Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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THE CHIMEiS 17 disaster on their trial flights, and were wrecked. At the same time Maxim was conducting experiments in England. His airplane was of large proportions, and demonstrated a great amount of lifting power. The work of these two men was a great help to others who achieved success later. Otto Lilienthal, a German, developed a highly successful type of glider, and made several thousand flights. Chanute, an American, also made many glider flights, and contributed much information about the problem of stability in flight. The Wright brothers studied the experiments of other famous pioneers in aviation, and incorporating the ideas of these men and their own, they constructed a kite-glider in 1900 which was quite successful. After this they constructed a larger glider in which one had to lie flat on the frame to operate it, but it was not very success- ful. Following this they made several other gliders, attaining a fair degree of success. Then they constructed a powered plane which, made the first successful power-driven flight by man. In the years following this first great success they developed their planes until finally they had some of the first really efficient airplanes. SCITUATE Dorothy Studley, ' 34 Of her historic places Scituate is proud to boast. And since history began Has hem a perfect host. The lighthouse is outstanding, As historic places are; It was the ancient landing Of the sailors from afar. The Lawson tower stands proudly And is seen for miles away; We can hear its bells ring loudly As it marks the time of day. A lighthouse flashing 1-4-3 Is Minot ' s, tall and handsome, It stands among the rest at sea And guards the might}- seamen. - MEMORIAL LlBKAh SCITUATE. MASS

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16 THE CHIMES IT ' S SPRING Harriet Poland, ' 34 A cool breeze is blowing through my hair. It l rings with it a fragrance suggestive of awakening flowers and plants. The trees above me rustle and seem to whisper tales to each other. Soft bil- lowy clouds move slowly across the azure heavens. The clothes on the line sway l)ack and forth gently with each breath of wind. The glow of the sun sheds a delicious warmth over the earth. T marvel at all this, for truly, was it not only yesterday that cruel bit- ing winds were blowing, that blinding snow storms raged, and that we sat shivering by our firesides ? Just above me a robin proclaims his joyous song; dow ny chicka- dees flit here and there. In the distance I hear the flicker calling loudly and the woodpecker hammering for his food. From the pond across the street comes the peeping of the frogs — to me, a most agreeable sound. The hens roam idly about, seeming to enjoy their newly-acquired freedom. Sir Pomposity, the rooster, takes a mighty whiff of the air, flaps his wings with great gusto and announces to all the world that he is lord and master of his domain. The mother hen clucks and the baby chicks come running at her call. From a neighboring yard I hear the pounding of hammers and the humming of saws. The voices of children at play sound from a nearby field. A cool breeze is blowing — the trees above me are rustling — soft clouds are moving across the sky — the birds are singing — all nature is stirring. Why certainly ! It ' s spring in my back yard ! THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE AIRPLANE Dudley Wade, ' 37 One of the first persons to become interested in aviation wa Leonardo da inci. He was the first real student of flight, and his sketches show many principles which are in use today. It was found at an early date that propellers or devices which bore through the air were necessary for propulsion. At first the efforts of man were toward the imitation of bird flght, that of flap- ping wings, but this was later found to be impractical. John String- fellow was the first man to make a successful model of an airplane. His model flew about forty yards. Langely was one of the first Americans to develop successful air- planes. He designed steam-driven models, one of which flew for half a mile. He constructed two full-size airplanes, but they met with

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18 THE CHlMEiS PEDDLERS Jane Pitkin, ' 35 On July Fourth, 1931, niy mother. 1)rother and I diseniharked from the S. S. Leviathan at Plymouth, England, where after a few days ' stay we took a bus for Barnstable. Here we bought three nice, shiny bicycles from an old man called Mr. Beer, who strangely enough lived on Beer Street. He took the greatest amount of time and care to see that the bikes were properly adjusted, mox ing that seat up a little and putting this bar a mite back. Equipped with our shiny iron steeds, we set out to conquer new worlds (to us any way). Our route lay through the Lorna Doone Country and along the Severn River to Wells, an old walled town; then across the river at Bristol through a corner of hilly Wales be- side the River Wye to Sudbury and Stratford-upon-Avon, where we saw five or six Shakespearian plays in the ultra-modernistic theatre that is such a strange contrast to the quaint half-timbered buildings of Shakespeare ' s time. From Stratford we went to Oxford, Lon- don, finally arriving in Paris. For clothes we each had a pair of shorts, one moldy, mildewy dress or suit, and a rather leaky raincoat. These we put in a pack which was strapped to the back of the ])icycles. If you ever feel depressed because of lack of clothes, try wearing such a wardrobe for a month. At night we stayed at some (|uaint old inn or farmhouse or even at a pub house, where far into the night w e could hear the men argu- ing over their ale. Once we slept in an ancient gatehouse over the street, to which we had to mount an old, winding, stone staircase From this room they used to lower the portcullis (or iron gate) to keep the enemy out. My brother said that he saw the ghosts of the men who used to work it. For luncheon we sometimes carried picnic lunches or we stopped at some inn. Once we sat in a field adjacent to one where a regiment of soldiers were trying to hit a red balloon drawn by two airplanes, with anti-air-craft guns. First we could hear the officers ordering the men, then a tremendous bang, and about two seconds later a faint report with a puff of smoke near the balloon. I guess they were rookies because they didn ' t hit that balloon once. Sometimes when we saw the gray walls of an old castle perched high above us on a jagged rock, we would take time out to explore it. Tlie keeper would probably tell us tliat one of illiam the Conquer- or ' s nobles had built it and that the old ' ' keep went back to Saxon times. Standing among the ruins of the huge banquet hall, we