Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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THE SPECTATOR li An Ocean Wave Hotter than Arizona.. H Dl lNlNlORTALlS EST. How happy the world seemed to the young man, who, after weeks of search for employment, at last succeeded in obtaining a position as assistant clerk. Oh! Madame, how can I ever repay you for your kindness. It gives me life and hope, and I shall be your most devoted slave. Command me, and all shall be accomplished. He hnished so dramatically that the stout proprietress stepped back with a startled look. Hal l-la! At last l have met the youth who doth rival my own son. You shall receive your board and a dollar each week, with a chance for a raise. Will that suit you P Would that suit him? It would suit him like an enterprising tailor. What did wages matter to him? Why, the very privilege of staying in Atlantic City all summer was as great as a musquito's bite in August. Philip, you may take this dress-suit case up to room No. 13, on the first floor. Yes mum, he answered eagerly. With a bound he grasped the grip and made for the stairs. But not without a mishap, for in his haste he stepped upon the landlady's understandings. After a few high notes like the music of a freight whistle, she accepted the ever- ready apologies of her new pilot. Once again he started on his fatal trip for the narrow stairway which led over the clerk's desk in the ofhce. Having progressed as far up the stairs as to be directly over the desk, he was met by another stout lady coming down. But lo to him, in order to make room for her to pass, he, with a graceful swing, brought the rickety suit-case on the outside of the railing. The sudden stop was too much, for the handle came off and the suit-case dropped with the speed of a watermelon down a negro's throat. It struck the busy clerk square on the back of his neck and rammed his face in a bowl of red ink. Such a blood-

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10 TIHE SPECTATOR The High School boys were in despair, for the last event was the mile race, in which Chevers and Cules were entered for the Independents and Brooks and Lars- ton for the High School. Chevers was expected to win, Brooks to take second place, and Cules third, while Larston was regarded as an outsider with no running qualities. Charles was not discouraged, for he knew Chevers' and Brooks' style of runningg if they followed it in this race, he was confident of winning. When the time came for the start and the men fell into position, their broad backs gleaming in the sun and every muscle quivering as if longing to burst from the skin, it was a sight to thrill the nerves and send the blood rushing through the veins of every lover of strength and sport. The start was magnificentg the men sprang forward as if shot from a gun. Chevers led, Brooks was second, Cules third, and Larston fourth. Round! round! they go, the race remaining the same until the quarter is reached, where Brooks takes the lead only to lose it again at the half. The long strain is beginning to tell on the leaders, and their breath comes in quick, short one-eighth pants. As the last quarter is reached Larston passes Cules and is rapidly gaining on the leaders. Now Brooks has dropped behind, and Larston soon overtakes and passes him. But Chevers is still running, going at the terrible pace that he has kept since the start. Only of a mile yet to go, and Larston gains steadily, inch by inch, so that Chevers soon hears his steady tramp, tramp, behind him. As he hears it he quickens his pace and shoots forward at a terrific pace, but in vain. He cannnot shake off Larston, and as the stretch is reached they are neck-and-neck. The strain is terrible, their heads seem burstingg their hearts beat- ing like trip-hammers. Now the line is only a few yards distant, a few more bounds, and all will be over. Lars- ton, with one supreme effort, shoots forward and wins the race in the phenomenal time of four minutes and thirty seconds. Brooks comes in third, and, as he falls across the line, he and Charles Larston are lifted to the shoulders of a crowd of cheering High School boys and borne to their dressing rooms, J. R. M., ex-'o5. i

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I2 THE SPECTATOR curdling yell as he and the landlady let out when she noticed the red stream flowing from the former's face, was too much for the stout lady on the stairs. She fainted and her 276 pounds of avordupois came bouncing down and struck the beautiful cabinet containing the madam's dainty bric-a-brac with a terrible crash. This was not all, for excited men rushed in from the outside, women fainted, children screamed, and the whole house was in an uproar. Finally, however, a trio of the dare- devil type noticed the heroic experience of the anarchist on the stairs and at once made a wild rush towards him, but a voice weird and commanding stopped their impetuous ascent. Hold! it cried, the first man to put a foot on yonder stair will be destroyed by a power greater than Xocpignusf' And he' looked every word of it, for he remembered the heir in Chester Devonde's masterpiece The Deadman's Skull, who was so brave and daring. A new fear seized the excited throng, for in the hand of the young Bluebeard was a small vial-like bottle Qwhich happened to be the smelling salts of the tainted giantessj, and naturally the rumor started that it con- tained hipothoratic glycerine. He was quick to learn this and to take advantage of it. Holding the bottle aloft, he threatened to hurl it to the floor if anyone molested him as he made his way to the street. It is needless to say that his feet nearly melted the bricks in the sidewalk, for he made the speed of a fanatic bumblebee, and boarded the first freight for Joyful. Moral: A seashore job is like an empty house- nichts drinen. THE OLD SCOUT. A Disappointed Crowd 66 I D LIKE to find out who the rogues were, said Will Graham to his friend, George Woods, as they stood viewing the ruins of the handsome,little building they had lately built for the fall hunting season. Some of the boys of the vicinity had erected a camp, in which they had stored nuts and Other Pf0ViS-