Our Lady of Mercy High School - Mercedes Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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-'EQ Red and Tom thought they 'were Putting Sparkle on the spot but Mus Porter turned the table: liv- Sparkle and flz each 1' By Sbzrley Van Bzllzard 47 She s blg and bony llke a horse Who never stopped to rest One foot lt polnts out to the east The other to the west Her legs go out and conle together A knockln at the knees Her arms then braneh out from her sldes Llke llmbs branch out on trees She has a button for her mouth A plckle for a nose Her halr comes off rlght wlth her hat When er a west wlnd blows Two dark hollows mark the eyes A medltatlve frown crossed the face of the youthful poet Dropplng the worn pencll to brush a rumpled mop of brown halr from hls eyes wlth h1S chubby dlrty hand he gazed thoughtfully at the famlllar scene about hlnl Falllng first upon the meanderlng brook rlp pllng ecstatlcally hlS eyes then lazlly sklmmed the masslve multl colored green carpet com placentlv coverlng the hllls and vales border lng lt The from n faded and regalnlng the stubbv lnstrument he wrote Two dark hollows mark the eyes Of thls strange and gruesome creature A rare and unbellevable Slghf Who IS lt: It s my teacher A broad xy holesome smlle spread slowly across hls face as he reread hlS work wlth satlsfactlon Then ln fat sprawling letters I slgned hlS name Sparkle McGulre June 3 1946 Sparkle whlstled softlv whlle foldlng care fully hls latest poem I-Ie placed ll and hls pencll ln hls pocket rose and walked C011 tentedls along the bank of the brook The shapeless faded overalls draped themselves haphazardlx over Sparkle s bumps and curx es wlth the half rolled up half rolled down pant legs and bare feet completlng a perfect plcture of a typleal carefree boy of eleven EXClCCd yelps and excesslve wlggllng an nounced the arrlval of Bumps Sparkle s dog Bumps was a throughbred mongrel HIS fur coal black wlth spots of brown and whlte marklngs on hls heels and forepaws was soft and sllky from regular vlgorous brushlngs by master Sparkle Hls soft brown eyes keen and alert were fixed attentlvely on Sparkle as he neared hls secret cave Bumps walted anxlously whlle he removed a large stone from the floor of the cave reveallng a box contalnlng a neat plle of paper Sparkle put hls latest composl tlon lnto the box and carefully replaced the stone Takmg up hls school books was Sparkle s slgnal to Bumps that a day of hookey was over and together they ran down the path that wx ould lead them to home and supper Slssst' Red' He s gone At thls call the figures of two boys emerged from the underbrush and entered Sparkle s cave Hey Tom a short chubby lad wlth brlght red halr called here s the stone Red started to llft the stone and Tom quickly came to hls SldC wlth a helplng hand It was easllv removed and there before them was revealed Sparkle s darkest secret IS poetry Oh boy exclalmed Red hl5 hlgh pltched WOICC even more squeekv IH hls excltement, Oh box' Oh h h boy ' Sparkle squlrmed wearllv ln hl5 seat as the last of the class passed through the classroom door to the outer world leavlng school behlnd them tlll the next day to them the remotest of 35' ' ' CL !! l Q l . 0' . I . . , 7 ,Q . . . - .. , - - - - 1 1 y I . . ,. . 0 v Q , ' L4 n 'v , . . , Q . . . , ' 1 . . . 1 1 1 ' 1 7 , . . . . . . . . . . . , . .. x . ., . s 7 ' ' ' CC ' 7 71 , - - a u u . U . - . , 1 . . ., Y . . 9 9 , ' ' ll 57 ' ' . . . , , , ' L6 1 I7 , . . . , . . . ' , . Q Y ., . , ' . '. . . . h . . . 1 . 4 U v,, . . . . . , . ., TC , , '- . . . . . . . . .- 1 7 7 . SL yi ,1 Y . ' . . lv an lr 1 . . 9 9 ' , , ' Q u 7 7 1 v I, Y ' v . 7 ' .7

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Then dad explamed All the commonon was about my brother s hobby of hstenmg to short wave radxo Tlus was durmg the war and he l1stened to German and japanese broadcasts of captured Amerxcan sold1ers He would then wr1te to the parents tellmg them thelr boy was safe A woman ln Massachusetts to whom he had wrxtten such a letter became suspxclous as to where he had recerved the lnformanon and warned the F B I that he was a spy It was such a sxmple act of kxndness that had caused all the commotron The only effect vuas that my brother s mld dle name was changed from Henry to Edward to avold confuslng hrs name w1th Dad s I hate the name Edward but dad sald that he was never gomg to yall for any son of hrs -qi Penny 'warn t accustomed to bezng beaten at 'wrestlzng but a mongrel pup and a mysterzous .vmmger helped ber bear the bumzlzatzon jir- Zr I ,Cave I By Madelzne Grant, 48 As Penny came swmgmg down the street bouncxng her yo yo up and down the feehng that she was belng followed slowly crept over her Tensmg every muscle 1n her hthe ten year old body she plvoted on her heel ready to send fists flymg 1nto anyone who mrght be lookmg for trouble The snght that met her eyes softened Penny s tomboy heart at once Her would be adversary was a black and wh1te mongrel w1th a br bandage on hrs foot The bandage had caught ln a bush causmg the poor pup to drag a branch along w1th h1m As Penny bent down to reheve the httle dog s mlsery she heard an angry vorce say Hey you' Leave my dog alone' Before she could prepare herself she was rollmg m the dust wrestlmg W1th the new comer Very soon too soon for Penny she was 1ook1ng 1nto the flushed face of her new match fyou see Penny had never before been beaten at wrestlmgj who now sat perched on her stomach Holy cow' sald a vo1ce I thought that IS well gee whlz' You dxd look like a boy 1n those yeans yured prlde to bear Begmmn w1th Well wh1le you figure xt out brxght boy how about gettmg off my Well thms was too much for 1n 34 stomach and endmg wlth a fit of very un tomboy1sh gxggles there followed a gradually d1m1n1sh1ng tlrade auned agalnst the myste nous stranger But when lt was over both were laugh1ng at themselves and at the antlcs of Boopy the dog Whats ye name? 1nqu1red Penny frlendly as always james Westly Robert McMannus O Brren W1th th1s abundance of names ln common these two couldn t help but h1t It off rlght from the start The more she was w1th jonesy and Boopsy the more Penny hked them both That n1ght as Penny monopohzed the dmner table conversatlon as was her usual custom her parents got the whole story firsthand They were not very lmpressed by the first part for they st1ll trled to break the1r daughter of her unladylxke behavror By the end of the tale however both were satrsfied that jonesy was good enough for Penelope and they passed Boopsy off as just another dog though Penny lnslsted that he wasn t To quote Penny Gosh he s won derful Of course gentle reader we have no way of knowmg whlch he she meant but some how I have a feelmg I know whxch one haven t you: u a A n a I , . . . . . , . . , . 7 - , . - 1 1 1 I - 1 . 1 - 0 . . . 4 ,, . . 1 1 1 , - o 'T ' s 1 ' 1 1 - - - ' tt 71 ' as 1 77 - ' . . . , - 1 ' at 1 ' 11 - ', s - o . . . . , 1 5 s I ' ' ' as 11 17 1 1 . . . . , . . . . 1 . u . 1 1 ' 1 1 11 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 - 1 1 ' cc 37 1 ' , cs 37 9 1 sc' 11 - - . 44 77 - ' as 1 4, y - u . , ' . - .... ,, . ,, . . ' 1 1 ' ' ' ' tc 11 . , - - . 0- - H . . . . D 7 1 . . , 1 1 -

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remote futures He felt hls stomach groan ln spasmodlc contortlons as NIISS Potter hlS teacher entered the room Sparkle she stated her stern YOILC seem lngly sterner I hal e somethlng I wlsh to show you Xes m gulped Sparkle HIS VOICC sounded to hlm very queer and hollow She handed hlm a plece of paper neatly folded Carefully unfoldlng lf he read the Hrst lne She s blg and bony llke a horse Who never stopped to rest The heat he felt around hls collar crept up hls neck and radlated all over hls face HIS ears tlngled and turned bflghf red There was no need to read further lt was hls wrltlng and the blg fat sprawllng letters at the bottom of the page spelled no name other than Sparkle Mc Gulre Refoldlng the paper neatly he took a deep breath and was about to hand lf back to MISS Potter when what he saw made hls gasp IH amazement Mlss Potter was actually smlllng at hlm Do you wrlte poetry often Sparkle She sald ln a VOICC that remlnded hlm of hls mother s Sparkle gulped for all sense of speech had left hlm he stood before her llke a corpse A half hour later Sparkle emerged from the school house hls speech and dlglllty regalned and ran down the road leadlng to the brook Red and Tom watchlng wlth satlsfactlon from the slde of the school saw hlm run down the road When he was out of Slghf Red removed a bundle of papers from hls pocket How many dld you take sald Tom ad dresslng hls fellow consplrator Red untled the bundle and counted the neat ly folded papers FIVC he Sald All of em are fancy stuff especlally thls one he calls The Blrds Oh boy Tom the Bolds ' Wlth thls the boys fell lnto Hts of laughter rolllng lazlly ln the school yard dust Two weeks passed ln whlch Sparkles llfe was a perpetual blush Every second day one of Sparkle s poems mlraculously found lts way way to the classroom bulletln board everv second day after removlng If Mlss Potter would glare lndlgnantly at the two gloatlng culprlts X et Sparkle wlthstood the rldlcule and even was able to smlle good naturedly along wlth the other boys and glrls for he knew that the one who really counted the one he reallv loved would stand behlnd hlm And so lt was that the followlng day a slxth poem appeared on the bulletln board She s small and wlspy llke a flower That s lust been klSSCd wlth dew Her smlles are always warm and klnd Her llps of reddest hue Her halr IS brown her face so falr X et to me her most becomlng feature ls her expresslve blg blue eyes VVho IS she: She s mv teacher It s Strange But True In lnv velns Hows the blood of allen races Strange that they IUIX so well together There s French and there s Irlsh There's never rebelllons And German and Scotch Or quarrels or fueds And not to forget the Russlan and Spanlsh But mavbe the answer 19 the way they are Though Im told It s probably less than a blended drop They re Amerlcan under the red whlte 36 and blue MARILX w VV INFIELD . ' . .4 y , . 46 - 311 . ' 1 - - 1 M . ,, Q Y .' 4 . . i . 1 1 ' ' . U 7 Q . . . - 1 37 4. ' 11 1 cc 1 ' ' 1 1 H - , ,, , Y. . . Q . . 7 ' 1 7 ' at - ' 79 . . , , , . . ' . . Y . 9 1 U , h I , . . if as as -lr as an . Q . . . , . . i 7 . . .Y ' . . , Q . . 1 . 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 t 1 1 ' 1 . u , Q 1 as ' ' :11 1 ' ' , . t , , . . . , . . . D 1 1 5 - 1 - 5 1 1 Q . , . . 7. . . . . 1 1 - . . . , , . M . l .i...l- 9 r J . . c. . ,Q i , . . 1 1 1 1 J . . 1 ' 1. 71 ' cn ' ' 1 11