Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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Westbrook High School I 'I PROFESSIONAL Every puff of the train was bringing them nearer to the vacation that they had been looking forward to for the last few months. They had now been an hour out of Boston and the conversa- tion had stopped long ago. Karl Dodge was think- ing to himself how lucky he was to be invited by such a lovely girl as Clyde Naples to her camp at Lake Gardiner for the week when his thoughts were interrupted by her remark, I've never seen you swim in the open, only in the pool-and then you don't swim much. After each dive you have to get to shore as soon as you can. Yes, replied the handsome man beside her, I've never been swimming with you 3 you've come often to watch and cheer for me in a meet but we've never been together. By the way, have you a diving board? I don't want to go stale, you know. Clyde thought a minute. Why, she said, we that isn't always dive off the end of the float, but wouldn't be very exciting for you. There any place high enough for you-unless you dare to dive off the cliff .... That sounds interesting, replied her partner, how high is it ?,' Oh, about 150 feet, I should guess. Well, that isn't any too high for me, Karl replied a little bit boastfully, I've dived that high before, you know. Yes, but no one dives off the cliff. There is an old legend about a man who did jump off it, though. Let's hear it if you know it. Once upon a time, started Clyde with a laugh, there was a white man who was being chased by the Indians .... Indians ? interrupted Karl. Why, yes, my cottage was in real Indian ter- ritory, but to go on, the Indians chased him right up to the edge of the cliff. This left him with but one thing to do and that was to dive off. And he did, and swam to an island in the lake and hid until night, when he swam back to shore and landed in a different place and in that way escaped the savages. Interesting, said Karl, but what makes you think I can't do the same thing? I've had diving lessons and taken prizes and that's probably more than that other fellow had ever done. And no one has done it since? Probably all the people around hate to spoil a good legend so they don't try it. Then Karl, confident in himself, turned around in his seat toward the other couple with them, a young married pair who were coming along as friends and chaperons, and asked them if they had ever seen the cliffs. They replied that they had. Well, he said, you will have the chance to see me dive off there this week if you're around. I have to keep in practice for the meet this fall. They both laughed and tried to tell him that it was an impossibility, which only made Karl the more sure that he could and would do it. Clyde hated a braggart and Karl hadinever bragged like that before. She hoped his recent successes had not changed him from the Karl Dodge she used to know. But if he really did it, how proud of him she would bel But she said nothing, anxious to have him stop talking about what she was afraid he couldnit do. lk Dk Bk lk Later, when the train pulled in at the small sta- tion, the four vacationists got off. Although they were the only passengers that trip, there were quite a few people around, village folks who col- lected at the station. The first word that was spoken was by Karl, who said to anyone who might be around, Can you see the cliff from here? I want to see what I'm going to dive from. jeff Willoughby, a hermit who had a shack about a mile from Clyde's cottage, was there with his horse and buggy to take the small party to the lake. They all piled in and with a cluck Jeff started the horse. Even this was a treat to all besides Clyde and Jeff, who had ridden that way many times before. On the way, there was one place where the road came very near the water and there Jeff stopped the wagon. See, he said, and pointed across the bay, there's the cliff. Some o' you's seen it, but there they is to those o' you what ain't. There's an old leging they tell aroun, here ....

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THE FOOLISH MAN The foolish man sat down beside the fire To warm his handsg and said with much pomposity, I've done the chores, my work is through. Now shall I rest. So he rested and waited, and outside the narrow room Of resting man Seeds were planted in the warm, responsive, Rich, brown earth That sprouted, grew, and brought forth fruit. The smoke from factories puffed Against the clean blue sky to manufacture clothes to Keep men warm. And while he waited there, inside his room, The world walked by-not glancing in the window. J. K., '37, MY RETURN TO HIGH SCHOOL Let us now turn the pages of the calendar for- ward to September, 1936. The scene is the street before the new annex to Westbrook I-Iigh,School. Standing there is an alumnus of the class of '36, who is intently observing every detail of the new building. That alumnus is none other than I, who has returned to see the improvements in the high school building. As I stand there, I am inspired by the architec- tural beauty of the three-door entrance. The building-126 feet long, 57 feet wide, and 40 feet high-faces Foster Street, where the front reflects the first rays of the sun every morning. As I enter, I find myself in a lobby surrounded by doors and stairways. At the left is the boys' cloak room, and at the right the girls'. I decide to go straight ahead, past the box office, and through a door directly before me. I am now in a large auditorium and gymnasium, which covers the whole ground fioor. In front of me lies the beautifully curtained stage. Going back stage, I find a stairway at each side leading upstairs and another stairway leading to the boiler room beneath the stage. I- climb the stairs and discover a dressing room at each side of the stage, halfway up between the first and second floors. Returning to the front lobby, I now go upstairs. Halfway up I find the girls' and the boys' base- ments directly over the cloak rooms. I continue upstairs to the second fioor, where I turn left and walk down the long corridor lined with the doors of eight spacious class rooms. At the end of the corridor, directly over the stage, is a locker room. Now I again make a left turn into the corridor connecting the old building with the new. Facing me are two sets of stairs. Cne leads down to the first fioor. while the other leads up to the second floor of the old building. I go upstairs and find the principalis office in what was formerly Room 25. Even the cloak rooms have now been remod- eled into a class room. Going down to the first floor, I notice a great change here also. Room 14 has become the office of the Superintendent of Schools and the cloak room is now a locker room. Coming at last to the old boiler room, I observe the greatest change. Boys' showers, lockers and dressing rooms have replaced the steam boilers. Going out of here, I find myself on the bottom fioor of the corridor connecting the old with the new. A door leads into the driveway which runs to Main Street. It is with a feeling of reluctance that I leave the school grounds. If only I had been born four years later, I, too, might have enjoyed the modern conveniences of the new annex. R. T.. '36.

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The Blue f-r VVhite '2 Clyde stopped him, I've told them all about it, Jefferson. Yes, broke in Karl enthusiastically, I'm going to spoil that legend for you people by show- ing you that there is nothing to it. jeff looked at Karl astonished, but then clucked to his horse, showing clearly that he thought Mr. Karl Dodge nothing but a city braggart. The first thing they did after arriving at the camp was to change into their bathing suits and go for a swim. But they did not go to the cliffs as it was too late in the afternoon. The next day. however, they all set out together to watch Karl do the dive. They didn't tell any of the neigh- bors, who had learned of it by this time, that they were going for the event. Clyde wished to keep it a friendly party, at least that was the excuse she gave to Karl. After a few minutes' walk through the woods, they came out suddenly on the top of a hugh rock. There was about ten feet of rough, crumbling red stone between the woods and the edge. Clyde scrambled down to the edge of the precipice and stood there, a picture of beauty, with her arms in the air, letting the cool breeze blow on her cheeks and through her hair. Karl came to the edge and peered over. What a surprise he got. It seemed miles down to the water. Clyde must have under- estimated the distance. For the first time in his career as a professional diver he felt fear creep- ing in. But he stood up and got in diving position and Clyde held her breath while he prepared for the feat. He hesitated. Then he turned around to the other three, You know, I don't know where the rocks are down thereg perhaps I should dive straight down or perhaps I should dive way out. Anyway, I think Bob and I should row out tomorrow and see about it. Take a rope and weight and sound for bottom. Bob laughed, The man in the legend didn't have to go down and sound for bottom and he lived through it and you're standing on the spot that he is supposed to have jumped from. But if you want to make sure, let's get the boat and do it now. Karl decided that they wouldn't have time that day to bother with the boat. It was a long row. The others felt that it should be done right away so that he could dive the next day, but as they suspected it was fear on his part, they did not urge him. They only laughed and asked him if he was not convinced that it was impossible. That night back at camp they cleared the floor and danced to the music of a portable victrola. Karl could not help noticing that Clyde did not seem so full of fun nor so anxious to dance with him. He knew it was all on account of his failure to fulfill his boast: so he determined to go out in the boat and if the soundings were right, dive and get it over with. As he thought it over, it came into his mind that if he took the soundings while Bob rowed he might announce that there were a few scattered rocks and that he did not want to take the chance of hitting one. He might get by with that. but suddenly he thought of a bet- ter scheme. He might delay about diving and in the meantime send a telegram to the office boy in Boston to telegraph him back that he was recalled to work immediately and in that way get out of it. But it made him angry to think that now he was thinking of unfair means. He who had always played fair was now thinking of spoiling his record. Imagine him, a professional diver, afraid to dive from a distance not much greater than some he had done before! If he went home now without doing it, he could be quite sure that he would never be invited back again. If he was, he could not accept. Clyde would expect him to do it: she expected it of him now. So he determined to dive or die in the attempt and die in the attempt didnlt seem so funny to him at that time. The next afternoon he and Bob went out and took the soundings. He rowed. He insisted on rowing because he was afraid that, if he took the soundings he would be tempted to fake them and announce that it wasn't deep enough. But the water proved to be plenty deep and Karl did not know whether to feel glad or sorry. He only knew that he was nervous about something. He took his time about rowing back so that he could use the too-late excuse again if they still wanted him to try it. When the boat was landed, they announced that the bottom was O. K. and Karl tried to act glad and as though he would surely do the dive but was too anxious for a game of baseball on the sand.