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

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12 THE ARSENAL CANNON Usually when more than one boy was at work there wasn't any boy at all, as Cy's grandfather claimed, but this was certainly the exception to prove the rule for Dan's guiding head and hand accomplished wonders. By noon the field was ready for planting and then a troop of the hungriest boys anyone ever saw or heard of marched back to their homes. That afternoon drill master Dan decreed that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and therefore he would drill them for a few hours. Never were there eight such happy boys. The afternoon passed like magic and the novelty had not worn off. Indeed at the end of a week the boys were just as enthusiastic as they had been at the beginning and the parents began to wonder if it might not be truly lasting. All was progressing smoothly when word came that Dan's company might be called out within a few days. Then indeed began troublous times for the Soldiers of the Soil. With their drill-master gone would they be able to continue to the end? However Dan bequeathed his position to the now proficient Andy, and encouraged them to work hard to live up to the ideals adopted. The drilling became one of the most important and interesting branches of their work. The whole town was interested and aided the boys in planning for the exercises on Decoration Day and the 4th of July. Then came the startling news that Dan Lincoln was to leave for France on the fifteenth of June. The Soldiers began to have very mysterious secret meetings and to neglect even the drill meetings. Dan wondered many times whether his work was going to be lost after his departure. His days seem strangely empty without the lively boys ever at his heels. Nearer and nearer drew the great day and tenser and tenser became the excitement. Everyone swelled visibly with the importance of the occasion. The fifteenth dawned beautifully clear and the village was awakened with a Boom! boom! boom! of the cannon which was reserved for gala occasions. Everywhere Old Glory was unfurled to the breezeg the station in particular Haunted a large number of flags. Bunting decorated the platform and the cannon was stationed at the side of the station. As soon as their mothers would permit, eight radiant boys clad in wonderful new soldier suits, Cmade for the occasion by kindhearted sisters and mothersj, marched down to the Lincoln home and with a right good will cheered Dan again and again. SLu'prise was written on every line of his face when he appeared in the doorway and he gladly complied with their request to drill them once again. Then when they had shown him how perfectly they had learned their lessons they per- mitted him to return to his home. The boys then hustled off to the station and completed preparations there. When the train whistled at the crossing Dan, the hero, appeared on the scene. Cheers filled the air and just as he boarded the train the boys capped the climax by firing the cannon with many flour- ishes of drum and fife. The last sight of Dan left a great impression on these Soldiers and they resolved to be true to his teachings and to make him truly proud of them. ' CATHERINE A. CARR.

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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!

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THE ARSENAL CANNON 13 he Qlbarm nf the nuntains QPrize Descriptionj Have you ever been among the mountains on a clear midsummer's night when the big full moon makes everything look almost as distinct as if it were day? What a charm it is! When the day has been long and hot under the pitiless sung the blinding rays of which do not spare anything within their reach, the leaves hang listless, drooping and wiltedg the birds all afternoon are quiet. The hour between sunset and dark in the land of the mountains is the hour the camper loves. For it is in this hour that he can wander and never grow tired or gloomy. All the voices of the woods are distinct at this hourg they may be intermingled, yet the experienced one has little difficulty in dis- tinguishing from which source each comes. Finally the sun goes down, red hot and blistering to the last. Then a cow somewhere on the hill- side, concluding it is time to go home, arises and I hear a faint tinkle of her bell. This seems to cause a general awakening 5 a rabbit hops out, looking toward the red west and the birds begin to singg the top-most branches in the trees begin to move in the breezeg the western sky deepens from a dozen different colors until finally the duller tints are lost in the darkness. But it does not stay dark for any length of time, for soon the eastern sky begins to lighten as the big moon slips up over the horizon. It has the appearance of coming right out of the hills as it floats upward. I wander along a road which finally winds to the east side of the ridge where one may look over the tree tops to the distant mountains which remind me of sentinels guarding the path by which the sun will rise at dawn. The mountain silence, for this is different from the ordinary silence, is disturbed by musical little streamlets as they trickle down the mountain side bringing a message from the snow peaks above to the comrades which they shall join below. Then allied, as it were, they will gush into the main stream where they will help to Water the fertile plains of the valley below. And as I look over a little precipice, my footsteps ever being guarded by the moon which makes every stone distinct in front of my eyes, I see the shining course of Moccasin Bend, where the river forms in the shape of a shoe as it threads its way in and out among the patches of cultivated fields and woodlands. If I strain my eyes I can see the lantern of a fisherman who sitting on a bank is waiting for the river to present him with some of its occupants in the form of catfish or some other variety. I cannot help feeling inspired as I look upon this beautiful sceneg glorified still more at this particular moment by the splendor of this full round moon, by this time fairly high in the sky. A little further on the bay of hounds on the chase, which I thought I heard a moment before but was not positive, becomes clearer and I am expecting at any moment to see a fox or coon jump out of the thicket just in front of me. Oh! what a night for coon hunting. Finally the shouts of men and the baying CConzinurd on Page 60D