Richmond Hill High School - Archway / Dome Yearbook (Richmond Hill, NY)

Page 17 text:

and clearer. The air too is snappier, jerking up your chin, inflating your chest, putting a spring in your walk, a Iilt in your voice, and a flash in your eyes. Autumn, the stimulating, gorgeous climax, has been reached. The leaves have fallen, making a crisp crackle, like dry, brittle paper being crushed, under their first strange tinge of snow, as two hikers stride silently over it. Continuously the white flakes float down, making a thick blanket covered with a deep crust. The crush of skiis vies with the slicing whirr and clank of ice-skates and the grinding and jingling of sleds. The crackling and bursting of a stirring fire have an allure almost as powerful as the exhilarating, intense atmosphere seeking entrance at every window and door. f Who is able to decide, irrevocably, which his favorite is out of such a galaxy of differing and fascinating delights? GENIUS .... Supreme and exquisite they are to his deft touch, A never-ending mystery of life and death, To him-a gem that breathes on secret air, A voice that cries in stifled breath. His soul but whispers-sweet the words, To fall on ears of speechless man, The Heavens saturate his will, Lend color to his aching pen. The mellow rapier shapes the thrust, A symphony of treasured art- And so, on borrowed thought, it wings, A secret closer to our hearts. James Percival THE SENIOR DOME l3age'l3 iv

Page 16 text:

CLYVLLCLEDS ln fl Year' l--By FLORENCE CRABB -i- ID you ever truly hear a season, feel it, or even actually observe ltr? Everything has some beauty in it, but nature always has an overabundance of this essential, which seems to be painted in four primary colors, shading and melting one into another as imperceptibly as the hare-bell blue of coming night slips into the rosy amber hues of I hl Id early twilight-one season fading ghost-lilce as another steat iy gi es in. Eaintly through the dead stillness of the torpid world is heard, spiritual- ly, the subtle awalcening of the dormant trees and lifeless bushes. Delicately the tiny buds unfurl their tender greenness, lending a touch of animation and vitality to the atmosphere. Life has been born again. The swish of a jumping rope on the still cold pavement, the craclc of a baseball bat as the boys begin training, the cliclc of marbles as they come out of their long hibernation-all unfailing signs that spring--the imperishable resurrection, has come once more to arouse the lethargic world from its stupor. Gradually the exquisite green turns to a shadowy, deeper emerald, more cogiously Envelgpilng the slim, graceful silhouettes of the scantily-clad trees an crouc ing us es. lmperceptibly the grass has become more verdant, the air more balmy, the roaring swollen streams less turbulent-everything is softer, more tran- quil. lt is summer! The thump of the diving board and the echoing splash of the diver, the twang of the tennis strings and the gentle lapping of the gliding canoe have replaced the sounds of rope, bat, and marbles. But in the crowded, tumultuous cities, heat-crazed, nerve-wraclced workers try to Iescapj front their never-finished taslcs to snatch a fragment of quiet, peace, ca m an coo ness. By a gay, dashing mountain stream, a solitary man fishes contentedly, for- getting the din and raucous clamor of the now distant city. ln the tiny baclc- yard of her small home, a woman lies gazing through the trembling foliage of one young tree and imagining herself in the heart of the forest. A sway- ing line of riders go cantering through cool, pine-scented woods, oblivious to or igirliorant of thegl unpalrolled fellow-humans, some of whom are sweat- ing att eir inescapa e tas s. Gradually the trees became more somber-or more gorgeously color- ful-deep purple reds, flaming scarlets, darlc cerises, vivid oranges, and brilliant yellows contrast sharply with the angular silhouetted greens of great firs and pines. Now the thump of hoofs rings out from the frozen ground, and the uproar of the grandstand drowns out first the soft thud of the lcicl4ed football, then the drumming of feet as the panting, straining husldes dash madly down the field after it. The slcy is a more arresting blue, brighter Tl-IE SENIOR DOME l3age'lQ

Page 18 text:

New fmpvessiorts of germany Summer, 1936 ----By PETER i4oENioEi2--- to Germany on a ship crowded above its normal capacity because of the coming Olympic Games. The boat, the Motorship St. Louis , was the same slow, comfortable little liner on which l had gone the year before. It was like old times to see the same sailors and stewards and to swim in the same large, open air pool again. The water was like glass for the entire crossing, except along the Irish coast, where we had rough and rainy weather. After passing Land's End it cleared again and when we reached Cuxhaven the sun was shining brightly down on the five Olympic rings and the huge HWelcome sign on the pier, and on the dozens of potted fir trees placed along the walk to the station to make our arrival more festive. ln the special train which took the passengers from Cuxhaven to l-lam- burg was an old lady who had come to America sixty years ago when she was a girl of fifteen, and was now going back on a visit for the first time. A number of her relatives from a tiny village in Hessen-Nassau had come to meet her, all speaking in a very broad dialect and wearing still broader smiles, and all with her snapshot pinned to them so that she should not fail to recognize them. The contrast between these people with their simple country dress and country ways and their American relative with her smart clothes, high-heeled shoes, bobbed hair and ruby finger nails, was very striking and one couldn't help wondering how the visit would go off. From Hamburg we went straight on to Berlin, which was already in Qlympic dress, although the games were more than two weeks distant. The hundreds of red banners with black swastikas gave an almost Japanese atmosphere to the scene. We took a trip out to the l2eichssportfeld , which was to be the scene of the Qlympics. Workmen were busy every- where adding the finishing touches, but the main stadium, seating 100,000 spectators, was already finished and in the swimming stadium we saw the Japanese team practising diving. The open air theatre was particularly beautiful, for its seats on the hillside commanded a wonderful view of the surrounding country. Next came a visit to the old university town of Jena, in central Germany, where l attended some classes and lectures at the end of a vacation course for foreigners. Most of the lectures were about German literature, but there were also nice trips to surrounding places of interest. We visited the famous Zeiss Cptical Works, which have the only skyscraper in the city, one fourteen stories high. Of course we were taken to the top to see the grand view. Another trip was to Weimar, where Germany's two greatest THE SENIOR DOME Page'l4 I llxl the fourth of July of this year l was again on the way