Lancaster High School - Mirage Yearbook (Lancaster, OH)

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tendency towards perpetual motion and which are some- times described as organs that are hung in the middle and wag at both ends—schoolgirls’ tongues. Meanwhile Peg had taken Ollie to her room. “So you are a Sophomore, are you?” asked Ollie. “Yes, I am a Soph, but I am not here as you are. I am a working stu- dent.” She said this with a rising flush and a defiant toss of her pert little head. “A working student?” repeated Ollie. “That’s what I said. I can’t afford to pay full tuition, so I wait on the Professor and his wife and do other kinds of work to make up the rest. Do you under- stand ?” “Yes, I understand, and think you are a dear brave girl to do it,” said Ollie. “Do you, truly?” queried Peg. “My! I believe I feel two inches taller for that. You’ve given me a lift that I shan’t forget. Well, Ollie—may 1 call you that?” “Yes, I should like it better,” replied Ollie with a smile. “And of course I can call you Peggy.” “I must run along or the girls will think I have deserted them.” “Thank you for coming up with me,” said Ollie, holding out a detaining hand. Peggy rushed back to the recreation room. There she found all the Sophomores waiting her return. “Oh, girls, we must not let her get hold of this racket that is to be pulled off Monday evening, for—oh, she is the dearest thing and it is a shame too, for she will be the only Soph left out. Do you suppose we ought to tell her about it? Well, I’ll tell you, let’s vote and whichever way it comes out we’ll do. Now girls get a piece of paper and write on it ‘yes or ‘no.’ ” This Peg said without stopping to take a whole breath. In looking over the papers it was found that Ollie should not be told anything about the racket. Monday evening, after study hours were over, Ollie was in her teacher’s room. She had been just a little back in her mathematics and had asked the teacher if she would help her after study hour. They became so absorbed that they took no account of time until the clock struck the half-hour after eleven. “Why,” Ollie exclaimed and started to her feet, “if you were not a teacher I should he guilty of flagrant disobed ience in being out of my room at this hour.” “Dear child, I have been very thoughtless to keep you so long,” said the teacher regretfully, “but I certainly had no idea of time.” Miss Reynolds’ room was located on the second floor of the east wing, and Ollie roomed in the west wing; conse- quently she was obliged to go down a flight of stairs, across the main or central hall, and up another flight to gain her own quarters. The lights were all out, hut the moon was full, coming in through the windows with a soft radiance. Thus she had no difficulty in finding her way. She had crossed the main hall, and just entered a short passage leading to the west wing, when she came suddenly upon someone who ap- peared to be trying to shrink out of sight into a corner. “Why, who is it?” she cried. “Sh! Sh! keep mum!” was the warning response as the figure drew near. “Peggy,” Ollie whispered amazed, “what are you doing here at this unearthly hour of the night?” “Hush, don’t give me away for the world,” said the girl,

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A SO I3 HOMO RE RACKET By Lucille Fortier, 19H. T was four o’clock in the afternoon on the opening day of the mid-winter term at Iiill- ton Seminary, a noted institution located in a beautiful old town of western New York. A group of gay girls was gathered in one of the pleasant recreation rooms and they were chattering like a proverbial flock of magpies, exchanging merry greetings after their Christmas vaca- tion, comparing notes on studies, classes and roommates. Suddenly there appeared at the door a young girl appar- ently about sixteen years of age and a little above medium height. A wealth of hair matching the color of her eyes crowned a small shapely head and contrasted beautifully with a creamy complexion. Her features were clear-cut and very attractive. There was an instantaneous hush as the bevy of maidens turned their bright faces and affectionate glances upon Peggy Currly, who evidently was a prime favorite among them all. “Is Miss Olive Beverly in the room? You know she is a new pupil who arrived this morning and she is to room with me.” A young girl who had been sitting alone in a remote corner of the room, arose and moved towards the speaker. “I am Ollie Beverly, Miss Currly,” she said with quiet self- possession, yet flushing slightly beneath the many curious glances bent upon her, as her soft blue eyes met the smil- ing brown ones. “Oh, Miss Beverly, I have had quite a search for you,” she said, extending a cordial hand to her; for despite the girl’s poise, Peggy caught the quiver of loneliness on the expressive face. “I am to be your room-mate, and I have been commissioned by Professor Scabcrly to find you and show you to his study. But first let me present you to these chatterers. Peggy slipped a reassuring arm around the girl’s waist and went chattering on, “Young ladies, this is Miss Bev- erly, a new Sophomore. I can’t present each of you for- mally, for she is wanted elsewhere.” Ollie nodded a smiling acknowledgment to the vigorous clapping hands and the hearty, “Welcome, Miss Beverly, to Hillton.” Then Peggy led her away, and the inter- rupted chatter of magpies was resumed with redoubled animation. “Say, girls, isn’t she a dear?” “Came this morning, did she?” “Where from, I wonder?” “My! but wasn’t that a nobby traveling suit, and such a fit!” “Ollie Beverly— pretty name, isn’t it?” “Does anybody know anything about her?” These were some of the comments and quer- ies that slipped from those supple instruments which have a 17

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laying a nervous hand upon her arm. “There is going to be something doing pretty soon. Oh, you will soon know- all about it. You see,” began Peggy again, more nervous than ever, “the girls think you are such a goody-good that they wouldn’t tell you anything about it. Say, aren’t you breaking rules too?” “No, I have come from Miss Reynolds’ room.” “Well, I am going to see this thing through, now I’ve started it. I have had to pinch myself for the last two hours, though, to keep awake, and I am not going to miss the racket after all that bother,” declared the girl. “Well,” said Ollie, after listening a moment, “I must go on to my room, and my advice to you is to return with me. Good-night,” and leaving the willful ‘racket’-lover to her fate, she stole softly away. She paused at the foot of the stairs to listen again, for she heard a whisper which she immediately recognized: “Be sure and tie your end tight, Rose.” Ollie moved lightly up a step or two and heard the an- swer. “I have; now Carrie, you scud up to the next floor and give the signal, while I go for my cymbals,” and a smoth- ered laugh was heard. Not wishing to get involved in mischief, she went on softly up the stairs and slowly turned the handle of her door and slipped inside. Scarcely had a moment elapsed after she had closed and locked it, when there came a deafening crash and bang, mingled with the blowing of whistles, horns and cornets, that seemed sufficient to awaken the ‘Seven Sleepers’ in their cavern of refuge. Presently steps were heard on the stairs, whereupon Ollie opened her door a little way and saw the watchman with his lantern, just mounting into view. Then the voices of the teachers rang out excitedly, while they vainly tugged at their doors which had been connected with the ones opposite by pieces of clothesline. “Young ladies, what is the meaning of this outrage?” came all the voices at once. “Release us immediately.” Looking farther down the hall, Ollie saw an assortment of tin pans, covers and plates lying in a heap upon the floor, all telling their own story regarding the recent crash. There w as not a person in sight save the watchman. lie had been making his rounds as was his custom at midnight, hence his appearance upon the scene just in time to release the indignant teachers. On being released, they immediately bestirred themselves to find out the culprits; but of course everybody was inno- cent ami as eager as they to ascertain who could have been guilty of so daring an act at that hour of the night. Poor Peggy, however, was destined to pay the penalty for her temerity. A moment or two after Ollie left her, she also had stolen cautiously up-stairs, but on moving farther down the hall, she had run against one of the ropes. Like a flash she knew that she had fallen over the signal rope. Then the crash and bang followed. Peggy shrank into a closet at the end of the hall. But she was not quick enough, for the watchman saw her shadow. Here Peggy waited with eager cars and bated breath, wondering what was to come next. When it came, however, she heartily wished she was anywhere else in the world. But there was nothing to do