MacDuffie School - Magnolia Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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AUTOGRAPHS

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The slrains of a well modulaled voice broke inlo lhe room. Il was Mary lrwin's Mary, we all screamed, forgelling lhal six ears had gone by since such use of lhe lungs were permissible. Mary relurned our greeling, afler which she loo lold of her doings. She was slill living in Springfield, bul she was leaching eloculion now. She was always so fond of lalking. Al lhis poinl, Polly whis ered lo me nol lo menlion anylhing aboul Yale, as Mary had had a mosl unforlunale experience olplale. I-ler husband, a Yale man, had gone back lo his alma maler for a reunion, and one of lhe sludenls lhere misheard Mary's husband's conversalion, and lhoughl he said Harvard inslead of harbored Immedialely lhe sludenl had hil Mary's spouse. Mary was quile louchy aboul lhe subiecl . . . so was her husband! I was iusl saying lo myself lhal Mary always had lroubles, when Belly Thomas and Margol Fisher came in. They had laken lhe same lrain oul of Boslon explained Bell . We asked her whal she was doing in lhal cily now, and Belly explained lhal she was a chemical! lechnician in one of lhe labs lhere. Slrange, we said we never lhoughl Belly was exaclly lhe craziesl aboul chemislry. Belly laughed. Well, she said, il all happened in college. I was experimenling one day for nilric acid when I accidenlally discovered a new lype of bleach. Ever since lhen I gol so inleresled in chemislry lhal l've followed il lhrough, unlil now I am working in lhe fieId. I noliced lhal Belly really meanl whal she said aboul being so inleresled in, her work . . . her hair was very blond now. Margol's lurn came lo lell us of her doings. She said lhal she was running Miss Margol's Kiddie School. She had discovered a new lechnique for handling children . . . lhal of facial relaxalion. She wenl on lo explain her lheory, bul I did nol quile grasp il since I have never been good al under- slanding such lhings. Anyway Margol concluded lhal she was wriling a book on her ideas . . . il was lo be called, Scaley-Eighl Ways lo Furlher Your Youngsler's Life. Sandy, wilh her sizable brood, was very inleresled in lhe whole subiecl, so she and Margol gol inlo a lechnical discussion. I was lrying lo follow il again, when anolher of lhe old class of '47 enlered . . . Pul. Afler everyone greeled her, Pul lold us how she had almosl nol come since lhey were picking slrawberries on her farm in Conneclicul. We queslioned her aboul lhe place and she explained lhal farming wasn'l for supporl. ll was her husband's livelihood. She was slill painling, and she found a slore of malerial lo painl in lhe counlry. She and Shirley immedialely gol logelher lo lalk aboul arl. So lhe evening 'wore on. We all lalked and reminisced unlil we realized lhal mosl of us had lrains lo calch. Wilh a lillle sadness, bul promises lo meel again, we Iefl. Before I said goodbye lo Breaker Inn, Nan asked me lo drop somelhing in 'lhe mailbox for her. I looked al whal she handed me. Il was a bunch of keys and allached lo il was a disk such as lhose found on holel keys. These words were prinled on il . . . ln case lhese are losl, please relurn lo Ralph D. Rulenber, Jr., MacDuffie School for Girls, Springfield, Mass. I looked al Nan. Then she laughed and lold me lhal she had found lhe keys on lhe boardwalk. Apparenlly Mr. Rulenber had been in Allanlic Cily. As Nan walked wilh me lo lhe door we looked al each olher and said al lhe same lime, Things haven'l really changed so much! As I slood wailing lo hail a cab for lhe slalion I noliced Nan's children, Holly and Chesler. Lillle Chesler was being dragged along by his sisler. I supposed lhal he had been playing hard. Poor lillle lhing looked all dragged and lagged oul. I waved al lhe lwo as I gol inlo lhe cab. Carefully I look off my shoes as I passed Mrs. Polaski's door. I crepl up lhe slairs and finally gol inlo my room. I crawled inlo bed. Odd, I lhoough, how you could meel old friends for a few hours and seem almosl lransporled back lo younger days, lhen suddenly leave lhem lo go on back lo your lillle life and world in lhe presenl. Thal reunion was like slopping lraflic'for a momenl- only a momenl. ll was one of lhese hol nighls in New York. The pavemenls seemed aclually lo curl up wilh lhe heal. As usual I lossed on my bed . . . unlil I fell asleep. The nexl morning I would arise, avoid Mrs. Polaski, endure lhe heal, perhaps gel anolher reieclion from lhe publisher, bul from lime lo lime I would look back on my brief meeling wilh lhe class of '47 and smile. PAT DUNN '47

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The Seniors appreciale llwe supporl of llwe Adverlisers whose names appear in Jrhe l947 Magnolia We urge all readers 'lo pafronize rlme people who supporl us.