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

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l4 The Blue fr VVhite THE SHADOW OF DEATH Quiet, isn't it, Joe? All except that dripping water. I wish that would stop-it's getting on my nerves .... I mustn't think of that, thoughg I might go crazy .... I'm so hungry, yet I've been here only forty-eight hours .... Forty-eight hours of horror. I never realized what it was to be alone . . . alone . . . with my own thoughts for companions. Here joe Carr stopped. His short, stubby hands slid over the wall beside which he was lying. It was cold, damp and clammy, so rough that it seemed to cut the palms of his hands. About two feet away, on the other side, lay an expanse of muddy water that joe had reached just as his last match had flickered out. Since then he had stayed here in the narrow passage- way. At first he had screamed frantically and had pounded the wall with his feet until he had been unable to stand. Soon he realized the futility of that and had decided to remain where he was. Drip, drip, drip! The water slowly falling from a giant stalactite seemed to be striking joe's very eardrums now. He wondered how old the stalactite was. He had had only a faint glimpse of it as he stumbled along with his last sputtering match. By rapid calculation Joe reckoned that it must be thousands of years old. 'What hideous scenes had it already witnessed? Had it ever watched other lost persons stagger and fall in this same awful passageway? So excited was joe that he iidgeted restlessly around. Suddenly his hand hit something cold and hard. Feeling it with trembling hands, he suddenly came to the horrid realization that it was a bone. A wild scream burst from his lips and joe, nearly fainting from horror, threw the thing as far from him as his ebbing strength would allow. When it landed a few feet out in the underground lake, the splash threw a light spray over joe's body. He felt the drops of water on his face and neckg his thoughts again wandered. It felt just like that when I slit Nell's throat that night, and the blood spurted all over me! Merciful God! She wasn't expecting any such thing as that from me, her brother. I wonder if they are still looking for me up there .... What- ever made me think of hiding from them in this cavern? I hadn't realized that it was big enough for me to get lost in .... Heh, heh, heh, I was too clever to stick around and wait for the cops to pick me up. I'd rather die than be caught. Rather die .... But not here! I mustn't die starving here . . . alone. Alone with the bones of another ...alone.... Although joe didn't realize it, his mind was becoming weakened by his loneliness. For the next twelve hours, joe Carr tried to sleep, but his mind kept going over his horrible crimes. Then he would think of the bone which he had found. He tried to make a story in his mind as to how the other man had died. Had he gone out slowly, or had he taken his own life? . . . Per- haps that was better. Suddenly his mind became obsessed with that one thought, dying. He could see in his mind's eye a party of sight-seers coming through the passageway and discovering his bones. They would never know his story! It was barely possible that someone would come along in time to save him. Unless such should be the case, there was no hope. His poor mind pon- dered over this thought until at last it seemed that he heard footsteps. He sprang up and stood listening for steps that did not come. Joe, realizing that he had been tricked by his own overwrought nerves, cried like a child. There was just one thing to do-wait until either someone came or he lost consciousness. W'hich death would he choose-the long, drawn- out torture that in the end would come, or should he jump into the lake beside him? He thought of water choking, stifling him in a hideous deathg it was too much, Joe knew that he could never take his own life. With the whimper of a lost child, he turned on his side and closed his eyes, convinced that he must wait . . . wait for a party that might not, and probably would not come .... Vague shapes passed before his line of vision 3 he could see him- self kneeling at hismother's side, it seemed that he could hear himself repeating slowly, falter- ingly, Yea, though I walk through the valley of Death I shall fear no evil. Ah, that was it.

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Westbrook High School in The game soon became tiresome 5 so the two girls went into the cottage to get supper, and Bob an- nounced that he was going over to the next cottage to see a man's collection of pipes. Karl declined the invitation to go along and strolled down the beach in the opposite direction. In a few minutes he was within sight of the cliffs and he hurried along with the intention of going to the diving spot and staying until he had the courage to dive so that when they all came the next day he could dive without hesitation. He would not dive today. None would believe him if they didnit see him. If he lived through it once, it would be too much to ask fate to spare him twice. When he had climbed to the top of the cliff he lay down on his stomach and peered over, making up his mind to lie there and look down until all fear of the height of the cliffs had gone away. He lay there for quite a few minutes, getting more tan on his already tanned back. He got up and changed his position toward the sun. He now stood and looked at the water all too far below him. It was getting near supper time I they ate early at camp so as to be able to have an evening swim an hour after eatingj, so he turned slowly around, looking down at the red rock that made up the cliff. As he raised his eyes to start for camp he saw some- thing moving in the trees which grew within ten feet of the edge of the cliff. Had Bob followed him? Would he expect him to dive? No, it wasn't Bob. It was a moose, a bull moose. Karl watched him for a minute. Clyde had never said anything about there being moose around, so he must re- member to tell her about this one: but, of course, hunters come every winter to shoot them. Were moose dangerous? He hardly had time to ask himself that question when the moose lowered his head. That was enough. Karl turned and with- out thought he started to run. He knew the moose was right behind him and would be able to catch him before he could scramble up the cliiif and up the path to camp. He was now on the diving spot. Before he knew it he had dived. He realized when he struck the water that it was a perfect dive. Another time it might not have been so perfect and a broken neck might 'be the result. When he came to the surface, he looked up to the top of the cliff. It was a long 13 distance down. He began slowly to swim back to the beach where he could get ashore easily. He could never get up courage to do it again, and they would never believe him. He made up his mind not to try to tell them that he had dived. How could they believe it? It was useless. But he had a feeling of self-satisfaction and yet a feeling of discouragement as he headed for the shore. He looked toward his destination and saw there two people trying to get his attention. Sup- per must be ready. He speeded up his swimming, but the excitement, the dive, and the long swim had nearly exhausted him. He drew himself up on the sand. lt was wonderful, cried Clyde. Marvelous l said her friend at the same time. But .... Now, donit say it was nothing, it was grand. Why didn't you tell us? If we hadn't been out walking in that direction, looking at the way the sun reflected from the rock, we would have missed it all. Then you saw-it all .... Yes, that is. we saw you in the air and saw you hit the water. It only lasted a minute. I should have liked to see the whole dive. Yes, was Karl's only reply. it n P. W., '37. DON'T WAIT Why are you waiting? You have in the back of your head the idea That some day you are going to do something That will make your friends Happy over your success. You can also hear them saying That they never supposed you had it in you. Your breast swells with joy As you think of winning honor And applause after you have achieved The great thing. You feel sure That you will be able to rise To the occasion when it comes. But why are you waiting? A year ago you were waiting for this year 3 A week ago you were waiting for this week 9 Yesterday you were waiting for today. Time is up. ' M. L., '36,

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Westbrook High School I I Evil, his evil .... What was that? His mother was reading: The wages of sin is Death. . . . The wages of sin . . . whose sin? His, joe's sin. . . . Somewhere within him something snapped 3 a feeling of calm possessed him. Involuntarily he murmured, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. A. H., '37, THE WASTEBASKET Within this dark and dismal tomb Lie hours of thought, Hours of meditation. Records of fleeting moments, sudden inspirations Painstakingly recorded, or jotted down at random. Some records- Once surrendered to a jury, Eagle-eyed and cynical as a gossip- Passed or failed To pass examination. Once o'kayed, Their goal was reached- Success! But these aren't those, These reached a different goal- The wastebasket, A tomb of worthlessness. A. P., '36. - ADVENTURES IN THE NORTH tNot far northj May I tell you a few of my adventures? Of course, I knew you wouldn't mind-very much. My adventures-not to brag, nay, far be it from me to boast or brag of the dangerous and perilous situations in which I have found myself from time to time-my adventures are the most exciting and interesting ones that a man can have and come out alive. Danger? Of course there is danger. But do men who have braved the storms of the seven seas and the blistering heat of the desert have fear? I should say not! Why, I remember the time when I was treed for three days and three nights by a family of ferocious field mice. Ah, I know you're laughing and calling me a coward, but you didn't see those field mice. In all my born days I have never seen such ferocious, blood- thirsty beasts. Their teeth were like sabers, their eyes like glowing coals in the darkness. '5 After being in that tree for three days I began to get hungry, so I looked for some way to kill the mice. I had no weapons except a small pen knife, but I had noticed that at night the tree that I was in glowed queerly. At last the thoughts I had been racking my brains for came to me. I was famed the world over as a naturalist as well as an explorer, and my wonderful knowledge now came to my rescue. The tree was a species known as amnoscelerinx, the bark of which is highly poisonous. I quickly cut several strips of the bark and chewed them into a juicy pulp g the remains I er-er-er-kept in my hat. After gathering a hatful of this potent brew-ah, there is one point I forgot to mention. I know you are wondering how I could masticate such a poison- ous mixture and not be affected by it myself. It so happened that although one drop of this poison will kill any rodent alive, a gallon of it will not harm a person. Well, after I deemed I had enough, I sprinkled it generously on the ground beneath me. The mice immediately gobbled the poison down. Within five minutes every mouse was lying flat on his back sleeping the sleep of all bad mice. I climbed out of the tree immediately, not a bit stiff or sore from my long sojourn, for I had kept up my daily exercises by swinging on the limbs Q a second Tarzanj. The mice were strewn so thickly on the ground that I could not find an open place to put my feet, so I gently slithered over the dead bodies to the outside of the ring. Of course, I was quite hungry after three days of fasting, but not any more so than if I had missed my break- fast that morning because in my career as a fa- mous teacher of physical culture I had learned to control the digestional organs of the stomach. However, I felt that I must eat something just to be conventional, and so I looked around. There was nothing but mice in sight-big mice, little mice, fat mice, mice with drooling jaws, brown mice, black mice, white mice, papa mice, baby mice. C If anyone reading this true account of my experiences can recite those last two lines without sounding as if he were eating a lemon, I will sign his name after it.j Well, now letis see. Oh, yes, there were all kinds of mice 5 so I decided that nothing could be x