Southampton High School - Sea Spray Yearbook (Southampton, NY)

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THE PARTING SHOT 15 George now proposed that we spend the afternoon in Coney Island, and have a good time. We all agreed and were soon on our way in his limousine. Before we had gone many blocks, we passed a small Quaker church which seemed to amuse Jeannette. We wanted to know the joke so she said, “Well of course, you remember Inez Ryer? Can you guess what she is doing now?” I suggested that possibly she was telling Uncle Josh stories for phonograph records. Marcia thought maybe she was cracking jokes in some vaudeville. Jeannette laughed and said that we were both wrong, that she had been visit- ing in Philadelphia a few weeks before and out of curiosity went to a Quaker meeting where she saw Inez Ryer, one of the deaconesses, the quietest and meekest of them all. A little thought of how quiet Inez used to be, especial- ly in physics class, convinced us that there was really nothing strange in this. We finally arrived at Coney, and proceeded to enjoy all the sports worth while. Finally we became tired so sat down, and watched the other people. Our attention was attracted to a small covered stand where a great many people were going. We went a little nearer and read on a sign that this place was conducted by the Board of Health; and that alQ food sold was strictly clean; and was prepared by an experienced trained nurse who had done all the cooking for the American hospital in Mexico during the war. Our curiosity was aroused for we supposed the place to be some kind of a restaurant; but, when we went closer, we saw that it was nothing but a stand of hot frankfurters and rolls. We turned to leave; whereupon, the cook asked us whether we wanted anything. When she spoke, we instantly turned around. There we stood face to face with Viola Edwards who was spreading mustard with one hand and rolling a frankfurter on a hot griddle with the other. Of course, we all bought some then, and stayed to chat while we ate. We now left the island, and took a spin up the Hudson where another surprise was in store for us. We were about thirty miles from New York when we came to a large brick building with a big sign in front. We stop- ped to read the sign, and found that this was a museum of insects and worms. We went in and the first person to meet us was Frances Fitzpatrick. She was the founder of the museum, and was making a specialty of catch- ing bugs. Her agents were all over the world getting different varieties, and she now had thousands of different species. She said that after they had been on exhibition in this museum for a few years, they were to be placed in the Museum of Natural History in New York. As it was now quite late in the afternoon, we returned to New York. Marcia and I wanted to go home, but the others insisted that we stay to sup- per and go to the new Hippodrome in the evening. We finally consented. On the way to the performance we passed a gypsy fortune telling place. We thought it would be fun to have the future revealed so in we went . In one corner was a thin woman sitting on the floor tailor fashion. She was dressed in gaudy colors, and had a red bandana on her head. Long earrings were hanging from her ears, a ring was fastened to the end of her nose and large beads were strung around her neck; but her fair skin and blue eyes made us doubt whether she were a gypsy. There seemed to be something familiar about her, but we could not place her until she spoke. Then we had no trouble in recognizing our old schoolmate, Mary Elliston. We stayed

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14 THE PARTING SHOT Baird, George—Head of New York City post-office. We were surprised to find him in such a position, and decided to have an interview with him. On the way to his home we bought a daily paper, and the first thing that met our eyes was a picture of Helen Whitman. On reading the accompanying article we found that she had recently been appointed interpreter of Asiatic languages at San Francisco. There was a long account of her achievements in deciphering the characters on an ancient Korean stone. We were not surprised to find that Helen was as studious as ever. While we were making our way through Five Points, the car was sud- denly held up by a great commotion in the street. Immediately everyone rushed out to see what the trouble was; and then to our amazement we saw Mary Halsey in police-woman’s uniform, a badge on her coat and a club in her hand, dragging a husky fellow out of a saloon. There were a number of toughs and a dozen or so policewomen but Mary was chief. Mary was to march in the next suffrage parade, so Marcia said. On our arrival at Baird’s private residence, we were ushered into a beauti- ful reception room where we waited for the head of the house. In a little while he, with his wife at his side and two small boys behind, came in. I looked at them, then at Marcia. Marcia was staring in amazement with ..er mouth open and her eyes as big as saucers. She at length turned and said to me. “Who would have thought that George Baird and Jeannette Leek were destined to be man and wife? I guess Alan anxT Kenneth sat up and took notice.” We had a very pleasant visit with the happy family, and talked about old times. Jeannette and George showed us all over their lovely home. On the wall in one corner of the (library, we noticed a large picture of Alan Hildreth. Immediately we wanted to know where he was. Jeannette blushed and took hold of George’s arm while he explained. He said that after the quarrel Alan went out west, and tried to forget his past experiences. He bought a hundred acre farm in Utah, and took up the quiet life of a farmer. It was not long before he was persuaded to become a Mormon and then Dan Cupid began work. Alan now had six wives, and bright prospects for an- other. Jeannette remarked that some people’s ideas change as they get cider. A short time after this Marcia was looking at some photographs on the table, and saw one of Paul Nugent. She asked where he was. “Paul,” said Jeannette, “is making a great success of life. He is raising dogs in a small town up-.State and has named everyone Genevieve. He has Genevieve 1, Genevieve 2, Genevieve 23 and I don’t know how many others. I think Genevieve 58U is his favorite. You know Cornell is a great college for nature study and he took an extra course in dog raising.” “That reminds me of something that happened the other day,” said George, “I was in Ithaca and passed a tin peddler’s wagon. It was well decked out with shining tin. On the back were hung dish-pans, on the top, wash-boilers and tea kettles, and on the sides all kinds of pans, covers, etc. My attention was drawn to it because the driver was everlastingly whip- ping a thin scrawny horse. When I took a second look, whom did I see as the offender but Arthur Newman, the would-be mechanical engineer. We had a pleasant talk during which he said that he had recently sold Paul Nugent a wagon load of tin troughs for feeding dogs. His business was a prosper- ous one, and he seemed happy and contented.”

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16 THE PARTING SHOT The entertainment was very good, the chief feature of the evening be- ing the dancing. Much praise was given the star toe dancer because of her wonderful grace and agility. We waited impatiently for this, but finally the curtain was raised for this act, a blue light was thrown on the stage and the noted dancer came out. We could not take our eyes from her. Something made us think of school days and of a visit to Washington, D. C. Jeannette whispered to George and he began to laugh saying, “Of course it is Geraldine Jennings.” After the affair was over, we went to the stage entrance to see Geraldine, and to find out how she came to be here. She said that her love for theatre life first began when she saw “Milestones” on our trip to Washington, and that for the rest of the trip she could do nothing but stare into the air, and think how lovely it would be to be an actress. As it was now very late our party separated, Marcia and I going home to-gether well pleased with what we had learned about the scattered mem- bers of the class of 1914. EMMA L. BELLOWS. Address to Juniors We, the Seniors of the Southampton High School, class of 1914, having successfully completed our high school course, and acquired all the know- ledge possible for us to obtain in this institution of learning, are now about to say farewell to these dear old familiar places. But we tremble to think of what will become of our alma mater when we are here no more; we tremble to think of the responsibilities that will rest upon you fickle Juniors —responsibilities which we fear you are not entirely capable of assuming. Therefore, out of love for our alma mater, we shall condescend to impart to you some of the knowledge which we have learned by experience; and we sincerely hope that you will heed strictly all our advice, in order that you may become more capable of assuming the cares and duties which will devolve upon you as Seniors of the Southampton High School. First and foremost we advise you—the class of 1915—to follow in our footsteps, and in as far as you are able, to leave as brilliant a record be- hind you as we are leaving behind us. If this be your aim during your Senior year, you will never go astray. But, in order to obtain the degree of perfection that we have reached, you must follow our example in living up to these rules; 1. Never skip classes. 2. Never Muff in classes. 3. Never hold secret meetings in the basement-not even for the purpose of taking a nap, much less for planning camping parties. 4. Never study during chapel. 5. Never indulge in candy during school hours. 6. Never write notes. If you follow in our footsteps, you will by all means take a trip to Washington, but we advise any of you who do so, and who feel the need of recreation in the evening to obtain it in some other way than by dancing