Kendallville High School - Kay Aitch Ess Yearbook (Kendallville, IN)

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lKR'AI l ll Drinking once I grew quite bleary, thinking of a girl friend cheery, Of a girl friend who had left me, left me not too long before. Soon I nodded, soon was napping, presently I heard a tapping As of wings so gently flapping, flapping at my bedroom door. The canary's out, I muttered, flapping at my bedroom door, Only this and nothing more. Once again I fell to sipping, to my lips the large flask tipping. If the bottle were an apple, I would now have reached the core. I made move to now discard it, I'm afraid I must have jarred it, Fragments of it were now scattered all about the bedroom floor. Of the two I had to start with, one was on the bedroom floor, One was left and nothing more. Then I raised my eyes to doorward, my hair lifted-pointed forward! For a large and terrible raven was now oozing through the door. Was it that I had been boozing? Or my senses I was losing? For the bird now drifted skyward to a frame above the door. In a picture frame it perched and sat above my bedroom door. Perched and sat and nothing more. His dark eyes made me address them, Words could never quite express them. So I told him of my troubles and the girl I'd had before. How I'd felt since she had left me, felt since so much was bereft me, How she'd left me for another that she'd seldom seen before. I was drinking, since she'd left me for a man scarce seen before. Quoth the Raven, One drink more. Since his words were of the soundest, next my drinking was the roundest. For I scarce could see the raven perched above the bedroom door. I glanced downward, hardly daring, for beneath, the floor was tearing! There appeared a host of elephants, elephants rising from the floorl A great herd of colored elephants rising from the bedroom floor! Quoth an elephant, One drink more. Next, there followed dogs and donkeys, cats and rats and bats and monkeys Rabbits, kangaroos, and 'possurns, and a fierce wild old boar. What an odd conglomerationl Animals from every nation! Till I felt like old man Noah and his animals of yore. Felt exactly like old Noah and his coupled beasts of yore! Quoth the chorus, One drink more. Now we sure don't want to grieve you, but we fear that we must leave you,' Said my bedroom zoo to me as they again went through the floor. My menagerie was shrinking as they through the floor were sinking, I was soon left with the raven who still sat above the door. All were gone except the raven who remained above the door. Quoth the Raven, Take one more. No, I said. Bird, do not tempt me, she would never then exempt me I-'rom the class in which she put me, put me not so long before. F or she said I was a drunkard and a good for nothing lunkard, Iust because I drank a little--drank a little-never more. She had no right to chastise me-I take two drinks-never more. I will take just one drink more. Page 28

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1 'g-vrgiwf jfg '-rw , - P-'Exam - -fr-it-5.-7. - - ,..,-Fxlrrh, . . , NOBLE COUNTY l am from Noble County. These words mentioned by anyone eighty years ago in any state of the Union and Canada would have caused that person to be marked as one weighed in the balance and found wanting, and as one Well qualified and suitable to bear watching. The reason for Noble County's unsavory reputation was the reign of the Black Legs. Before the County had become extensively settled and the pioneers were yet mainly interested in building homes, draining swamps, and leveling forests loaded with deer, tur- keys, wolves, coons, and a few bears and wild cats, a powerful band of crim- inals nationally and internationally notorious had established its headquarters in the tamaracks, an ideal hide-out near Rome City. Many respectable and upstanding citizens were in league with the crim- inals, giving them valuable information and safe hide-out. The regulators and the hanging of Gregory MacDougal snapped the vicious circle or ring of criminals. Most of the settlers were, like all sturdy pioneers, a kind and sympathetic lot. This was demonstrated during the fever sickness of 1838. The County at that time was ten to fifteen percent swamp. The year was wet until the middle of Iune. No more rain fell until next winter. Nothing planted grew. The intense heat of summer evaporated stagnant waters causing malaria to spread. The lack of doctors and medical supplies increased the suffering. At Rochester all except two in the whole village were sick. These two, Mr. Dorus Swift and Miss Achsah Kent, attended to the villagers' needs. The pioneer's life was not a monotonous grind as many believe. Quilting parties, spelling bees, inns and taverns, hangings, and politics were a part of his daily life. The last is probably the most interesting to write on. Tippe- canoe and Tyler too was a campaign cry long remembered. William Mitchell's ox roast was another high light. Opponents for an office traveled together, sleeping in the same house. Even in the good old days the courts had their Clarence Darrows. David H. Colerick speaking against conclusive proof fthe pork was found in the client's cellarl secured a verdict for his client of not guilty of charges of hog- stealing. In the elections at Wayne Center some clever politics was practiced. The school where the voting was done was surrounded by thick brush. Each party had a full whiskey jug hidden in the brush and many a Whig and Democrat staggered out of the brush and walking in a very crooked line, voted a straight ticket. Of course, too, financiers flourished then as now. The plank road now called the Lima road was a failure. The other road, a canal from Fort Wayne to Michigan City, using the Elkhart River, was another affair that dwindled into financial losses. An excavation from Albion to Rome City was made. It can still be seen on the Old Canal Road whose road bed is the bottom of this canal. A law in the books that is no longer in force reads Horses on pavement prohibited except during loading or unloading of vehicle. The years filed by. Railroads and better highways came into Noble County. We sent our quota of men to the Civil War. Industries settled here, tavems grew into villages and towns. Better methods in agriculture and sanitation added to the enjoyment of life. Paved roads, better law enforcement and a more extensive and effective system of education have all added to our dear old county until now without shame or fear of distrust, you may proudly say I am from Noble County. David Runden Page 27

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Prophet bird, I cried, don't fail me. Is there naught that will avail me? But the Raven too was fading-fading through the bedroom door. lust a minute, I implore you! I have one more question for you, Will she ever? Will she never come back to me anymore? This! Oh Raven, is my question: Will she come back anymore? Like a laugh came, Nevermore. Wyndham Brown-Senior. TO GO OR NOT TO GO To go or not to go-that is the question! No, this is not intended as a takeoff on Hamlet, but rather a modern application of that idea, as set down by Shakespeare many years ago. College is the place referred to in the opening sentence. Nowadays, and at about this time of year, the high school Senior is pondering this question. The Post-Graduate is thinking about this, also. Undoubtedly others, too, are giving vent to philosophics along the same line. As long as this vast army is loosing brilliant thoughts on this subject, why should.n't I? Let this group of words be a help to all these in answering their queries, or disregard the whole matter entirely. First, it would be impossible, as well as foolish, for every person who graduates from high school to go to college. Most colleges prefer students for entrance who graduate in the upper part of their class. Then there are some persons who would never care to be any more than ditch diggers anyway. I'm not saying that everybody would not be better off after a period in college, but I repeat that, as harshas it may seem, a certain few in our country are so ultra-reactionary that they can see no gain in becoming as intelligent as possible. But, secondly, everybody who cares enough to ask whether or not to go, I believe, should go. Of course the financial side always rears its ugly head. Finances in college are becoming easier and easier to meet these days. Those of us who are not able to enter some private institution can always look to the State, tuition free, Colleges. Scholarships are always available to those who want them and are willing to work hard for them. At the Uni- versity many jobs, which tend to make the expenses of your education neg- ligible, are now available. There are left those of that class who have never had a care or worry as to where that college education was coming from. They go away to school, enter all social functions, study occasionally, cram when exams come around, finish college or flunk, then live off Dad the rest of their lives. I don't mean that all do this, just that one class. Sometimes our Longs and Townsends pop up with ideas to change all this, but it is human nature and impossible to change. It is a well-known fact some of those who have many opportunities snatch the wrong one, while the one with few chances by dint of hard labor succeeds. Ioe Deal-Senior. Page Z9