Wells High School - Crimson and Gray Yearbook (Southbridge, MA)

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MJERAT r A CURIOUS EXPERIENCE This summer I spent two weeks of my vacation in a small town on the coast of Maine. Most all of the regular inhabitants of the town were either lobster or herring fishermen. There was one old man, a her- ring fisherman, who had given over his business to his son, but he still maintained his fishing camp on a small island about three miles from the coast. One day he came to me and asked me if I would like to go out to Poverty Knob. I did not know what he meant and so I in- quired. He said that he called his fishing camp Poverty Knob because not even grass could grow there. I agreed to go, so he told me to meet him on the beach at two o ' clock the next afternoon. The next afternoon found me on the beach at two o ' clock. I waited a short while and he soon came along. He launch- ed a small boat, not as large as the boats that are rowed for pleasure on our inland waters, and told me to sit in the stern of it. I did as I was told and he started rowing for the island. In the whole three mile row to the island I did not see him once turn around to look where he was going; he just rowed and rowed. Finally he said, Well, guess I had better stop rowing now or I ' ll miss the is- land entirely. And just as he said this he came up to his mooring place. He tied his boat to a rope which was attached to a pul- ley on a post out in the water and to a pul- ley on the island, then he pulled the boat in to the landing and jumped out. I followed soon alter and stopped to look at my sur- roundings. A small humn of rock rose out of the ocean. It covered about half an acre. On it were two buildings, both about 12x20 feet; one was the house, the other a shed which was filled with fishing nets and gear of every sort. At one place a large motor boat was beached which, he explained, was his son ' s and had not as yet been launched as the herring run had not yet started. I chopped some wood and he soon had a fire going in the stove. He then cooked our supper. After supper we rowed over to an- other islard nearby and dug some clams to go fishing. We then came back and went to bed. I could lay in bed and see straight in the ocean towards Europe. I could see the lighthouses on some of the islands eighteen miles out in the ocean, winking and blinking. The next morning we were up at sun- rise and as a boat was supposed to come in to get what few herring there were, we went over to watch the process. I saw what appeared to be a cage with- out a top, which was sticking out of the

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THE CRIMSON AND GRAY water. This, I learned, was called a weir or ware, as it is pronounced there. This weir had a gate about twelve feet wide which could be closed by means of a small net. The men rowed inside this weir and then closed the gate. They had in their boat a large flat net which had floats on one side and weights on the other. This they let out around the inside of the weir. They then pulled a cord which closed the bottom. Then they drew the net slowly back into the boat until there was only the portion of the net in the water which held the fish. The fish, which are of a light gray color with silver scales, were then scooped out into a waiting dory and taken to the larger boat which had come up in the meantime. They were loaded into the boat in a very few minutes and then the dory came back for another load. Three dory loads were taken to the boat which was all that was wanted. The fishermen count the number of bushels, as they are sold by the bushel and by th.p number of dory loads: 100 bushels equals one dory load. The boat then went away and the fish were probably by the next morning in the little tin cans with labels on them mark- ed sardines. Early that afternoon we started back or the mainland and as the man had to take two boats beck, he had me row one. This was a very pleasant experience, row- ing three miles in the open ocean in a boat hardly large enough for two persons. The waves would come up under the boat from behind and carry it about five yards with them. But when it came to landing,.it was not such a pleasant experi- ence. There were five hundred yards of open channel to row across. The waves were going up-channel and were hitting the boat on its side. I expected at any moment that the boat would go over, but this didn ' t happen and I landed safely. —CHESTER GATES, ' 32. THE WAST OF THE EAST The village of Ulamkon was only a small place but the market square was thronged with people. Every Chinese vil- lage has its story teller, Ulamkon was no exception. A weird little mn,n, clad in robes of myriad hues, was seated in the midst of a motley throng. Breathlessly they lis- ' ered as he bpg n a new tale. High in the Khanga Mountains, where the path curls like a serpent one, where the clouds hang low, where myriad evil -mes abide, a man hastened. A man one whose clothes prove him a peasant. The peasant one Lei Yo. He hastened home to the li + +l ? rock bound va ' Vv where Mount Byelukha casts its portentious shadow. He had been on a Ions miss ' en for his lord one. He hastened homewards because it neared the fi ' th day of the fifth moon, the coming of the Dragon. Fest ' val. The day-star drooned low. Hnping the moun ' ain tops with red and still there svere many miles to be traveled. Lei Yo paused and scanned the mountain ' s side. He knew he could not reach home this night, knew, too, that he must find shelter. Ahead the path dippe ' 1 ' nto a tiny valley and Lei Yo fancied that a roof glistened in the sun ' s last rays. Down the mountain ' s side he ran and discovering a path, long unused, fol- lowed it a short distance. He plunged in- to an opening and gazed at a pagoda, a pagoda once of wondrous beauty but long forgotten, a spot in the half-light of even- ing of weird ess and desolateness. Mount- ing the marble steps Lei Yo stumbled over a chain which had once held the sacred cat one, a cat, one ihat had faithfully frightened away the evil ones, a cat one that was now only a skeleton. Lei Yo en- tered, before an image of Kwan Yin-Ko a priest knelt, a skeleton at prayer. Fear seized upon Lei but he crouched upon the dusty floor in vain attempt to sleep. The night-lantern rose and fell again. With the first glow of the approaching day Lei Yo precipitated himself from the spot. He was filled with apprehension. Might it not be the abode of evil ones? This temple place without its guardians, with its weird inhabitants? Could he be cursed because he had entered this pag- oda dedicated now perhaps to the evil ones? Could Kwan protect him now? He would burn an incense paper and try the effect of a simple prayer. All morning Lei Yo followed the tor- tuous way. Towards noon the path became