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

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NOVEMBER 1933 11 tie did they know what was to happen by evening. Nine o ' clock and a telephone call at Fire Station 1 came with it. The call said that there was a fire in an empty tenement house on Benton Street. Fire Stations 1 and 2 were called there. No one was at Station 1 where two trucks had been left. The building was in flames; the blaze could be seen from the distance. The houses near- by were endangered by the flames. Firemen were running to and fro. After a three-hour battle, the fire was quelled. When the fire- men of Station 1 returned another surprise awaited them. The hoods of both trucks were open, both motors wrecked, and all the tires punctured. Every piece of hose was cut. A note on one of the trucks read, The worst is yet to come, and again it was signed F. I. D. (Continued in the next issue.) Frank Locki ' 36. OLD MOSE While home from a trip he may be seen on or near a wharf shelling clams. To see Mose at this point is as much entertainment to me as an interesting movie. Mose is dressed in a sou ' wester, a fisherman ' s hat, and high rub- ber boots. He sits on a box crossed legged, a basket of clams and a pile of shells on either side. Mose is a happy man, happier when there is a youngster near to whom he can spill some yarn, greatly exaggerated, filled with ex- citing stories about rescues at sea, daring ad- ventures of his captain, but, to my surprise, never about superstition. On asking Mose about a sailor ' s supersti- tion, he dropped his work, crossed his hands, muttered something, and for the first time looked up without smiling. To talk about a sailor ' s superstition, he told me, is a very wrong deed. Among the curses which come aboard ship, the woman is feared the most. A woman or a black cat aboard ship, t ells Mose, surely means the ship will sink before it reaches home. Mose, who was over fifty, told me that he had never been swimming and that most of the fishermen could not swim. I was greatly surprised to think that a man living near the water should not go swimming. Mose, after his basket of clams had been shelled, enjoyed himself playing checkers. Old Mose is a wizard at checkers and admires any youngster who can beat him, but scorns any older person who defeats him. Mose lives very simply and alone, and very seldom eats fish although he gets his living catching them. Winston Dorrell ' 35 YE OLDE FASHIONED LOVE TALE TT WAS rather late in the afternoon when ■ - Tommy Burke came striding along, swing- ing his books around his head. He was headed home, but by no means was he taking a short cut. In a few minutes, he was talk- ing to Dick Bolton, manager of the village general store. Bolton had started the store on his own finances and, through consider- able adjustments and improvements, the store was the most popular one of the village. Dick was a young man of twenty-two years, he was tall and broad-shouldered. He had light wavy hair, and was the idol of many feminine admirers, although he belonged only to the school-mistress, Gladys Keech. He and Gladys were engaged and were planning to be married as soon as school finished for the year. But right now Bolton was interested in what this bright-eyed little boy was telling him. Tommy said that there had been a visitor at the school that afternoon. T ' was a man, who said he earned from New York City an ' was lookin ' for the hotel an ' when Miss Keech tol ' him where it was he said he ' d wait an ' let her show him, so he sat down an ' then Miss Keech made us recite for ' im an ' she ask ' d me to spell a word an ' I had to stay after school an ' that ' s why I ' m late. After this speech, Tommy took a deep, long

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LITERATURE F. I. D. IT IS Monday morning in Lake City; the clock in the Fire Department 1 is striking six. Only a few of the twenty-five men who sleep there are dressing. Among them is Ser- geant Trenton. He quickly dresses and is the first to go downstairs. The sight which his eyes beheld was puzzling. He pinched himself to see if he were still asleep. No! he was awake. He ran quickly upstairs and sum- moned the rest of the men. Some had just awakened and the rest were roughly awak- ened by Sergeant Trenton. Chief Blake asked, What ' s the matter? What ' s the matter? Say, do you know that every single piece of apparatus in this build- ing is gone? answered Trenton. W-W-What do you mean? Just what I said, came the answer. Come and see for yourself, Trenton said, as he went down the stairs. In one minute, everyone was downstairs. Chief Blake ' s eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the empty building. He and Sergeant Trenton searched the building and in a back room they found Officer Dugan who had been on duty that night. He had been knocked unconscious by a blow on the cranium. On his chest was pinned a note which read as follows: Fire when under con- trol is the servant of man but it will be loose soon. It was signed with three fatal letters, F. 1. D. Officer Dugan was quickly revived and all he knew about what had happened was that about three o ' clock in the morning he heard a footstep, and was about to turn around when he was hit on the head. By this time the police had arrived, and as Lake City had two fire stations, the other sta- tion was called and they answered, Seven bells and all ' s well. Tick-tick-tick— The news was telegraphed to every state. Every policeman in every state was on the lookout for wandering fire trucks. By eight o ' clock these cries could be heard all over the streets in many cities. Extra-Extree— Lake City Fire Dept. has ap- paratus stolen from under their own noses. Extree-Extra. Meanwhile Chief Blake, as red as a ripe to- mato, is answering questions shot at him by Gus Lance, Chief Detective of the Lake City Police Dept. Now let us see what the rest of the firemen are doing. Pat Dodd, who is considered the comedian of the Fire Dept., is all a-twitter. He is an amateur detective and is engaged to Rose Belton, whose hobby is asking ques- tions. At this moment he is offering solu- tions of the robbery to his friends. By this time part of the Station 2 appar- atus has been sent over to be used until the stolen property is found. All the firemen were asking for action: action by the police, action by the Chief, any sort of action. Lit-

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12 THE CRIMSON AND GRAY breath and then started exploding again on some other subjects. These who talked together for half an hour. Just as Tommy left, Miss Keech rode up on her horse. When she told Dick about the stranger, George Coffman, he sensed a bit of suspicion in the air. He didn ' t quite like the idea of Coffman ' s having a room opposite Gladys ' at the hotel. When she said that she was going horse-back riding the next day with Coffman, Dick almost went up in a rage, but decided to keep cool. Probably nothing would come of their friendship as he thought Coffman would not stay in such a dull village very long. Dick ' s idea was wrong, and he grew wor- ried as Gladys spent more and more time with Coffman. Coffman came from the city and owned a car; Gladys Keech was more enticed than by Dick ' s buggy and simple entertain- ment, even though she was engaged to him. But she did not forget her engagement. She still loved Dick, but explained that a stranger in town had to be introduced and made ac- quainted with the place. She and Coffman met often, so often that the village gossipers began to buzz. This made Dick unhappy, but what could be done about it? Of course, he could insist on her keeping away from him, but then she would say that he just didn ' t want to see her happy and he was mean to Coffman. While this confusion was still astir, Tommy kept his bright eyes wide open. He hap- pened to be sitting under an apple tree one day, reading, when he heard a car come along the road. This didn ' t bother him until it stopped, then he sat up and took notice. He didn ' t recognize the man in the car, for the man had light hair, but somehow the car looked familiar. When the car came to a stop, the man took up something from the seat and started adjusting it on his head. Tommy realized now that it was a wig. When this was done the car went on toward the vil- lage. Tommy was all agog because he knew that this man was George Coffman. He ran all the way to the general store, and there told everything to Dick. When Dick heard Tommy ' s story, he and Tommy ran over to the Sheriff ' s office. A half hour later, when Coffman and Gladys Keech were slowly riding away from the village, and at the same time enjoying the scenery, they were overtaken by an old rickety car. At the sight of Coffman, the Sheriff ordered him to put up his hands and sur- render. Although this had all taken place suddenly and Miss Keech was thunder- struck, Coffman was cool and collected. With the Sheriff were Tommy and Dick, and when Gladys asked what it was all about, Tommy hastily replied, Well, Miss Keech, this here city-man is a jail-bird, I-er-a mean a convict. Ya ' see, I saw him put on that wig and, at first, I tho ' t I re ognized him an ' all at once it came to me that it is the picture that is on all the posts that says $1,000 reward for his capture, so I ran an ' tol ' Dick here, an ' we went an ' got the Sheriff an ' — here we are. The Sheriff drove Coffman back in his car, and Dick drove Tommy and Miss Keech back in the tumble-down car. All Miss Keech could mumble was, So George Coffman, the rich city man, here for his health, turned out to be Mike (Goldilocks) Brown, the convict. But Dick ' s face was glowing radiantly, for he realized now that their previous plans could be completed and once again he had the entire attention of his future bride. Alice Rawson ' 34. SHANGHAIED T RUCE TENNYSON was a rather tall young man, with a pale face, and white, dainty hands. He was the only son of a rich banker. His father had always wanted him to go away from civilization for a long rest, but Bruce couldn ' t leave Broadway. He stayed up most of the night, and slept most of the day, consequently he was not in the best of health. As the story opens, Bruce is in his dressing room, putting on his hat and coat, preparing to leave for a night club. It is a bright, clear