Milford High School - Oak Lily and Ivy Yearbook (Milford, MA)

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22 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. she was. With some surprise he said, “I g uess you don’t attend the games here very often or you’d know ‘Al’ Barbadoro, the greatest lady umpire in the game.” Then I remembered how the announcement of the batteries always gave Alma a thrill even at the old High School games on Town Park. After the game as I was pushing through the crowd I heard someone at my elbow say, “Alma has just as much pep as when she led the cheers in High School back in Milford.” I turned in astonishment. I knew that voice:—Leo Dickson as sure as I was alive. He knew me in an instant and told me that he was acting as orchestra lead¬ er in a theatre ' which I later found to be one of the largest in the city. He said he was a confirmed old batchelor and insisted that I come out to his apartments and spend the evening. Leo informed me that Mildred Bowen, whose clear so¬ prano voice ha d so well filled the Assembly Hall, was now a noted prima donna and scheduled to sing in the city that evening, but it was impossible for me to at¬ tend the concert as I was to leave New York on the 9.30 train. The old town looked as imposing as ever when I stepped from the train the following afternoon and the coal-sheds on every side seemed to extend a cordial greeting to me after my long absence. After a good night’s rest I started out to “do” the town. I went directly to the High School, thinking that was the best place to start my research work. As I entered the principal’s office I saw a rather short, thick-set 1 man with very light hair, sitting at the desk in the act of laying down the law to some unfortunate freshman in his English class, who failed to dot his i’s. I asked him if he knew anything of the 1921 class. He said, “Why, I used to belong to that class myself.” I stared at him and said, “The only tow-headed boy in our class was Duane Clarridge.” It didn‘t take him long to recall my identi¬ ty and he told me that our class was well represented on the faculty with Ruth Tyndall as chemistry and algebra instructor, Marion Greeley as a Latin teacher and Florence Tellier in charge of the stenographic department, her predecessor having retired on a pension a few years previous. It might be well to add that the school had grown so that the principal required a private secretary and Cecilia Wallace did the honors in his office, her own quiet way being a valuable asset in this vocation. My classmates were summoned to the office and we had a very pleasant re¬ union. I was told that Anna Mazzarelli’s ability with the brush and pencil had won her a position as drawing supervisor in the local schools. George Brown, whose work on the college gridiron had brought him much fame, had been secured to coach the local eleven during a leave of absence from his work with a sporting goods firm with which he had been employed since leaving college. Duane then told me that he had something to show me in which I should sure¬ ly be interested. He handed me a United States History and asked me to look it over. When I opened the book, these words greeted me: “A Revised History of the United States by Francis Henry Hannigan, Ph.D., Harvard University.” By this time I was so used to these amazing discoveries that this one did not shock me, and anyway Francis always had his own ideas about history. Principal Clarridge then showed me the latest issue of “The Oak, Lily, and Ivy,” and said that they now solicited each graduate who was in business and were very successful in se¬ curing advertisements from them. Glancing through the copy I found many things of interest. The first advertisement that caught my eye was: “Best wishes of McDermott Burke’s Cloak and Suit Store, the largest within a radius of ten miles.” I re¬ marked to Duane as I read this ad, “I’ll bet Rita doesn’t look forward to the com¬ ing of a bill now as she used to Sunday nights while in High School.” Miss Wal-

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 21 success of this education has been and will continue to be in the hands of the teach¬ ers, and this class deems itself fortunate in having the competent instructors from whose training it has benefited. If this country is to maintain the high grade of excellence in its teachers, however, more adequate salaries must be paid to them for the teachers of our public schools have always been the most underpaid work¬ ers in the world, although required to be the most highly educated. Many teachers are leaving the ranks to accept positions where they will be adequately compensated for their services, and the Class of 1921 wishes to extend its appreciation to the School Committee of the town of Milford for its efforts to secure an appropriation from the town to meet the demands of the teachers for an increase in their salaries. We sincerely trust that whenever a question arises of the expenditure of a few dollars for an increase in the salaries of our school teachers the people of this town will not hesitate to submit to the payment of a few per cent, on their tax rate in order that the high standard of education which we enjoy at the present time will not be lowered, and so that in the future every graduation class will be able to realize, as we do, that their course in the Milford High School has success¬ fully prepared them to meet the problems of the future. Francis H. Hannigan, ’21. AFTER MANY YEARS—THE CLASS OF 1921. One bright morning in September, 1941, I stepped from the door of Sing Sing Prison into the outer world, a free man once more. The warden came to the door with me and gave me a hearty handshake and his best wishes for my future, togeth¬ er with the small sum of money I had with me when I first donned prison stripes, twenty years previous. Perhaps you are wondering how I came to the misfortune of being sent to this institution against my own will. I will tell you. I was graduated from High School at about the same time the radical change in the personnel of the Milford Town Government took place. As you will probably remember, many new and stringent measures were put into effect at this time, and among them was a new set of traffic laws. In my High School days I was accustomed to ride a bicycle to some extent (a very unfortunate practice as it proved to be), and was sometimes apt to be forgetful of our Town Fathers’ parking regulations. On one particular occasion I left the vehicle standing in a doorway, the rear wheel projecting about four inches from the building onto the sidewalk. One of our worthy officers while promenading down Main street, walking close to the building as was his custom, with his eyes alert for trouble, brushed against the wheel and was violently thrown on the sidewalk. After picking himself up, he quickly regained his senses and placed a tag on the wheel, requesting the owner to call on the Chief of Police. To make a long story short, my trial came up soon after and as a result of other officers testifying against me, it was decided that I was to be made an example of, and the past twenty years of my life were spent as I have stated. Upon my release, my first thought was for my classmates at Milford High. I planned to go directly back to Milford but while in New York I saw a game ad¬ vertised between the Red Sox and the Yankees and decided to stay and take it in, it was so long since I had seen one. Among the many changes noticeable was the fact that lady umpires were as numerous as men. Just as I found my seat, the umpire behind the catcher began to call the batteries. Something about the man¬ ner of that umpire was familiar to me and I asked the man sitting next to me who

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 23 lace informed me that Madeline acted as a model at the store, thus causing the business to increase by leaps and bounds. In fact Filene has more than once in¬ vited these business women to take charge of his Boston store while he is in Europe each year, but they both confess that they are led to stay in their home town both from a natural love for their birthplace and a pleasure in the association with two leading business men of the town. On another page was written “Compliments of the Misses Casey—Seminary for Girls and Young Women—We guarantee to turn out perfect ladies in every sense of the word.” Below this I read: “Stenog¬ raphers! increase your earning power 100 per cent. Learn the Dalrymple adap¬ tion of the. Gregg system to the French language. Misses Ethel and Doris Dal¬ rymple, originators.” I knew that Doris’ feeling for the French people would be apt to direct her actions. On another page were the compliments of Angelina Morcone, Attorney at Law. Judging from the way Angie’s loquaciousness had so often disturbed the peace and quiet of Room 10’ the fourth period, I should say that she had chosen her profession wisely. Duane then handed me a copy of the “Congressional Record,” sent to him by Senator Fahey, which contained one of his hot speeches against the abolition of the protective tariff. Henry always was ready to talk on this subject or any other subject for that matter. The “Record” also contained an account of O’Connell, our shining light of the sixth period law class, who had recently been appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, also telling about his first important decision wherein he held that it was not a felony to come into Stenography A class with¬ out one’s homework done. With that I told Duane that I had taken up about enough of his time and so bade him good-bye, wishing him continued success. As I was walking down School street, I noticed a sign over the Lincoln Square Garage which read: “Mackay Steeves, Proprietors.” I wondered if it meant “Dick” and “Tunney” and decided to find out. It did, sure enough. They had built up a large selling and repairing business. In one corner of the building I noticed a powerful looking racer and they told me that it was the one in which Helen Sherman, with Matt Murphy as her me¬ chanic, maintained a speed of two hundred miles an hour for three consecutive hours, breaking the world’s record. “Tunney” told me that while at the Massa¬ chusetts General Hospital for treatment for the after effects of an injury received in the Dedham football game, he found that our quiet and sympathetic Gladys Spencer was head nurse, while Elvera Bregani as dietitian supervising the serv¬ ing of many carefully prepared dishes which assisted materially in the recovery of so many patients. During his stay at the hospital he found that Harold Cene- della, whose fame as a surgeon was widespread, visited the hospital regularly and that instead of using ether he talked his patients into unconsciousness. They told me that they were planning to go to Tremont Temple the follow¬ ing evening to hear Paul SanClemente, the noted Evangelist, speak and they showed me a speech clipped from a newspaper wherein he denounced the lax morals of modern young people and declared that something must be done to stop young and attractive widows from invading social centers and ruining the lives of our young men. I learned that many an exciting meeting had been held in the selectmen’s rooms since Rhoda Behrens and Lil Ranahan got on the board and I did not have to stretch my imagination very far to picture one of their heated conferences, for these two certainly could never be reproached for taciturnity. The next bit of interesting information was that Isabel McGrath an d our blushing Mary Carr had bought out the rights to a local daily and had printed some great editorials among which were: “The Evils of Smoking,” “The Horrors