Samuel D Hanson School - Crescent Yearbook (Buxton, ME)

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16 The Crescent would ring and drop down. At the base of the board was a plug, connected with wires and connected with the drops. These are fitted into the drops and are used to locate the fire. We were also told that the Station was to be closed January, 1926, for a short time during the coldest of the weather. After eating our lunch, we had a glorious ski race down over the hill back to Camp. We are coming home in about a week, and I will see you then. As ever, your friend JANE. MILDRED C. THOMPSON, '28. THE PROOF Now, the story begins with two old maids, Miss Martha Pentington and Miss Janet Williams, who were about sixty years of age and each with so much money that she did not know what to do with it. Miss Martha, or Aunt Martha, as she is known to her friends, is one of the jolly, goodnatured people always ready to do a kind deed, and one who believes in giving the young folks a chance in life. Miss Janet, on the other hand, is just the opposite type from Aunt Martha. She is very stern and seldom smiles. It would take the funniest of all funny jokes to make her crack a smile, to say nothing of causing her to give a hearty laugh. As to the young folks, she be- lieves that they are too gay, that they should have more work to do to offset the play. These ladies lived in a house of me- dium size, nothing very fancy, but a very neat looking place, where they might enjoy a quiet and simple life together. It seemed the previous night, as they were sitting before the fireplace, they had discussed money affairs. That is, who was to have their money when they were gone. Well, said Aunt Martha in opening the conversation that evening, I have a plan all worked out to see my money in good hands, making someone's future happy, and I shall also prove to you that there are young folks in this world to-day who have a little backbone and who think of something besides pleasure. Oh, said Miss Janet, I expect you're going to do some great thing, I might just as well listen now to your silly scheme as to wait a week, I suppose. Janet, said Martha, do you remem- ber Mrs. jones telling about that girl at Bantomville who has no parents or any- one to look after her P Yes, of course, but what has that to do with what we were just talking about ? just this, answered Aunt Martha. I'm going to have that girl come to live with us, pretending that we are very poor, that we can give her a roof to cover her head if she'll earn enough working after- noons and after school closes to help support us. Oh, dear, said Miss Janet, I can see how the house will be in an uproar all the time, but I know that if you get

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I The Erzsrznt 17 an unreasonable idea like that into your head, all I can say will be of no avail to persuade you that you are wrong. Go ahead, and I'll bet my whole fortune that she'll be just as crazy over movies, joy rides and dances as all the rest of those wild young Happers that we see racing up and down the street. That night Aunt Martha wrote a letter to Mrs. Jones telling her of the whole plan, that it must be kept a secret as to the money, and asking her to see the girl as soon as possible and reply right away. Three days later came the answer. The girl, Alice Gordon, about sixteen years of age, would arrive bag and baggage on the night train. My stars! said Janet, that was quick work, but oh, how I do dread having her come! I can just picture her with rouge and a whole lot of that red stuff on her lips-lipstick, I guess they call it. Aunt Martha ignored this remark, as she always did similar things, to avoid unpleasantness. That night, as the train pulled in, found Aunt Martha and Miss Janet on the platform waiting anxiously for Alice. At last, down the steps came a girl whom Aunt Martha knew to be Alice. She was well dressed, but her face was minus both the rouge and lipstick, much to the surprise of Miss Janet. Now, Alice understood her duty fully and set about to fulfil it. First she went to school, from 8.30 to 12.30. From there she went directly to the soda fountain, where she worked until 6.30, at least, and sometimes until 9.15 o'clock. Then she went home, did her studying, and usu-ally was ready for bed by 10.45 or 11 o'cloek. Each week she handed over to Aunt Martha the check that she received, and she believed that to be what supported the family. Alice kept this up for over three years. Meantime, she graduated with honors from high school and was preparing her- self for college. About this time Miss Janet was taken ill and asked to see Alice alone. Then she told her about the great fortunes they both had, and explained why they had her work, making it seem that she was almost supporting them. She admitted then to both Aunt Martha and to Alice that she had had an alto- gether wrong opinion of young girls. She, as well as Aunt Martha, now thought as much of Alice as they could have of a daughter of their own. By the following autumn, Miss Janet had recovered from her illness, and all were living happily. MILDRED Towuz, '26, BETTER THAN EXPECTED It was a late September afternoon when three boys, Jack and Paul Sturges and Jimmie Winfield, stood in front of the little Mapleton post-office, looking wistfully at the dusty trail of the returned hunters. These hunters had stopped at the post-office and told of many unusual experiences in the Maine woods. The boys, who were among the many interested listeners, felt a great desire to

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wb: Crescent 15 CAMP GROUND, Oss1PEE, ME., Dec. 13, 1925. Dear Mary: Thank you for your most welcome let- ter. I was glad to hear that you liked our experience at the ice house and want to hear more of our trips. We had the Carnival Friday, Dec. 4, everything went fine. We girls got a good score of 34 points. Rochester was 3 points behind. I came in second in the third round on the Champion Skier. You sure don't want to miss coming with us next year. Yesterday morning we started on a hike up Ossipee Hill. It is about three miles from here fthe Camp Groundsl. Ten of us girls went, and three guards. We were rather heavily loaded, for we took both snowshoes and skis so that we could snowshoe up and ski back, and of course we all carried a lunch, not know- ing what time we would return. As we were going through the woods, we had a guessing match, to see who could recognize the most trees and birds. There wasn't a great variety of trees, but say, you would be surprised to see the many birds that were out. I saw a blue jay, blackbird, I-'fnglish sparrow, crow and a great number of snow birds. We reached the top of the hill about noon. I had noticed the Lookout Station -it can be seen for miles around, you know-and had been thinking how much I would like to go in. I was the first to approach the subject, saying, Let's go up to the Lookout Station, it is only a little way from here. They all agreed, so. we started. The Station is rounded by little a glass house, sur- pine trees. As we mounted the path, the pines seemed to be singing a song of Welcome to us. Not knowing whether we could get in or not, we knocked at the door and waited for a few minutes. There was no bell, so we couldn't ring. We knocked again. Thump! Thump l was the echo. We looked in at the windows and there sat a man writing at a desk. He appeared to be in deep thought. Slowly he raised his head, when he heard the echo, and, turning toward the door, rose and quickly came forward with a welcome greeting. We all shouted. How do you do. This gentleman invited us in. We dropped both snowshoes and skis and entered. One corner of the room was parted oil' with wood and curtains. This was his sitting-room. By his desk were some maps hanging from the wall. These were of ditlferent sections of this part of the country. Inside the house were a great many wires, parallel, around the room. Mr. Palmer asked us to please excuse him a minute, because he was trying to locate a fire set by a train. We waited about five minutes. Then he looked up and smiled, saying that it wasn't in his section, and was not a bad tire. We were told while we were there that the work had to be attended to and the operators were not supposed to leave the Station when on duty. At Mr. Palmer's desk was an operator's board, with all the sections given by names and by number. The drops on the board were of different colors. When there was a fire anywhere in his section, one of these colored drops