Ricker Classical Institute - Aquilo Yearbook (Houlton, ME)

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' The Aquilo breezes, sharp, lamenting breezes, and coy, subtle breezes. There are also patient, knowing breezes and dignified, reserved breezes. All these and many others make up that great family. The sky is a dark blue velvet robe richly cocrusted with the many dif- ferent designs of the diamond like stars. It is the royal robe of the uni- verse. The moon, a golden topaz whose jewel like rays shows clouds of pearl floating around it, is the royal emblem of the robe. The meadow brook is a piece of silver thread winding across the meadow. This is where the little brownies get their silver. They mint it from the shilling waters of the brook, There is also music. An orchestra of the big bass fiddles of the bull- frogs, of the golden toned violins of the crickets, and of the many beautiful sounding instruments of the birds. All of these are harmoniously blended into nature's orchestra of the night. All of the fairy folk, deep in little wooded vales are dancing by the moonlight to the tune of the orchestra. The fairies are in formal dress and the intricate weaving of their beautiful silk evening clothes was done by their own special dressmaker, a skillful and clever spider. They dance all night long on a dance floor of waxed green leaves. The night is the world of all of these creatures. It is made up of all of these scenes, and many others. For those who have the eyes to see it, the night has the conditions from which one can draw any conclusion his soul desires. ' Clara Wiley '49 ill. 0 RGID To a lot of people rain means merely this-either we need it or we don't. At any rate, it is extremely disagreeable to them, especially if they should happen to be caught in a sudden down-pour. I think that rain is nature's way of cleansing the earth. It seems that a good rain washes away all the evils and impurities of the earth and air surrounding it. It would be a wonderful thing if a person's evils and im- purities could be washed away like that. During a rain, the sound of the raindrops and swishing of the rain is a protest against all evilness and dirtiness. After a rain, how clean and fresh everything looks! How sweet and new the air smells! The grass and the leaves of the trees glisten as though they had been polished. The flowers also glow with new-found luster. The trunks of the trees and the fence posts look as though they had just been given a good oiling. The dusty appearance of the roads and buildings has disappeared. The general stuffiness of the whole atmosphere is gone. The road is seemingly a ribbon of dark felt winding along past the houses, Everywhere there are little streams of water which are carrying away the wastes of the earth. Ducks are gleefully quacking and splashing about in puddles of water caught in hollows barely noticeable before. They are perhaps the only creatures on earth who enjoy a rain to the full extent of their knowledge. A rain not only seems to refresh the earth and air but also your own spirits . You seem to feel more wide awake and your mind is keener after a rain. Therefore, a rain is just as important to us as it is to the earth. Clara Wiley '49 -- -+ OD .

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The Aquilo I mustn't fail now , he thought as he toed the rubber to deliver the ball. He threw a slow easy knuckler, but the day was hot, he was nervous, and the ball spun a little more, came a little closer to the middle than he had in- tended. It went out into right field for a triple, giving the Hawks a two to nothing lead. He put the following men down in order but the damage had been done. The Hawk pitcher was having a holiday. He was holding them scoreless. No one had been able to get even a scratch hit, for this was Ace Allen, the veteran speedster of old. The score remained the same until the ninth, when the Cougar first baseman got a scratch single. Sensing a rally, the Cougar manager sent in a reliable pinch-hitter. He came through with a scorching drive through short and second to put a man on first and third. The Hawk pitcher was now thoroughly worried. Danny came up next, though he was a poor hitter, the coach had somehow let him bat. Ace Allen being very nervous, the pitch came down as big as a balloon. He pulled it into deep right for a triple. The crowd roared its enthusiasm, because now the score was tied two up. But alas, the Cougars didn't have a hitter to keep the rally going. The Hawk pitcher, seeing this, regained his com- posure, and once again became the steely, implacable hurler of the first eight innings. With two out, this was the cougars last chance to win the game. The man at bat wasn't going to hit. He knew it, the crowd knew it, and Danny, standing restlessly on third knew it. His mind raced with the speed of light, He took a generous lead from the sack. When the pitcher's arm snapped back, he dug for home, every muscle in his body responding to the urgent call. Out of the corner of his eye, the pitcher saw him, and consequently his throw was slightly wild. This was what Danny had hop- ed for. One thing which he had forgotten to tell the scout who discovered him was that he had set a high school record for track. His big figure hurtled down on the bewildered catcher who had just leaped to snag the wild pitch. He dropped his mitt to the ground, but too late. Executing a beautiful hook slide, Danny had got there a little quicker. The Ump had his hands flat. The game was over, Danny had won his own ball game. He was carried off the field by his now friendly comrades. With joyful heart, he began changing his grimy, sweat-soaked uniform. The future looked very bright indeed. Philip Bubar '50 Night To most people, night merely marks the end of a day. It is a break in the hours of the struggle to live in which you are able to furnish yourself with new and stronger weapons with which to fight the next battle of life. To me, it is a new world, A more beautiful, spiritual world than the one we know. Most people don't even notice the significance of a night when they have the opportunity. At night, everything seems to have a kind of life which we human be- ings have always dreamed of, but can never hope to have. At night, trees assume grotesque shapes of strange beings from the depths of our imagin- ation. You can hear the weird chant of their voices whispering back and forth on the breezes. The breezes are invisible phantoms rushing to and fro over the face of the earth with their ceaseless arguing. There are noisy, blustering C301

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The Aquilo Woods and Fancies On taking a walk through the woods one day, like many before me, I stopped to watch the lumbermen at work, cutting down the many great vast trees. As I watched, my mind, as it often does, began to wander, and this scene that I witnessed appeared to be very like the world of today. These woodsmen, in my fancy, symbolized evil. Their great, huge saws were as venom striking and gnawing into the wood. The tree, comparable to the world was big and strong and mighty. Yet there were these evils, cutting away at it. I pondered on the idea for a moment and looked again upon the two men who were already half way through the tree, the saw scraping and oozing it's way on. On and on, back and forth, thoughts such as these-will the earth too some day fall as this tree is falling now? Will the evil in men's souls rule over good? My heart sank within me as the call of the woodlands was altered and the tree came crashing down. Then sud- denly my question was answered for indeed the tree was felled, but the roots still remained! Norma Buckhalter '49 Snow This white everchanging compound is so simple in its appearance that people do not stop to ponder over its many qualities. Snow can come so softly that it is like the down of a goose, or it can come as a raging defiant beast. It can beautify an entire countryside with its shining whiteness, or it can terrorize the same region with its roaring howling fury. Sometimes it falls softly and the children play in it in ecstacyg yet this same snow can keep the children with their faces to the window, shuddering at the thought of going outside. In the southern part of most countries snow is almost unheard of, and when it comes it is re- garded with curiosity more than fear. In the northern part of these same countries, snow is regarded as a menace. It stops all sorts of communica- tions, breaks down trees, pulls wires from lines of communication, stops air lines freight, and causes all manner of inconvenience and danger. All this it does and still it is eagerly awaited by father and child alike. Roger McGary '49 5323