Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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6 THE CHIMES The hostels are usually located on farms. The house parents are gen- erally kind and accomniodatinji. To anyone interested in an inexpensive vacation, I would recommend taking a trip by bicycle this summer through New Hampshire and Vermont. The hostels are not open to automobilists but only to those who travel under their own steam. MY JOURNEY TO BLINDNESS Sherman Gates, ' 40 Light is leaving, slowly leaving — My eyes grow slowly dim. I reach to rend this heavy, falling veil, But it leaves unmarked its blinding trail. What strange fear on me does it compel Which I dare barely to retell? Slowly, slowly, how slowly it descends What woeful wrong does it portend? What dreadful sin destroys the light above And all the sights which I have loved? If such will end all harsh travail. Proceed till total darkness shall prevail. LET ' S PIN THEM DOWN Helen Poland, ' 40 Modern psychologists claim that our hobbies have a strong influence on character and personality. Everyone has some kind of hobby even though he may not consider it as such. It occurred to me that it might be interesting to find out what our teachers, whom we consider a species different from the ordinary individual, do in their leisure hours. I have, consequently, taken great pains to interview many of the mem- bers of our faculty to ascertain for myself how they amuse themselves after school hours. I am surprised to find them quite normal individuals. All professed to enjoy reading, a not unlikely occupation considering the re- search they demand of their pupils. The types of books are varied — travel books, political and economic books, historical novels, biographies, books on mathematics, and even detective stories. Teaching must be a wearisome job, for one of the teachers, distinctive because of his new blue suit, immediately declared that sleep was his de- light. He also claims to be a poet of a high degree and to enjoy aesthetic dancing. Another of our ambitious male teachers delights in cutting wood. Still another practises amateur radio communication. Among the women.

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THE CHIMES 5 YOUTH HOSTELING David Colman, ' 39 The youth hostel movement has grown by leaps and bounds since the first American youth hostel was established at Northfield in 1934. There are now 184 youth hostels in the United States, nearly half of which are in New England. A youth hostel is a place where any AYH (American Youth Hostel) passholder can obtain a lodging for the night at a cost of twenty-five cents. The hostels are supplied with cooking facilities and some of them have a recreation room. From my experience last summer, I found that the sleeping-rooms ranged all the way from individual rooms in a house with all the luxuries of home down to a hen-house, garage, or other spare building with a few bunks arranged in tiers if the shack was high enough. Blankets are always supplied at the hostel. An AYH pass costs a dollar for those under twenty-one and two dollars for those over twenty-one. It entitles the owner to the use of any hostel in the world for twenty-five cents a night or its equivalent in foreign cur- rency and to the quarterly magazine, The Knapsack. It affords a means of securing a vacation and plenty of good exercise very economically. Hostelers usually allow a dollar a day for total expenses, but by skimping one can get along on seventy-five cents a day. The AYH is financed en- tirely by donations and endowment. No person in the movement has any pecuniary interest in the organization. On my trip last summer, I started out by renting a bicycle at Northfield. For the most part, I followed what is known as the loop. This is probably the most popular route fo llowed by hostelers and is generally considered to be a two weeks ' journey by bicycle. It starts at Northfield, goes up through New Hampshire via Winchester, Meredith, and Sugar Hill, across Northern Vermont to Stowe or Jeffersonville, down the western side of Vermont to North Poultney, and then southeasterly across the lower part of the Green Mountains back to Northfield. The New Hamp- shire part of the route goes by the Monadnock region in the southern part of the state and the White Mountains in the northern part. The Sugar Hill is one of the best-known hostels on the loop and it is used quite a little as a base for side trips into the White Mountains. The ' route through the northern part of Vermont is through some very beautiful farming country. In the northwestern part of the state are found the best scenery and the highest peaks of the Green Mountains. All of the peaks are within a day ' s hiking distance of hostels. A good many of the state highways and nearly all the side roads are unpaved. The state roads, however, are good dirt roads and almost as good for cycling as macadam roads. The side roads, however, are impos- sible. They are as crooked as new rope, very bumpy, and in many places steep.

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THE CHIMES 7 knitting is quite popular. Fancy embroidery is an accomplishment of our linguist, who ako enjoys dancing. Sports are popular among the men, but the women don ' t mention them. Hockey, football, tennis, swimming, ping-pong, and golf were specified. The women prefer the fine arts, such as the theatre and the opera. Eating, as well as sleeping, can be a hobby. Our physicist likes to eat in queer little out-of-the-way lunchrooms. Photography is another of his pastimes. I was rather surprised to find that more of the teachers do not make collections of interest. Stamps, coins, and antiques were the only ones mentioned. My investigations, however, lead me to believe that teachers may really be human beings after school hours. BELOVED SCITUATE Constance Wade, ' 41 Sea and sand, field and wooded land. Rugged cliffs and sun-lit bowers, A port of refuge, and a harbor grand. Free us from dull care and toilsome hours. An ocean blue as gown doth grace Her shores, and often breaks with gentle crest. With ruffle and fringe of lace Upon her beaches ' breast. Then again against her land. The sea with a tempestuous mirth Crashes forth with mighty hand, And strives to wrest her from the earth. Now a place of peace and joy, Now of violent storm and strife. Ne ' er will the zest for living cloy, But lead us to a fuller life. THE BLUE RIBBON Cornelia Weeks, ' 40 Barry Was ' a Saiht Bernard. His ancestors h d saved many people lost in the Swiss Alps. He had inherited all their spirit and courage as well as massive size and b utiful coloring. But t D see him xtow was pitiful. His mistress,had brought Barry to the place most dre 4ed by dogs — the D.og Show, Thousands of other dogs