Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 5 TClc Iconic c will condescciul to step down momentarilv from our high position as Seniors, and extend the glad hand to the entering class of 19UJ). Fresh- men. in the four years you have before you. we wish you success and prosperity. We have but little time to remain with you, but we trust that, after the departure of the class of ’01». the school will still continue to exist as it did before we were a part of it. Nineteen nine is the last class we shall see enter the school, and so we put all sincerity into these few words of welcome, and once again wish the Freshmen good luck. ZTbanftdotvmo This, indeed, is a time when we. the present edir torial board, can offer up our sincere thanks After a hard struggle, we arc at last able to place the first number of the Radiator before the school. (hving to the heavy debt that has been incurred by former managements, we were unable to publish the usual October number; but we feel thankful that we shall not be obliged to repeat that omission this month. However, if at any time during the year we find our funds such that it would be inadvisable to at- tempt to publish the number, we shall wait until we can meet the expense of publication. Therefore, students, when you feel like blaming somebody, re- member it is you who are supporting the Radiator, and we are but your chosen represen- tatives. it » r, k H-lew TTcacbers The Latin School faculty has suffered a loss in the resignation of Miss Walker, who was married during the summer. But there is no loss without some gain, and we feel certain that the vacancy will be ably filled by Miss Cunningham. In the Eng- lish School Miss Marsh is welcomed back after a year’s absence. Soliloquy ,H3 Shameless Samuel As 1 take my well-worn quill between my thumb and index finger, I can hardly repress a shudder at thinking of the deep impression this treatise will make upon the minds of the readers of the Radiator. 1 have fond expectations that this mar- velous and phenomenal exhibition of verbal jiu- jitsu will make a decided sensation in the cultured society of this school. The members of the literary world have often been vainly exhorted to place a thoughtful essay before the eyes of our readers. Therefore, in a manner as unassuming as possible, 1 hereby respond to the call for volunteers. I am writing this for the especial benefit of the •class editors. It is a well-known fact that the class notes afford greater amusement to the students than any other department of the Radiator. It is therefore both fitting and proper that each editor should work conscientiously to make his column an unquestionable success. None would like better to speak on this vital subject, I dare say. than the present editor-in-chief; but, in giving the follow- ing suggestions, which 1 hope will be cheerfully re- ceived. I relieve the Radiator's pilot from any re- sponsibility concerning this point. The first and most important lesson to be learned by a class editor is to depend upon himself, and to remember, above all things, that the class has chosen him to take the charge and responsibility of his column, rather than to be an agency through which his classmates may pass in notes. Not that the writer would condemn the passing in of not« s by pupils; on the other hand, he would wish to encourage this beneficial custom. Hut it must be the class editor who assumes the whole responsi- bility in the matter. Again, it should be the class editor's duty to ex- clude all stale jokes and insignificant notes from his contributions. Events and humorous incidents should not be relied upon entirely as material to lengthen the column. Why not think up some harmless hit on some of the well-known characters of your class, instead of startling those who peruse the paper with mirth-producing renderings heard in German, history. etc.? This latter class of notes is all well enough in its place, but to have it in predominance over the rest of the column re- minds one too vividly of the quotations from the stock exchange. Those who read these lines may form the idea that the author thinks he knows it all. The author does not know it all, but has had a little experience in the line of class notes, and has merely written some suggestions he has been able to glean from his arduous duties. No one need feel obliged t ; comply with these suggestions, offered in a spirit of meekness and charity, but perhaps the imagina- tion of the class editors may be stimulated by read- ing over these hints that have so sorely taxed this over-worked brain to compile. I will now end this essay, but before I lay aside my pen. let me say but two words, which will be of far greater value to the class editors than all the volumes of logic in exist- ence. Be original.”

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4 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR Introductory Once more a new Radiator staff steps forward to introduce itself to the student body. In the sou- venir edition of last June the out-going; staff re- ferred to us as a band of worthy youths and promis- ing maids. It sounded well, we admit, and wc hope the former editor was more adapted to fore- seeing the mysterious future than wc are: but nevertheless it does not become us to accept any undeserved laurels. During our term of office we shall presumably do many things to call forth cen- sure. but may our faults be written as upon the sea- shore. and may each worthy act prove a wave to wash them away. Our schoolmates hardly appreciate the enormity of the task wc have to retain the high standard of former years. The maintenance of the Radiator's good name cannot be accomplished without the united and hearty support of both schools. We must have not only vour moral, but also your mate- rial. support; for no paper can exist with an empty treasury. Do you suppose that our treasurer is an honorary officer? He certainly is not! Do not depend upon your neighbor, but do your share towards aiding a worthy cause by giving us your subscription. Somerville High School has always stood at the front in football and baseball: the Somerville High School Radiator has long had the name of being a school paper of no little merit. Breathes there a student with soul so void of life that he could look with indifference on the decline of any undertaking of his alma mater? The yearly subscription of seventy-five cents will not im- poverish you, and you will get the full value of your money. Lest you forget, we remind von that the authorities at the St. Louis Exposition honored the Radiator as being one of the best school papers in the country. If some one had not been public- spirited, that honor would never have been de- served. Even Rome could not have been buiit without the necessary material, and the necessary material in this instance is not only the intellect of our student body, but also the almighty dollar, or, to be more definite, many of them. It is a fact not generally known that, out of the thousand students who make up our school body, barely one-third arc on our subscription list. Were it not for the .kind- ness of our advertisers, the publication of the Radiator would be an impossibility. . r. « . Zo tbe Class of 1906 Xinetecn-six.” if we may use the words of the prophet, “your days are numbered. Three years ago this fall we entered this High School as the largest Freshman class in the school history. Since then larger classes have entered, and we, diminished in numbers, have been obliged to give way to the youthful throng of wisdom-seekers fol- lowing in our wake. But as our numbers gradu- ally decreased, the class spirit correspondingly in- creased. and not once has 1906 been obliged to lower her colors to a rival. We have returned from the last long vacation in our High School career. Next summer will sec us scattered—wc know not where. We sec among the host of familiar faces many new ones, while many of the well-known schoolmates are missed, showing that another class has left us to go out to wrestle with the world. The class of 1905 will never again enter our walls as fellow-students, but only as welcome visitors. This awakens us to the fact that wc, too. shall soon look back with fond recollections of this institution, our alma mater; for the four years of our school life arc passing quicklv. too quickly for most of us. and arc now well on the wane. Many look upon this last year with outward indifference, but deep down in our hearts we know that we shall be sorry to leave when, eight months from now. we march across a brilliantly-lighted platform and receive our diplomas.

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6 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR ©leanfcra: B XUalc of fftallow’e £ve J5y IDavicn H. Uountfjobn, X., '0(3 HE young folk of the little town of Pascclle had planned a Hallowe’en surprise party at the house of Olcandra, an Indian maiden, who lived in a log cabin in the midst of a field just outside the town. Three years before she had come, a wanderer, to the town of Pascclle. She had for a small sum obtained a log cabin, de- serted by lumbermen, for her abode. She had even worked up a trade in vegetables, and was respected in the town. During her three years’ stay on the outskirts of Pascclle, she had learned many cus- toms of the Palefaces. Xannctte Macv. the parson’s fair-haired daugh- ter. had a very romantic disposition, and was devot- edly attached to Shakespeare, as well. She was ex- tremely fond of weaving Olcandra into weird tales, and amusing her companions. She even said that Olcandra must be an exile from some wandering Indian tribe. On the morn of October 30 a crowd was gath- ered in the hall of the schoolhouse to make plans for the next evening. Roys were selected to carry the tubs and apples, pumpkins large and round were solicited, and the festivities were arranged. Meanwhile Olcandra was in the village that morning to sell some vegetables of her own raising. Hearing her name spoken through an open win- dow of the schoolhouse. and mindful of the coming Hallow’s eve. Olcandra was on the alert. Tipping her basket, she spilled the contents and stooped to pick them up. Aha! She had heard! She knew! The gleaming eyes and expectant countenance of the wanderer Olcandra appeared beneath the frill of a large gray hood. A sweeping black cape con- cealed the agile form and many-colored attire of the erect Indian maiden. She was hastening to the woods for evergreen to decorate her cabin, and wood to build a bonfire. Oleandra was the only daughter of Big Chief White Head, the leader of a small remnant of the Wanapanachi tribe. At the death of her father, possessed with a taste for the more civilized cus- toms of the Paleface, she had broken loose from her people and wandered down the Mississippi bank seeking her freedom. Ever since Oleandra had deserted her clan, she had been diligently sought bv Eagle-beak, the suc- ceeding chieftain of the tribe. Bent on restoring her to her race once more, Eagle-beak was still energetic in his search. On the night of October 29, Eagle-beak had passed through the village of Pascclle, and the gleaming eyes of Olcandra had seen him go. Straight on lie went, nor did he dream of her existence there. The sun was setting, clothed in splendor, send- ing its glorious tinges of rainbow colors far up through the sky. The autumn leaves accentuating these fantastic surroundings gave the place a singu- larly fanciful appearance. A huge bonfire was crackling and shooting its darts of flame up into the air by the side of a log cabin, in the door of which stood Oleandra. her bright eyes glistening with excitement. The shadows deepened, and shouts of laughter rang out into the night air. Xearer and nearer they sounded, until they reached the cabin. The door flew open, and there stood—Oleandra? Xo! She wore a gray cloak! She carried a broom! And a staff! But yes. it was Olcandra's face. She smiled and stretched forth lx th arms. “Welcome! Do not fear. Oleandra plays the witch. She sweeps the cobwebs from the sky. Enter.” Oh. horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee. Come on. every- body.” 'This from Xannettc. who could not resist the temptation of inserting a Shakespearean quota- tion at this juncture. 'The merriment of the evening was greatly be- yond every one’s expectations. A Hallowe’en party, indeed, it proved to be. The lighted pump- kins were set up. the apples were bobbed, and more than one had his head ducked, but the happiest of all was Oleandra. The wanderer maiden danced the characteristic war dance and muttered weird in- cantations of the tribe. At last the great bonfire went out. and the merry crowd dispersed. $ ’ Fifty years had passed, during which it had been the custom in the town of Pascclle for all Hal- lowe’en festivities to be held in Wanapanachi’s field, the dooryard of Olcandra’s home. ()n the night of the fiftieth anniversary of Olcandra’s Hallow's eve. the village folk were once more assembled, and in the midst of their festivi- ties. when a shadow fell on the ground by the side of the blazing bonfire. The eyes of all were turned to the new-comer. Behold! An old and lean In- dian. with feathered headgear, a tawdry garment, and long leather leggings fringed with gaudy beads, ilis face was marked with the lines of age and toil, and his countenance was savage with anger. 11 is belt of human skulls told of his ghastly deeds. Aha! Eagle-beak has found his prize at last! The Wanapanachi will have their revenge!” In consternation the village folk dispersed, nor did they linger, for the old warrior drew his bow as if to shoot. The following morning a note was discovered stuck in the door of Xanncttc's abode, and this is what was found therein :— “Farewell. Oleandra joins her tribe once more. To the children of Xannctte I give my treasures. Search under pile of bonfire ashes and you will find their hiding-place.”