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

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THE CHRONICLE actually lake her any longer to do her homework than il would have in her grandmother’s day. These modern things saved her time, so really she had more time to do other useful things than her great grandmother had had. Helen went back to her English theme, mathematics examples, and her history lessons, reassured that she would rather live in 1939. Molly Brockett, ’10 SMALL TOWN GIRLS “Toot toot” shrieked the whistle, as the train rounded the bend. “Toot tooooot!” Lazy cows, grazing in the meadows, gazed curiously at the large locomotive, as it sped hurriedly by. Inside the train, sleepy passengers lounged in their seats, reading, talking, or just looking out of the dusty windows. Joyce and her friend Chris were the only ones who had any life in them. The others had been to New York before, and thought nothing of it, but this was the girls' first trip. They were talking excitedly and counting the miles which brought them nearer to their destination. Joyce was a tall, beautiful girl of nineteen, and Chris was a short, chubby, happy-go-lucky girl of twenty. They were on their way to make their fortunes in the big city. Joyce wanted to become a professional model and later an actress, and Chris’ ambition was to enter the great Bellevue Hospital, and train to become a nurse. An hour later, the train pulled into Pennsylvania Station. The girls walked out into the crowded street, and stood confused, not knowing which wav to turn. Finally they asked a kind policeman to direct them and he took them to a near-by hotel. Here they engaged a small, but attractive room. I lie next morning Chris left for the hospital to put in her application, and Joyce left for a large model agency. Both girls felt confident that they would return with good news, but fate was against them, and two tired and disappointed girls returned home that night. Joyce had discovered that she was not the only beautiful girl in the world. At the agency there had been many experienced models who could not get work so there was little chance for her to obtain a position right away. Chris' application to Bellevue was refused as there were about fifty applicants ahead of her, and hers could not be considered until the next class graduated. After telling each other their troubles, the went to bed, hoping that the morning would bring a better outlook on life. Days passed bringing no luck to either of the girls, but they refused to give up, even though lack of money forced them to find positions as clerks in a Five and Ten-cent store. During her spare time Joyce made the rounds of the model agencies, and Chris was patiently waiting for the tilin' when her application to Bellevue might be considered. Finally their luck changed. Joyce obtained her first modeling position and Chris' application was accepted. After that, both girls were successful. Joyce became more and more popular until she was one of the best models in New York, with prospects of Hollywood ahead of her; and Chris became one of Bellevue s best nurses. Although in due time they parted, they promised each year they would meet and go back to their home town together for a visit.

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16 THE CHRONICLE hangs a mirror and last but by no means least is my bed, a plain, hard one, with a couple of broken springs. 11 sags a little in the middle and squeaks whenever I take a deep breath, but when I'm asleep I don’t notice it. I’ve stood it for about eight years now; so I guess a few more won’t make much difference. A-nony-inous, ’39 ()LI OR NEW? Outside it had been snowing steadily for two hours, and now the ground was white. It was the afternoon of the eighth day of January as Helen sat in the living room of her home in a small Massachusetts town. She was a senior in high school and was trying to do some homework, but she hadn't had any inspirations for an English theme; her mathematics examples refused to come out right; and everything she touched seemed to go wrong. Malt' unconsciously six opened her history book and began to read. The lesson was on the life in her great grandmother’s time. Helen closed the book. She didn’t like history, and anyway who cares about the life of our great grandmothers? Helen would much rather have some life of her own, in modern 1939 style. Unthinkingly, she murmured this fact aloud. Someone answered from behind her. “Humph! You've spent a whole hour there with your books, and you haven't done a single thing. When are you going to get down to work?” Startled, Helen turned and saw to her astonishment that the picture of her own great grandmother had come to life, and the little woman stood before her. The lady spoke again. “Don't you think you’d better get busy? It will be getting dark before very long, and you won’t have much light to study by.” “Hut I can turn on the lights like this, exclaimed Helen, still wondering at the appearance of this quaint person. She went to the switch and demonstrated. Grandmother, surprised and frightened, uttered an exclamation and then asked why Helen didn’t do something about the fire. Helen laughed, then explained as well as she could about electricity. Grandmother stayed and talked with Helen all the afternoon, interested in the many strange things around her She wondered at electricity, gas, automobiles, and countless little things that seemed necessities to Helen. Toward the end of the afternoon, Grandmother became very quiet. Helen noticed this and asked what tlx matter was. Grandmother thought for a minute, then said, ‘'ll seems to me. Helen, as though all this 1939 equipment has made you a bit lazy. Why, if you had been doing that homework in my day, you couldn’t have sal day-dreaming as I found you, because the light would really have gone. As it is, you have all the evening to do it in. where I would have had all the evening to do something else1. I think I prefer to go back to the picture on the wall to remember my own school days, rather than to day dream into the future as you seem to do when you should be doing homework.” Helen sal for quite a while, deep in thought. Would it really be better to live in those days as Grandmother had said? Helen remembered that it didn’t

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18 THE CHRONICLE “Toot toooot” shrieked the whistle as the train came around the bend. This time it carried two other girls to the big city to make their fortunes. What has life in store for them? Like Chris and Joyce, will they add their names to the list of small town girls, who by their courage and perseverance, make good? Helen McCartin ’41 GOOD BOYS Cliff and Jerry were very young when their parents died and left them orphans. It's a 81131110,“ said the neighbors, but none of them offered to help. Finally, Widow Grimms heard about them and went directly to the orphanage where the two boys had been placed. After all the papers had been drawn and signed, Widow Grimms and the boys left the orphanage for home in her big limousine. Years passed and the boys were given everything they desired; they in turn reciprocated Ma Grimms’s kindness and motherly affection with true loyalty and obedience. After graduation from high school, they entered college. Their first two years were very successful; both stood high in their classes. Then they fell intb bad company with boys who lived high and who spent a great deal of money in gambling. Every week they sent home for money, but Ma Grimms thought nothing of it. Holidays she spent alone with thoughts of her two boys. “Yes, it certainly is too bad. She had such faith in those boys,” said the nurse to herself. Ma Grimms was lying in a hospital bed, suffering from a severe shock that she had received that morning when she happened to pick up the newspaper, and saw on the front page a picture of Cliff and Jerry, who had been captured with four other fellows for the murder of a wealthy gambling-house keeper. After this story appeared in the newpaper, Cliff and Jerry were cleared of any connection in the episode. They decided to go home and explain everything to Ma Grimms. On the train they read of her illness and went directly to the hospital to ask to be admitted to her room. The nurse informed them that her condition was critical and that she had been calling for them. Big tears came to Ma Grimms’s eyes when she saw her boys at her bedside. As the tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes slowly closed and her last words were “I knew they were good boys.” Marion O’Connell, 39 MY FAYOBITE PET He may be a little puppy So funny and so fat, I'd still prefer him any day To a funny old house-cat. White or black, gray or brown, With no collar nor pretty bows, It makes no difference anyway, For he’s someone’s pal—he knows. Ruth Shookie, ’39