Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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THE GOLDEN-ROD 7 Just as the music for the first dance com- menced, to the surprise of all her friends, Agatha and Mr. Lane stepped forward and Colonel Ran- dell formally announced their betrothal. Then the music commenced again and the dance be- gan. During the interval after the dance, Lane and Agatha were resting by the door leading to a side veranda. He was admiring and flattering Agatha, who surely was worthy of all he said, in her rose-colored gown with white throat and shoulders just visible, when he noticed an odd- looking man in the ray of light, reflected from the room. The man was haggard and brown even in so dim a light. As soon as Lane saw him, the man on the steps disappeared, and, not caring to disturb Agatha, he did not mention the iucident. The evening passed quickly and all seemed as happy as the hostess. George Lane had pleased Agatha exceedingly and she wondered if any of her friends had had a more agreeable com- panion that evening. But he was returning to his own home in the morning and what should she do without him? If only he hadn’t talked so of Miles,—and, as she thought of him, the love of her girlhood for Miles Leigh appealed more strongly to her than all the homage and flattery of Mr. Lane. Then, came the thought of the utter hopelessness of loving him, for had he not died long ago in some northern prison ? III. June came in Virginia with all the splendor and beauty of the preceding year. Roses fairly hid the southern mansion of Colonel Randell and the air was heavy with the sweetness of their perfume. Nothing could compare with tin love- liness of this day. thought Agatha, as she sat on the steps in the early morning. In her hand, was a letter from George Lane, which she was about to open. She was startled to find neither the writing inside nor the signature was his. It read: “My dear Miss Randell:—lam the surgeon who is attending Mr. Lane in his present illness, and consider it necessary to inform you what he said in his delirium last night. It was to the ef- fect that he was marrying you merely for money, and that his hatred for a Mr. Leigh had led him to do this. I also learned that Mr. Leigh is at home and is kept from seeing you only by your engagement to Mr. Lane. I have written the same facts to Mr. Leigh. “lain,—” Naturally, this letter was a great shock to the girl, who had been anticipating her lover’s com- ing on the next day, but with the shock she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She had thought she loved him—evidently she did not. Agatha’s surprise was still greater to see a horse- man in a grey uniform, which had seen long, hard service, approaching at a gallop. Miles Leigh dismounted eagerly and ran up the steps. Agatha’s brown eyes seemed to satisfy the question in his. Anyway, the roses seemed per- fectly satisfied as they nodded wisely at one an- other. D. J. S., ’ll. cfi o o Jones’ Theory Rudolf Asticot Jones had a theory. It was an entirely new one that he had worked up himself and therefore it must be good. TIis theory was that people at heart are good; that if a person be- comes contaminated, it is because of outside in- fluence; that impulses come directly from the heart and therefore must be good. From these statements Jones concluded that if every person acted on his first impulse, the moral advancement of this planet would be more rapid. One fine October morning Jones at last re- solved to put his theory to a practical test for a few days, and prove it conclusively to his own satisfaction and also to his wife’s who was, as

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6 THE GOLDEN-ROD Agatha’s Soldier of the Roses I The roses nodded at one another with an un- derstanding look as the light breeze stirred them, in their retreat over the great white pillars of the old Virginian mansion, while beneath them stood a young girl and, one or two steps below her, a man, a soldier in his shining grey uniform. They were not happy. In fact, both were decidedly miserable and were vainly postponing that last goodbye and trying to appear perfectly at ease. One long handclasp, a hurried “Remember, Agatha.” and the young soldier was gone, he and his horse appearing at intervals, as the winding drive revealed them. But he did not look back, for the blinding rush of tears to his eyes, as he thought that perhaps this was the last time, would have prevented his seeing her. Then quickly the great wide panelled door swung open and Hugh Randell came toward his sister. “Agatha, that young friend of mine. Mr. Lane will arrive shortly for a visit of several days and I hope you will enjoy entertaining him.” “Of course, Hugh. There is the carriage com- ing now. Excuse me until dinner time, please.” A few minutes before dinner Agatha went down to meet Hugh’s friend. She made a lovely picture as, all in white, she slowly descended the dark oaken staircase, her golden hair and dark eyes making a striking contrast. So thought Mr. Lane as he stood at the foot of the stairs with a rapt expression of admiration on his thoughtful countenance. At dinner he brought the conver- sation around to the war and its hardships and finally asked Agatha if she were acquainted with Miles Leigh, of the —th cavalry? Yes, she knew him very well. Was he a freind of Mr. Lane’s? Xo, but Mr. Lane would like a moment with Miss Randell later. Accordingly, when Hugh went to the Judge’s, Lane and Miss Randell made their way through the long shaded paths of the old-fashioned gar- den. with the hollyhocks and marigolds on either side, to the small green summer house. At once he took up the unfinished conversation concern- ing Miles Leigh. “My dear Miss Randell, I’m afraid you’ve been basely deceived. Leigh is no more than a common adventurer. I met him on ray way here engaged with a pretty young woman in Langdon. He has half a dozen girls’ hearts and I only want to save yours. I think you understand.” “But I don’t, Mr. Lane. Of course, all your insinuations are false and I do not wish to hear my friends abused.” “I ask your pardon if I appeared rude,” re- turned Lane. “Let us talk of a subject more in- teresting—yourself for instance, if I may be so presuming. You must know that I am already much interested in you.” I nfortunately. the subject had not the slight- est interest for Agatha and soon she escaped from his unwelcome presence. In about an hour, an anonymous letter in an unknown hand was brought her. As she read the letter, which advised her to beware of Miles Leigh’s charms as they were dangerous, she thought it strange that people were so consider- ate as to take notice of her affairs, and just a tiny spark of distrust of Miles Leigh, her soldier, thrust itself forward. It was foolish of her to heed such letters and warnings but the writer must know something about him. Therefore, when a letter, overflowing with trust, tenderness and love came from Miles himself, it was not re- garded with quite such loving eyes as had said goodbye to him a few days before. In the terrible battle of Bull Run, the southern army under Lee defeated General Pope. Both armies were horribly butchered, thousands killed, and many wounded. Among the last was Miles Leigh, who was picked up and carried to a northern hospital, where a wound confined him many weeks. From this time, Agatha Randell heard no more of him. II. It was the next May and the night of Agatha’s birthday dance. The large drawing-rooms were one mass of roses and even the candles had rose- colored shades, which cast a soft light on the love- ly rooms and costumes of the young girls.

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8 THE GOLDEN-ROD vet, just a little doubtful as to its practicalness. He left home in fine spirits with his heart keenly alert for the least impulse. When he had gone about half way to the station, he saw a very small boy clinging frantically to a large dog in an effort to restrain him from a passing tramp that the dog had evidently mistaken for his breakfast. Immediately Jones felt an impulse, so according to his theory he quickly acted upon it by going to the boy’s aid. Their combined ef- forts were sufficient to hold the dog until the tramp hurried around a corner. The result of his first impulse was that Jones missed his train and got his neatly tailored clothes covered with dirt and dog hair, but he felt that his first ex- periment was successful. Jones waited patiently for a later train and when it came he got on and sat down directly be- hind a young lady and gentleman. lie began reading his paper as usual because he believed that impulses enough would come to him with- out his looking for them. Subsequent events proved this to be correct for. as he glanced up from his paper for a second, he noticed that the back comb of the young lady was almost out, and that she was in danger of losing it. Instantly R. Asticot Jones felt an impulse and the next mo- ment he was reaching over in his most unobtru- sive manner and was replacing the comb. The young lady quickly put her hand to the back of her head, saw Jones, turned several shades pinker than she was and hurriedly whispered a few short sentences in the young man’s ear. Jones painfully realized that nearly every body in the car was looking and he heard someone say, “And he’s a married man, too.” At the station, as the people were getting off, Jones was stared at as if he were an escaped convict, and not only that, but the young man edged over to Jones’ side and asked to see him outside of the station. Jones started to explain but was told that no explanation would be re- quired until they met outside. Jones did not wait for an impulse, but sneaked out of the back door of the station and jumped into a taxicab, at the same time throwing the driver a bill and telling him to get away from the station in the shortest possible time. The people at the office are still wondering why Jones should drive to the office on such a fine morning. Mrs. Jones has never since made any reference to her husband’s theory, but some- times she smiles when there is apparently noth- ing to smile at. H. M. ’ll J All’s Well That Ends Well I On one of those delightfully drowsy days to- wards the middle of May, Philip Dexter, the most popular senior in Princeton college, sat in his room, busily studying his chemistry. Phil never knew what it meant it study hard until the previous month when he had proposed to Catherine Churchill, his room-mate’s pretty sis- ter. Her answer had been decidedly negative, on account of Dexter’s never having accomplished anything worth while, except upon the foot-ball field. Since then, although there were only three months more of college, he had studied day and night, in order to pass his exams with high rank and principally to please the captivating Miss Churchill. Phil’s father, a multimillionaire, idolized his only son and Mr. Dexter’s chief am- bition was fulfilled when his boy was elected, for two years, captain of the Princeton eleven. There- fore, the lad never had any aspirations for study- ing. Although Phil was very popular, he had an enemy in Allan Kirby, the chemistry profes- sor’s son. The two fellow's had been rivals ever since the time when they had struggled for the same position on the foot-ball team and Dexter had been victorious. Notwithstanding the fact that Kirby was one of the most brilliant stu-