Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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20 THE QUIVER THE ESCAPADE OF A TEN-YEAR-OLD The grocery wagon bumped merrily on its way, and two small boys on the front seat had a great laugh every time the bump was extra big. These two little boys were no other than our heroes, Buster Brown and his friend and accomplice, Billie Wales, a mischievous little rascal, who thought of everything naughty which his friend might forget. On this particular day it was Billie who was the culprit. It was a Saturday in October, when witches and goblins are more in evidence than ever to tempt little boys, that Billie was seized with the idea that a ride on the grocery wagon would be “perfectly great.” It did not take much persuading to make Buster think the same, and, consequently, about one o’clock, two young gentlemen who were watching for the grocer stood guard at the gate. They did not have long to wait because he generally came around after dinner. They received his permission and very happily started on their ride. It entered neither of their young heads to ask their mothers’ permission. They were grown up now (Billie was eleven and Buster, ten) and it was not in accordance with their ideas of young men to ask one’s mother if he might do every little thing. They certainly had a day of it. The grocer must have had rather an easy time, judging from the amount of work that Buster and Billie claimed to have done, but they said that he was a good “scout” because he treated them to an ice cream soda, a large one, too. About four o’clock the grocer returned to the store and found that he had to make a trip to a village about seven miles distant. II they had made the right time they would have been back before six o’clock, but it must have been a case of another wicked goblin’s interfering, because it was nearer eleven o’clock when they returned. It happened that in getting out of the way of an automobile the wagon went too far to one side of the road and was tipped into a ditch, which was hidden by trees. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the rear wheel of the wagon was badly smashed. It was late before a place was found where they could have the damage repaired. All this took time and it was after nine o’clock when they were on the road for home. In the meantime there were many anxious hearts in the two households. Buster’s mother had thought that Buster was at Billie’s home, and Billie’s mother had thought that Billie was at Buster’s;

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THE QUIVER 19 WHEN THE FIERY CROSS CAME TO OUR VILLAGE I saw the Fiery Cross only once in my lifetime; but I had often heard the old men of the village tell of it and I knew that it was the rail to war. I was only a young girl when I saw it, but I shall never forget the day. It was on the day of Duncan’s funeral. Everyone in the village had gathered at the churchyard to mourn for him. After some time I left the crowd and strolled to the top of a hill which overlooked the surrounding country. As I stood., looking out over the heath, I saw coming from the direction of Achray the figure of a man. He was running so rapidly that it was but an instant till I could see that he carried a queer object in his hand. Why, it was a cross—a cross with bright red streaks, which he was waving on high! For an instant I was utterly bewildered; then, with a pang of fear, I realized that this was Roderick Dhu’s call to arms. Undoubtedly it meant war. I could see that the runner was almost spent and was making directly for the village. I wondered who was destined to go on with the cross. As if in answer to my question, the echoes of the wailing song came to my ears. Of course, Duncan, the bravest and strongest man in our village! And Duncan was dead! I ran down from the hillside, arriving just as the runner burst in upon the crowd. It was as I had surmised. Duncan had been expected to carry on the cross. In the moment of confusion Dun can’s son, a boy scarcely older than myself, stepped forward and took the cross. Within half an hour every man in the village had gone in answer to Roderick’s command, and the women and girls went slowly back to the freshly filled grave and took up the song where it had been so rudely interrupted: “He is gone on the mountain, TTe is lost to the forest —” MARION WALLACE, ’22

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THE QUIVER 21 but both thought that they would come home for supper, or before if they should get hungry. However, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Wales became anxious when neither of their young sons appeared at six o’clock. The long hours dragged by and at ten o’clock, Mrs. Brown thought that it was time to notify the police that her son had disappeared. There was a policeman who lived near by, so she went to him to find out what she should do. While she was there, Buster returned. His father after hearing the sad story, remembered that he had been a little boy once and ordered Buster to get to bed before his mother returned. Buster was under the sheets sooner than can be said, and when his mother came home he was sound asleep. The next morning he confessed that he had been in such a hurry to get to sleep that he forgot to say his prayers and had gone to bed with his shoes on. When the two youngsters discussed their escapade later, Billie affirmed that he was only told not to do it again and that his parents were “real good sports.” CATHERINE CONNOR, ’20 WINTER The winter’s nigh over; the spring’s drawing near ; And you ask someone’s thoughts of the winter this year. One person will tell you “The winter’s all wrong. It’s terribly cold, and it’s dreary and long; My fingers are frozen, my poor ears feel dead.” And he passes you by with a shake of his head. The next man w'ill say, wdth a good-natured grin, “The winter’s a wonderful time to live in. All’s a beautiful sight; and its mantle of white Makes the whole world look cheerful and healthful and bright Pshaw, I don’t mind the cold; weather’s only a bluff. You can get heated up if you walk fast enough. Oh! there’s no time like winter, when all’s done and said.” He, smiling, swings by with a nod of his head. The first makes you gloomy; the second one, bright; But the strangest of all is that both men are right. EDITH GOLDFINE, ’21