Butler High School - Magnet Yearbook (Butler, PA)

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THE SENIOR MAGNET 9 had known but she couldn’t think who he was. Before she had time to make sure he departed and she was left with a vague memory of having seen him before. After the wedding dinner Peggy obtained a piece of the wedding cake and determined to discover her destiny. That night she wrote the names of some young men whom she knew well on slips of paper. While writing out the names, she thought of the young man seen in the church, and then the name of Kenneth Wadsworth flashed through her mind. That was whom the face suggested. Being of a frivolous frame of mind, she wrote the name on a slip of paper, for old times sake, she told herself. These slips of paper along with a blank one were put under her pillow where the wedding cake was also placed. The next morning she drew out one of the slips with trembling hand. She was happy when she saw the name of the one she liked least of all. That day she received a letter from one of her old friends in Burton. It was an invitation to a week-end house party, and at the conclusion of the letter her friend told her to be sure to come for she had a surprise in store. The days passed quickly, and two days before Peggy left for the house party there were only two slips remaining to be drawn. She knew which slips they were for she had drawn all but the one with Kenneth’s name on it and the blank one, which meant if she drew it out last she would be an old maid. She wished then that she had never put Kenneth’s name on a slip, for more than likely she would never see him and he might be married already. The next morning she hesitated a long time before she finally did, it was the blank one. The fates of the wedding cake had decreed that she should marry Kenneth Wadsworth. Consoling herself with the thought that it was all nonsense, she went to the house party the next day. At the station there was a bunch of her old time friends to meet her, and with them was a young man whom she had to look at for a few seconds before she recognized him. It seemed impossible that this tall young fellow was the same one she had played with so long ago on these same streets. She laughed to herself when she thought of the slip of paper wrapped with the wedding cake under her pillow at home. Before the week end was over she had changed her opinion of him, somewhat at least, for he was still the same boy she used to play with. They danced, and played tennis and golf together, and when it was time to separate, there were two, at least, who didn’t want to go back home so soon. There must be some charm in wedding cake, for it is rumored that Peggy is planning a wedding of her own and the cake is to be much larger than the one at Pearl's wedding. She has planned to give a piece of the cake to anyone who wishes it. for she knows from experience that there is a charm in wedding cake.

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8 THE SENIOR MAGNET Tim’s hair when it wasn’t rollin' out pies. Mrs. Stubbins presented Poliza with a set of rats for her hair, which she said was the new style. Tom Tubs came next, and as he was so fat he couldn’t come in the front door he had to sit on the porch, so he said he was too hot to come in. He handed Tim a small package through the window, and the guests rocked with laughter, when they saw it contained a box of Tom’s home-made corn cure. Tom said he knew Tim could use it. The happy pair received presents of every description and of all sizes, and last but not least came Rob White, sweating and dragging an old phonograph which he placed on a table in the room. Just as the ceremony was about to he performed Boh slipped a record on and a voice sang out, “Just Before the Battle Mother.’’ The guests went wild, some with laughter and others shocked nearly to death with Bob’s actions. The bride’s father put Bob out of the house in short order with his old graphophone, but Bob sat under the window and just as the ceremony was finished, opened up his canned music with, “A Man Don’t Know What Happiness is Till He’s Married, and Then It’s Too Late.” ----b.-h.-s.-------- WEDDING CAKE Ei.sie Moore If there were any two young people in the small town of Burton who were really chums, it was Peggy Me Landless and Kenneth Wadsworth. They had both lived on the same street ever since they could remember and after school in the winter time they usually could be found coasting down a steep hill near their homes; sometimes with other young people, hut often by themselves. The year after they entered High School, Kenneth’s people moved to a distant city, and much to his disappointment, of course, he had to go to. The last long ride down the hill that winter was a rather silent affair. They were by themselves and that made it more of an ordeal. When they did talk, it was about everything else but his departure the next day. The hour of parting eventually arrived, and they left each other promising to write often and to keep in touch with one another. At first the letters were long and fre- quent; hut as time passed, they grew shorter and more formal, and came much less often. Peggy, too, moved away from Burton and in a couple of years the letters ceased completely. After she had finished High School she was so busy with her college life that she never even thought of the Kenneth she had known, seemingly so long ago. If she did think of him the memory was always vague, though pleasant. One month, during her vacation, she was busy helping Pearl, one of her girl friends, plan the final details of her wedding. At first she couldn’t think it possible that Pearl was to he married; hut as the eventful day grew nearer it certainly became a reality. Peggy was maid of honor at the wedding which was a big church affair. After the services were over she noticed a good looking young man standing in the back cf the church. There seemed some resemblance to some one she knew or

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10 THE SENIOR MAGNET THE GOLDEN IDOL David Dale He woke with a start to find himself sitting bolt upright in bed. Cold beads of perspiration stood upon his forehead ( while chills chased one another crazily up and down his spine, his face blushing and paling with each shiver. His hands, which were cold and clammy, clutched convulsively at the covers and then slowly, as if the fingers lacked strength to obey his will. The room was pitch dark, and not a sound disturbed the deathlike silence. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the spell was broken, and weak from the terrible strain of those few seconds, he relaxed upon the bed. Now Francis Wilks was by no means a nervous man. In fact, he was a lover of adventure, and being quite well to do, had given himself over to the gathering of rare curios, for he had always taken an interest in things of this kind, and this pursuit gave him an excuse for traveling all over the world. And now, after the strangest sort of adventures in all parts of the world, he was back in New York He had gone to bed the first night after his return with a feeling of relief to be home again, and now instead of sleeping peacefully as he had supposed he would, he had awakened with these terrible sensations. But, as we have said, Wilks was not inclined to be nervous, and thinking the affair the climax of a bad dream, he managed to quiet his thoughts and soon fell into a light sleep. When morning came he rad almost forgotten the strange happening of the night, and gave it scarcely a thought during the day, which he spent in listing and arranging his newly acquired curios. As he unpacked these treasures he recalled musingly the circumstances under which each had been procured. The last curio to be listed was a small idol and image of Buddha, delicately carved from pure gold. He had picked up this strange idol in Peking, China, and the proprietor of the shop in which he had bought it, had told him a strange tale concerning it. It seemed that years ago this idol had been placed in one of the Buddhist temples where it was held in great esteem, and honored by thousands of devoted Buddhists. Then one day an American tourist had slipped the idol into his pocket while visiting the temple and carried it away with him. The thief was not discovered immediately, but several days later he was stricken with yellow fever and died, and when his belongings were being sent back to America, the idol was discovered and restored to its place in the temple. After this exhibition of its power, for, of course, the American’s death had been a punishment for his crime, the idol was reverenced even more than before and all visitors to the temple were told the wonderful story of how Buddha had punished the foreigner who had carried off his image. At last this story came to the ears of another adventurer who laughed at it ,saying it was all Chinese tommy rot. To prove his point, he too carried off the idol, and in a few days died from the bite of a poisonous spider. The idol had not been restored to the temple after his death, but had passed from one man to another, misfortune overtaking every one into whose hands it fell. One