Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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broker. There are a great many allusions to A snake lies hidden in the grass. Perhaps the best is spoken l)y Lady Macbeth when she, advises Macbeth to Look like the iinKicent flowers But be the serpent under it. ' ' Defer no time, delays have dangerous seeds ' .s seen to be the simple phrase, Delays are dangerous. ' ' This is referred to in A prov- erb never stale in thrifty mind. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good is discov- ered to be, 111 blows the wind that profits no- body in Shakespeare ' s diction. Whereas Shakespeare writes When sorrows oome, they conic not s ingle spi.es But in battalions, we more often say Misfortunes seldom come alone. He makes the proverb Still water? run deep much more picturesque by SmooTii runs the waters where the brook is deep. The two following quotations are not as easily construed into the much better known Strike wliile the iron is hot. My lord, he will drive you out of your re- venge, and turn all to a merriment, if yo ' i take not the beat. We must do something, and i ' the beat. What can ' t be cured must be endured is found in Macbeth as Things without all remedy. Should be without regard: what ' s done is done. Shakespeare refers to the old adage The cat loves fish, but she ' s loath to wet her feet, when he says Letting ' I dare not ' wait ui)on ' I would ' Like the poor cat i ' the adage. A study of Shakespeare ' s works togelher with a study of such creations is most inter- estvig. The description of his fairies is fas- cinating, while the gruesome i)ic.tures of his ghosts and witches are awo inspiring. One might well feel repaid for making a tliorougl; study of Shakespeare ' s creations. G. WIDTFELDT ' 24. as long as we live; their actions are a guide to us in times of uneertjiinty. Oh, l)est beloved friends, rema ' .n with us forever! Let us through you and with you, iiiiil our v ' .sion, lest wo also perish. BERTHA VIK, ' 24. BOOKS Books ! — what a volume of thought tha,t one word brings to ns. We think of the quiet, al- most holy hours, tliaf we spend with a book as our sole companion. Wo remember the pleasant moments we have with our friends, discussing some favorite book. The charac- ters become as real persons and companions to us. Their thoughts and words remain with us LA FEMME IDEALE? Selon Monsieur Homme, quelle type est h; feunne ide.alef Est-ce la fille intelligcnte ou la fille athleti(|ue? Est-ce la femnie senti- mentalc, qui vous adore les yeux, ou la fille de bon sens, qui paile toujours a la voix seche? Monsieur Homme, au inieux, est une cre.i- ture changeante, ainsi il est assez difficile di: lui faire un choix. Maintenant, au cas dj I ' intelligente, Monsieur Homme, sans doute, lui offre beaucoup d ' adniiration, surtout, si elle est a la mode. Mais souvent, sa sui)ci ' iorite nieme pique la vanite enfantine de Mon- sieur et — e ' est fini. Nous savons tous que Monsieur Homme aime ordinairement a no parler de rieu que de lui-meme — ses conquetes atl!leti(|ues, par exemple ; ainsi, quand notre fille athletique lui dcmundc un pen d ' elos ' e merite, il la eroit ennuyeuse, et il poursuit soti chemiii. La femnie sentimentale a bien du succes, car elle lui nourri.t la vanite avec le nectar de flatterie exagerce. Cela est pourquoi il ne Taime pas lon ' gtenips — elle le flatte trop. Vous pouvez bien vous imaginer que la fille de bon sens n ' attire pas Monsieur Homme; on tout cas, il senible que trop de jeuncs gens I.-, trouvent prevenante. Monsieur Homme dira hii-meme Ma fille ideale est celle qui repres nte un peu de tout — intelligeute, athletitiue, sentimentale, et la femme de bons sens. Oui, dira-t-il, C ' o:it moil ideale. Mais, quand nioi, jc vois celle |u ' il choisit — c ' est trop. MARTIN, ' 24. A CLOUD Just a cloud like a big graj ' pearl With a (lush of rose in the heart. Just a cloud ill the morning sky To give the day a new atart. Is not there .-i, vision within that rose? A vision for you and for me, Which calls to the very best in our souls And makes us rejoice to be? All, yes; there ' s a vision, a vision true Which leads us on to our best. ' Tis our (iod Who put the vision there And taught us to do the rest. HELEN CORBBT, ' 24. 12

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SHAKESPEARE ' S CREATIONS Jt is iinpossililo to read Sliakespuarc ' s works without realizing; that lie hail a peculiar un- (Icrstaruliiig and liking for sueli inystcrii s as fairies, witehcs, and ghosts, and a wide knowledge of ijroverijs. A furtlier study of these creations reveals an unexpectedly brord realm of them. We find tiiat Hhakespeare has given over the greater part of one of his plays to fairies. His treatment of them in Midsummer Night ' s l r( ' am ' ' i.s superb and outstanding witli ar- tist ir beauty. He hats endowed them with all that is daijity and beautiful; fairness of face; power; dimiuutivenes.s; youthfulness and im- mortality; the power to vanish at will and of assuming various forms; and has placed tliem in lo ely surroundings. The fairies were sup- pcisi ' d lo haunt ruial and romantic places. Tlio Irisli fairi.es often inliabited the ancient l)urial grounds, while those belonging tu Scotland resided under the threshold of some particular house, ilie inmates of which received the ])enefits of their presence. Their dress generally included a green vest; and they were known to love music, cleanliness, propriety, and leligion. In Shakespeare:) day, fairies were much in fashion, as common tradition liad made them familiar, lie, in all probability, gathered his great knowdcdge of them from the motive of the peasantry. Oberon is not entirely Shakespeare ' s crea- ti.on. He was first found in an old Frenc ' i romance; Spencer also used him in his Fairy Queen. However, Titania is his own. The fairies were l)elieved to be the same as the attendants of Diana; therefore, the fairy iueen, known through Ovid as Titania, and also called Queen Mat, was Diana. It has been thougiit that Queen Ma.t ori,ginated in tlie Celtic because of her diminutive form, since Mat both in Welsh and others of Brittany ' s dialects signifies child or in- fant. Puck, that mischief-loving fairy, has been gi,veu a lasting fame by Shakespeare. The name Puck was formerly applied to the entire race of fairies. Shakespeare, in giving the mime to this special elfin, known also as Lob-lie-l)y-the-fire and Ilobin Gool- fellow, has bestowed upon him all the traits of fairies. It is not sui-prising that Shakespeare al- luded to witches a great deal, for the litera- ture of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies is full of witchcraft. Even the greatest men of the times believed in them, at least, to a small extent. The,y were believed in ;)y the illiterate people in the time of Horace just as much as by the people of Shake- s[)eare ' s day. Although the witch had thj power to take the form of any ajiimal, the tail was always lacking. The form was most often that of a cat. Multiples of three and nine were connected with them in ancient and modern times. Power was given them over storms and winds. They often made, wax in forms of those whom they wished to harm and then melted these or pricked holes in them with pins. However, that their ex- liaordinary poAvcrs were limited, is made evi- dent i)y the words, On Christmas night the.v have no charm. The witches employed by Shakespeare in Macljeth, around which the plot of the story is woven, are probably Scottish hags connected with everything wicked. It has been suggested that Shakespeare drew upon Scandinavian mj-thology for part of his de- scriptions of them, and that much of the rest was taken from contemporary ideas of witch- ci-aft. Certainly his description of them eon- forms with their description. Ghosts, who we are to believe were dead peojjle brought back to life, were used rather extensively by Shakespeare, especially in his tragedies. They always bore the exact ap- pearance even to the mi,nutest detail to tho person when alive. Scliool masters and scholars were the only peop le who could, sup- liosedly, converse with them. However, they were very impatient and irritable when ques tioned. Their presncee was thought to be lieralded by a change in the tint of the lights which happened to be burning. When Julias Caesar ' s ghost appears, Shakespeare puts these words in Brutus ' mouth, How ill this taper burns! Ha! wdio comes here? Yet these grue some things always disjippeared at dawn, since they were unable to bear the light. Their sig nal was generally the cock-crow. How well ghosts and Shakespeare ' s tragedies fit to- gether! Shakespeare ' s logic and phrases are quoted perliaps more than those of any other author. In some instances, we find well-known prov- erbs slightly changed to fit his meter. Again, we note his words which have become well known since his time. Following are several of these proverbs: In The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay Cold, biting winter mars our hoped for hay. we recognize the much-quoted proverb Make liay while the sun shines. The quotation A cunning knave needs no broker, is not al- tered much in A crafty knave does need no 11

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THE MIDNIGHT MARAUDER A True Story Tlie room was terrible in its darkness and tlie air intensely sulphurous. The stillne;;.s was so great that I could almost hear it. I closed my eyes and attempted to sleep. But my mind was working actively and my thoughts would not be still. All the events of the day tumbled around in my brain. One of tliose events was the narrow escape that I li.id had in that automobile accident. I was reviewing rather haphazardly thij thrilling experience when I heard the clock s.trike bang! bans;! I counted the st rokes, twelve o ' clock! That dreadful mysterious hou ' - when ghosts leave their graves to haunt the living, and bold marauders leave their laii-s to venture forth into tlieir victim ' s houses. A shiver ran down my spine. I tossed and turned and tried to sleep, but sleep evaded m . Cautiously I opened my eyes and glanced around the room, half fearing that I might see a liold robber al)OUt to pounce upon me with his murderous black-jack. Not seeing anj-- tliing alaiining, I tried to comi)ose myself but my fears had only begun. In the awful solitude of night, I thought I hoaid a soft stop on tlie stairway. There It was again — and again — and again! A soft steady tread coming nearer, nearer! I lav still with my ears fixed in,teutly on that tread. It gi ' ew a little louder and then louder, until it stojjped outside my door. What was that noise? Mv door was slowly opening. The cold sweat stood out in great beads on my fore- head. My breath came in short quick gasps. My eyes were glued on that door and the iloor continued to open little by l),ttle. In my distorted imagination, I conjured up many pictures of the person who was stealthily en- tering my room. Tie was a robber after money and jewels or he might be a raving maniac, with shrivellod, skinny fingers, and long claw-like nails, sneaking up the stairs, making hideous faces and clawing at the air with his ugly hands. I could see him grop- ing at my door and jjushing it open with his horrilile fingers. Ugh! I was petrified! Already I thought I saw a hideous head and distorted features peeking around the edge of the door. During the fraction of a second which fol- lowed I went through unutterable tortures. I lay cold and limp. My heart pounded ter- ril)ly. I tried to scream, but I could only produce a faint whisper. One moment more and I should have been a mani .e myself, then, from the doorway cahle a sound which made me offer up prayers of thankfulness, for the sound was a plaintive Meow, Meow! VIEGINIA ULUICI. AN AMERICAN Years ago, in that part of Russ ' a which has long been the scene of political revolt and upris ' .ng, there lived a cobbler, Ivan Eativitch. Life to this poor cobliler was a continual night- maie, haunted by domineering landlords and cruel police. Monarchy succeeded monarchy with such rapidity until from one day to the next the poor peopk ' did not know who i-uled them. As time went on, food and clolhinL; grew scarcer and one by one, ' til there was only tlie youngest left, Ivan saw his children tlie, victini.s of inuiger, cold and cruelty. At last he could endure it no longer and he cried to his wife, We have only one cliild left. Let us take the money your good fatlior left us and go somewhere. There must lie some place where God will let us li ( ' in jieace. Sio they traveled li-om one country to another through central EuroiJC. l!ut ever (hey moved towai ' d the west. At last Ivan ' s wife died. Then Ivan cried to his son, Everywhere we hear of America. Kveryliody says that in . nierica, the jioor piMiple are as good as the lich ; the peasants as good as the ollicials. ' J ' liey tell us how in AinerVa the i)eople wel- come strangers au l make them free. Ijct us take the remaining money and go there. Six years later, in one of the bettei ' streets of tlie foreign section of our largest cities, Ivan Eativitch lay dying. His son, also Ivan, knelt by the bed, listening to the last words of the dying man. My son, America is the finest country on earth. She is your foster mother. Russia killed N ' oiir own mother and America, opened her arms. She took ns, outcasts of ;inother land, to her heart. She fed and cared for us. Unasked, she taught us her language and is educating you. She gave us the supreme gift, freedom. She will, in years to come, give you wealth and jiosition if you earn it. Take all she has to give you but in return live for America, uphold her doctrines, foster her ideals, be worthy of her. Give her your all, even if necessary, life itself. Thus Ivan Eati- vitch, a l?ussian, nay, an American, died. But his soul lived on in his son, who strove to be woitliy of America. It was not always easy. W ' th his Russian looks and foreign ways, he was not ail American to everybody, but only one of those horrible Russians. u