Orleans High School - Sword Yearbook (Orleans, VT)

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, , ' l 'FH j , s-. ' . om Tr-1E,HAasT5 OF A ooo One morning when I arrived home after a two weeks' camping trip, I was introduced to Mickey. I had always wanted a pet and when I came face to face with him for the first time, his features and posture were a comedy. Evidently the family knew all his pranks and had grown accustomed to him.. His sharp, cocked ears, long, thin face and jovial eyes made me think of an old man, espe- cially hls chin whiskers. I reached out my hand to stroke him, and I was met more than half way. With a terrible growl and showing of tiny teeth, he grappled with my little finger and proceeded to savagely maul it. After this first establishment of prestige, I was let in on his charmed circle of friendship. Mick's coat is brown and white, with two patches over both his eyes. His stub of a tail is continually wagging and his long chin whiskers do not quite conceal the tip of a pink tongue. He is very fond of a good time and always ready for a fight. We were troubled with '.-' rats in our cellar and especially under the woodpile at 1t's farther end. I used to stick my finger between the blocks and call to Mick,, whereupon, hearing something move he would go frantic with anxiety and leap ezg Law away at the wood until I concluded it wise to wit,irsw my finger. One morning we went into t?c s hkar and there were two dead rats beside the wosdpile. 'ick was curled up in his box, the wounds of the ruth J-1 poisoned him. I have longed for but never had a Letter friend or com- panion. Ernest Mathews '40 .-g , A .,n.-,X xi. ' .':i lg' tt 2F,, :Miha A?M,'u M.. . fn jfs g ll

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Dletstorships are not something new as some people might suppose. They have been going en ever since ahdidht fimiie Way back ln Eggpt they had a dictator but they called him a Pharao . He ruled the people with a rod or iron. He did not have to tight for his power. He was born a ruler. The people accepted him because they had to, whether they liked it or not. They didnit have much choice in the matter. It was the same in ancient Greece. The P00910 hid a democratic to m of government and ruled themselves but lt wasn't long before one man who was smarter and stronger than the rest took control or the government and ran things the way that he wanted them run. During the days when Rome was at its height the people ru ed for awhile but it wasn't long before their consuls were chosen not by the people but because a certain man happened to have more power than any of the rest of them. Yet Home flourished, for a while, even with a d1ctator.- But everything haante.e diaad so Rama was finally captured and ruined. Ancient China and Japan were ruled by 0mP0P0P8e Yet the emperors had the power of dictators and they acted like dictators. The people put up with it because they had to whether they wanted to or not. They thought that these men ruled by the udivine rightng that s, that those men were supposedly descendants from the Sods. Probably many times the people wished things were ifferent but there was nothing that they could do about it so they accepted it just as the people who had lived before and after them had to. Dlctators are not monsters. In fact they do good in many places. But they are very unscrupulous and they will do almost anything to get what they want. For most of them their days are numbered. They never know whether they are going to be shot through the heart or knited in the back. For this reason they are always heavily guarded wherever they go. Life on the whole must be quite unpleasant for them. But dictators come and dictators go and thus it will go on as long as the world lasts. The powerful will dominate the weaker and there ls nothing that any- one can do about it. Beverly Turnbull '40 u . ll , gli ' ,,,, ff- -'V,1,aun' , l 4-null' '. ', 104 ...sal Q' . , ,,,.. . 1 H l' fs .4 A' 5 .fa n'o T no ' . A nu - 1 o. I nv-- - 'l ,,..cn.u'u. ...anus ..- ..

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if Q X1 h ,, -fff-as f A 21 K f Ch e 'z A - 5 SUPERSTFTICN Webster defines a superstition as Many belief, con- ception, act or practice resulting from such a state of m1nd.u The Encyclopedia Americana classes superstition as Wthat which others believe and we do notu. Superstition has played a major part in the life and activities of man. The farmer plants his crops when certain actions of animals are favorable. Wars have been waged because the leaders thought that the gods were favoring them. In the world of sport, superstition is ever present. Baseball players carry rabbits' feet in their pockets. Crossing the bats is thought to bring bad luck. Many athletes carry charms with them. Fishermen go fishing according to superstitious beliefs. One be- lief of fishermen is that two trout cannot be caught out of the same hole on the same day, but I'have disproved this belief. It is true that many beliefs have been proved time and again, but there is one that surely was not true in the last presidential election. It mas UAs Maine goes, so goes the Unionn. Here are some superstitiL,s derived in our own country. In Michigan a double cfv r knot is carried in the pocket to cure rheumatism. Amc.g the West Virginia mountaineers the crowing of a cock before the door tells of coming company. In New England the sailors carry as a talisman a bone taken from a living turtle, a pebble from a fishhawk's nest or a small bone from the head of a cod. There are hundreds of other -superstitious too numerous to mention. Many of the old superstitions have passed away, but there still remain amo g every race of people many pop- ular beliefs and many of them seem destined to be in use as long as man exists. Newton Washer '41