Arsenal Technical High School - Arsenal Cannon Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 12 text:

10 THE ARSENAL CANNON be inlhiers nf the bail QPrize Short Story.D A military spirit hovered over the little town, or rather that part of it near John Lincoln's house. In J ohn's back-yard it seemed to be particularly in evidence. There a group of boys were gathered about alsturdy twelve-year old boy who was lecturing them somewhat as o ows: Now, fellows, y'know my brother Dan enlisted last night an' he's goin' to iight for our country and flag. CHere John saluted the flag waving over the woodshed with a flourish-Brother Dan had just taught him how.l An' you know that we're goin' to have a big war-an'-well, I wanta help-don't you? he appealed. Sure we do, asserted the interested boys. But how c'n we? questioned little Cy Newton. Well, y'know that a lot o' men 'll 'list to be soldiers an soldiers eat a awful lot an' the papers have been full of talk about raisin' gardens and things. An' about its bein' just as paterotic to work on the farms as it is to fight the Germans an' all -John had to stop for breath and as he did so his eyes searched his small audience for signs of approval. Finding it there in abundance but mixed with a measure of questioning he continued. So I thought maybe we c'd make a army an' raise a lot o' things to send to our soldiers! John had struck a popular note for all boys delight in anything pertaining to an army and since these boys were no exception to the rule, they fell to planning with an unusual show of enthusiasm. And we'll call ourselves 'Soldiers of the Soil,' suggested Andy Jones the oldest boy. When Andy approved of any venture it was sure to succeed. The boys were perched on the benches and boxes which were ever conveniently placed in Jump's shop. CJohn was commonly known as Jump because of its apt portrayal of his character, perhaps.D Sug- gestions regarding the new idea were offered on all sides. Finally Jump said, Well, I guess the first thing to do is to find some land that we can farm. Say, my grandad said I could use his two-acre field over by the bridge if I wanted to, piped up little Cy. The tiny nine-year old lad was always known as little Cy because of his fathers unusual size. Cy, you're a brick an' so's your grandad! Let's go an' look it over right away, proposed enthusiastic John. I say 'Jump', wait a minute, advised soberer-minded Andy, we'd best talk about the seeds an' what we're going to plant iirst, hadn't we? Sure, I'd a fergot that part of it, laughed 'Jump', what will we plant on 'our farm'? Pa'll let me have a few seed potatoes, I know, contributed Harold Brown, popularly 'Hal'. So'll mine, said John.

Page 11 text:

THE ARSENAL CANNON 9 THE SECTIONAL TRACK MEET One Indiana high school record was broken and another tied in the Indianapolis district track and field meet which was won by Manual at the State Fair Grounds Saturday afternoon May 19. Manual scored twenty-eight points, Atlanta nineteen, Sheridan sixteen and Technical and Shortridge each nine. Shortridge won the relay. Hull of Noblesville bettered the state record for the high jump when he cleared the bar at five feet eleven inches. Garten equaled the best time ever made in Indiana high school competition in the 120 yard hurdles when he made the distance in 16 4-5 seconds. The mark was not allowed because of the strong wind at the athlete's back. Garten, captain of the Manual squad, captured individual honors when he won four firsts. The 120 yard hurdles, the 220 yard hurdles, the running broad jump and the pole vault were all won by him. As a result of the meet Tech qualified four men for the meet at Lafayette May 26. They are Capt. Perkins, Bill Jungclaus, A. Mcllvaine and Lefty Wagner. Perkie, who had not yet fully recovered from the measles, took third in the 100 and second in the 220 yd. dashes. Jungclaus took third in the high jump, Wagner third in the shot put, and Mac second in the low hurdles. SENIORS CELEBRATE TREE DAY The June '17 seniors held their Tree Day Exercises in the new lunch room Wednesday, May 2. Each senior brought a freshman to the exercises as his guest, and they marched by twos into the lunch room. The School Orchestra together with the Boys' and Girls' Glee Clubs furnished the music for the occasion. The first speaker was Gladys Trout, who talked about the different trees on the campus and gave a brief history of Tech's seventy-six acres. Mr. Stuart then gave a short and interesting talk pertaining to trees. Josephine Woolling followed this address with a humorous reading. Mr. William Watson Woollen, the principal speaker for the occasion was then introduced by Mr. Stuart. Mr. Woollen told about the trees in Woollen's Garden where anything is allowed to grow that chooses to. He also gave valuable instruction as to the planting of different trees. He presented to Technical the four trees, the Maple, the Red Bud, the Burr Oak and the Persimmon, which were planted that day Mr. Woollen has given Indianapolis Woollen's Gardens, now com- monly known as Buzzards' Roost. Mr. Stuart then introduced Mrs. Stuart who read a poem of her own composition in which she tolfl of the beauties of Indiana. Her's was a tribute of real poetic va ue. After this, everyone went to the Arsenal Building Where the first tree, Woollen's Maple, was planted by Mr. Woollen himself. Then Rachael Todd, the vice-president of the class, presented him with a. bouquet of white roses. The Burr Oak, Mr. Stuart's tree, was planted between the Barn and the Barracks. Near it is Mrs. Stuart's tree, the Red Bud. And the Persimmon was planted in front of the powder magazine.

Page 13 text:

THE ARSENAL CANNON 11 And my uncle's got some extra pea seed that he can't use, from Ned Robinson. We've got more bean seed than we need, volunteered Paul Grant And, Say, Joe Winters fairly shouted in an effort to make himself heard, I've got some tomato plants we can set out! Bill Smith was the last of the eight boys to speak and he said, I know my ma'll let me have any kind o' seed from the store, whereupon Jump complacently remarked, Well I guess we'd ought to have a good garden-if we only work hard enough-but that's where the soldier part comes in you know. Now then-let's go out to 'our farm', said Andy, and in a re- markably short time the eight soldiers were racing helter-skelter down the Main Street when a sudden Halt! brought them to a stop. It was Andy, Say fellows, he began, we ought to have a flag an' a drum and march like real war-soldiers. Joe, you could get your fife, too. And Cy'll bring his drum and-who'll get a Hag to carry? Oh, I know where there's one, and Ned was off. Soon the three reappeared bearing the objects of their search. Andy, by right of superior age, took the command. Cy was drummer boy, Joe was fifer, and Ned, the standard bearer. Just as all had been assigned places in the line John had an inspiration and rushed off calling out, I'll be back directly. And so he was, leading a very reluctant and much puzzled older brother by the hand as he came. Dan was instantly surrounded by a crowd of noisy boys each explaining at the top of his voice, the nature of their enterprise. With great difficulty Dan at last made out their explanations and discovered that he was in demand to act as a drill master. To this he consented since he was somewhat aware of the importance of his own position. Soon therefore the natives were much surprised to see an orderly line of boys marching down Main Street to the tune of Star Spangled Banner. These strange sights and sounds aroused many disturbing thoughts in the minds of several parents but when they saw Dan at the head, all fears vanished and they could only wonder what those boys are going to do now! That evening they weren't left in suspense very long for eight boys were so enthusiastic over the afternoon's work that they bubbled over with the story of what they were going to do. Fathers and moth- ers breathed sighs of relief and felt that vacation might not be so nerve-racking a time after all. But, as one father said, They'll get tired of that before long and it will be something else. The mothers said nothing but hoped that such a prophecy, no matter how probable, would not come true. The next morning the boys were up with the sun and, according to their agreement met out by the bridge. There was Dan with two of Mr. Cyrus Newton's horses ready to plow the field for them. Hooray! and with happy shouts of laughter the fun began. Never had those boys worked so hard and never had work been so much fun. It was surprising what a short time it took to plow the entire iield. Then what fun it was to harrow and drag the ground!