Plainfield High School - Hermiad Yearbook (Central Village, CT)

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THE HERMIAD 13 played, the game which would decide whether jockford or her worst enemy, East Kitemaug, should win the prize. A great fuss was to be made over the winners.: a supper would be served for them by the losing school, and an entertainment was to be given for their enjoyment. Besides this, there were two loving cups from different people to be presented to them, The game was scheduled for three fifteen, in a town half way between East Kitemaug and Jocklord. As soon as one entered the hall, one could tell that the contest was to be a close one, for cheering and noise filled the place an hour be- fore it was time for the playing to start. Excitement ran high. At two-thirty, the jockford boys got into their suits and came upon the floor for practice. Soon the East Kitemaug fellows arrived. After practicing a while, the Jockford boys let the East Kitemaug team have the floor while they retired to their dressing rooms. It was then noticed that Stephen was absent 5 no one knew where he was or when he went. The coach said he thought the boy ought to know enough to stay with the team, because he might miss some important information or instructions. Two minutes before the game started, Stephen had not appeared, though boys had searched the hall for him and had gone to all the houses nearby. When the boys came up from the dressing-rooms to play, the coach, not knowing what had happened, was nearly wild. However, he had a substitute ready to put in Stephen's place and was on the point of ordering him into the game, when suddenly Stephen walked in through the front door. There was a bright red spot on either cheek and his eyes snapped angrily. He went to his coach, who looked at him questioningly and gave him a few orders. Then he turned and joined his men. We've got to lick them, and lick them good, he said. Go at 'em. This last he said just as the signal blew and the boys went to their places. The game started. Stephen was really angry. He went at 'em like chain lightning. He seemed to be everywhere at once. No matter where he shot from, he alwavs made a basket. The score soared higher and higher. The rest of Iockford's team. as they watched their captain, knew that something was vitally wrong. Never before had they seen Stephen angry. They remembered his words and went at ern. Up, up, went the score and the East Kiternaug fellows became more and more excited and repeatedly fumbled the ball. The first half ended 15-2 in favor of Jockford High. During the intermission, Stephen said nothing concerning his absence and the boys asked no questions.

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12 THE HERMIAD SQUAW ROCKS STEWART WILLIAMS Located near the northern boundary of the town of Plain- field, about three and a half miles from Moosup, is a ridge of rocks known as Squaw Rocks or Seven Wonders. The Nip- muc Indians, who once occupied this territory, were continu- ally at war with others in this vicinity, and it is said that the rocks were used at such times as hiding places for the squaws and children. In winter, the caves were used as places of shelter from the snow and Storms. ' Squaw Rocks extend north and south about twenty rods. The ridge, at its highest. point, measures one hundred feet, and here is found that formation of rocks known as the Devil's Coffin, about twenty feet deep, eight feet wide and twenty feet long. Below it is a large cave called The Old Lady's Kitchen, in which is found The Old Lady's Chair, together with her stove. Close at hand, is a flat rock called the Dancing Floor, directly in the center of which is the Well, extending twenty feet into the rock, then turning and coming out fifty feet be- low. A little farther on is the Fiddler's Stand, sometimes called Pulpit Rock, a very large boulder, delicately balanced. At a point farther north, reached by the Sheep'S Path and beyond the Toboggan Slide, is a cave with two passages lead- ing to a fair-sized room, from which another passage pene- trates to an unknown distance into the rocks. Several parties have explored it until the lights which they carried went out, a warning not to go farther. Indian arrow-heads in quite large numbers have been found in and about the rocks. THE RESULT OF A PRISONER'S ESCAPE ELEANOR MAIN Jockford High School's basket-ball team was a member of the Tasenam League, which every year offered a prize of fifty dollars to the winning team. At the beginning of the season, jockford had won against every opponent, for she had three veteran players who really made her team. But near the close of the season, one of these men became very ill and was unable to return to school, and soon after, a second moved out of town. This left Stephen, the best of the three to be sure, and the captain, alone, with all the other players depending on him He made his men practice at every possible chance be- cause the most important game of the season was soon to be ,Y , fha, Y, Y 7

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14 THE HERMIAD I-n fifteen minutes the game started again. The score went up and up, and the supporters of Jockiord went almost wild, for they had really not expected jocklord to win. The game ended with a score of 52-36. VVhen the boys were in the dressing-room, they looked at Stephen as though he ought to tell them the secret, and at last one of them said, Don't you think that we deserve to be told what is wrong, Stephen ? . 'K Yes, answered Stephen, But not till we're going Yhome. . Upon again being urged to tell it when they were going home, he started off with: When we Enished practicing and started down stairs, I stopped a second at the front door. Suddenly some one caught me from behind, picked me up, as though I were a child, and carried me out-of-doors. As it happened, no one saw the trick except old Mr. Cassey, and I guess he thought it was a joke. I was angry at being handled so roughly and demanded an explanation, but all I ieceived was the grurf reply, 'Shut up.' Another fellow had joined .the big one, and they started dragging me off between theme. They talked together all the way, but this is all I could understand : ' How Andrew will laugh when we tell him how easy it was.' A . 'Ye5, you bet.' Meanwhile I was wondering why one captain should be so anxious to get rid of another, and finally I gained this much from fragments of the conversation which I caught. They ran something like this: ' It seems that Andrew and this fellow have never been friends since they played foot-ball together a couple of years ago. Andrew says this fellow here, Iockford's captain, played a mean trick on him and he promised himself that he'd get even. He thinks this is his chance. Besides, he has bet a couple of friends that he'll beat Jockford's team and he's afraid now, at the last minute, of losing the game.' s ' Where are we going to take him ?' V ' Oh, to that small shed that's down on this road a way.' Soon we arrived there. My captors put me in and locked the door, although I did kick and wiggle, and there they left me while they went ' to get their money,' as I heard them say. I didn't know what to do. It was cold out there even though I had my sweater on, so I started moving around. I found an old table, a chair, and some boxes. I put the boxes one on top of the other, on the table, stepped upon the chair, and from there climbed onto the boxes. The roof was near