Senn High School - Forum Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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THE FORUM Seven So they carefully put out the candle and, that they might be less noticeable, left the church in little groups. It 4 It lk Ik lk X lk Lana and St. Valentine's Day came in due time, though it seemed to Bill that he had waited for years. He and his mother had argued and discussed every detail. Although for the n1ost part Mrs. Dailey had convinced him of his ignor- ance in regard to social procedure, Bill had ventured one suggestion that met with her approval. He wished to have ice-cream molded into heart shapes. He had wanted them red, but his mother had forbidden that absolutely and had diplo- matically suggested a dark pink. Many times he had rehearsed the scene in which he should present the beautiful Lana with a blushing heart-his heart, he passion- ately told himself. Almost daily he had gone to the drug store to tell the clerk to be sure and have it an awful dark pink and not to forget to order the heartshaped mold. His pleas must have had some effect, for promptly at seven-thirty the ice- cream with the mold arrived and was placed in state on the back porch. He went early to call for Lana, and with her at his side, he received his guests! I-Ie felt very important and was enjoying himself thoroughly. After a little awkward pause in which a supreme effort at dignified conversation was made, the dancing began. Bill passed the next two hours in an excited daze terminated at last by the appearance of his mother at the dining-room door. She beckoned, and he went to her impatiently. He hoped she wasn't going to ask him to help serve! O lVilliam, she cried, someone has taken the ice-cream! What the-. Who could have done that ? VVell, there are others in this town who would like to know that beside you, observed Mrs. Dailey tartly. Many thoughts were running through Bill's nonplussed head. They ran strangely to jello, cider and the minis- ter's apples, Gee whiz, it's kind o' fierce --. I didn't know-. VVell, VVilliam, don't stand there like a calf. Hurry up and run over to the minister's house and telephone for some more ice-cream. You may not be able to get it all one kind, but for goodness sake get something! At the door he turned, Mom, he cried pathetically, did they take the mold t00 ? at x ir ir ir -r is at The Rev. Mr. Sloat was speaking very earnestly to his wife, You know, jerry, I wasn't sure that it was the boys till I found the deacon's cider keg in the church basement along with that queer old cup of Mrs. Dailcy's. I've known the meanness to come out of boys Bill's age in some mighty queer ways. It's funny I didn't think of them before- Then after I did get an inkling, Bill came over to ask for the Victrola and told about the ice-cream he was going to have. The idea came to me then and I couldn't resist-Poor VVilliaml He did look so unhappy when he came over to telephone. I hated to make him take all the punishment, but I more than half think this business will stop now-And I guess Bill will remember this better than any sermon. XVilma L. Mentzer. . . ll Q --F' lfslfr-Q ., li,, , 7,

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A candle standing on 9 will they 31:2-Muse ilting. T EVENTEEN boys, the N sons of very respec- hn- table families in New ill V Canaan, sat around a M' small keg of cider in gp 'P' the basement of the , ' Presbyterian church. the keg tried weakly to push back the darkness. The boys were not a whit op- pressed by the gloom. Their spirits rose with the disappearance of each cup of cider. They were reasonably safe from fear of detection, for no one ever came near the church between Thursday and Saturday. Besides, Skip Farrel was doing guard duty. The seventeen had deliberately banded together for the purpose of purloining food. Boys of seventeen or thereahout seem to have an eternal hunger. If you otfer food to a growing boy you may always be sure of having it accepted- unless he is on his good behavior or very much embarrassed. These boys, partly because of their love for what they thought a joke, and partly on account of this hunger, made frequent raids on the ice-boxes and back porches of poor helpless fellow villagers. They had deft- ly removed a freezer of ice-cream the night Mrs. Ellis had the church social at her house. They took a barrel of apples from the Rev. Mr. Sloat's summer kitchen, They had also taken some of Mrs. lfiper's fruit jello and she was forced to make dessert on Sunday, an unnecessary labor which she was sure damned her soul forever. Their last escapade had been to carry away a keg of Deacon Lutkin's hard cider, although for the sake of the deacons standing in the community few knew he ever had it. Bill Dailey was the ringleader of the little group. He delivered yfroceries for his father after school: so he had a line opportunity to look things over. Be- fore the lmys planned a raid, he was the one who noted the fastenings on doors and such small details as whether the family had a dog. The boys had just mapped out another such expedition. But now all serious business was past and they were discus- sing the prospective arrival of Lana Forest. lVhenever she came she was the center of attraction. The girls thought she was a cat, Not so the boys, however, and now they were talking about her with much animation. Say fellows, said Bill, Mom says I can give a dance if I want to. Guess I'll have one on Valentine Day-but dubs on Lana or I don't give the party. See ? Cries of Aw Bill, don't be such a hog this time and Dont think you can get away with what you :lid last time arose. But Bill was Firm. No sir, I'm going to have Lana or I don't give the dance. And say fellows, Mom says I can borrow the minister's TTI lllt Q 'init' . l t Someone has taken the icescreamf' Yic'n- he turned the spigot of the cider keg fruitlessly. Say fellows, the cider's all gone. Huh, said 'lim Ferris, and we promised to give two extra to Skip for gnardin'. Hc'll be sore. Come on, kids, let's go up town.

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illlreting the illllururl. EAR MOLLY: I've the most ex- citing experience to tell you. You know I haven't seen Phyllis since last june when she left school to be- come Mrs, George Carruthers. Sh e didn't have a large wedding or I would have been there. Anyway, ever since the wedding, she's been writing and asking me to come dur- ing a vacation to see her new home, her new husband, and last fhut, as usual, not leastj her new brother-in-law, Law- rence. From her letters, I gathered that he was a model of perfection-all that could be desired in a brother-in-law. The only dastardly thing he ever did, that I can see, was to allow himself to have a nickname. fljhyl, at least, calls him Dade.j I felt that Midge's efforts to have me meet this pink of perfection ought to be rewarded. So with mo- ther's permission I wrote to tell her that if my luck was good and I didn't miss my train, or if it didn't run on the track with yours truly, I'd be with her some- where between dawn and midnight of the twenty-second. I was soon properly settled on my train. Qfixpcrienced travcllerlj I got so tired of riding over the same area, passing the same stations, and seeing the same kind of people that always are to be seen on this train, which I've ridden in so many times when going to Midge's, that I decided to try to get a couple of layers of New York State dirt off my hands and face. This, so that if I chanccd to meet any people they wouldn't think that I was travelling ad for a clever real estate dealer. As I was so sick of trying to peek around and be- tween the tlaws in that old mirror in the dressing room, that I refused to honor it with my presence again, or take any chances of crossing my eyes, and so I triumphantly marched to the dressing room of the car ahead. Here, facing a ' - 412 A blank wall, I began operations. XVhile doing my best to make myself appear beautiful, I mentally viewed the stations as I remembered them. At last I was ready to go back to the car again. As I opened the door to the car platform, I braced my head against the wind, and walked on-bang! into a closed gate. I looked up at rapidly receding tracks. Can you imagine me, my skirts whip- ping around my ankles, a cake of soap and a towel clutched in one hand, a purse in the other, and a look of sheer amazement in my eyes! A conductor appeared, and I looked at him and the track alternately. That man was laugh- ing so hard that Finally I thought it was my bounden duty to help him along. It sounded so cheerful to me in my pre- sent state of mind. lVhen the poor deluded mortal could compose himself, he asked, lVhere did you think you were going? Back to my section. VVhat have you done with it? I came into this car about an hour ago from the car Mohakwa, and now-where is it P Ah, I see fquite a satisfactory re- mark you'll admit.j There was such a long pause that finally I couldn't stand it any longer. Doubtless, I remarked, putting as much of a December ocean breeze in my tone as was possible, but I can't see how that's helping me. Then the conductor came to, and volunteered the information that the Mo- hakwa had been cut off at the last sta- tion and was going rapidly in the oppo- site direction. The conductor offered to help me, and did. I-Ie worked to such a purpose that a few minutes later, the Canadian express slowed down at a small town to allow a hatless, coatless, breathless person to descend the steps. Here I was in a tix! No station agent to be seen, and the station itself tightly closed. After I had stood there for an eternity a young man came up to me and asked whether he could be of any assistance.