Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

Page 8 text:

6 THE SPECTATOR The change in the environment of household furnish- ings as well as many of Irving's personal effects, such as his smoking jacket, the sleeves of which tell tales of long pondering over his works, is due to the transference of Sunnyside from the direct heir to another more distant member of the Irving family. When this heir sold the New York estate, and moved to a great ranch in Texas, he car- ried with him as much as possible of the furnishings used at Sunnyside by his famous great-uncle. The Irving crested silver appears every day on the ranch-house table. The great writer would be amused to see a fortunate cowboy, who happens to be taking a meal at the ranch- house, pick up a fork, examine it closely, and say, What cattle-brand is this? Irving might be interested to know that his elegant china stands just above a shelf full of the commonest Mexican pottery. In fact, this luxurious silver and china contrasts so greatly with its present surroundings, that one can not help but feel that it is out of place in its new home on a Texas cattle-ranch. The Mystery BY ALBERT WALTERS '10 U UCK REED awoke from a troubled sleep with a start. At first he was greatly bewildered, his head swam, something caught in his throat, his eyes smarted. Yes, it was smoke, the dormitory was alire! The boy grew excited as this truth slowly dawned upon him. Something must be done, that quickly. ln a moment he had unlocked his door, was racing down the long corridor, knocking on the doors as he hur- ried by. Finally he reached the Hre alarm. He touched the electric button, the gong clamored. By the time he was making his way back to his room a score of wondering pajama-clads pounced upon him, asking where the fire could be. You idiots, in the dorm, of course. Waken up, isn't there smoke coming out of my door? he screamed at them.

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THB SPECTATOR - 5 fall of the bracing, running toward the cut, the long heavy train rushing swiftly on over the glistening rails, all lit up by the weird, white glare of the flashing sky,-nature could not have provided a hmore terrible setting for the last act in the assistant engineer's life. Nor was the scene silent. The droning of the rain on the roof of the shanty, the swish of the whirling wind as it lashed the dripping trees, the rumble of the on-rushing train, and above it all the uneven roar of thunder, punctuated by crashes so terrific in force that it seemed the earth itself must be shattered by the concussion, all the forces of nature joined in one wild pan- demonium of sound. Suddenly above the roar of the tempest there came the shrill cry ofthe engine-whistle and the scream of the brake- shoes. The engineer had seen the wreckage in the cut, but too late. No power on earth could have stopped that train then. ln the crash that followed the great stone bridge and even the mountains themselves trembled. And at the point where the train crashed into the wreckage, Mitchell lay. I did-what was right, groaned Campbell, as he sank into a chair before the operator's desk. Outside the tempest still raged, the open door banged in the force of the wind, and on the desk a telegraph sounder clattered unheeded. From Sunnyside to a Texas Ranch BY F. L. M. '10 ASHINGTON IRVING, if he should revisit this world to-day, would be greatly surprised to see the present surroundings of the furnishings of his home at Sunnyside. In order to find much of his silver and china- ware, he would have to travel from his seat on the Hudson, over miles and miles of Texas prairie owned in his day, not by the United States, but by Mexico. He would find himself not in the midst of culture and refinement, but with men of a much wilder and more restless nature.

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THE SPBCTATOR 7 No smoke from your door, started one wide-awake fellow, when up stepped Dobson, a master. Have you boys found the fire? he inquired. 1 turned in the alarm, sirg lam sure there is smoke in my room. Come and see for yourselves, answered Puck, a little miffed at not finding smoke in the corridor. Accordingly the white procession marched to Puck's room, where others from the floors below and above met them. A series of sniffing, sneezing, coughing, took place, That was all. Poor Puck's heart sank. To arouse the house on a fake alarm at one o'clock was beyond a mere joke. Dobson spoke up first. See here, Reed, this is no time for pranks. Report to the Doctor's ofnce at eight- thirty in the morning. Yes, sir, came the solemn answer. The procession then melted quickly away, leaving Puck to do the only thing that could be done at the time, go to sleep again. -I I 1 I It was but a half hour later that Puck leaped out of bed once more. Surely there was smoke in his room. He was suffocating, histeyes bulged and burned, he must do something quickly or- Groping his way to the wash- stand, he wet a towel, then tied it over his nose and mouth. He tried the electric light, but no illumination greeted him. ln his disgust he remembered that all connections were broken after eleven o'clock. Then he started toward the door, bumping and bruising himself on two chairs. lf he only had light, but the inky night shut out the faintest glimmer from his room. At last he found the door, then the knob. To his horror the key was not in the lock. After the first incident he had carelessly thrown it aside after locking. He searched for it in vain. Shortly his hands alighted on two heavy iron dumbells. A bright idea struck him. He would smash the door panels thru, That was the only escape out. He could not jump three stories to a concrete walk below, he would not lie there and die like a rat in a trap. What peculiar smoke it was! There was no crackling of flames beneath him, he felt no heat. But the horrible suffocating stuff still remained.