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

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14 The Qliresrent to write. They spent their whole lives on their manuscripts, writing in absolute silence in order that nothing should dis- tract their iattention, caulsing them to make a mistake, and no handwriting was ever produced more perfect or more beautiful than theirs. The name of its writer has never been found on any of these mediaeval manuscripts, but these anonymous scholars should be remem- bered with gratitude. MABEL G. I-IARMON, '2'?'. THE B. H. S. OF TODAY O stately mansion, stern and high, To thee we gaze with tender eye, Within thy walls so pure and gray, Is the B. H. S. of the present day. This mansion did our sixes erect, That we might learn of every sect, That we might learn of knowledge's power, And be prepared for nature's bower. Teachers, pupils, comrades all, May we unite in joyous thrall, To strive in truth, without a jest, For B. H. S. to do our best. MABEL G. HARMON, Class of '27. CAMP GROUNDS, OSSIPEE, ME., ' Dec. 6, 1925. My dear Mary: I am sorry that I couldn't see you to bid you good-bye, but never mind, I shall be back in two weeks or so. We had a wonderful time coming from Bar Mills up here to the Camp Ground. There are twelve of us girls, three guards, and the teamster. The snow was quite deep. making it hard for the horses. How the bells sounded through the pines, and the echo of the old teamster's voice shouting, Get-dap l Get-dap ! How wonder- ful nature is! When we reached Waterboro Ice House, we stopped to watch the process of ice cutting. First the snow is cleared from the ice, by a snow dray, as they call it. Then the ice is cut by a large machine saw, which is run by electricity. There has to be three men tending this saw, to see that it doesn't get blocked. After the ice is cut, there are men to take it from the pond and slide it into the slide-bench. The slide-bench is about two feet from the saw. After the ice is placed in the slide, an electric motor forces the ice from the pond to the ice house. When it comes to the trap door, two men are waiting with long ice picks. ready to give the ice a push so as to help it down the slide. The slide is very curved and has many corners. At each curve, or corner, there are two men with ice picks ready to give the ice a push. After the ice reaches the lower trap door. it passes down a chute into the store- house, and there is packed with sawdust. VV e were not allowed to enter the ice house alone. so one of the guards went with us. He told us this whole process of ice packing. Don't you think it is in- teresting? After the Carnival next week we plan to take a trip up Ossipee Hill. The girls all send their love. Hoping to hear from you soon, I am Your friend, JANE.

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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

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The Crescent 13 The origin of writing goes so far back into antiquity that it is quite impossible to describe it. As far as it is known, the Egyptians were the first to express thoughts and facts in symbols for others to read, but it is probable that they copied the art from some great race that came before them, perhaps the Chinese. The most ancient piece of writing still in existence is an inscription found in an Egyptian king's tomb and said to have been made about six thousand years B. C. Most of this writing of antiquity was made on stone, anything in the nature of paper was not known at that time. Grad- ually, men began to make use of tablets, bricks or cylinders made out of clay, on which symbols could be engraved by means of some hard metal instrument. The ancient Greek went a step farther by using wax tablets, the impression on the wax being made by a pointed instrument. It will be noticed that in all these earliest methods, writing consisted in making an impression .in, rather than on, the surface of the material used. The next development was to impose symbols, instead of impressing on wooden tablets, pottery, or shells. In Persia, linen and leather were used. However, all important records of very early lines were written on papyrus, which was made from a certain kind of grass found on the banks of the Nile. It is from this that both the name and character of our modern paper is derived. This grass necessary for the manufacture- of papyrus was rare, so the process of m-aking parch- ment or vellum from the skins of sheep, goats, and calves was developed. The actual origin of paper is ascribed to a Chinaman named Tsai-Leum, who in the year 105, A. D., devised a means of mak- ing a writing surface from the fibres of certain plants beaten into a pulp and then rolled into sheets. The Egyptians, like the Chinese and Japanese to-day, used a brush for writing. The quill pen came into use in the middle of the fourteenth century, swan ,quills being the most commonly used, and crow quills for fine writing. A man named Wise- indeed a wise man - first intro- duced steel pens, about 1800, and the in- dustry of steel pen making by machinery quickly assumed large proportions. The history of writing is closely bound up with the story of the alphabet. The earliest writing took the form, not of letters of the alphabet, but of what are known as hieroglyphics, meaning sacred carvings, which conveyed the idea of a thing without actually expressing its name. No one was able to decipher this type of writing until the year 1799, when a large stone known as the Rosetta Stone was dug up in Egypt. This bears an in- scription written both in hieroglyphics and in Greek and the comparison of the two enabled scholars to solve the mystery of the system of hieroglyphics. For the greater part of the historic age writing has been practiced only by the most learned men. In Roman days all writing was done by professional writers known as scribes, of whom mention is found in the Bible. In the middle ages, practically no one except amonk was able