Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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22 THE QUIVER YOU’VE GOT TO WIN in your next track-meet, and I will give you the position as head coach of track at X-College,” said “Scout” Watson, closing the door behind him as he departed. Jim Benton, coach of Brockton High, stared at the wall of the :oom for a long time. Brockton High had entered a Triangular Meet with Millvale and Rockland. Brockton and Rockland were tied for first place. A great deal depended upon this meet, for, if Brockton won. Jim Benton would receive his promotion. The score was now as follows: Brockton, 20 points; Rockland, 20 points; Millvale, 5 points. Everything depended upon the six hundred yard run, the remaining event. As the track was very narrow, each runner must run alone, and the runner having the best time would be the winner. The first runner of Rockland approached the starting point, knelt on the mark, and, on the report of the starter’s pistol, got a quick start. Lap after lap he ran, cheered on by his followers, until only one lap remained. This he covered in a burst of speed. Time, 1 minute, 29 seconds. Next a Millvale runner ran. then a Brockton, then a Rockland, and so on until only Jones of Brockton High remained. As yet. no one had beaten the first runner’s time. Jones approached the starting point with the coach’s last words ringing in his ear. “You’ve got to win!” At the crack of the pistol, lie was off like a shot, running with long, even strides. Finishing his first lap, he listened intently for the counter to speak. No sound from the counter! At the finishing of the second lap, the counter seemed to come to life and say. “One.” Could he have heard aright? Did the counter say one or two? Was there a mistake? These thoughts passed rapidly through Jones’ head as he covered the third lap. Well, he couldn’t be bothered counting the laps, so he determined to leave the counting to the counter and pay attention to his race. His breath came quickly now! The spectators became blurred! The muscles in his legs and arms ached! His head swam! Still he kept on. increasing his speed occasionally. Someone shouted, “two more.” With a last despairing burst of speed, he covered the remaining laps and stumbled into the coach’s arms in a dead faint. When he opened his eyes, the first question he asked was, “Did I win?” Slowly the coach shook his head and replied. “No!”

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THE QUIVER AN EVENTFUL DAY 21 About eight years ago, a pageant was to be held in the city of Chester, England, which was twelve miles from the village where 1 lived. This pageant had been the subject of conversation by the public for over a year. Everybody was anxious to see it as it was the first of its kind in the city. It was to show the whole history of England from the first landing of the Romans up to the present time. It was on a beautiful spring morning, when everybody seemed happy and contented, that we started to see the pageant. Our drive around Eaton Hall and through the estate, was over five miles long. The scenery was wonderful. Green grass was everywhere, and the deer were so tame that we could put our hands out and almost touch them as we drove by. Along one side runs the River Dee. We had to pass over an old iron bridge, which, it is claimed, was built by the Romans. We had to drive very slowly over this bridge as it was unsafe. We reached Chester about one o’clock. The performance was to begin at two, and so we had an hour to wait; but it took us almost the whole hour to get seated. The stage was just a large field. Over to our left was another field, where the performers waited their turns to The first scene was the landing of the Romans in 54 B. C. The little children ran in front of the horses, shouting, “Help! the Christians are coming.” The contrast between their landing and their departure was so well brought out that I shall never forget it. The Piets and Scots were next shown invading Britain, and the Britons sent word over to the Angles and Saxons to come to help them They succeeded in driving away the Britons’ enemy. This done, they then drove the Britons themselves to the mountains and took possession of the land. A scene that brought tears to the eyes was the market place where the slaves were sold. The children looked lovely, just like dolls. One old man entered the market and looked round. He saw the children and went over and asked who they were. They replied. “Angles. He said, “Not Angles, but Angels.” These scenes were the ones I remember best. Although the pageant lasted until six o’clock. I enjoyed every minute of the four hours and was sorry when the end came. RENA DUTTON. 21.

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THE QUIVER 23 “What was the matter?” “You ran twelve laps instead of eleven. It was the counter s fault. We’ve lost the meet.” “And you, your position?” questioned Jones. “No. After you had finished, “Scout” Watson, who had offered me the position, said, that seeing you had run twelve laps, he had found the average time for each and then had multiplied by eleven. This gave the time of 1 minute and 27 seconds. Thus you see that you should have beaten him if it had not been for the counter. “Scout Watson, seeing that it was no fault of mine that the meet was lost, told me that I could have the position.” “Did you accept?” “I did!” WILLIAM SMITH. ’22. A SATURDAY NIGHT AFFAIR The time of this incident was a Saturday night in October, a chilly, starless, moonlight night; the setting, a farm house a mile or more from town. The clock on the mantel chimed ten, and Grandmother sat up with a start. Just then we heard a door open and close, but it was only Uncle Fred, who had locked the barn and hen houses for the night. My other uncle, whom we had been expecting for nearly an hour and who was in town collecting taxes, had not arrived, so bred said he would go to meet him. Now Uncle Rob, the tax-collector, is not afraid at night, but Fred is always having dreams that come true—not that we are superstitious, but you know it is better to be on the safe side—and once Fred had dreamed that the tax money was stolen from Rob. Fred did not go because he had had the dream, but because a robbery of this kind was perfectly conceivable. Lone members of the family have been held up at different times before prohibition went into effect, and certain sites along the road used to be “hangouts for gamblers and the like ; for instance, the ruins of an old farmhouse and of buildings destroyed by fire. Everybody in the town knows the tax collector, and everybody knows where everybody else lives and all his business, so the thought of robbery was only natural. We waited awhile after Uncle Fred went, and then my Grandmother and I went upstairs. Instead of retiring, we sat at a window which was a very unusual thing for us to do. The winding road