Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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12 THE SPECTATOR threw the enemy. Releasing one hand for a moment he seized a lump of coal, and while his foe attempted to choke him he beat him into unconsciousness with it. He then climbed back into the cab, and brought the train into Williamsburg. Seeing his ap- proach the soldiers greeted him with a cheer, clambored aboard, and while the return journey was being made Keene related the conditions to the Colonel in command. As they neared the town, the Colonel gave the order, “Fix bayonets,” and as the train drew into the railroad yards and the men leaped off, “Strike forma- tion,” “Double quick time,” and “Charge” followed each other in rapid succession. After the strike was broken two weeks later, Keene was call- ed to the President’s office, presented with a check for $1,000, and offered the post of foreman of his own roundhouse. Carey and Myers were also promoted. Since then the end of each year had found Keene occupying a more responsible and more remunerative position; three months previous he had been offered his present situation. As Keene ended his reverie a clerk announced that the Presi- dent would see him. Will’s Valentines ESTELLA FRICK, ’14. It was a week before St. Valentine’s Day. Will, the bad boy of Beesville, had bought two pretty valentines and he hadn;t bought them for nothing. In this village lived Pat McDonald, the general storekeeper. Many a time Bridget McQuire had gone into his store; many a time had he wished he could muster up courage to ask her to become his wife, but his nerve had always failed him at the critical moment. Now it was Leap Year and he was hoping that she would ask the fatal question. But his hope had not been realized. Pat and Bridget were to be the honored recipients of Will’s valentines. Though it was a week before St. Valentine’s Day, when he purchased them, his eagerness got the better of him and he mailed them the same day. The next morning Pat received a letter. On opening it, he found a valentine with the inscription, “I love you,” and Bridget’s name signed to it. “If I had only known it before,” sighed Pat. Meanwhile Bridget had also received a valentine which bore the motto, “Will you marry me? Pat.” Bridget was in an

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THE SPECTATO R 11 citement, rushed up to Mr. Carey, the foreman of the roundhouse, and handed him the following message: “Strikers blew up two hundred feet of track here. Train with soldiers stalled. Send help. “McCRANE, Operator, Williamsburg.” As soon as the vital significance of the news had impressed Carey, he turned to the men, read the telegram aloud and said: “You all know what will happen should the soldiers not arrive here in time. I need not, therefore, warn you of the necessity of immediate action upon our part. I purpose to hook a couple of empty freight cars from the yards to an engine, attempt to run the gauntlet of the strikers, cover the fourteen miles to Williams- burg and then return with the troops. I need two men to ac- company me and as it is an extremely hazardous undertaking, I prefer men with no family connections.” A hundred voices shouted, “I will go,” “Take me.” Carey running his eye over the assemblage picked Keene as engineer and a man named Myers as his fireman. As Keene’s engine left the shelter of the roundhouse ten min- utes later missiles were thrown at them. On their left they could see a party of strikers setting freight cars afire. Seeing several empty freight cars on a siding nearby, Keene backed the engine so that the cars could be connected with it. Carey sprang off to couple them, but as his feet touched ground a brickbat hurled by a striker knocked him senseless. Myers, the fireman, then leap- ed down, made the connection, and the train pulled off, just as the leaders of the strikers reached the spot. Keene was just con- gratulating himself upon his escape, the town having been left a mile behind, when over the top of the tender appeared the leer- ing eyes of three strikers. Myers seized a shovel, Keene a wrench, and there on the top of the tender, they closed with the enemy. Myers’ first blow knocked a striker senseless, but an- other had meanwhile leaped on Keene and was slowly choking him. Keene’s assailant was a larger man than himself, and was besides armed with a stout stick. The struggle, however, soon resolved itself into a wrestling match. Keene had downed his assailant and had put him hors de combat by a blow on the chin, when the third striker, who had vanquished Myers, leaped at him. The two met and on the top of the swaying, speeding tender, the struggle continued. Keene soon realized that it would tax even his enormous strength developed by hard exercise and a clean life, for him to hold his own. For five, six, eight minutes the struggle was prolonged; now one, now the other had the ad- vantage ; knowing that his strength would not much longer en- dure the enormous strain, Keene, by a last desperate attempt,

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THE SPECTATO R 13 ecstacy of delight. That afternoon Pat closed the general store and hurried over to Bridget’s house with his precious valentine. “Good afternoon Bridget, said Pat. “Good afternoon, said Bridget, conducting Pat into the par- lor, where they remained for a long while. “Oi’m so glad that ye love me,” exclaimed Pat. Who told ye oi love ye? answered Bridget. “Why this valentine ye sent me told me, said Pat. “Oi niver sint the likes of ye a valentine, Bridget replied. Then followed a careful examination of the valentines. “Begorrah,” exclaimed Pat, “it must ’afe been St. Valentine himself who sent them. But will ye marry me anyway, Bridget? “Oi will, Pat,” replied Bridget, “if ye promise to do what oi tell ye after we are married.” Oi promise,” said Pat. When Will heard the news, he congratulated Pat and teased him about the valentines. “How did he know about the valentines,” thought Pat and aloud he asked, “Were ye the little brat that sint them?” Will confessed what he had done and on Valentine’s Day he was the guest of honor at the wedding of Pat McDonald and Bridget McQuire. A Soldier’s Sacrifice JOS. KAMINSKY, ’l2. The Crimean War raged fiercely. Gen. Marivin, the Russian military expert, was home with his mother in St. Petersburg. She was afflicted with cholera. The last call came for the young gen- eral to report for duty, and he realized that he had to go. He left in October, a few days after the call. The parting words of his kind mother rang in his ears: “Alexis, come back before I die.” The ride to Odessa was long, but nevertheless the time passed rapidly, and he reached his destination within twenty- eight hours. He was met by cheers and shouts from the entire army, but his heart remained heavy. He led his regiment west- ward, where he combined his forces with those of Gen. Rinas. The combined forces moved southward where the Czar ordered them to attack some Turkish forces. Meeting the foe the Rus- sians almost annihilated the Turkish army. Here, Gen. Marivin was greatly honored, Czar Nicholas I himself awarding him a medal for excellent work and heroic bravery. The Turks, deter- mined to avenge their defeat and regain their lost power, mus-