Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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15 They flew onward over the level meadows and down the shady woodland lanes. Over one more hill and the prize would he won! Who would obtain it. that silvery fox. to mount it with his other trophies. The puffing steeds mounted the slope and stared at the hounds that were huddled over the prize. One rider called out. The first to arrive fiets it. Four of the most skillful riders reached the scene first. An unpleasant odor filled the air. The prize was a skunk! NOW SMILE Wi ' liam Brad lee. ' 42 Among the definitely less tastier events of the scholastic season is the annual ordeal of picture taking;. Bein ' r very unphotogenic. I would go to almo-rt any extreme in an attempt to dodge this terrifying experience. Let me just attem|jt to describe a typical picture. I am in a classroom working very, very hard as usual when in prances a member of the high school orchestra, excitedly waving a notice to the effect that the orchestra are going to have their picture taken for the Chimes. Im- mediately I sit bolt upright, knocking the books in front of me belter skelter all over the floor, with the definite im|)ulse to run home. On shaking legs I proceed to exit from the room, almost fainting between the room and the auditorium, where the picture is to be taken. The rest of the orchestra stagger in, and amid the sly glances and knowing smiles of the last group photographed, we are lined up in front of the camera. If there is any thing that makes cold sweat stand out on my face, that infernal mechanism is it. That is one of the few inventions which to my thinking is a complete drawback to civili- zation. How an man heartless enough to invent a machine which would harass his fellow men as the camera does can have the audacity to accept the Nobel peace prize is beyond my minute mind. Being tall. I am placed right smack dab in the dead center, trembling with uncontrollable vio- lent undulations. ( Don t bother looking at the oichestra |)icture to see: take my word for it). The orchestra is arranged and rearranged and finally is judged O.K. That ' s that. But I soon find out that isn ' t that. The orchestra are told to quit fidgeting with their respective instruments. The director is told to put his legs together and to quit pulling his socks up. The sax player is told to lower his head. The back line is told to cease swaying to and fro. and I ' m told to quit hanging on to the kid next to me (little do they know I hang on to keep from colla psing.) At this point the photographer crawls under the mvsterious hood on the camera and feeds us the line that we ' re the best-looking group to come yet. I Of course everyone in the band is too modest to swallow that. I We are told to smile; so we all smile, but the picture is not taken until the smiles have all fad d awav and everyone is looking dumb — well, I look dumb anyway (no cracks please I. The toughest thing to do in this world is to smile at a camera when some one is watching you. The camera clicks, and I am amazed at the fact that it doesn ' t burst into a flare of flames ?nd completely disintegrate. Another picture ( Happv days, so called — Everyone smile now ' ) is taken and still no crack appears di- agonally across the lens. I conclude they must have special tough cameras for jobs like this. Then we are told to return to our classes, and I race through corridors anxious to get back to my dear old studies. Soon I find myself lost in some such interesting thing as The Life of Mamaduke Pipplehoff or Berstein ' s Law of Emotion. Finall) the pictures come out. I take one look at them and think they look like well, take a look yourself. THE PINES Cornelia Leitli, ' 41 Down in the meadow when I was small Three oung pines grew along the stone wall. Tall and straight in the morning sun. They lived each day as though just begun. When the wind was blowing and the sun was high. How they could toss their green heads to the sky And stoop low to touch their skirts to the earth Or start shaking together in make-believe mirth. Two men came through a long while ago. Said one to the other. Those three pines must ?:o. The sound of their axes rang through the air Until the trees fell and the sky was bare. In the meadow the sun no longer shines; The old stone wall is covered with vines. » Irate customer: Well, waiter, I suppose I can sit here til I starve. Waiter: Sorry; no sir, we close at eleven.

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14 ordering from a boatyard. This method of procuring a boat is the best if. and onh if, vou don ' t object to waiting five or six seasons. Re- member this: the art of procrastination was developed in the Middle Ages by boatbuilders. and as they have been practising this lazv habit all through the years, they are just about per- fect at it now. Buying a boat second-hand is bad business too. for nobody will sell a boat for less than ten times its true value. Now that I have shown just how impossible it is to get a boat, there ' s nothing left for vou people who don ' t own one to do except to dis- continue your reading unless, of course, vou want to continue on general principles. Now 1 11 tell ()U who are left, all about sail- ing. But before )ou get into the actual sailing, however, you should know the different parts of the boat and their use. To begin. At the back of the boat, or as you shall henceforth call it. the stern, is a flat, queerly-shaped piece of wood. This is known as a rudder. The rudder has two purposes: first, to steer the boat: and second, to support the tiller. The tiller, in turn, is used to support your hand, which turns the tiller itself, which, in turn, turns the rudder. Do you follow me? Moving forward, you will discover in your path, a seat, or in nautical terms a thwart. The most important thing that this thwart is good for is for sitting upon. That pole before vou now is the mast. Those ropes from the to|) of the mast to the sides of the boat are called shrouds, while that from the bow to the mast is the forestay. It lends moral support to the jib. Those ropes from the jib- clew and the end of the boom are called sheets. Doubtless some of you are wondering what that large, hollow, flatiron-shaped thing underneath you is. Sailors refer to this as the hull. The duty of the hull is to support the rudder, the mast, and at times ourself. The onh parts of the boat left undescribed are the centerboard and the halyards. The centerboard prevents side-slip and the halyards are used for hauling up the sails. The may be referred to as hal- vards. haillards. or those-ropes-up-front-that- pull-up-the-sails. Now that you are fully acquainted with your little craft. I will begin the preliminary sailing instructions. First: there are five principal sailing maneuvers: running, or going before the wind: reaching, or going across the wind: coming about: jibbing: and cajjsizing. The latter is not recommended but is inevitable. Second: a warning, never go sailing when the wind is blowing: it s too dangerous. Third: forget all that I have told you and take up golf. MORE OR LESS Pntrici-a McLean. ' 43 A simple little sign. you say, ' hat difference can it make? But oh. the direful consequence That follows this mistake W hen misplaced minus quantities Come trouping in its wake! For oh. the treacherous minus sign Must neer be trusted far; Tis wont to lurk among the terms And right solutions bar; Or stand before parentheses ith power to make or mar. L nlike the plus, this sign will oft Our hearts with mourning deck. By making our completed work An algebraic wreck. Though we ' ve tried through many ])recious hours In ain. to make it check. Oh. all ve little Freshmen, ho ho er round the gate Of higher mathematics. Beware of this sad fate! And watch the minus quantities. — Their values estimate. O erlook them not in factoring: Against their trickeries guard. Else life and school and algebra Become extremely hard hen you find some misplaced minus In red. upon your card! THE HUNT Fay Joseph. ' 44 It was a clear October morning. The shrill cry of the hounds proved thai the hunt was being made readv. The distant sound of the bu le whs heard. Thev were off! They cantered down the bright green field, making an exquisite picture — the men in their gay red coats, and the women in their smooth, shiny skirts and caps. The vehet- like coats of the thoroughbreds reflected the warm glow of the sunshine as the galloped along the woodland path. There was the dismal ba ing of the hound . The hunters plunged over the jump, all but one. speeding onward — onward! At last the dogs picked up a scent! as it a fox? — Silver or red?

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TWENTY-ONE DAYS OF NAZI BOMBING John Wilder, ' 43 N London the air war started on Sun- day, August 18. 1940. From that day until August 27 there were numerous raids which were called nuisance raids, because very few bombs were dropped and damage was slight. All they did was to cause the shops to close while the raids were on. On August 27 London had its first long night raid. These long night raids were continuous until September 16. and later, but that is the date on which I left London, and it is from August 27 until September 16 about which I want to write. The exact facts in regard to the time of air raids were kept in a diary which I had at the time. It was on the night of Tuesday. August 27, at 9:30 p.m., when the air raid sirens started up their warning to London, and people took shelter in both public and Anderson shel- ters. The Anderson shelter is about seven feet long, six feet high and five feet wide. It is constructed, inside, of two layers of corrugated iron, and outside, of thirt inches of soil on both sides and fifteen on the top. About three quarters of this shelter is below the ground. This is naturally not bomb-proof, but it is one of the safest shelters, because it is so small. I went into one of these small shelters, settled down in a corner, and tried to sleep, but the noise of anti-aircraft fire and planes was too great. After a very rowdy night the raiders passed signal sounded at 3:10 a.m.. on Wed- nesday During Wednesday night there were two short alarms. The first one was from 9:30 to 11:50 p.m., and the second was from 12:30 a.m., to 1:10 a.m.; the remainder of the night was quiet. It was two days before the sirens had anv more work to do. but on Friday. August 30. there was a series of raids, three during the day and one at night. The times were 1 1 :.50 p.m. to 12:33 p.m.. 3:18 to 3:35 p.m.. and 4:38 to 5:50 p.m. Then there was a lull until 9:10 l).m. when, for the fourth time that day. I had to take shelter. All through the night there was little activitv until about 3:,30 a.m. I was about to go up to get to bed. when I heard the engines of a German plane, so I quickly got under cover. The next thing I heard was the roar of gunfire and suddenly a sound rather like a very strong wind, which grew into a shrill scream. This is a sound which can be imagined only by actual experience. It finished with four successive explosions. These four bombs fell at a distance of two hundred yards, roughly, from our shel- ter. Thev demolished four houses and killed thirteen people. Besides these four houses, thirty-five more had to be pulled down because they had been rendered uninhabitable by cracked walls, and thev were nearly in a state of col- lapse. The raiders passed signal sounded at 3:55 a.m.. when we went indoors and had a cup of coffee and slept for a short while. It seems hard to believe, but this is true: there were seven tons of glass cleared off the str°ets, all of it from windows which had been blown out. On Saturday at 5:55 p.m. the sirens sounded, and I have never heard such a row. For a solid twenty minutes there was a continuous roar of anti-aircraft fire from miles around. The nearest guns to us were a quarter of a mile away, where there was a battery of new 4.7 inch guns. These new guns would fire four shells in succession; there would be a lull, and then they would repeat. With these bigger guns were the normal single-firing guns. Mingled with all this noise was the shrill scream of falling bombs, the crashing of planes nearby, and the noise made by a fighter, zooming into attack, or in a dog fight. When some of this noise had quieted down and the raiders had been driven back, we emerged from our burrow like so manv rabbits after the hunter has gone. e saw that a very large building had been blown to bits by a German b(jmber. which had crashed on it with a full load of bombs. It looked as though the bridge, the onl) main crossing we had to get over the electric railroad, had been blown up. but it hadn ' t. This was only one hundred ards from our house. The smoke and dust that was in the air that afternoon and night was terrific. E er body was walking around with eyes half shut. That night bombing was continued on the same scale. The next morning we discovered that we had no gas. water was rumiing in a ery feeble manner, and the elec- tricit would fail for an hour here and there. We couldn t bathe because we had no gas to work the geyser, and above all. we had nothing to cook our meals with. We remained in this condition for the rest of the time I was in Lon- d n. Now our house has been blown up. This bombing continued until I left London, and with the same intensit . I had only one whole night ' s sleep in a bed in the twenty-one da s during which I experienced the apalling nature and indiscriminate bombing of the Ger- man Air Force.