Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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THE QUIVER 31 After dinner the next day. Arthur went to his club in an effort to find some means of amusement. As he drove into the yard, several of the men who had been ground around another automobile came over to see him. They immediately mentioned the fact that they had seen the lady’s hat on his car the day l efore, and, of course, they wanted to hear his story. Arthur explained the facts very nicely, and if they had believed him, everything would have been all right. Hut they didn’t believe him. and they laughed at him when he denied having Ijeen “joy riding” with a woman. Finally, one of the men looked over Arthur’s car as if he expected to find another hat and noticed a hairpin on the floor. He made the fact known at once, and, at a special meeting a few days later, they asked Arthur to resign as head of the club. He did so, feeling very sad, and immediately withdrew from the dub. If the men exacted to see him in company with some young lady s ion. they were disappointed, for, although he had seen Elsie Smith secretly in the past, this affair made him shun women more than ever. In his room at home, Arthur thought over the incident, and it made him feel very hitter against all of the “weaker sex.” Because of a woman’s hat and a woman’s hairpin, he had lost the office of president of his club and had also lost the only young woman for whom he had ever cared The more he thought about it. the less he thought of women; and in this state of mind, he vowed never to have anything to do with women again. Now he really is a “woman hater.” and he might tell you this story, were you to ask him why he is a l achelor. C. Arthur Feei.ey. ’26. GAMA Gama was a little Belgian clog that belonged to a friend that lived on the same street as we did. His mistress died suddenly, and (jama used to come up to our house a great deal and follow my mother around all the time. In a few months the dog’s family moved away; and as the dog seemed to like my mother so well, his master said that we might as well keep him. Gama was a small dog. all black except for a brown s] ot over each eye, and a white vest. He had beautiful brown eyes that seemed to sjjeak to you and had a very intelligent look. His black coat was very sleek and shiny, looking as though he had just been brushed. As (jama had lived with French people all his life, he understood French much lietter than he did English, and we had some trouble at first trying to make him understand all that we wanted him to. On the whole, he got along very well, and we all loved him very much. Even Toby, our cat. would go to sleep curled up beside him.

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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.

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32 THE QUIVER As Gama was still young when we got him. we had a chance to teach him a great many tricks. He already knew a few. lie could stand on hi.s hind legs and walk for a short distance, go to the door and get the paper from the paj er girl, and bring it to us. and do numerous other things. The most important trick we wanted him to master was to carry things home from the store, hut this was the one thing that he could not do. My mother would send him to the corner store with a basket and a note to the storeman, telling him what she wanted. Gama would usually get to the store safely enough, hut on the way Irack something would always divert his attention, and the basket would 1 e found in the middle of the sidewalk some time later, while Gama would lx? off across the fields. Although Gama was small, he was very strong. He could take hold of a child’s dress and pull her all over the yard. The summer after we got Gama, we went to camp. Gama loved the place, hut we found that he did not like the water. He would go out in the boat or canoe, hut we could not make him go in bathing. One day we had coni| any at camp, and there were some small children. Of course, they all wanted to go in bathing. Most of the children paddled around in shallow water and played in the sand, so we thought they were ] erfectly safe. Suddenly there was a great commotion out in front, and one of the little girls rushed into the house, shouting. “Alice is drowning! Hurry!” Everyone was too shocked to speak. Then we all heard a dog bark. It was Gama! W ith one leap lie had gone off the piazza and down to the beach. Some distance out we could see little Alice, who had thought she could swim and had gone in over her depth. Even with Gama's great fear of the water, he waded out. then began to swim. We watched eagerly. It seemed as though he would never get there, though he was swimming fast. At last he reached the little girl. He grabbed hold of her dress, as he used to do when playing with her down home, and slowly swam ashore. Gama was a hero for the rest of the summer, though no one could make him go near the water again. In September, when we came home, (jama seemed glad to get back to bis old playmates. Like all other dogs, he liked to play in the road and would often run after machines, though we tried to stop him. One day there was unusually heavy traffic on our street. Gama was playing in the road, when a large truck hit him and killed him instantly. He was buried a short distance from our home, and all the children and some older friends came to the funeral. The children of the neighliorhood. who had loved him so, had a rough stone put over his grave, on which they had printed, “Gama the faithful.” Sibyl Sf.ari.e, '26.