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

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THE HERMIAD 17 operator had heard these mysterious noises a few times, he would give up the job. In time, the chief train despatcher de- cided tliat operators in general had all gone suddenly crazy or were all rank cowards. He became sick and disgusted at these ghost stories, but, not being able to get a new operator, he decided take the trick, himself. Sure enough, the Voice from the attic sang according to rule: Your lips were sweeter than julep When you wore a tulip And I wore a big red rose. The despatcher shook himself with a growl and tried to make himself believe that he had heard so much about the ghost that the voice was only imagination. At any rate, he decided to try it another night. At I2 : I5 the next night, the express came in and the sing- ing began again. The despatcher ascended the attic stairs, gun in hand, and there he saw the ghost. It was a talking machine with a record playing, VVhen you wore a tulip and I wore a big red rose. When the train came in. the vibra- tions of the heavy engineshook the little oliice, thus causing the instrument to play until the vibrations ceased with the pulling out of the train. As for the moaning, that was caused by a tree in the rear which was attached to the ofiice by means of a piece of board for support, The wind made this bracket squeak and moan. This discovery ended the mystery about the haunted telegraph office at Cemetery Village, and the chief despatcher confirmed his idea about the courage of mod- ern operators. PROPHECY OF THE CLASS OF 1922 LOUISA MAGGIA AS I was traveling through France in the year 1932, on my vacation trip, I met an old classmate, Mollie Baxter. We began to talk about our friends and the good old days at Plainfield High. Of course, we could not help remarking about the fine, new, modernly equipped, brick edifice that is now P. H. S., and regretting that we had never shared its advantages :-still we had no regrets over the fun we had in old P. H. S. Not at all! But what we both were most anxious to know was what had happened to the other members of the remarkable class of 1922, and because I know you're all just as. anxious to know, too, I'm going to let you in on our conversation.

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16 THE HERMIAD On Wednesday, perhaps, he would spend the day very differentlyg but whatever he did on Wednesday was sure to be duplicated on Thursday, down to the smallest detail, while Friday would see commence a new series of actions to be cop- ied the following day. He was an echo, so to speak, of him- self, and many times he was watched to see if he would not make some mistake, but he always duplicated his action to the letter. Besides, he was very shrewd and never did anything which he could not reasonably duplicate the following day. For a man to go about as though his life were a stereo- scopic picture and his soul a stereoscope, that is, to see things double, was considered by many a useless waste of time, energy and money. To fall from his horse on Wednesday at a particular crossing was enough in itself, but to repeat this action at the same place on Thursday was certainly a waste of energy. To lose a half hour on Monday morning while going to the ofiice was sufficient, and to repeat the action on Tuesday wrs surely a waste of time. To drop into the tailor's on Fri- day and order a suit of clothes was what any man Would do, but to repeat the action on Saturday was a waste of money. Naturally a man who paid all of his bills twice would attract attention sooner or later. One morning the attendant at Sumner House, where this remarkable man lived, was summoned to his room and found him dying a strange and unnatural death. For once, the man who did things twice did not repeat his action. FINDING A GHOST WALTER RING THERE once was a small telegraph office in a place called Cemetery Village, in Texas, which was open nights only for the purpose of signaling the midnight express. It hap- pened that this little olfice was the only building within five or six miles. Because of its location in such a lonely place, it was diihcult to get an operator who would work the night trick. Every operator who had ever worked there said the oliice was haunted, and, let me tell you, he had a good reason for it too. But that is what I started to tell you about. Each time the midnight express came in, and for a few minutes after it left the office, a voice was heard from the attic singing a portion ofthe song, When you wore a tulip. and I wore a big red rose, and on Very stormy nights, a sort of squeaking and moaning could be heard distinctly. After an

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18 THE HERMIAD Mollie began: My dear, haven't you heard I am travel- ling through France to learn French tirst-hand, lor l'm to take Miss Armstrong's place, as she has just sent in her resigna- tion? By tire way, do you kuovv what's happened to our class president? I haven't seen him since I graduated. Oh, Walter tried to be a druggist, they say, but he neg- lected his prescription duties in order to be behind the soda tountain, especially when acertain girl ol the class ol 1922 entered 3 so he tailed at that business and is now an eminent public speaker in Washington. That reminds nie, did you know that Eleanor Main has turned out to be a fine speaker ? 'K Speaker! Why no. Not a speaker, exactly, but an elocutionist. You know she received her practice while at school. She goes around from village to village, but never goes to the cities, for Eleanor believes as Caesar did, 'l'd rather be first in a small village than second in Rome.' Have you heard anything about Stanley lately? Yesg they tell me Stanley is in Africa, huntng Wild ani- mals. It's funny he likes to hunt especially where the lion UD is supreme, and I hear he has been very successful. That reminds meg do you know where Addie is ?' The last thing I heard about Addie was that she was doing dressmakiug. and sternly insists that she will he a spin- ster and live a life of peace and calm. To think that Addie should come to that is unimaginable. But what I'd like to knofv is what has become of Berggren. You know how he used to be crazy about Addie. Carl is a member ofthe School Committeein Plainiield. At all the meetings, his slogan is, 'School year should be lengthened eight weeks.' his argument being, 'Too much vacation dulls the brain.' I suppose he knows this by ex- perience. Speaking of school, did you hear that Elsie Rose is a school teacher ? No, but I always thought she would do something like that. - She teaches school in Oneco, and from what I can hear, she is quite a girl, she goes to all the dances and makes goo- goo eyes at all the fellows. Everyone in Oneco declares she is the belle. You remember, at school, we always thought Julia was the belle. I wonder what she is doing now. Iulia runs a beauty parlor in New York. She had large windows put in the store, so that she could make eyes at everyone in the crowd. She also runs a dance hall and simply adores her exhibition dances. I saw a big advertisement in the paper about Bethel- , .