Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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THE GOLDEN - ROD half the kitchen, and without delay Don pro- ceeded to ransack the shelves, closets, and every nook and corner that could be found, and was re- warded by the finding of a small rusty screw- driver which he pocketed. “Not much here, Joe. Let’s see the next room.” Opening a door on the right we saw a room which had served as a parlor, but now was bare and dismal. As Don was leading, he first spied the closet, and again began a keen search for anything that might have been left behind. As for myself, I had no part in the search, and took good care to leave all the doors open behind me, so that I could easily gain the door by which we entered, and I walked on tip-toe, listening to the least sound. Yet, I wasn’t afraid of ghosts! “ Don, you would make a good detective.” “ Thanks, Joe. Say, you look very pale.” “ I feel sick, Don, I would like to go out into the fresh air.” “Come, come, don’t show the white feather Joe,” the lad said smiling. “ Now we’ll go down cellar.” My heart sank within me as he opened the door leading to the depths. Down we went, the rickety stairs ready to collapse at any moment. Such a cellar—if it could be called one! for the base of the huge chimney formed a small circular track which served as a cellar. Don had an idea there was money hidden there, and was poking out several stones of the cellar wall in hopes of finding some. I was examining a large jug, which, judging by the odor coming from it, had contained hard- cider. I was trying to put on a brave appearance, examining the jug, and was about to put it down when a scurrying, creaking noise reached my ears. I let the jug drop and it smashed into a hundred fragments. I grew pale as death. Don came softly over and even he was pale. He was the first to break the silence. “ We must get out of here, Joe.” Without another word he ascended the stairs while I followed at his heels. Reaching the kitchen, we found the noise was coming from up- stairs. “ I’ll dare you to go up, Joe.” “ Come on and skidoo, Don. I have had enough of this house. I will have to take nerve- tonic for a year.” “ You are a squealer, Joe. I’ll lead, if you are afraid.” To be called a “squealer” was more than I could endure. “Go ahead, I’ll follow.” Shaking in every limb I ascended the stairs after him. The noise was plainly heard now, and the door at the top of the stair-way was ajar. Don poked his head in and pulled it out quickly. I thought at first I perceived a smile on his face, but if there was one, it quickly vanished. “ Look in, Joe,” he said in a scared voice. The sight I saw I shall never forget. Fully a hundred, yes fully two hundred rats were holding a mass meeting. A loud laugh escaped my lips, and the rats stopped their meeting. Two hun- dred pairs of eyes were directed towards the door, and in another moment two hundred rat- tails were disappearing from view. On turning towards Don, I was surprised to find that he had disappeared. I heard a foot- step in the next room and went in. Don was procuring a small mantel-piece with the aid of his screw-driver. His face wore a serious look almost as if he were ashamed. “What’s the matter, Don? ” I asked. “ Not much, Joe, but to think we were frightened by rats! ” “ You were not frightened, Don. It was I who was frightened.” “Yes, Joe, to all appearances I wasn’t, but within I was frightened.” “ Well, Don, no one shall know how we were frightened by rats, or our thrilling experience in the Haunted House.” c j AS ADVERTISED. Annual sale nowon; don’t go elsewhere to be cheated, come in here. A lady wants to sell her piano as she is going abroad in a strong iron frame. Wanted: By a respectable girl, her pas- sage to New York, willing to take care of chil- dren and a good sailor. Lost: Near Highgate archway, an umbrella belonging to a gentleman with a bent rib and a bone handle. Mr. Brown, furrier, begs to announce that he will make up gowns, capes, etc., for ladies out of their own skins. — Ex.

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THE GOJLDEN- ROD At last Harold said, “Grandma did ybu really win that prize by cheating? ” “That’s what the ghost said wasn’t it ?” “Yes,” he said hesitatingly, “but I don’t believe it.” Slowly the wondering children withdrew for bed, all but Harold. Being left alone he asked, “ Grammie, how did that ghost know about that prize essay at school ? ” “ I’m sure I don’t know. I suppose that you are going to try for the prize.” “ Yes, I am going to try, but I shall try to win it without cheating. They haven’t said much about the rules concerning the prizes but I sup- pose we shall have to write our papers as you did.” “ Well, I hope that you will try for the prize and I hope that you’ll win it fairly, my boy.” A few days later Harold came bounding up the steps three at a time. He was shouting, “ I’ve won the first prize. Hurrah ! ” “That’s good,” said his mother, “and I am sure you did not win by cheating.” “ Cheat! Do you think that I would cheat and have a fellow’s ghost chasing me all my life? Well I guess not.” “ What do you mean by a fellow’s ghost chas- ing you around ? ” asked his father sternly. “ Why Grandma was going to tell us a ghost story the other night arid the ghost came and told it instead. Grandma had cheated in a prize essay such as mine and the person who would have received the prize if Grandma hadn’t cheated died. Grandma has seen her ghost.” “ Did you really see a ghost, mother ? ” exclaimed Harold’s mother. “No, I didn’t, but I’ll tell you what I did sec. I saw how eager Harold was to win the prize. You saw it also. You were afraid that in his eagerness he would use foul means. You did not know how to mention the subject so as to warn him. In my younger days I was quite a ventriloquist. When Ross asked me to tell a ghost story I happened to think of this long for- gotten art. I thought I must try to kill two birds with one stone, that of amusing the children and warning Harold. My plan succeeded. Harold has won the first prize and I’m sure that the children have enjoyed the story. They have done more thinking in the last few days than in as many weeks over the ‘ Mysterious Voice.’ ” A Haunted House By Gilbert Booth, '07. It was Saturday at last. I had been counting each hour since Monday, waiting in great antici- pation for this day. Quickly I breakfasted and by nine o’clock had succeeded in finishing the necessary chores, Hurrying to the house of Don Kent, my chum, I found that he was also free for the day. “What’s up today, Joe?” he asked, for he readily saw I had something important on my mind. “A little adventure, Don. Do you remember that house which is nearly two hundred years old, up by Auruns Bend ? ” “ Do you mean that one we ran across when we were blueberrying ? ” “ Yes that’s the house; it is deserted now since the father died two months ago. Jim Stone was up there the other day; the people that live near there say the house is haunted.” “ You don’t believe in ghosts do you ? ” “No Joe. I have not had the pleasure of meeting one.” “ Nor I either Don ; I guess this ghost story is all a sham.” “Well, will you go up with me, Don ?' “Sure Joe. I am with you; we ll start now.” Off we went. The house was nearly two miles away, but this didn’t trouble us, for we walked nearly twice the distance every Satur- day. Soon we came within sight of the house and judging by the appearance, it looked as if it would not stand another New England winter. There was no doubt as to the house being vacant. The windows were broken, the door was open, and we entered without any resistance. We stood in the narrow hallway and the door closed behind us with a prolonged creaking sound. It shut out the daylight and left 11s in nearly complete darkness. I felt uneasy. W hat if the house should be haunted ! and a feeling of awe crept over me as my heart beat quickly against my breast. “Well Joe, is this all the far you are going? Arc you scared?” “N—No Don, I don’t be- lieve in ghosts.” He pushed open the kitchen door and walked in without the least hesitation. The first object to meet our gaze was the large old-fashioned fire-place. This took up nearly

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THE GOLDEN-ROD Fhe New Building “Off with the old and on with the new” is a thought that fills teachers and pupils of the Ouincy High School with no feelings of regret, but rather with anticipations of great happiness. Seven years of crowding without proper accommo- dations for recitations or for study have tended to kill those finer emotions which endear a school building to a community and to replace them with an indifference that is unfortunate, to say the least. The time of awakening however is at hand. Dreams arc coming true. The foundations are laid and the rising walls give promise that soon class and recitation rooms will be provided for all, and that corridors and laboratories will no longer be used for purposes other than those for which they were intended. The new building with its twenty-three class, rooms, three laboratories, three commercial rooms, three manual training rooms, drawing room, science lecture room, library, reception room, teachers' rooms, office, gymnasium, lunch counter and assembly hall will give Quincy a high school building consistent with its educational reputation and as fine as any in New England. The new class-rooms are larger than the old and will accommodate forty-nine pupils each — making it possible to use the front of the rooms for recitation and the back for study. Each room will be well-lighted, heated, ventilated, and equipped with book cases and closets. The com- mercial rooms are large enough to accommodate regular divisions provided with business desks. The new laboratories have ample supply and apparatus rooms, and will be used for the chemi- cal, physical and biological sciences. An adjoin- ing room will be furnished to meet the needs of demonstration work in science classes. No longer will it be necessary to use the chemical laboratory as a kitchen for the cooking classes. In the basement there will be room for domestic science, with a neighboring lunch counter pro- viding an opportunity for the application of the useful knowledge gained. The manual training rooms and gymnasium will open the way for developing the bodies as well as the minds of the pupils. In the gymna- sium, round shoulders, narrow chests and bad postures will be corrected and young men and women taught to walk, stand and sit correctly. In the manual training rooms, the hands will be trained to express what the mind sees and to obey accurately what the will dictates. Finally the assembly hall with accommodations ample for a thousand pupils, will provide a place where the whole school can assemble for general exercises, or where classes can meet for special purposes.