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66

While I'm at it, I suppose it would be desirable to dispose of one other incident that did me no credit. This was skipping school, something I'd never done before or even contemplated.  I take full responsibility for the railroading episodes but I don't really think that I was the instigator of the school skipping affair. It must have been along about the second year in North High when I was around 15. Somebody in our gang recounted how various guys skipped school whenever they felt like it and got away with it -- it was a cinch and the school authorities would accept almost anything in the way of a written excuse and ask no questions. It was in the spring when spring fever rises strongly in the blood and an illegitimate day off from school appeared doubly desirable. So the decision was made and I believe that the culprits were Jack Persse, John Montgomery and I. We picked a beautiful day along in May and instead of going to school, we just kept on walking north and walked all the way to Liverpool, some 6-7 miles, arriving out there around 11 a.m. Then we took a Rockwell Springs street car, the line running between Liverpool and Rockwell Springs, traversing the whole city of Syracuse in between, and rode clear to Rockwell Springs, a ride of roughly 15—18 miles, fare 5¢. We all carried our lunch so when we reached Rockwell Springs, a tiny settlement, it was a short walk up a country lane to an idyllic spot, in the shade beside a field softly green with the awakening of spring, where we reclined and ate. It was indeed delightful; there was no question about it and I must confess that few picnics I've ever had, did I enjoy any more than this. We lounged around for a bit, thoroughly enjoying the rural scene as well as, I presume, the sense of adventure, of daring, and then we took the car back to town and arranged to arrive home at the proper time for returning from school. The only hurdle remaining was the procurement of the phoney excuse and for this, we turned to Beth Anable, who gladly wrote three excuses, presumably from our parents, giving illness as the reason for the absence. I still remember having some uneasy feelings about how simple it would be for the school authorities to compare the handwriting on this note with my mother’s on previous ones, but this was a risk we had to take. Well, everything went as smooth as could be. There was no question we'd pulled it off successfully when we'd had no repercussions after a couple of weeks had passed. So, the weather being even better by that time, we decided to do it again and we did, following the same route and submitting the excuses as prepared by Beth Anable. There appeared to be no problem at school but within two days, our parents had been informed of our perfidy and we were severely reprimanded, and I mean [[underscore]]severely[[/underscore]]. What had happened? In some manner, Elizabeth Booth, across the street, had gotten on to us and had told her parents and they had communicated with ours and the jig was up. I never skipped school again but I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed those two experiences as adventures the like of which I'd never had before nor really ever had again.