Oakfield High School - Acorn Yearbook (Oakfield, ME)

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HOW I LOST MY SHYNESS I remember when 1f a boy sat bes1de a gtrl rn school church or any actrvtty he was teased by the other fellows Thrs used to happen to me rn the lower grades of grammar school Durrng the ftrst four grades I had no use for glrls but tt always worked out so that I was betng teased about certatn gtrls Thrs teasrng used to really get me angry I used to frght wrth a boy tf he called me a gul s name somettmes I would even cry One mcrdent comes to me whtch happened 1n the second grade were readmg out loud and I couldn fmd my book The teacher told me go stt wtth someone wrth a book I got up and looked to see whtch boy I could s1t wtth but the boys were all srtttng double So I had to s1t wtth a gtrl The boys had been teasrng me about a certam gul rn that class and well I guess she was about the only gtrl I pard any attentron to Butl thought 1fI s1t wrth her I w1ll be teased even worse so I sat wrth a drfferent grrl But thrs only complrcated thrngs The boys began teasrng me about two gtrls and the grrl I wanted to srt wxth got mad at me becausel d1dn t When I reached the stxth grade I be gan to lose my shyness But sttll when ever the sub1ect of grrls came up I usually left the scene but knew I d rather enjoy the sub1ect At about the age of 12 If a boy sat bes1de a grrl tn the mov1es or a party he was really gone The other boys sort of rgnored htm I drd th1s once and even to my surprrse mustered up enough courage to put my arm around the grrl The fellows told me that sort of stuff was Just for s1ss1es so I forgot all about rt and sat wrth the boys after that Althoughl wasn t too smooth a talker I d1d walk gtrls home from grammar school soctals once tn a wh1le But I never walked any of them up to thexr front door and passed germs Oh no not me' I wasnt a srssyl I usually only walked home wtth guls who were gotng by my house If they ltved below my house when I came to thetr drrveway I sa1d Goodmght and went tnto my house lettmg them walk the rest of the way themselves I mlght have walked farther but my father used to tease me about how I walked home so I drdn t To put tt tnto a nutshell durmg grammar school I preferred boys rather than gtrls But 1fI had known as much asI do now rt would have been Just the other way around After my ftrst year of hxgh school I really changed When I got my drtver s ltcense I was all set I decrded that I wasn t goxng to let teasrng keep me from havrng dates Only one thmg stood 1n my way then my looks Th1s created a problem but when you have a car thrs doesn t htnder you too much At f1rstI used to take boys w1th me whenl got the famtly car but my curtos 1ty got the best of me so I decrded to take out a grrl On my frrst date I took a gtrl to the mov1es We went to the movte then came stratght home Upon reachrng home she satd Goodnrght She got out and I went home Thtnk of tt home by 10 30 Gradually II became later unt1l one ttme I took a g1rl out and got rn at around 1 00 That was the frrst trme I mustered up enough courage to krss a grrl It was short but rt really educated m But now at the present rf I go to the mov1es wtth a gul I get home at about 12 00 The movres let out at 10 00 Durmg that trme between I am just an ordmary red blooded Amer1 can boy lettrng tnstmct ta ke tts course Don t get me wrong though I am a boy who just ltkes to s1t and talk All rn all, I would say th1s IS the story of how I lost my shyness Rlchard McGraw 58 . . ' .. ' . l , . . . ' - - . . ' . i . . . ' - y . , ' I I n ' o I ' . We ' - ' 1 It ' ' ' ' . to - . . . . . , ' ' , . ' 1 I . . . - . - I , - , , . . u ' Q . . ' - i . .. . ' 1 - n ' ' 9 ' I ' u , . . ' I I ' , e. I , . . . 5 z I . : ' 1 - ' ' . , . . . . . . . I

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WE THREE Clearly and drstrnctly I can see the old weatherbeaten whrte house that used to be home to my srsters and me It was the house my grandfather and father before me had been born rn Completely bereft of modem con venrences no electrrcrty or runmng water rt was nevertheless a fme place for children to work play and row u We three were always very close even though we drd frght a lot Mrldred the youngest of us was also the most 111 tempered of the group Maureen was the rnventrve one she once made a mud ple usmg an egg to add flavor to the mud and water As you proba bly guessed Maureen was usually rn trouble I would classlfy myself as the v1lla1n for I always kept track of to Mom much to therr drsmay Asl thrnk of those daysl can t seem to re call dorng thrs to cause them trouble but rn accordance w1th a rather crude sense of duty for when they were spanked for theu' mrschrevousness would cry rrght along w1th them Playrng house was our favorrte as trme rn our younger years We would hardly leave off to eat Sometrmes we played 1n a corner of the krtchen or l1v1ng room and other trmes out under two great crabapple trees that grew IH back of the house But our favorrte spot to play house was up m the old attrc over the krtchen and lrvrng room Nobody ever went up there fexcept to clean the place or store clothesj so we had full relgn It was a dark musty place pxled wrth boxes rn wh1ch were stored many clothes of days gone by We would paw mercrlessly through these boxes untrl we found just the rrght costume Every trme we started playmg we had to decxde how many chxldren each of us would have and tn whrch part of the attxc each would l1ve Often some body would have to get marrred before we would play rn earnest Smce M11 dred was the youngest she usually played the groom much agarnst her wrshes Maureen was a most rrdrculous brrde wrapped up rn an assortment of ancrent lace curtarns and I played whatl thought was the most rmportant part I was the m1n1ster The ceremony as I remember was very short The brrde would stumble rn to the famrlrar strarns of the weddrng march hummed III our young off key vorces If she made rt to the groom wrthout fallmg flat on her lovely face I would pronounce them man and wrfe The prelrmmanes frnrshed, we would settle down to the maln event whrch would probably last all day I say rt was surely a lot of fun Marrlyn Brown 58 REAL COOL The cat was dead as he Jumped and J1ved By hrs cool set of wheels of 45 He d1d a beat that was cut by the feet And hrs real crazy babe helped dlg that beat She was the kmd that could Jump around Frrst she was up then she was down But by the trme the cat was through, You could tell the babe was too So they stopped rt all and called rt a sessron And after seerng that we all learned our lesson She got U1 the car and she was so fat That all the ttres went dead flat B Nadeau 58 g P. . . . the other two and relayed their schemes Wolff go into further details but 1 will . . . , I . . P - U '

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I REMEMBER WHEN In our house there 15 a storage room over the garage Just about everythtng IS kept rn th1s room except the k1tchen stnk Most of the stuff kept here rs not much good but we just can t throw ll away I l1ke to go up to th1s room once rn a wh1le and just look around One day asI was lookmg around I came upon an old f1shpole standrng 1n the corner It was covered w1th dust and the sprders had woven many br1dges of stlk to and from If As I pxcked up the old frshpole I remembered that day not so many years ago when I went ftshrng for the frrst trme The sun rose bnght and the skres were clear In the f1sh basket my father took along were all kmds of thtngs A I remember II was a long walk to Dyer Brook stream but we finally made rt after many stops to rest The fust thmg Pop drd was to put an angle worm on hrs hook and throw tt 1nto the water After try1ng th1s method for an hour or so he gave up the worm deal and declded to try somethmg else He reached tnto hrs basket and brought forth a box of starch He dumped the box of starch Into the brook and then got the rope he had brought along out of the f1sh basket We then proceeded downstream unt1l we came to a bend rn the brook From there Pop waded 1nto the brook and ned the rope around a very large trout Between us both we managed to pull the f1Sh to shore Later upon gomg home my father told me how he was able to catch all Of of those b1g fxsh He explamed rt to me and I quote After I put the starch 1nto the brook the f1sh got so strff they couldn t turn a corner IH order to go around the bend w1thout gettmg caught Leslle McNelly 58 MY CASTLE ON WHEELS Summer days 1n my ltfe were not spent 111 one or two places but rn many places for a boxcar and IIS boxcar famrly does not stay in one place for very long lts wheels constantly seem to remtnd ll that thelr purpose was tor movlng and that thev d1d not thtnk much of staytng rn that spot on the tracks The tracks also seem to stretch for an known number of mtles and seem to con txnually urge the wheels of the boxcar onward Of course th1s rs only pure tmagtnatron but the fact remams that the boxcar and ns famxly dxd not stay in one place more than three weeks and somettmes only a day or two We were Just such a famrly My father operates a rallroad bulldozer durlng the summer and the rarlroad com pany sends htm all over Mame Of course we drd not lrke the ldea of stay 1ng home all alone and 1f we could pos s1bly help tt we were not gotng to Slnce the rarlroad company supplred my father wrth a boxcar to l1ve m and srnce there was room m that boxcar qwtth a ltttle f1x1ng overj for all of us Qmother three brothers and a srsterj we declded to go along wxth htm I cannot remember too clearly the f1rst few years out but I can remember that we klds slept rn bunks whrch were sep arated from the rest of the boxcar by a curtarn But as we grew older we need ed somethtng more permanent so my father d1v1ded the car IHIO two bedrooms a large kltchen and a very small bath room My brothers had the larger bed room and we had the very small one whlch could hardly house one bunk bed My mother and father slept rn the far ther end of the krtchen Th1S was far from a mrlltonarre s domam but at the trme I liked to thmk of ll as my muua ture castle on wheels Our appllances were not modern gal though we d1d have electr1c1ty at most of the places we stayedj O ' I I l un- 9 I ' ' . s ' ' - '. . .- ' ' . . . - , . - . . ., I D l 9 U 1 , I . .. . , u I ' '