North High School - Polar Bear Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

Page 24 text:

A QUAKER WEDDING. Mary Heald. When I asked my father to tell me something interesting about his boyhood, this is what he told me : When I was a boy, one of the things whiVh wore nf great interest to me was a Quaker wedding. The old Quaker meeting house was so arranged that the men sat on one side and the women on the other. There was a partition between, so high that they could not see each other during meeting. They had a ' Fourth Day ' meeting ever ' Wednesday and if there was a couple present, who desired to be married, they made this desire known here. The man would arise and, going to the one he had chosen, he would lead her to the front of the congregation. He would then say, We hereby announce our intentions of becoming husband and wife. ' A month after this, at meeting, he would do this again, announcing the continuation of this plan, or the with- drawal of it. Two weeks after this, the marriage occurred. All the people of the community were present, as it was a great occasion. Meeting took up as usual and all was quiet for about an hour. Then the young man arose and led his bride to the front. They were both clad simply. The bride had on a gray silk dress of rich material but simply made. She also wore a little gray bonnet. The groom was dressed in a gray cloth suit of the best material, but made without a collar. The young man made a speech something like this : ' I take to be my wife, promising by Di ine guid- ance to be to her a faithful and loving husband. ' Then the bride promised to be a true wife, and they both sat down on the front row of the women ' s side, and the meeting prog- ressed as usual. After the meeting was over, the clerk of the church asked the people to sign their names as itnesses of the ceremony. Then the congregation went to the bride ' s home where a wedding dinner was serv ed. 90

Page 23 text:

three farmhouses and, away in the distance the black, black trees. Harriet looked up the other way, where the business part of town was situated. She thought she heard a faint whistle. Just then the full moon broke through a bank of clouds and the girl discerned a figure. The nearer the figure came the more plainly could she distinguish a jaunty Irish air, and— surely that was ragged young Felix O ' Brian ! Felix Oil Folix! she called, her voice tense with anxiety The whistle stopped. Out of the darkness came a sur- prised voice, ' ' Sure and Til be comin ' if ye ' d be kind enough to tell me where ye be. Fm here, Felix, shut in the library basement. It ' s Harriet Elwood. Huh! grunted Felix, and in a moment he had found the window and was within a foot of Harriet. Got another chair? he asked in a very matter-of-fact voice. Here, Til pull ye up. With one bang of his first, Felix brokeT;he window pane into a thousand pieces, then proceeded to pull his neighbor out of her prison. What a relief it was to stand outside and breathe the fresh autumn air! In a lew words Harriet explained the odd situation and poured out her thanks to the boy she had hitherto scorned and despised. Fll never be able to pay you back for your service, she ended with a grateful sigh. I ' ll not be askin ' nothin ' , the boy returned. His Irish humor was very amusing and Harriet relaxing from the strain of the last hour or two, laughed till she almost cried. Of course, on reaching home the story had to be re- peated but Harriet allowed herself very little sympathy be- fore she dropped her pocketbook into the astonished Mil- dred ' s lap and said verj penitently, I ' ll take it all back, Milly, what I said about the O ' Brian children. I ' ve saved up just enough to buy my new kodak but please take it and use it for my share of the O ' Brians ' Thanksgiving dinner. ' 89

Page 25 text:

SS!«THE 0MCLE?5ii POOR LITTLE INSECT. Once two clever Science boys, being so bright, Plotted to pull off a joke just right. They first caught a hopper and centipede there. And even a beetle and butterfly fair. They made an insect of all these things, With centipede body, and butterfly wings. The grass-hopper ' s legs and the beetle ' s queer head, They glued thorn together and euilolosslv said: We in the lield this bug did catch. Can you tell us what kind of bug is that? ' Did it hum when you caught it? the Professor said. ' Yes, they answered with a shake of the head. He looked at the bug again and smiled For he was a scientist old and mild. Then he anj wered their question, looking about, Well, this is a humbug then, no doubt. C. H. ' 16. THE GAME OF CADDY. When my father speaks of his boyhood days, he seldom fails to mention a game called Caddy, which aff ' orded him more amusement than any other. Any number of boys could play this game. They would first chop the handle from one of Grandmother ' s old brooms, which she was kind enough to donate for their enjojinent. This they would cut into two pieces, one about five inches long, which they whittled to a point at the end, the other about three feet long. Then for fun! They laid the smallest stick on the ground, hit it on one end with the club, which made it bounce up. Then each, in his turn, tried to knock it the farthest. Cloris Wallace, ' 18. 91