Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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26 THE QUIVER Miss Eavinia moved noiselessly to a door at the rear of the room. “Mary Ellen,” she whispered audibly, “customers!” In the meantime, the cat eyed us from a far corner, with a lurking air of distrust. Shortly, a girl of probably sixteen, presumably Mary Ellen, entered. She immediately began to set things in order, while Miss Phinney and her cat regarded us expectantly. “How much is this vase?” 1 questioned. “Fifteen.” answered Mary Ellen. The spinster motioned nervously to her clerk. The girl approached h: r employer, who whispered something which sounded very much like, “Thev're summer folks.” When Mary Ellen returned it was to announce, rather abashedly: “’Sense me, that there vase you got is twenty-live. Miss I ovinia smiled contentedly and rustled out of the room, followed by her faithful cat. As for me, I put the vase back in its original place. It was a Dresden china affair, and one of the two ornamental figures was lacking a head. Marv Ellen continued to show us around the shop, which contained everything, from jade necklaces to brass andiron:;. Everything was genuine—at least, if the clerk’s word might be taken as the truth. She exhibited fancy 1 ottles. all of which she claimed to be Sandwich glass; elaborate chinaware. which was admirably chinked and cracked; earrings, brooches, and lavallieres. which lx re the undeniable stamp of an up-to-date Attleboro factory; and the saddest looking lot of furniture 1 ever hope to see. If scratches and splits make antiques, here was a shop of no mean value. And the prices—they were gems! Mary Ellen continually quoted ‘'fifteen. “sixty,” two hundred.” and so on. never bothering to say dollars. That was to be taken for granted. After several minutes of examining and pricing, we decided that we did not want anything in Miss Phinney's line, so we made our exit as grace-fullv as possible, appeasing the feelings of the somewhat offended Mary Ellen by remarking that she had a most unusual shop and we hoped we might visit it again sometime. Ralph Wakdi.e, ’26. PERSONALITY AND SMILES My English teacher has requested that we write a five-page theme on “Personality and----’’. At this moment, to me. five pages might as well mean five hundred ; but perhaps, as ideas present themselves, I may attain the almost impossible. After this request was made, the thought came to me of a theme that I had read in a school magazine. It was entitled

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THE QUIVER 25 The next morning, after a night of fearful dreams, Fred told his parents of the incident. His father, reading the morning paper, exclaimed, “Perhaps this explains it: ‘Lunatic escapes. Overpowers two guards and scales wall. Relieved to he in vicinity of W oon.socket, his former home’. I’ll l et that's who it was! cried Fred, lie certainly looked wild enough! After that it was a queer coincidence that whenever the family went out in the evening. Fred invariably had an engagement, too. In truth, he had made up his mind not to stay at home alone. ()h. no! he wasn’t afraid, hut it really seemed wiser to go! John Rich, ’26. IN AN ANTIQUE SHOP Among the most interesting features of Caj e Cod are its antique shops. The one which I am alxmt to describe is situated on the Bowne-Falmouth Road, alxmt three miles from West Falmouth. The shop is in a weatherbeaten shanty, set back from the road, and might well lx described as an antique itself. hitside. there hangs a dilapidated wooden sign, which announces to all interested that antiques may lx l ought within. To this is added the jxmipous phrase: “Miss I avinia Phinney, Proprietress. On the unmowed front lawn, there are a few Windsor chairs, a huge Indian urn of Cajx? Cod sweet j eas, a warming pan, and a massive iron kettle, which is suspended campfire style and filled with red geraniums. We had passed this s|x t several times during the summer, hut never had taken the time to stop. However, on the day 1 mention, we were out riding with no definite destination, so one of our party suggested that we visit Miss Phinney, a suggestion that met with instant approval. We were met at the door by one whom we judged to lx Miss Lavinia herself. Indeed she was all that the name implied, for she was a typical spinster of the type one reads about in a Joseph Lincoln novel. She wore a long, black dress of the kind of silk that rustles with its every move. Her neck was veritably choked by a high, white, lace collar, and h r iron-gray hair was pulled up to a tight knot on the top of her head. About her feet, there brushed a lazy-looking gray cat. whose neck was ornamented by a bow of pink ribbon. On the whole, they were truly a strange pair. Hood afternoon.” said the proprietress, in a matter-of-fact tone. “You’ve come to see my antiques?” Upon my reply in the affirmative, she ushered us into a dingy, low-studded room, literally filled with antiques of all sorts and descriptions.

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THE QUIVER 27 “Noses.” and the author, possessing a keen sense of humor, had made it very effective, even to such an extent that I had felt of my own member, trying to ascertain to what “species” I belonged. Hut I digress. However, having chewed my pencil for al out ten minutes. I have finally determined u|n»n “Personality and Smiles as my subject, for. to me. smiles seem to show personality more than anything else. 1 suppose I might begin by arranging the smiles alphabetically, but I have decided to group them into classes. I consider that there are five main groups into which smiles may be classified. They are the smiles of childhood, youth, manhood and womanhood, middle age and old age. ()f course, into all of these classes comes the smiles of laughter and the smiles of tears. I shall begin at the foot of the ladder—the smile of a little child. It has lieen pronounced by many the sweetest thing in the world. It is the frank, o| en-faced smile of a new life, ignorant of hardships and rough paths. ()ne can almost see into the utmost depths of the clear, laughing eyes. Then, too, come the “April smiles as a result of a mended dolly or a bandaged finger. The older child then comes with the shy, sweet smile of the little girl and the ear-to-ear grin of the l»y. frequently disclosing blank spaces where there should be teeth. Hy the smiles of youth. 1 mean those of young ladies and gentlemen of high school and college age. There is the nervous smile of the high school “Freshie. the confident smile of the Sophomore, the knowing smile of the junior, and the superior smile of the Senior. College smiles rank in alnmt the same way. Who has not witnessed the breezy smile of the “sporty college girl, or the fixed, worldly-wise, all-knowing smile of the college “sheik as he poses in his soft, pulled-down hat, gaudy sweaters, and wide-bottomed trousers, for a picture for the “mater ? Then, too. one meets in college the brave, frank smile of the boy who is working his way through. Lastly, in this group, is the confident smile of the graduate, who is determined to make a showing in the great world. Why not wish him the best of luck ? The third group arc the smiles of men and women, such as the shy. tremulous smile of the bride and the manly smile of the bridegroom. loiter on. comes the rather absent-minded smile of the wife on her vacation. She is sure that she has left a window open. I think the happiest smile of this period is that of the proud. l oastful father and the glorious smile of the new mother. Next, comes the smiles of middle age. These are smiles of 1 oth laughter and tears. The kindly smile of the successful business man and that of his proud wife are in this group. Sad to say, along with these comes the hopeless smile of failures -hard is their lot if they cannot smile at all. The world witnesses the bravest smiles in times of war. These are the heartbreaking. would-be cheerful smiles of mothers, who see their sons depart