Reading Memorial High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Reading, MA)

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PAGE EIGHT THE PIONEER Where are the others?” Out comes Mr. Flashlight, his one eye unblinkingly opened. One shadow slipped out. Also, one heart thumped violently. Up into the woods, around the barn to the doors it went. Ah! Mr. Flashlight takes grand slam, for there in the shadow of a bright freshly painted canoe, lighted by fast dim¬ ming flashlights, were my two missing shadows spattered with red paint and lying on some old carpets in deep slumber. “Ah, Mr. Flashlight, what would we do without you?” Arthur Moyer ’28. RBSB ►lAlU 1 What Others Think of Us “Blue Flame” Hopedale High The paper is attractive. The edi¬ torial department and the athletic department are very interesting. What We Think of Others “Tomahawk” Ferndale Union High, Cal. A fine cover. There are many inter¬ esting pictures. Your poem and news departments are great. Where are your stories? “Records” Winchester High Your stories are interesting and you have a lot of them.. “On Sunday Night Suppers” was especially good. The jokes gave many good laughs. The headings of your departments are very clever. “Blue and White” Methuen High There are many good jokes. Your essays are clever and well written. However, you need some poems and stories. “The Broadcaster” Junior High, Nashua, N. H. An interesting paper throughout. The clever cartoons and illustrations inter¬ ested me more than the other articles. I think it far better than many High School papers. Exchanges Acknowledged “The Blue Owl” Attleboro High School. “The Jabberwork” Girls Latin School, Boston, Mass. “The Aegis” Beverly High. “The Red and Black” Rogers High, Newport, R. I. “Lawrence High Bulletin” Lawrence High. “Burdett Lion” Burdett College. “High School Breeze” Somerset High. WHO CAN COMPLETE IT? From the “Reflector” Weymouth High School comes this modernized version of an old friend: Mrs. Davis—If I gave fourteen lines of Macbeth, would that be a sonnet? Halligan—It would be a miracle.

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THE PIONEER PAGE SEVEN glaring, spectacular incident, choose a different type, the least spectacular, but the most interesting, to illustrate its worth. This series of incidents occurred one night;—as flashlight episodes usually do,—a beautiful cold May evening, be¬ side a certain lake in the wilds of old New Hampshire. My two companions and I had journeyed there from the metropolis to paint a certain canoe. Since we arrived late and were influ¬ enced also by the beauties of a neigh¬ boring town, we decided to stay there and spend the night in the car. This decision was caused by our money, conspicuous only for its absence. So— Eleven o’clock came, the bedtime of all good children. Of course we went,— but not to bed. We went to a spot near the lake beside an old barn where our canoe rested, and settled in our bed,—or better, excuse for a bed—for a peaceful slumber. Thus far Mr. Flashlight has not had his rightful place in the narrative but now all is dark, not a light for miles around and wild animals are creeping from their dens and holes to enjoy their unearthly nocturnal play. About ten minutes after we became quiet,— that was for us, about five shifts from one sore stiff side to another, for an automobile as a bed is none too good,— we heard pat, pat; pat, pat; pat, pat; at, pat. Some animal was coming down to the lake to enjoy a cooling draught of lake water. Mr. Flashlight and his two twin brothers appear. Three doors silently open. Three shadows slip out, up into the woods toward the sound. At a clearing they stop. Upon a sign from a self-appointed leader three flash¬ lights open their bright, unblinking eyes. In the center of that clearing was a beautiful, big, fat black and white skunk. Score one for Mr. Flashlight. Three shadows disperse. Three lights blink out. All is quiet. (Episode two, one hour later) Gr-unk, —grunk,—grunk— some wild animal was trying to devour the old barn in which our precious canoe was resting. Grunk—grunk—grunk, grinding stac¬ cato notes of a wild animal orchestra’s bass drum. Three shadows slip out once more. Hands grasp for rocks, bricks, or stones. They approach said barn stealthily. Lights flash. Bricks fly. Said porky scurries away as fast as such a fat fellow could into the woods. Again three shadows return to bed. Mr. Porky, however, is persis¬ tent. He returns. So do the three shadows. Porky exits. This scene re¬ peats itself just three times, then porky gives it up for a bad job. We three again doze off. Next scene, domestic comedy. One hour later, two awake, one asleep,— snoring. The latter beside me. Fun was in the air. The sleeper was pinched, little response. The sleeper’s nose was held; only partial relief. Ah ! Mr. Flashlight enters. Up he rises be¬ fore the sleeper’s eyes. Blink once, blink twice, blink thrice. Snoring slows down.—stops. A sure cure for snoring. This makes three points scored for Mr. Flashlight. Next episode, one half hour later. All awake. A slight yelping and barking is heard in the distance. More ' (explorations of animal life for the shadows. Out they go into the woods to aforementioned clearing. Three shadows pause. Three lights blink on. Before our eyes was the most beautiful scene one could imagine. A whole family of silver foxes, two big and two little ones, were playing there; the little ones yelping and squealing in their puppy-like fashion. When the lights flashed on, the beautiful family looked up startled and blinked their shining eyes. For a whole minute, they stood staring at this strange wild ani¬ mal with three bright shining eyes. Then papa said, “Let’s go,” and off they went to find a more secure place to play. “Another score, Mr. Flashlight. Off to torture in that infernal car, once again. Next episode, just before dawn, the darkest part of the night. One on stage, I alone, just awakening from back-breaking slumber. Main ques¬ tion to be solved. “Where am I?

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THE PIONEER PAGE NINE BASKETBALL Under the direction of coach Taylor the basket-ball squad completed a very successful season by defeating the Proctor Academy quintet at Andover, N. H. Twenty most interesting games were played, twelve of which were vic¬ tories. The wins were over Rindge, Tech, Alumni, Beverly, Belmont (2), Stoneham, Swampscott, Wakefield (2), Lynn General Electric, Milton and Proctor Academy. The team suffered defeat at the hands of Medford (2), Winchester (2), Stoneham, Beverly, and Tufts Freshmen. The second team played a number of good games and show good material for next season’s varsity. Members of the squad are Weeks, Burns, Phillips, Dukelow, Horton, White, Halligan, Henchey, Canty, Sweetser, Sias, E. Merritt, O’Brien, Sullivan, T. Doucette, Low. BASEBALL A few warm days at the beginning of the month allowed the starting of a prospective baseball season. Under Coach Aldred’s authority the season began with a game with Wilmington on April 18. The first league game was played April 20th at Belmont. The rest of the schedule consists of: Reading at Swampscott April 24 Winthrop at Reading 26 Stoneham at Stoneham May 11 Winthrop at Winthrop 15 Lexington at Reading 18 Belmont at Reading 22 Lexington at Lexington 25 Stoneham at Reading 29 Wilmington at Reading June 5 Wakefield at Reading 8 THE ORIGIN OF BASEBALL The grand old American game of baseball, so-called because bases are the main factors involved, is believed to have developed from the ancient ball games of the Greeks and Romans. In early colonial days the American townspeople played a so-called game of “town ball” and later, such games as ”three-o’-cat” and “four-o’-cat” were indulged in, pastimes which are thought to be the direct forbears of American baseball. The first organized nine was that of the Knickerbocker Club of New York ‘City, formed in 1845. The first dia¬ gram of a diamond was planned by