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

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14, M The Hermiad W A P 4 M bacon in the next game which, I was given to understand, was to be played against our greatest rival, Killingly. Then in came Mr. Johnson towering six inches above anyone in the room to add his little word of cheer to the boys of the Black and Orange. As I stood there, just at the point of entering, some one slapped me violently on the back and I turned quickly to grapple with Davis. We wrestled for a while, just as we were prone to do in the good old days, when Allard attempted to separate us by roughly shaking us. During the con- fusion which ensued I heard a voice say, Why, Mr. Brown, whatever is the matter '? and I awoke to find myself struggling with the chair, and my but- ler, who was quite concerned, was endeavoring to find out the reason for my apparent madness. -.1--.- CLASS CHARACTERISTICS 'rl-ls mcnrrr or sz-:Nlons QI-Iazel Salisbury-19253 The last year of high brings with it--generahy-the consummation of youthful dreams of power. Therefore, in order to live up to his reputation, the Senior must assume a dignified air, an aloofness from the ordinary stu- dents of the lower classes. Of late, however, this illusion of dignity has faded into the far distance. One expects to find a Senior, brow ponderous with thought, wading through veritable quagmires of Plato, Virgil and Hor- ace: one really finds him straddling a desk top, or rushing madly through the corridors in quest of-a pencil. A few of the more thoughtful Seniors, considering the example to be set to the whole school, seek to turn the care- less ones from the evil of their ways. Ensues a nudging of elbows, kicking of shins, uplifting of eyebrows in shocked surpriseg a sober readjustment, then an hilarious outbreak three times worse than the original one. The Seniors, as uplifters, drift into the landscape, all thought of reforming is dropped, and the class Hosts noisily and happily to graduation-and the be- ginning, not the end. THE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF JUNIOR! I Ulargaret Fox-1925! Juniors, on the whole, are the most irresponsible persons in the world. A characteristic which they acquire on entering the upper classes is a care- free, happy-go-lucky air. Troubles roll oi? their shoulders like water oil' a duck's back. One could scarcely recognize in these jolly Juniors the super- cilious yet hard-working Sophomores of a year ago. They attend classes regularly-off and on-, a period more or less being nothing in their young , ....,...,-

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The Hermiad 13 THE TRAGEDY IN THE RUE MORGUE fEthelyn Barber--1 925 J A moonlight night. A quaint little street in a quaint little village in France. Two lovers strolling' down the street. The May moon was shining through the trees and on the quaint old buildings wherein dwelt peasants of the country. The lovers walked on slowly hand in hand, talking softly to each other when all of a sudden a shriek rent the air and at the same in- stant a woman dressed in the garb of a maid dashed out of a house scream- ing at the top of her voice. Seeing the two people walking' along the side- walk she rushed towards them and screamed to them Help ! Help ! Mon- sieur is dead. Utter panic seized the two lovers. At last the man managed to gasp, Monsieur who? Ah ! the woman said in an agony of grief, Monsieur Beaucaire, my favorite spanielg he swallowed a fishbone. He is dead. Ah I Woe is me ! With that the woman went shrieking through the night. An, owl in the top of a tree near by blinked solemnly at the moon. X . BACK T0 PLAINFIELD HIGH QGeorge Brown--19251 The ,wind howled dismally around the corners of the house and the rain kept ups steady patter azainst the window panes. Every few minutes the intensehlackness of the October night would be pierced by vivid Hashes of lightning accompanied by loud claps of thunder. While the elements raged around nie. I sat before the fire in my study attempting to concentrate my mind upon a well known psychological novel. Somehow my wits seemed to be wool gathering and my mind refused to zrasp the significance of The Fruitless Follies of Philip and Phillippai' My book slipped slowly from my hands and my graze wandered to the fire. As I stared steadily into the grate, I saw the picture of an old building, gray in color. materialize from among the coals. Old memories revived as 1 recognized it to be the Old Plainfield High School. Presently I seemed to be inside. As I heard a noise in one of the rooms I opened the door and peered ing it was just as it had been twenty years ago. There was Maggia in the back seat reading one of Tom Swift's novels instead of studying his Frenchg there was Codlin vainly trying' to make the teacher realize wherein Maggia was sinning. Suddenly I found myself running down the back stairs lured irresistibly to the rest room where Mr. Sullivan, the football coach in the good old days of '23, was encouraging the team and exhorting them to bring home the

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The Hermiad 15 lives, cheerfully accepting an A or a D as the case may be. If you happen to notice any girls ravenously devouring chocolate bars fthey have a passion for the aforementioned article! or retouching their complexions, anxiously inquiring Is there too much powder on my nose? , rest assured they are Juniors. Likewise the Junior boys are easily noticeable by their weakness for matching pennies, their fondness for argument and their susceptibility to feminine charms. Juniors all in all, are modem philosophers: nothing can disturb their cheerful attitude toward life and so they trip merrily on toward the dignity of the Senior year. THE SUPERIORITY OF SOPHOMORES lHazel Salisbury--1 925 J When the second year of high school is reached, the pupils arrive at that stage where they occupy-in their own estimation at least--the whole horizen. The symptoms are easy to detect: uplifted nose, swagger-ing walk, and a careless drawl with more than a hint of condescension in it. In con- versation, Work, and play it is always We Sophornoresf' They lord it over the credulous Freshmen-but the upper classes regard them with amused contempt. They are between two seas: they have graduated from the ignor- ance of Freshmen, but they have not yet reached the haven of knowledge that belongs to the Juniors. The by-word of the Sophomores is I came. I saw, I conquered. We must acknowledge the first two, but we have our doubts as to the last. Find the Sophomore who is not suffering from an in- flated ego End you may consider yourself unusually far-seeing. However, in spite of their many faults and eccentricities, what would a high school be without Sophomores ? , ' rx-is TIMIDITY or nuzsnmsu fGabriel Messier-19251 Freshmen are like sheep: they all flock together. When they pass by a group of Sophomores they look like Napoleon after the battle of Waterloo, heads down, with furtive glances toward their oppressors. They play their part well, that of a lamb amongst a pack of wolves. They are meek, with an innocent look on their faces, pleading for mercyg thus they pass by, a lonely, unhappy band, overpowered and subdued, seekingland finding refuge only among their own. On the other hand, when they are all together and safe from their enemies, what a change they undergo I They are no longer cowed and miserable, but with great variety of expression both vocal and facial they rail against their fate, and plan what they would like to do to some of the Sophomores and what they will do to the Freshmen next year.