George Washington High School - Post Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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V171 SIIENIMDIIR IIIWIDSIIT llI'LD 5IlI' A PEACEFUL SUNDAY If we could have foreseen the disastrous events of that memorable trip to Brown County, I am sure we would have stayed at home and eaten a peaceful Sunday dinner. As it was, however, our branch of the family tree set forth with light hearts in our noisy and rather dilapidated Junker Straight Eight. All went well until Mother insisted on a safe rate of speed, thirty-five to forty miles an hour. Like most mothers, she is an ardent advocate of moderation in speed, which is rather fortunate for pedestrians. Tut, the above mentioned vehicle, emits somewhat doubtful and peculiar sounds when she speeds over rough roads. These noises might be described as a cross between an erupting volcano and a volley of machine gun bullets. As I look back bitterly on that expedition, I must confess that the scen- ery was all we expected -in the Way of hills. I particularly remember one hill. After a sharp curve, we found ourselves shooting down what seemed a small mountain, at the base of which a cemetery was most appropriate- ly situated. - - It was Mother's idea to spread our lunch just off a little by-road and eat under the quiet and solitude of sheltering trees, or something like that. I don't know how many by roads we explored, but I am sure' that many a farmer's quiet and solitude was destroyed by Tut's noisy advent up his privatedrive way. Indeed, I have often noticed the expression of amazement and incredulity written on the faces of the unsuspecting country folk when Tut streams by. Finally, in despair of ever finding the perfect lunching place, we spread our table in what seemed to be a private orchard. We en- joyed the food immensely until Mother became doubtful about the good nature of an approaching farmer who carried a large rifle in arather men- acing position. He didn't even notice us though, and Mother, greatly re- lieved, peppered the radishes with great gusto. After our frugal meal we decided to lounge about and read for a while. This was a most advisable course it developed, for Mary had eaten a quart of beets to get to the pickled egg at the bottom, and, as aresult, did not feel as well as she might. Moreover, she was sulky because she was forbidden to read the fifty-second installment of a love story she had brought. Altogether, we were in a bad humor when we started for home, a con- dition which wasn't improved any when Tut developed carburetor trouble and refused to climb hills. Up to that time, Ihad been very well satisfied, but I bitterly remarked that I didn't mind at all walking from the south- ern part of the state to Indianapolis, but I did resent having to lug a ton of boulders most of the way. You doubtless know the system. One per- son gets out of the car, and places a large rock behind a rear wheel at lContinued on page 10.7 l7l

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I SIIENIMOIIR IIPQDSW Il'L'9 ill! ALLEGORY One fine spring morning about four years ago, Mr. Head Gardener stepped out of his office in the School Board. Looking west, he noticed the crowded nurseries and decided that it was time for transplanting, so he set about to choose a site upon which to plant a young tree. After due consideration he selected a spot where a newly transplanted tree might obtain ample light and air, that wide expanse of land just west of Belmont on Washington Street. He gave orders that the hole be dug and that experienced gardeners be chosen. Finally everything was ready and the sturdy sapling, George Washington High School, was planted. It had been given every care as it had grown up in the nearby nursery, and now was ready to begin its upward growth, expanding and developing each part to make itself a tree of which the whole city might be proud. The interested community watched daily while the sap of the school spirit rose, quickening the plant and promoting growth in every part. The feeder roots, the Civic Quest and Latin Club with their educational pro- grams, and the support roots, the Girl Reserves, Camp Fire Girls, and the Hi-Y Club, having outside interests yet supporting the school, set to work to establish themselves firmly in the soil. They grew rapidly, extending far and contributing food for growth. The Student Body making up the trunk, which supports every part from the largest bough to the tiniest twig, branched off into the various depart- ments and organizations of the school. The Usher Club was a unit in itself, yet by ramifications it extended into every other club. As bark, the Surveyor and the Senior Post covered every activity of the growing tree. Many companies of leaves made their appearance. During the course of time, birds came to grace this tree. The Girls' and Boys' Glee Clubs warbled every kind of song, while the modest Doves, the Choir, lent beauty and dignity with their sweet voices. The young Ro- bins, the Junior Orchestra, learned to trill their first notes after hearing their elders, the Senior Orchestra. Along came the wind, as the wind usu- ally does, in the person of the Band, and it, too, played through the leaves and sent joyful music throughout the whole community. After several years, an adventitious bud, the Stamp Club, developed. Inspired by this, the aerial shoot, Aircraft Club, sprang forth. Each year, beautiful blossoms burst forth, the Washingtonians and Minute Men. Throughout the season they developed until the time ap- proached for them to leave their means of sustenance. Out into the world drifted the Graduates, the fruit of this glorious tree which shall ever con- tinue to prosper and send forth fine fruit to make glad the hearts of the gardeners. -Credella Campbell l6l

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S IIEN lIl1lD IIR IIP4lD XIII llI'LD 5 III A FOREST FIRE . Immediately after our arrival at Lake Sawyer in northern Wisconsin, we unpacked and were just taking an inventory of the cabin when we noticed smoke almost covering the southwestern part of the sky. A forest fire, which supposedly had been put out by the rangers, had been blown into quite a blaze by the strong wind. The campers, rushing from their cottages with all sorts of strange things, jammed them into already overpacked auto- mobiles. Little chipmunks came hurrying from their homes to run down to the edge of the lake. A porcupine came lumbering along, and growling to himself about the queer humans who got everything turned end for end, halted by the water's edge. I don't know whether they put on shows like that for all Hoosiers, but itvcertainly was exciting. Finally, we, too, moved out for we had not the slightest notion of what a forest fire would do. After we had placed the car with our belongings on the road through the cultivated fields, my father and I went back to see how the fire had progressed Without us. It seemed to have done quite well, for the air was full of black eye-stinging smoke. The sun seemed simply an orange,colored disk in the smoke. The whole scene was flooded with fantastic light which made people take absurd, grotesque shapes through our tear-filled eyes. The forest rangers stood along the road with shovels to put out any sparks that might be blown across. One fire fighter had a little hose affair that might have been effective in .putting out ciga- rette lighters but nothing much bigger. Climbing a hill to where I could see the forest fire as a whole, I watch- ed the occasional pines in the .birch forest flare up suddenly in an extraor- dinarily bright mass of flames. The flames gained momentum and swept to the top of the old veteran of the forest. A bird's nest was somehow dislodged and went streaming towards Mother Earth, in a self-made halo, for all the world like a great meteor. Meanwhile the needles on the pine had burned away and the tree now stood naked, its limbs pointing upwards, a ghastly skeleton of its former self. And as far as the eye could see there appeared to be trees with gnarled and leafless branches standing guard over the ashes of departed comrades and relatives. Smoking logs bore mute evidence of the recentness of the disaster. Only people who have lost their all in some bank failure can appreciate how the squirrels felt as they saw their homes, their food supply, and their tree friends burned in a fire caused by human care- lessness. That night we came back to our cottages and smoke-filled rooms. How- ever, even the excitement of the day and the smoke could not keep weary lids apart. Soon everyone slept. - -Stanley Lawton l8l