Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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THE QUIVER 29 engine and lalxiriously putting it together again. Then at night, when the Ford was in | erfect order under the tin covering, Arnold would set forth and call on Doris, a fair damsel, who lived on the hill and went to boarding-school. hut was “'just crazy” alxmt Fords. She had said that she would much rather go riding with Arnold in the Ford than with Harold in his father’s town car. Of course, Arnold did not Ixdieve everything that l)ori said, hut he did l elieve this. Arnold, standing looking at his “car, thought of the dance at the club tonight, with a pleased smile, Doris had promised to attend the dance with him. He had had his flannels pressed for the occasion and had a new tie of the gayest colors possible to match his high spirits. It was going to he a wonderful night. And it was. The Ford did not break down. They arrived in time. The orchestra |M ured forth its sweetest melodies. They danced in the colon.d lights and drank the “pure-fruit-juice-punch.” All too soon. “1 lome-Sweet-I Ionic was l eing played. After the dance, the “crowd piled into Arnold’s Ford, had milk and cake at Doris’s, and departed for home. Surely the Ford had done good work ! That night Arnold was awakened by his mother. She told him excitedlv that Father was seriously ill and that the telephone was “dead. It took Arnold but a second to grasp the situation, and in another second he and the Ford were on the way to the doctor’s. In a verv few minutes. Arnold and his comjianion wrere at Father’s bedside. Twice the Ford had done good work !! Father got well, and never poked fun at Arnold’s “car again, am more than did the rest of the family. Fred Hendricks. ’26. WHY ARTHUR BECAME A BACHELOR T was a bright, windy autumn afternoon, and ] eople hurried briskly here and there alxrnt their work. There was a touch of winter in the sharp wind that nipped one’s hands and face, and the ojkmi fireplace of the Bachelor’s C lub was indeed very comforting to the members. Many of the men who lounged around the fire were prominent business men. although all were in a financial position that allowed them freedom from their work very often. The election of officers had taken place on the evening previous, and Arthur Jones, one of the voungest and most jxipular members, had been made president: but. although he professed to he an ardent bachelor, he had visited a certain K Hcm.c

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28 THE QUIVER for the battlefield. These smiles are the hardest to produce, yet they mean more to the son than any other. Perhaps, some day. there will no longer he a cause for smiles such as these. The last group consists of the smiles of old age, of grandfathers and grandmothers. These are often happy smiles of elderly jieople who have not lived their lives in vain and look upon the world with calm, friendly eyes. Of course, poverty in old age often brings a sad. tearful smile, but let us hope that sons or daughters will remember what they owe to such parents. However, 1 have thought of another smile which must l e placed in a group by itself. It is the absolutely disgusted smile of the English teacher who corrects theme after theme that has no climax, abounds in repetition, and whose author seems to have forgotten all rules of punctuation ever made. I have mentioned many varieties of smiles. To which class do yours l elong? Virginia Goddard, ’26. “ONLY A FORD” Arnold stood looking at the Ford with all the admiration and love any seventeen-year-old boy could possibly have. The Ford was extremely collegiate. with nearly everything missing that shouldn't Ik . A cellar window was wired to the frame where once a windshield had been. The top. of course, was missing, and now Arnold had just finished sandpaj ering the “car” in spots, which added “atmosphere” to it. This bit of antiquity stood outside a ixirtable garage that Arnold had bought second-hand with the Ford, although one could hardly say the Ford was second-hand. In fact, it was fourth-hand and badly battered at that, but this last fact made the “car all the dearer to Arnold, and all the more trying for the “folks.” When Arnold had driven home with the Ford, the family, including the collie, had immediately set up a howl. Arnold’s j arents had requested lum to sell it, or ask the garage man to take it back, for they thought it a disgrace to the DeVeer name. Arnold had liegged that he might keep it. and. since he had paid for it with his own vacation money, the family finally consented. As for the garage, he had liought it for a song—more or less. Arnold s parents had begun to tease him about the “rattle-trap” the day after he had driven it into the yard. Arnold. Jr., did not mind the teasing a bit. and kept on loving and caring for his “car” alone, lie would workout in the garage from early morning until late afternoon, taking ajiart the

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THE QUIVER 30 young lady’s home several times lately. This, of course, was unknown to the cluh members. As Arthur left the cluh on this particular afternoon, in his little roadster, he decided to take a ride around the city. The wind was blowing harder now. and, as he went up a side street, he saw a lady’s hat blow off and. propelled by the wind, go sailing over his machine. I le looked hack, hut seeing nothing, drove on and soon forgot the incident. The hat, however, had lodged on the front of his car between the hood and the mudguard and stayed there in full view of everyone but Arthur while he drove along. Up one street and down another he drove, enjoying the keen crisp air. As he rounded a corner near the City Hall, he waved to a group of friends, hut did not stop. They waved in return, hut were amazed at the sight of the hat on the front of his car. How could it have got there? Had he been riding with a girl, who had left it there? They looked at one another for an answer, hut no one could give one. It was hardly possible that the president of the Bachelor’s Cluh would he riding with a woman. Yet th • hat was there, because they had all seen it. W ell, they would see him about it on the following day; and until then, they let the matter drop. Unconscious of what his friends were saying, Arthur drove on a little while longer and then decided to go home. ( )n his way he passed Elsie Smith, the young lady on whom he had called several times lately, and looking around to make sure that no one saw him. he invited her to ride home with him. She jumjied into the car, and they were soon at her door. As she got out of the car, she noticed the hat on the front of the machine and told him al out it. Arthur was surprised to find the hat there and was at a loss to know what to say. The young woman was angry when he could not explain, and. thanking him coldly for the ride, she turned and quickly entered the house, stopping at the door only long enough to tell him that she wished he would not call again. Arthur, feeling disappointed and a trifle “peeved,” took the hat and rode down to the city again, looking for a hatless woman who might have lost it. He drove through the streets lie had been through that afternoon, stopping now and then to ask a woman without a hat if the one he had found belonged to her. He did not find the owner, however, and finally rode home with the hat still in his possession. hat a fix he was in! What could he do now? How could he explain to Elsie? Women were always had luck to him He wouldn’t ever bother with another in all his life—not even Elsie Smith. His father and mother laughed when he told them about it and tried to cheer him, hut it was useless. He could not forget how Elsie had acted without giving him half a chance to explain, and she was the only woman Insides his mother that he had ever cared for.