Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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Uncle! while I Was out playing on the dikes the other day, I saw a stork with a broken wing. Will he ever be able to Hy again? Blind Man: It might heal after a while, but he would probably be killed before then. Peter: Oh, no! I carried him home, and we are going to keep him until he gets well. But I must be going now, uncle. Mother wants me to get home before dark. Blind Man: I donlt like to have you go because you will take the sunshine with you, but be a good boy, Peter, and mind your mother always. Tell her that the cakes will taste very good. Peter: Good-bye, Uncle. I shall come again in a day or two. Blind Man: Good-bye, Peter. Run straight home, so that mother won't worry. COurtain.j SCENE III. Scene: Same as Scene I. Father sits at the table eating his breakfast. Mother is bust- ling about, trying to work, but keeps going to the window. Mother: Peter never stayed away from home before without asking if he might. .QShe goes to the Window again.j Father: Oh! helll be here soon. Probably he found the old uncle lonely, and stayed all night with him. , Mother: But he told me he would come back before clark, and he has always kept his Word. Q, Father: He is a brave boy, and I dare say he is safe. Mother fagain going to windowjz I Wonder who is coming down the road. There are two men, and they are carrying something between them. Father: Probably taking something to market. QEnter Hans and Gretchen. Hans is about six, and Gretchen eight. They are dressed in the ordinary Dutch costume.j Hans: Mother, have you seen our Peterkin? Gretchen: Where is our Peterkin? Mother: He has not come home. Oh, Father! it's a boy they're carrying. It can't be Peter! It is! It is! CI.oud burst of cheering is heard, growing louder and louder. Father rushes out to meet them.j Mother: They are singing and cheering. Gretchen Cdancing about joyouslyj : Mother, he is safe. QEnter men, laughing, still bearing Peter on their shoulders. Peter looks rather sheepislnj Mother: Oh, Peter! Where have you been all night? First Nvorkmanz He has been trying to keep the Whole ocean out of Holland. It was too hard work, and he fell asleep doing it. Second WVorkman: He has saved the land by keeping the Water out, and he only fell asleep after We found him, and began to repair the damage. Mother: He has saved us all. Peter: I haven't done anything. I only held my hand in the hole, hoping some one Would come. I wouldn't have cared if I hadn't been so sleepy. I think it's a good thing the men came when they did, for I was almost asleep. It was such a long time. fOurtain.j M. F. R. H. E. S. 17

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The Leak in the Dike SCENE I. Scene: Dutch interior. At one side of the room is a table covered with a white cloth. At the opposite side is a large old-fashioned fireplace with shining andirons. A box with a few logs in it stands near the fireplace. Mother, dressed in simple Dutch costume, is scrubbing a pan which already shines like silver. Children's voices heard playing outside. Mother fputting the pan into the cupboardj: There! that's the last of those pans scrubbed and put away. It's getting late, and I want Peter to take those cakes to Blind William before dark. fGoing to the doorj: Peter! Peter! Peter Canswering outsidej: Yes, Mother, I'm coming. it QEnter Peter, breathlesslyj. Peter: Oh, mother, We've been having such a good time! I just- Mother: Yes, yes, Peterkin! But I want you to go now to the old blind rnan's hut, and take these cakes. He must be very lonely down there all alone. Peter: He never sees the storks flying overhead, and he never sees the flowers. I think he must be very lonely. Mother fgiving him the cakesj: Here they are. You must hurry, for I want you to get back before dark. Peter: Why, Mother, I'm not afraid no matter how dark it is. But I'll hurry. Good-bye. Exit Peter. Mother Qwatching him from the windowj : He is a good boy, and I know he will do as I wish. QCurtainj. SCENE II. Scene: The interior of the hut of the blind man. Furniture, a table and a chair. The old man sitting at the table, leaning heavily upon his cane in front of him. A violin lies on the table. Blind Man: It is so lonely here! No one has passed the hut today. I'xn glad I have my violin to keep ine from being lonely all the time. tHe touches the instrument lovingly as he speaksj CA whistle is heard outside.j Blind Man: llark! Some one is coming. I wonder who it can be! flinter Peter joyouslyj l'ttter: llullo, Uncle. Guess what l've brought for you. lilinfl Man Cgentlyj: Oh! it's Peterkin, is it? I d0n't know, 1,111 51116. I think it's n flower. l'eter ftlaneiug joyously about the roomj: No, better than that. Try again. lilind Klan: I guess it's a glass of jelly from your mother. l'eter: Wrong again. lt's better even than that. lilinfl Man tatleetionatelyj: l guess it is just yourself you've brought. l't-ter: Ulu, no! it's a great fleal better than that. lt's some little cakes m0tl10r made. lilinfl Klan: lleaven bless your mother! She is an angel. flie takes the cakes and tonehea them gently with his llIlgt!l'H.J Peter: Let, me put them away for yon. tlle puts thc cakes into the cupboardj. Oh, 16

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Pictures of Childhood George Eliot has been called the loving mother of her children characters, but so thoroughly does she understand each trait and feeling, that it seems as if she were one of them. In spirit she really is, for she remembers with great distinctness the happy, in- comparable days of her own childhood. Her own life with her brother is even as sweet a picture as those she has described in her books. She says:- To nourish the sweet skill of loving much. Those hours were seed to all my after good, My infant gladness, through eye, ear and touch, Took easily as warmth a various food. As this little girl grew older, the love still remained a dominant feature of her nature, and, added to the understanding which comes with experience, made possible the beautiful pictures of childhood that We find in her works. They will seem even more beautiful if we stop to think about them in the same loving way. 'Tis love must see them as the eye sees light. Think for a moment of a spacious kitchen back in old England. All is quiet except for the singing of the tea-kettle and the snapping of fire-wood. Muvver, says a small, chirping voice, My iron twite told. I fink Totty needs it hottedf' On a high stool by her mother's ironing board sits a plump, little red-cheeked girl of three, ironing rags with such assiduity that her tongue must stick from her mouth as far as her anatomy will allow. But mother is all through now. Totty must put her ironing away. 'CI tink Totty wants some pum take. UNO! No! Totty mustn't tease. Totty, however, seems furnished with a number of requests. If one fails, another will do as well. She ends by sticking her fingers in a bowl of starch, tipping it completely over. Then, with a sort of waddling run, she hurriedly retreats into the next room. Noyv turn to a different part of England, and see a child in very different circum- stances. It is cold. Light snow is on the ground. It is night. Far out over the White ground is the rcflexion of a bright light, shining from the door of a little cottage. In the powdery snow is a little ehild on all fours, holding out one little hand to catch the gleam. Where is it? Ah! it is very far away, and the little one, rising, toddles through the snow, the olrl dirty shawl in which she is wrapped, trailing behind her. Into the hut of Silas Marner she comes, and up to the blazing hearth. Squatting on an old cloak, spread before the tire to dryg she spreads her little hands and gurgles in great content. But soon all is quiet in the room except for the crackling of the twigs, sending out dinnner and dinnnr-r lights over the body of a sleeping child. ' 'l'ben comes Silas to sit in his great ehair and push the logs together, when, to his flimming sight, it seems as if his long lost gold lay on the floor before him. lie trembles. Wlmt f-:in it nu-an? llown goes Silas on his knees. Ile sees u sleeping child-a beautiful little- girl with r-oft yellow rings all over her head. Poor old Silas pushes more wood on In the tire. lt is no vision. The bright gleam lights up all the more clearly the form of the slr-frpiog baby and her shaggy clothing. The old man sinks back in his chair. 18