R J Reynolds High School - Black and Gold Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

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THE BLACK AND GOLD 31 barrel, giving his age and measurements, spouting forth pages of Practical Chemistry, working originals in Solid Geometry with neither pencil nor paper, while the crowd before him listened in open-mouthed wonder that one head so small could hold all he knew. As we turned aside from little Hammie, the sound of a woman's voice drew us to a crowded tent where upon a raised platform Kate iDavis, . A woman of her gentle sex The seeming paragon, harangued upon the subject of Woman's Suffrage. Kate, I must confess, proved to be a most forceful speaker, and I was not surprised when I learned that she was in much demand at conventions for Women's Rights. Her husband, 'tis said, leads a lonely life at home, however, while she gallivants round the country. The person who gave me this information was a re- porter for The Cutty Chunk Times, a pleasant, grey-haired wom- an who stood near me. She wore heavy goggles so that it was not till she raised her glasses to wipe her eyes, that l saw she was our commercial friend, Minnie Whitaker. And what of Dovie Dean?,' l asked Minnie, for seeing one of our 'business girlsf reminded me of the other. f'Why, havenlt you heard ? asked Minnie in surprise. 'cShe has attained an unprecedented reputation as a speiler. She is now speiling for Francisco Utopeeoh, the noted ventriloquistf' Francisco Utopeeoh turned out to be our Jennie Byerly, and Little Bitee Nancy, the girl who helped her amuse the crowd by doing sleight-of-hand tricks, proved to be the youngest mem- ber of our class, Nannie Hanes. ,ln the heart of the Midway we found another schoolmate, Lucile Henning, with a troop of orphans tagging after her. Lucile was giving the orphans the time of their life, treating them to pink ice cream and letting them see the outside of the shows. About the time l saw Lucile l was feeling pretty bum, to use a slang expression. Accustomed as I had been for years to

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30 THE BLACK AND GOLD was about to take unto herself a third,--decided this fall to com- pete with me for the prize in cake making. VVhen I heard of it, I gracefully withdrew from the contest, for you know, dear lVIamie, that I would never compete with a friend when I was sure to win. But I helped Janet all I could with my advice and my recipes, too, so it was no wonder that she took every prize in the cake making department. VVhen I heard the good D-CWS., I fairly Hew to offer janet my congratulations, but would you believe it 3'--that scatter-brain girl-for though Janet is about to take her third husband, she's just like she always was,-that scat- ter-brain girl, I say, was nowhere to be seen. Ilseated myself in the cake booth for I felt for the honor of the contest, some one should be there to look after the blue ribbons. Pretty soon in came janet, her hair all blowsy, her hat on one side. Uh, Evelyn, she cried whom do you think I saw at the Bear Show just now? Robert Ormsby, that quiet boy you know who used to sit on the back seat in school. Well, he had grown so tall that at first I didn't recognize him. When he began tooting his horn, though, I knew it was Robertf, Of course it was interesting to hear of Robert again after all these years, but I tried to explain to janet how imprudent it was of her, even though she was a widow of two husbands, to take in the midway alone, especially one with the reputation this one had. But Janet insisted that in this enlightened day, there was no harm in a woman's going anywhere, and much against my better judgment she persuaded me to accompany her on an- other visit to the midway. So that was how it was I found myself in the midst of the fakirs gazing upon a brightly colored picture of a midget that hung in front of a rusty brown tent. There was something in the picture that attracted me, I knew not why, and when a shrill voice began to cry, H Come in and see little Hammie, the wonder- ful midget, I followed the crowd in. But what a shock I received. The midget proved to be no other than our own Ham Horton! He was standing upon a

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32 THE BLACK AND GOLD the quiet of a maiden lady's home, the noise and sights of the Midway completely unnerved me. It was no wonder then that I fainted dead away upon hearing the ferocious roar of a lion within three feet of me. When I came to, after Janet, in her excitement, had thrown iced-lemonade on me-for you know Janet always did do things by contrary-I peeped under a flap- ping end of the tent from which had come this blood curdling noise. There sat Hardin Jewett, perfectly unconscious, sawing upon a waxed rope with a stick. He was devouring a bag of brown sugar, and as I looked at him I thought, same old KDoody,' for I recalled the time in the far-away past, when he had four cents to invest in sweets and settled the question of how to get the most out of his money by buying brown sugar. Now, Mamie, you will be shocked when you hear that after recovering from my fright I visited the fortune teller. You know that I never took stock in fortune telling and the like, but Janet was so eager to have her hand read that I went with her to the Gypsy's tent. I saw nothing familiar in the foreign looks, the painted face of lVIadam Cal Laois, to make 1ne think of one I had known in my school days, but the bright eye of the pretended Gypsy recognized us. Hush, don't give me away, she whisper- ed, and then I saw it was Callie Lewis. It was Janet who spied Raymond Dean, for Janet, you know, always had an eye for the boys, swallowing swords, one after another for the amusement of the crowd. But the center of attraction for the crowd seemed to be a dancing pavilion, across which was stretched a great sign Lessons in The Latest Dances by Professor Banes Farrell. 'fldanes has a national reputation as a dancing master you knowf' remarked Janet as we dropped our dimes in the slot and passed in to watch the dances. He and his assistants are busy every minute of the day-H Janet,s voice was suddenly drowned in a burst of applause. Look!,' she cried, and to my wondering gaze there came the vision of old friends doing the latest in tango, Mary