Saint Marks School - Lion Yearbook (Southborough, MA)

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the reality of troubled times was brought closer to us when we learned that Dr. Parkman, whom in two years we had come to respect deeply, was to leave us for the Army. We are sorry that we were not old enough to know him more intimately, and the departure of Mrs. Parkman, who was like a mother to every one of us, saddened us immeasurably. His sincerity and wise conscientiousness and her regard for our happiness will always be gratefully re- membered. Two old faces were missing and several even older ones were added as our third year opened. In the former category were the Cuban Queer and Tugboat Dave, who had not gone for goodeas yet. The new old faces were headed by Davey Jones, with a draft deferment, and Phil- bur, who was no spring chicken himself. A round-faced little lad called Rosen- krantz vanished into his alcove to study, but reappeared in a big Way on Prize Day. A specimen known as Spring- field Spot and Ben the Dune-Dune, who shaved even then, augmented the humor- ous section of our group. Willy B., who is still around school, drove himself up in a Cadillac, and peremptorily requested Mr. Hackett to carry his radio and trunk upstairs. While Dorms D and E fought pitched battles daily, C became intensely dis- turbed by Philbur, who was determined to show off his Atlas physiqueg a resist- ance movement refused to be cowed by his biceps, fone night his alcove disap- peared entirely. In the winter We welcomed Mr. Brew- ster as the new headmaster. The new term had barely gotten under way when George, in violent disapproval of the disciplinary system in general, and his own twelve marks in particular, can- celled his appointment on the coal pile by means of an eraser in the slate room. He thereby provided the new chief executive with his Hrst unhappy task of meting out justice. The Boy Scout Troop, which had seen greener years under Fap and Yak, came under the supervision of Mr. Potter in its third year, much to Ron's irritation. VVhen the dues were raised and good times placed at a minimum, a rebellion ensued. 'Tll run this troop the Way it ought to

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Curtis called Buffy. Another claimed in nasal tones to be Saaandy,', but not much later he vanished from the scene, a victim of modern education. Our cosmopolitan set was complement- ed by such colorful personalities as Don the Cuban, Mickey from Rochester, and Schkulle, who proclaimed himself the feudal landlord of two-thirds of Illinois: not to mention L.W.C., a brute with two large protruding foreheads. Others never ceased to amaze us for the remainder of the year, such as the pie-faced wonder with the widow's peak who closely re- sembled a panda, and the lean and lanky yachtsman of the gravel voice. Most of the above mentioned were caged in Dorm A , but there were also in BU James the Mouse and Fred the Fifi. Never a bright form, at best, in the previous year, we were now startled by the scholastic achievement of Hunk, and especially Larry, who weekly set new classroom standards. We were a carefree group, overshadowed by the war only during occasional air raid trips to the potato cellar in the dead of night. The faculty of this period was a motley group and extremely unstable. The draft situation brought new faces to the mas- ters' study constantly. Hazy indeed are the recollections of English classes under names dimly remembered as Billman, Kuhn, and Smith. Science opened an entirely new field for all of us, and Mr. Coe's lectures held our undivided attention. The climax came after we had progressed from the bees and Howersg one day Larry, upon hearing the truth about it all, fainted dead away. Dormitory prowling after lights was very much the rage. We recall the night when the harassed prefect of B naively shouted from his doorway, Whoever was making all that racket come in heref' He was dumbfounded as a stream of pajama-clad youths, twenty-three in all, crowded into his room . . . Calisthenics kept us vigorous, and we shall always look back on the many happy hours that flitted by all too rapidly as we frolicked on Herk's obstacle course. The baseball season went its way, and

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be, and anyone who doesnit like it can leave, quoth Pott. Everybody promptly left. CThc situation was smoothed over sufficiently to allow the organization to totter to a shaky death at the end of the year.D One of this wartime faculty, persecuted by his sixth form corridor, broke down and wept copiously in SC Latin class one morning. His students, bored by this lachrymosc performance, gathered up their Latin cribs and walked out. The Blue Beetle, since departed, de- cided to house-train his large dog in the biology lab, which frequently distracted us from the mating habits of the aeri- didae melanoplus: Those of us who know the little fellow well,e,' Gus Serino had informed us at the bc- ginning of the year that his course was to be mainly history, though l'm your English teacher too, so when I say read a book, ya gotta read it goodf, The end of the winter term brought with it a Bay State cold snap, and Dorm C slumbered in the shower room, until Doug, normally an extremely well-be- havcd lad, yielded to some hidden inhibi- tion and flooded the place. Miss Wheeler became hysterical as Water slowly seeped through the dining room ceiling. Spring brought a fitting climax to the year as the squad knocked off Groton's highly touted ball team, and the form joyfully pulled the wagon in the only victory celebration we were destined to see. That summer was one of glorious loafingethe last for most of us --- al- though Elsie and Hunk, the big boys, went to Brantwood, and Brockie picked up a laboring man's point of View and a good deal of easy cash in a shipyard. VVe returned to face our fourth form year with new bass voices and conscious maturity. There was a good deal of rump- us, confusion, and spirited bull sessions the first weeks, centering around North 3. Recreation in New Dorm took a highly unattractive turn, to the horror of a queer studious individual in the sixth form who found himself in the thick of it. Every authority in school looked on us as a noisome group and, as the vise of discipline tightened, the nocturnal meet-