Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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12 THE QUIVER take the picture was to go to the end of the dock. The dock was rather shaky at the end as a result of being bumped continually by rowboats. Daddy was not aware of this, and so just as he leaned over the camera, ready to snap the picture, the dock fell in. The loud splash brought the girls to the lake, in which they discovered Daddy holding his camera high above his head, trying to reach shore. The girls crowded around the lake shrieked with laughter. Daddy was insulted. I have never quite formed an opinion of Daddy Bigelow, first, I shall try to prove his potato theory. Many farmers have laughed at it, but wouldn’t Mr. Hoover be pleased if Daddy were right! BLANCHE SCHLIVEK, ’19. MY SUMMER IN DREAM AND IN TRUTH About the close of school last June, and, in fact, for months before, I was looking forward with pleasure to the summer vacation, when I should have plenty of time to devote to the acquisition of knowledge. During the school year I am usually rushed with school and home duties, so the summer seemed to be a favorable time for improving my mind in subjects not directly encountered in school. My aims were principally founded upon the fact that I fully believed that I was destined to tie a teacher. When I was young and was so foolish as to play school after being dismissed from that institution, my playmates always singled me out as the one best fitted to wield the ferule and to place somebody’s grandmother's spectacles on my nose. Last June, since I had not felt the call of any particular life work, and since I enjoyed preparing my English lessons and reading so well, I felt that my vocation was clearly pointed out to me as a teacher of English. Naturally. I thought that the present was the time to begin training for that responsibility of knowing everything and anything under the sun that a young, curious person might choose to ask. Fancy an English teacher being unable to say that she was thoroughly acquainted with every particular of English literature! My program was to be arranged almost as if I were in school. When the time came. I intended to devote certain hours every day to my numerous undertakings. My plans were to read more than a score of good books by only the best writers. Then I was to study mythology and English history. Practicing on the piano and studying harmony would further occupy my time. I even had wild dreams of taking a course in stenography at a commercial school to help me in taking notes in college.

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THE QUIVER DADDY BIGELOW 11 Daddy Bigelow entered with a roar—that was the only way he could do anything. His first remark to the camp nearly shook down the Halle After being introduced, he rose, paused for one impressive moment, then bellowed, ‘‘Young ladies, I love you!” Daddy Bigelow was Aloha’s “nature-fakir.” No one knew his real first name.—we called him “Daddy” by request. He was a huge man, not so much in height as in circumference. His face was flabby, and always a purplish red. His purpose in life, he declared, was to teach people to develop their characters and to make friends. His method was through Mature. He “practiced what he preached,” for no one could deny that Daddy had individuality. He also claimed that he had more friends than any other man on earth. However, I noticed no great change in my character or number of friends after knowing him. Daddy was an actor. When he spoke, the front of the Halle had to be cleared, for he needed room. He imitated all the characters in his numerous anecdotes. He stood on chairs, he banged on the piano, he beat the drum, he talked in a shrill voice to imitate his great-grandmother, he spread his legs to imitate a small boy; but his best “act ’ was his imitation of society ladies, for whom he had absolutely no respect. He never omitted a detail. He pranced on his toes, he arranged his hat, he j owdered his nose, he used all the favorite society adjectives, he even went through all the movements of putting on gloves. The result was amazing. But no one ever could tell whether or not Daddy was serious, for he told many strange stories. He declared that in a very short time we shall be living on air. After arousing our curiosity with this assertion, he explained it. He claimed that potatoes can be grown in excelsior and water. Since we can live on potatoes, we shall soon be living on air. Although Daddy looked serious, the idea seemed ridiculous. Seeing some of us smile, Daddy roared, “I hope you don’t believe me! I hope you don’t believe me so hard that you go home and try it!” Another of his pet theories was that an automobile can be run on water. This, he declared, had been proved by the Packard Company. I have never been able to decide whether Daddy was “stuffing” us. Only once did I see Daddy cross, but that time he was so cross he sj ent a whole morning talking on the subject of false ideas of humor. Daddy had a large camera, which he greatly cherished. One day he went our on the dock to take some pictures. He took several of the swimming and diving, and then he wanted to take one of the lakeside tents. These are pitched so near the lake that the only possible way to

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THE QUIVER 13 When I finished my last examination, I felt as happy and jubilant as if summer would last forever. I nearly burst with joy at all the graduation observances, although I also felt the sorrow of parting with the upper classmen. From then on, my castles in Spain were overthrown and I lived merely for the present. I cannot tell from my diary that I did anything of importance or otherwise during the first week of vacation, because there are six blank pages. I evidently felt that I needed a rest from that task, too. My memory tells me that I was merely idle, laughing, playing, and being generally happy. When my sister, who manages our domestic affairs, went away, there suddenly fell upon me the responsibilities of the household. It became my duty to do much of the cooking, to see that meals were on time, to buy the necessary articles, and to expend the household income. I learned to shop on bargain days, to watch the newspaper for a decrease in the price of sugar, and to systematize my work so that I might do it in the shortest time possible. I had the difficult task of battling with the tiny red ants, and after trying every insect destroyer, was finally victorious. After the housekeeping episode in my vacation, I sought to beautify our piazza by the use of green paint on the furniture. After I had made many brown pillows for the Cape Cod hammock and chairs. I spent much time reading light literature in comfort. As happens every summer, there was an occasional picnic, when I spent the time out of doors, frolicking or swimming. I indulged in all the warm weather pleasures with delight. I have often regretted that I have acquired the art of sewing so well that all the members of my family leave to me some fine bit of sewing, claiming that my skill far surpasses theirs. The praise is pleasant, but my family's careful sewing is extensive. In making new' curtains I seem to measure more accurately than any one else, so therefore an understood rule at home is that I measure and make new curtains. Thus more of my vacation sped. When my vacation was ended, I tried to conceive how I had let two months slip by without fulfilling my promises to myself. I reproached myself for idleness and frivolity. I felt that my summer had been wasted. Now that I am again in the reins of school routine. I realize that my summer was spent advantageously, nevertheless. How unwise I should have been to make the two summer months like the rest of the year, instead of frisking about in the most beautiful season to prolong