Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

Page 22 text:

18 THE MISSILE. he bestowed on everybody, and the bad character which he tried to hide by his smile. The house of the seven gables was a very old and dreary house, but it was worse before Phoebe came than afterwards. She seemed to brighten it up and to make it look more cheerful. More burdens and cares were added to Hepzibah’s already heavy burden when Clifford returned from prison, where he had been confined and made to suffer for a crime which Judge Pyncheon had committed. Judge Pyncheon’s visits to Hepzibah’s cent- shop were always very painful to her. On one occasion he declared that he had to speak to Clifford because he believed he knew where he could obtain the title to some property which he desired. While he was in the parlor waiting for Clifford, he suddenly died. Hepzibah and Clifford left the house and boarded a train which was leaving the town at the time. Phoebe came back after a, visit to the country and could not find Hepzibah. Holgrave, who lived in one part of the house, met her at the door, and told her about the Judge’s death. They were closely drawn together by tne sense of being the only ones in the house with the dead. Hepzibah and Clifford returned and found the lost title, then left the house and went to live in the Judge’s country home. I enjoyed reading the story on account of the entertain- ment which it affords, the lesson it teaches, and the humor which the author often uses in describing different things. I think that The House of the Seven Gables is a very good book to be read in the schools. Florence dementis ' 16 ,

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THE MISSILE. 17 THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES. ATHANiEL Hawthorne, the author of The House of the Seven Gables, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, 1804. His ances- were Puritans, and he was well quali- fied for writing this book because they were persecutors of witchcraft. The ancestors of the characters in the story lived during the time of witch- craft. The scene of this romance is laifl in Salem, Mass- sachusetts, in a house of seven gables, which was built during the time of witchcraft. Hawthorne’s purpose in writing The House of the Seven Gables is to teach us that the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the following generations. The house of the seven gables was the house which Colonel Pyncheon build on the land which he wrested from Matthew Maule, who was executed as a witch. The chief characters, Hepzibah, Clifford, Phoebe, Holgrave, and Judge Pyncheon, are descendants of these two men. Just before Matthew Maule was executed, he pointed to Colonel Pyncheon and said, “God will give him blood to drink!” Colonel Pyncheon had blood to drink and so did his grandchild, Judge Pyncheon. In reading this story we cannot help sympathizing with Hepzibah and Clifford, who were continually worried by Judge Pyncheon. Phoebe and Holgrave are characters we enjoy reading about, while Judge Pyncheon makes us dislike him at once on account of his sultry smile, which

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SOME THINGS WE NEED. Is Petersburg, the aristocratic and historic center of old Virginia, to be left behind in the pursuit of modern ideas and raise her future citizens with the handicap of inadequate education? Every city that has at heart the well-fare and happiness ol her citizens is endeavoring to bring the educational advantages that she offers up to a higher degree of perfection. To this end she erects large and well-equipped buildings, she arranges the course best suited to the needs of her young people, she gets the best prepared and most thorough teachers possible; and is always especially careful to insure com- fort and sanity. Is our city, which in population ranks fifth in Virginia and which certainly desires and aims for the very best for her youth, reaching up to this standard ? In the education and training of the mind our High School is above the average. The pupils who go from us to other schools find themselves thoroughly prepared for their work and glowing accounts have come back to us from schools to which our graduates have gone, Sc