY Dust 131:11

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IJBANGI 1.f Q.. 45 us somewhat, we finally neared the last and titanic struggle with f'hoate. and hoped for the ,m i 1, best. Frere Blair and Berg, elephant and flea. sang a tremulo version of the school song one PREFECT night, not audible past table three, and we all gave fantastic seconds-before-the-C'hoate-game with straight faces. as we were proud of the fact that we knew nothing of lievo Has- brouck's slide rule. At last the great day came. the Vhoate game, and all the Roman holiday that went with it. The school was let out at recess, and herded into busses of small size and great fragrance of exhaust. Wie had been given lunches which were consumed almost before the busses had passed over the bridge, and the paper bags in which they had been packed began to trace out the path of the fleeing hordes. After the unsuccessful game, tobacco lured us, and whole shops were pocketed and carried away. News of Howe's feat of smoking two cigars at once reached even the third form, but unfortunately Jerry's innards did not hold out against W'hite Owls as well as Norton's. Nips was already building his career. W'ith the passing of the great emotional and digestive crisis brought about by the Vhoate game, another equally terrible event assailed us. W'ith the coming of St. Swithin came rain. The upper forms whispered to one another in our hearing, confidentially, but very loudly, Now don't alarm the kids, but there is a wall of water eighty feet high sweeping down the valley. lt was an old gag. but oh, how it worked! W'e had a sturdy guard posted on the Auditorium wall until nine o'clock, lest the llousatonic should sneak up on us. Uur crises were not over. After a period of moderate doldrums, during which we tried to play in Mr. Millers barn, and were unceremoniously booted ont, there came a change of tone on the part of the faculty. The usual gruffness gave way to a sort of pleading, facetious jollity, except for Mr. llumphreys. who said. Listen, you guys, if you don't get good Latin marks, I pity you next term. Vollier and lland took Mr. llumphreys at his word, and crashed through. The rest of us sat through the exam muttering. but most of us got by. Very soon the fateful morning arrived. and we repeated, sotto soprano, the l,itany for second formers on their first vacation. The train ride was uneventful, if riot can be called uneventful, and we scattered for threc weeks. Vhristmas vacation passed hy. unappreciated except for the first two days. t'hristmas day itself. and the last two days before we returned. during which our minds reared back like a balky horse at the thought of leaving home. Soon after arrival, we Iiiuxm' held another presidential election. We suc- cumbed to the urbane manner. and superior in- tellect of G. Sanderson Hand. and elected him

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river. The term ended with a re-incarnation of the Boyd Personal Attention Express Service, completely staffed by Scudder Boyd, who would carry any and all trunks on his back coolie fashion. On the last morning, an angelic third BUCK IESSF Bw' form, glorying in its new appellation, faced a similarly joyful sixth form, and repeated its litany. It was whispered that Luther had been seen with a halo around his head, but this was dismissed as being so improbable as to be impossible. At last, we were free. After a long period of utter laziness, during which the Germans started a war in Poland, we returned to Kent in the fall of 1939. We were a supercilious group on the train, and snubbed several incoming members of our own form, under the mis- taken impression that they were lowly second formers. Uur ranks had been swelled by twenty-five new members, and we were all quartered in the North Dorm, a building which we always maintained had at least the advantage of being fireproof. Our belief was put to the test shortly after at 4:30 ac emma, at which time the attic started smouldering and desperate cries of More Water rang up and down the halls. Before this, however, we made shift to acquaint ourselves with our new classmates. A wel- coming delegation, led by Bergamini, went in and attacked the newcomers with water bombs and insults. The peons of the lower hall replied in kind, and soon thereafter was fought the battle of Bergamini, which resulted in an investigation in Job As- sembly, in the course of which Dick Little was asked what he was throwing water with. With my mouth, sir, replied our Dick. and he brought down the house. The boys had a good audience, for the next man up, Windy Wierum, said the same thing, with the same result. During this fall term we gradually made friends with the newcomers, including Professor Stevens, who preferred Cartography to study, Fish Warren, who was rumored to be not yet in his teens, Lew Baldwin, Bob Derr and ltaving Dave Peake. Deeck the Greeck Jones also was the object of much attention at this time, and did not get along very well, as he was so small that he was thought an off- shoot of the town. The process of amelioration continued on the field of play. and we were enthusiastic juniors that year. After the Uhoate game, we retired into our end of term shell, to come out only for terrible water-fights and rough-houses. Brune Levering and newcomer Jack Deas evolved an interesting routine at the time, which went tdialogue only! roughly as follows: Deals, you a niggahf' Who say I'm a niggahf' I say you a niggahu and the fight was on. These exchanges sometimes occurred two or BIRD Ines .I1'xG1.1-1 .Im three times a day. depending on Brune's ability to recover after each encounter with the athletic Deas.