Lyman Hall High school - Singer Chronicle Yearbook (Wallingford, CT)

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THE CHRONICLE. VII. times she has thought of the rich—their joy and happiness; how often she has wondered about them, and now, to-day, she is free to imagine herself one of them. W ith care-free heart she greets Her Day, which has dawned gloriously clear, with the song, “Qh, Day, if I squander one wavelet of thee, One mite of my twelve hours’ treasure, The least of thy gazes or glances, (J’.e they grants thou art bound to or gifts above measure) ()ne of thy choices or one of thy chances, (Be they tasks God imposed thee or freaks at thy pleasure) —My Day, if I squander such labor or leisure. Then shame fall on Asolo, mischief on me!'? As she sits on the stone step of a shrub-house to pick some heartsease, she thinks of Ottima, the young wife of old Luca, who owns the silk mills. Little does Pippa know of the life of Ottima—that the woman is within this very shrub-house comforting in soothing tones, her German lover who has jusi killed her husband. As the child skips away, she sings the song which is the motto of her life: “The year’s at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning’s at seven; The hillside’s dew-pearled ; The lark's on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in his heaven— All’s right with the world.” In passing by these lovers, Pippa, with her song, her purity and her joy, has brought to them a realization of their baseness and of their lost youth with its ideals from which they have wandered so far. She lingers next near the home to which Jules, an Italian sculptor, and his bride are to return that morning. While waiting for them to come from the church, she hears a band of youths talking among themselves of this Jules as they hide near the house. Because of their jealousy of his talent they have conspired to deceive him and wreck his career. With wonder in her face, Pippa turns away, for she has learned that sometimes happiness is not even for brides. But again her song and utter simplicity carry their message to the hearts of the two, and they are comforted. Luigi, a young patriot noble and generous, shrinking from the high mission which has come to him, to deliver Italy, hears with his mother Pippa’s song as she passes, and answers its spirit by exclaiming, “ ’Tis God’s voice calls; how could I stay? Farewell.” The cares of Monsignor, a holy friar, seem less after the song of joy and content have come to his ears. At night while Pippa meditates the adventure of the day, her song is still contentment: “For 1 have just been the holy Monsignor: And I was you, Luigi’s gentle mother. And you, too, Luigi! And I was Jules, the sculptor’s bride. And I was O.tima beside; And now what am I?—tired of fooling.

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VI. THE CHRONICLE. lighted with the pranks of Huckleberry Finn and his fearless and reckless associa.es, or the electric humor of the Jumping Frog? As well as being a humorist in his stories, Twain was an interesting conversationalist and entertainer because he had a fund of clever and amusing anecdotes. He was not habitually a practical joker, but there were times when his temptation got the better of him. A case is cited of a friend who was traveling with the writer.- When he asked for a quiet hotel in the large city toward which they were making their way, Mark Twain replied, A good place? O-h, yes! Hotel Gilder is the place for you. Just behind the Brevoort House on Clinton Place—very small, very quiet— doesn’t take in everybody. Ring the bell and tell them what you want; if there’s any trouble, ask to see the proprietor, tell him who you are and that I sent you.” The traveler followed instructions, much to the surprise of Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, who wondered who this guest was who so persistently attempted to hire a room in his house. As a result of this incident, a warm friendship grew up between the two men, which fully compensated for any possible trouble on the part of either of them. The telling of Mark Twain's oddities is as interesting as his humor and, I thinlj, they are in a measure related. Twain reveled in display. In bis late years he wore almost exclusively, a white serge suit because it so pleased his whim. He had been presented with a crimson gown on receiving his degree at Oxford and he could have worn this all the time had he had adequate excuse. His first appearance in print was a source of great joy and each succeeding publication was an added pleasure. Yet there was nothing conceited in his attitude; it was the irrepressible youth in him that gave him to feel in this manner. We may wonder at his temperament and characteristics, yet we can but continue to love the man. It is his ever-flowing fountain of joy and fun and momentary seriousness that makes us like him. When we know of his life, his works and the many incidents—some happy, some sad—in his home fife, we wonder if a more endurable—perhaps it would be better to say a more material—monument of his life might not be left to the future generations than that which we gain from his books. These, we know, cannot die as much of the momentarily popular fiction of the present day. But doesn’t his life merit other recognition than our praise of his stories? Yes, indeed, it does'. Then let us take his home in Hartford—that home which is so like the writer in its very atmosphere—let us convert this home into a staunch and beautiful monument to this great humorist. And let us never forget what joy he has put into our lives, but help each one to preserve the memory of this lovingly eccentric, humorous, but altogether noble man— our Mark Twain. Agnes Wooding ’20 PIPPA’S MESSAGE AND ITS INFLUENCE Throughout the realm of poetry, there is perhaps no sweeter character, no more joyous singer, no freer scatterer of sunshine and unconscious influence than Browning’s little Italian peasant girl, Pippa. Pippa pulsing with joyous life, radiant with expectation, singing her song as she dances down the street going to meet adventure, is enticing; but the Pippa who, tired out with her holiday voices the great lesson of contentment she has learned, is after all the Pippa whose memory abides. Ftflipa is a young girl working in the silk mills at Asolo. For a year she has been filled with the anticipation of her one holiday. How many

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VIII. THE CHRONICLE. Day for folly, night for schooling! New Year’s Day is over and spent, 111 or well, I must be content.” As she tumbles into her bed, too tired even to say her prayers, she murmurs : “All service ranks the same with God, There is no last nor first.” How many of us, like Pippa, have wondered if the happiness of the rich and powerful were not greater than ours? There is so much need in the world to-day for those who have found contentment for those have come to realize that a happy spirit is the source of joy. Is it not worth while for each of us to let himself feel the power of Pippa’s life? As the message of one little peasant influenced a village, so might we bring home the truth that “All service ranks the safe with God, There is no last nor first.” Elizabeth Martin ’20 1 THE AMERICAN GIRL’S INHERITANCE The future of America lies with the present generation. That is to say, we, assembled before you to-night must willingly assume with all our heart and soul responsibilities which our fathers before us have so nobly shouldered. You ask how can mere children prepare to enlighten the world and dispel the clouds of darkness hovering about us? Who shall accomplish this remarkable feat in this era of national unrest and foreign controversies? Small white hands shall perform the almost impossible; small white hands shall turn the madly onrushing steed of dissent, checking and guiding it as easily as if guided by his master’s touch. This honor will fall to the American women. They alone can execute this prodigious undertaking with successful exactitude. Impressive and often thrilling as have been the tales of our great-great grandmothers in past epochs of American history and important as was the part they played in the development of our great republic from the first magnitudinous step when they so bravely fared forth into the unknown wilderness, to the last most trying sacrifice, so fresh in our minds, inflicting a wound that time can never obscure, a scar jagged and livid, yet it is safe to say, and none the less truthfully, that at no time has woman formed such an important factor in controlling affairs of momentuous importance to the universe as at the present time. But why is it that woman is the pilot of our ship that has so safely weathered many a stormy sea? She stands at the helm ever progressing arid striving for her destined landing, never diverting her attentions to the deluding temptation of graft and paying positions. Her code is established on a basis as firm and immovable as the rock of Gibraltar itself. And do I hear you ask what is that code? What are the principles for which they intend to stand? An enumeration of them with no details will suffice for they are a topic of popular discussion. The problems attacked by American women are many. They aim to improve the condition of life among the poor, to agitate sanitary reforms, to promote the health, happiness, and efficiency of slum dwellers, to establish and aid educational institutions of all sorts, to rectify some forms of municipal government and administration, to crush vice and crime, ignorance and disease, to procure humane legisla-