Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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THK SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR. 5 H XErip XEbrougb tbe British llsles. m HELEN if. TBELE. A chorus of best wishes and a flutter of waving handkerchiefs followed our departure from the East Boston pier. The voyage, so auspiciously begun, was as delightful as happy conditions could make it when one had fair skies, pleas- ant companionship and the serene con- sciousness of being obliged to do noth- ing because there was nothing to do. Later in the afternoon of the tenth day the first dim outline of distant land ap- peared and we realized that we were approaching the “Emerald Isle. Then came the news that we should arrive at Queenstown about midnight. Imagine our excitement! We were soon to realize the dream of months, to actually tread upon and see the land we had read about and thought about so much. The good friends who were to go on to Liv- erpool shared our joyful anticipations and loyally stayed on deck till the “America had carried us far away from the ship’s side. Queenstown, under the glory of the full moon, was like a vision of a me- diaeval city, with high, gray battlemented walls and lofty turrets. The morning light, however, dispelled the illusion ; the lofty turrets became ordinary chim- ney pots, and though the antiquity of the town is interesting, we were not sorry to leave its unattractive streets and hasten on to Blarney Castle, which we deemed to be the fitting object of our first reverent attention. We ap- proached this shrine of the “stone of eloquence in the perilous vehicle known as a jaunting car. Our youthful driver, with quick appreciation of our greenness upon Irish soil, whipped his horse to a fast trot, and for the first half mile we devoted ourselves exclusively to the duty of keeping on the seat. The car is a two-wheeled affair, with two seats for passengers, at right angles to and back of the driver. We were told that fami- lies of eight people had been seen riding upon a car no larger than ours, but some- how the seats seemed none too large for us and the gymnastics we were forced to perform. After an effort like this we did not feel equal to the feat of swing- ing off from a wall 120 feet high and reaching down to a distance of five or six feet to kiss the famous stone. No wonder eloquence is such a rare gift if it must be obtained at such a risk as this. There is an ordinary, second-hand stone which visitors are advised to kiss, but we scorned anything but the orig- inal. Blarney Castle is a picturesque, ivy-covered ruin, consisting of a massive donjon tower belonging to the 15th cen- tury. It has no particular historic in- terest, its chief attraction lying in the stone, which endows whoever kisses it with the “sweet, persuasive, wheedling eloquence,” said to be perceptible in the language of the Cork people. Our chief object in coming to Ireland was to see the Lakes of Killarney. The most delightful method of reaching Kil- larney is by coaching for a part of the way over what is called the ‘Trince of Wales’ ” route. For miles the road winds among mountains, with occasional glimpses of the distant ocean and en- chanting visions of mountain lakes. Close to the roadside grew tall bushes of the glossy-leaved holly and the wild fuchsia, with its drooping clusters of brilliant blossoms, like so many rubies. Ireland truly deserves its name of the “Emerald Isle. Every where its ver- dure was of the most vivid green, and its flora surprised us with its almost rank exuberance. Our enthusiasm reached its pitch when at last we saw the lakes like jewels mountain-set, which poetry and legend have made so famous. Many a wild tale of fairy and giant lore did our Irish boatman regale us with during the morning we spent upon Lough Leane. Perhaps because this was our first experience of lake scenery we felt that nothing afterwards could compare with it in either England and Scotland. All too soon we had to has- ten on to Dublin to keep pace with the inexorable itinerary which we had mapped out for ourselves. Both here and all along the way across Ireland we saw the ruined abbeys and castles which

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4 Till-: SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR. began to write lie made it a rule to send an editorial each day to one of the many “Greatest London Dailies.” He did this for a year before one of them was accepted. “If at first you don’t succeed------------ LIFE has, for the last seven or eight weeks, contained caricatures of the noted men of the day. The artist en- deavors to bring out the features that have the most resemblance to an animal or bird. This makes a large number of the faces very startling and all of them amusing. Take, for instance, Lord Sal- isbury, Prime Minister of Great Britain, who was drawn to resemble a pig. The lower part of his naturally large face was made still larger, so that the like- ness to the aforesaid animal was striking. Other caricatures were Rich- ard Croker, as a bull dog; Hall Caine, the author of “The Christian;” Henry Austin, Poet Laureateof England; James Gordon Bennett, Thomas C. Platt, as an elephant, and Joseph Pulitzer, the much abused and talked about editor of the X. Y. World, the great “Yellow Kid newspaper, as a parrot; also the picture of Robert Van Wyck, mayor-elect of Greater New York, who, as the Boston I lerald said, was enough to frighten even “Dick” Croker. These pictures are wor- thy of careful study if you are inter- ested in the prominent men of the day. CO PI ICS of the Souvenir School Di- rectory of the Somerville High Schools may still be obtained from Mr. Sellon at the lunch counter in the base- ment of the English High School build- ing. Your name and address, the for- mer and present teachers, are among the contents of this book. I bis publi- cation may not be of much interest to you now, but in later years you will see the advisability of having purchased one—that is, if you wish to remember your class mates and Aimer Mater. TIIE attractive posters which were placed upon the bulletin boards in the corridors of both the schools during the past football season were done by Fitts, Reynolds and Giles These draw- ings advertised the game much better than the regular printed placards. The last one executed by Fitts for the Dor- chester game was especially good. DOOR “Arvard!” Although the I coaches decided to remove the IPs on the players’ sweaters for the sake of spurring them on to victory, it did not make them succeed any better. The annual saying, “wait until next year,” is receiving an awful strain. SOMERVILLE, or rather more cor- rectly speaking, the Heptorean Club, was especially favored in being able to hear Marion Crawford, one of the most noted novelists of the day. The large audience that greeted him shows that Somerville knows how to appreciate a good thing. HOTOGRAPIIS of the Somerville High School second eleven are now on sale. They may be procured from Gilbert, Latin, ’98, for the small sum of fifteen cents. TI IE flags on some of our grammar school buildings are in a very dilap- idated condition. Wouldn't it be well to “tear the tattered ensigns down,” and raise new ones in their places ? OOMERVILLE’S winning the foot- er ball championship every year is such a sure thing that its getting to be monot- onous. pvOC” HOLMES did not have to re- i-J move the S’s from the sweaters of the Somerville boys. HANTHONY OPE AWKINS is the lion of the our with 'is “Dolly Dialogues.” RED and Blue seem to be the win- ning colors. Somerville and Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. NOW is the time for the seniors to be thinking of their class photographs. W ERE are your contributions?

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6 Till-: SOM ERVI LIJC HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR. mark the course of Cromwell's terrible vengeance upon Ireland in 1650 We’ll be after Cromwell with our shillalahs in the next world,’’ said our Irish boatmen, and though he meant it for a bit of pleasantry, he unconsciously voiced the long-cherished ill-will of his people. In Wales we found afar different atti- tude toward the English government from that which her sister country feels. The conquest of Edward I in 1282 is acknowledged to be the best thing that could have happened to the Welsh peo- ple associating them as it did with the active progress and good government of England. Nowhere are there more loyal subjects of Her Majesty, the Queen. At Caernarvon is the castle originally built by Edward I as a menace to the Welsh people, but now regarded by them as a precious relic of the past. It is a stately, massive structure, cover- ing an area of three acres, with high walls crowned by 13 towers. The best known is the Eagle Tower, in one room of which Prince Edward, afterwards Edward II, is said to have been born. Erom Queen Eleanor’s gate on the east- ern side the young prince was shown to the Welsh people on their refusal to ac- cept an English King and with the thought that he was a native of their soil and that, at least in his cradle, he spoke as good Welsh as any of their children” they swore their loyalty to the first Prince of Wales. The tourist is remarkably at home in Wales, where every want is answered in good Queen's English and where the thrift and neatness which characterize the people are a constant comfort. We had bv this time grown accustomed to the small stone cottage with white- washed exterior, often ivy-covered, which forms the common home of the Irish and Welsh peasant. They were always picturesque, but when exquisite neatness added a further charm they be- came most attractive. After a delightful coaching experience through the wild scenery of the Snow- don mountains we crossed into England and felt that we were indeed in the home of our fathers. The English Lake re- gion is alive with memories of Words- worth, Coleridge and Southey. Dove Cottage at Grasmere is a veritable nest, hidden among trees, vines and climbing roses. In the quaint, old-fashioned study, with a broad open fire-place, Words- worth thought and wrote during the first eight years of his married life. Back of the house is an ideal garden planned by Wordsworth himself. Here in an arbor of the poet’s own construc- tion, he and Coleridge sat by the hour enjoying the lovely view of Grasmere and distant Loughrigg. Just beyond Nab Cottage, Coleridge’s home, on the road to Grasmere is the trysting stone” on the shore of Rydal Water, where the two poets in their frequent walks used to meet. Keswick, like Grasmere, is hallowed by association with Southey, whose home, Greta Hall, is located here and tc whom a beautiful memorial has been erected in the Crosthwaite church. Not far from Keswick are the “Falls of Lodore,” which Southey so charmingly describes. The scenery of this lake region is beautiful in its serenity. Mountains and lakes combine in an- harmonious picture, which has an inde finable charm. In the presence of scenes like these one can easily picture the calm and unruffled current of the lives which these Lake Poets” led. It is essentially the land of the poet in its dreamy content and repose. Our next pilgrimage was to Ayr in the “Land of Burns.” It was a clear, bright morning when we started to walk to Alloway, and we had hardly thought of the distance when the haunted Kirtk’’ of Tam O’Shanter fame ap- peared. One ought to feel his blood chill under the witches’ magic to fully appreciate Alloway Kirk and the “Auld Brig” over the Doon, where Tam O’Shanter’s Grey mare Meg lost her tail” in the struggle at the keystane.” It was impossible to mistake the home of Burns, for a line of bicycles in front of the house marked the deep interest which all tourists feel in the beloved Scotch poet. It is a simple, thatched- roofed cottage and contained in the poet’s day only two rooms, the kitchen and the “spencc” or sitting-room. Here are gathered many relics of that simple home life, which Burns has described so well in the Cottar’s Saturday Night.”