Evening star., 1931-06-18

"A " 4I1OINs N>'AbOAb
" binder and copyright owner
"A Christine Kempton, 15-year-old
4 u graduate of the Langley Junior
High School, is each and all of
these in the product on of Reeds and
Ripples," little volume of poetry. And
between times, she is newspaper pub
Usher.
Christine received her diploma from
Langley last night and in exchange for
the coveted certificate, she presented
Chester w. Holmes, principal, with an
autographed copy of her book.
The little long-curled girl has been
writing since she was S years old,
though of course. she explains, she's
been turning out the more serious
things only since she was 10. When
she collected quite mass Of her poems
she naturally sought a means of pub
fishing them, so last Fall she entered
the printing class at Langley Junior
High School, where she undertook that
subject as fifth major" meaning she
spent five hours a week learning the
mysteries of type, ink and presses in
addition to her regular quota OF aca-
demic subjects.
Set All Type by Hand.
Having learned enough to 60 ahead,
Christine chose nine of her poems for
publication. She set by hand all the
type She read proof on the type. She
.made-up" the little page forms OF her
book. She printed the pages and the
cover On the schools electrically pow
cred presses. She stitched the pages
into a booklet, and thsn she submitted
the finished product to the Library OF
Congress and had it properly copy
righted under her own title, Reeds and
Ripples." The book is dedicated to
Chester w. Holmes, her schools prin-
cipal, and to Theodore Robb, the
schools printing instructor, who taught
her the printing business.
Reeds and Ripples" includes a poem
about one of the Capitals bridges 1t is
To the Lions on Sixteenth Street
Bridge" and it is presented here by
special permission of the copyright
owner"
You never move a tail or paw.
You stare ahead with cold steel eyes
Sitting silent all day long,
Helpless, lions, for all your size.
Don't you get lonesome sitting there,
Maybe giving children fright?
Or do you up! and dance about
When falls the silent shade of night?
All, no! cause then you wait in vain.
It's never silent down your way
There're autos tearing back and forth.
And street lamps shine as bright as
day.
Now, don't you long for jungle wilds?
To Jump about so wild and free?
But vet you've never known that life
So lions, I'll let your matter be.
Dark" Won Gold Medal.
And then there's another called
Dark" 1t already has won for Chris
tine a gold medal. Here it is:
OBJ co'se ah'm not afraid OBJ dark
Uf ah has light.
All guess ah'm not afraid OBJ spooks
An creepy things at night.
All amt much skeered OBJ de screen
Or OBJ de whippoor
Or OBJ de scratchy noises
When eberything is still.
All knows it's jest all foolish When
Folks say de witches ride,
But les de same, when darkness come,
Ah'd rather be inside.
(But I amt afraidD
Now one of the interesting things
about this Christine, who Is ambitious
to be newspaper woman some Gay:
that the three years she spent at the
Langley Junior High School constitute
her total schooling. She never went TO
elementary school but but taught her
self around home" While she Is
scheduled to enter Central High
School next Fall, it still is uncertain
whether she will continue her educa-
ton at college. Her folks aren't sure
about the merits of college training yet.
Meanwhile, Christine is preparing to
return for the Summer to her publish
ing business. She is owner, publisher,
editor and writing staff of the Lanham
News, a little newspaper she has issued
for the past three Summers. 1t is
mimeographed affair carrying Chris
tines own .pen-and-ink drawings by
way of illustrations.
She is the daughter of Mr.. and Mrs.
James Kefnpton of Lanham, Md.