Central High School - Spokesman Yearbook (Erie, PA)

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,gf- C 'N b.gf'i- my . f j j in Paris. A chilly and tingling sensation runs up and down one's spine when his foot sinks into the crevice worn by the feet of many gone before but if one is too tired to walk it is very thrilling to slide down the shiny narow bannisters whose posts bring the free slide to an abrupt end. But how different are the stairs of the tenement houses. Those dirty, narrow, high run down steps who if they would talk could tell many a tale of sadness and gladness. But nevertheless, no matter how big or small, in whatever condition they are, stairs are a necessity. -MARY KING EVIL WEALTH The table was covered with crisp, green bank notes. What ecstasy it was for Gotham to sit and gaze at them! The fortune he had set out to obtain in China was his at last. But a pang of conscience bothered his Irish heart. It told him that this was dishonest weallth,-that he had bought it with his soul. It asked him to think it over how he had gathered it. Dimly it reminded Gotham of long past meditations before a confession as he began to muse over those last six years. He saw himself joining the rebel army,- deftly arising to command unscrupulous men,-leading troops to victory amid the roaring, white heat of battle. Then the English Oil Company came. He had tried to get the land from the farmers by peaceful means and would have succeeded if an American educated heathen by the name of Sin Foo hadn't organized them to resist. But he had the army,-a little bloodshed,-and now the English agent had just been given the lease to the land in return for this money. Queer, for him to be uneasy like this! Perhaps he had best leave China at once- could there be somebody behind him? My God! it was that damned Sin Foo and his men. Sin Foo laid the lease on the table, took the money and went out the street door, while Gotham sat numb, paralyzed. Then he awoke from his stupor and rushed to the door but it resisted him-it was locked. Strange,too, the key was on the inside. Gotham reeled, why what was wrong with him? That cursed money was still on the table. Yet an hour later it was gone and torn pieces of the recent lease fell where the notes had been. A contented sigh came from Gotham as he arose from his chair. How easy it was to turn the key and walk out into the clear sunshine, and, only down the street the soft chant of afternoon vespers issued from a little monastery. -JAMES CONDREN WHY WALK - The student population of the school is rapidly acquiring an excellent collection of antique motor cars. The warm breezes of spring have swept these decrepit vehicles from their peaceful resting places in abandoned garages and junk yards to portals of learning. The general trend seems to be toward the less expensive types of cars, preferably touring, with no top, or with the top down, advertising the joys of open air travel. What could be more dignified than a 1919 model Ford touring car chugging out Tenth Street at a full thirty miles an hour, with seven disciples of learning in and about the tonneau. What matter if the engine is missing on three cylinders, the tires tied on with twine, the wheels ready to fall off and the engine going full speed at forty miles an hour. What matter if more time is spent under the vehicle than behind the wheel, it runs. Better spasmodic service than dissecting its quivering frame under the junkman's torch. More plutocratic cars may sneer at their plebian relatives but the trend of the times is a great leveler, and these wrecks now have the upper hand in popularity. Why pay an enourmous sum, from seventy-five to two thousand dollars on a car? Get one of these mechanical nightmares, tie it together with hay wire and patch the tubes with chewing gum and drive it until it falls apart like the One Hoss Shay. -ALLAN WILSON 119

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'u:1ib'-f . 'X 53:11 c hs assi? cos Even the teachers have grown to look upon the change with utter dislike. In spite of the age and inconveniences of Central, it still worms its way into one's heart and sticks there. I think many passers-by will look at one another, after seeing the ancient site, with an understanding tear in their eye. What days those were for them! What days they are now for us! Fun, excitement, laughter mingled with some work, sorrow and tears constitutes Central. Of course, there are exceptions as in every school. There are those industrious, never-tiring persons who think of nothing but study, study, study! But would there be much fun without planning dances, parties, teas, and every possible social function? I imagine every student could ramble through the entire building, at random, blindfolded, pointing out the rooms, oflice, library and study hall with ease. Poor Central! Think of her once happy halls, Hlled with hosts of students, laughing, playing, worrying or calculating, silent and re-echoing with silence. No- friendsg no foes, just an empty building full of regrets at losing its charming host of friends. But even if they are gone, even when it is being torn down, brick by brick, it can say: I made them happy while they were here thus fulfilling my commission so I, too, a111 content. -POLLIE NASON THE GAMENESS OF A -- It was an awful struggle, he was by far her superior and he showed little or no me1'cy. She looked at him pitiously and squirmed to rid herself of his fierce grasps, but he always kept the upper hand. At length he threw her on the sands at his feet, for an instant she lay there panting and half-decided to give in. Suddenly she noticed a Hash and looking up saw her assailant approaching with a huge knife. She knew this man was vicious but she did not think he would be fiend enough to kill. Wiggling and scrambling she made a last attempt to escape. In an instant the knife Hashed thru the ai1' and caught her just below the head. It was a mighty slash and her little body did not stir again. He next attacked the body with the knife and as we sat eating the flesh and meat we all remarked the gameness of the little fish. -BILLY NEWTON STAIRS What odd but useful and necessary contraptions they are! High ones, short ones, wide ones, narow ones, stone ones, wooden ones, log ones and pebble ones. The first time one discovered what they were was when he was a little tot and when Mom dressed him in his play clothes and gave him her permission to play in the mud and make those much loved and remembered mud pies. He was so anxious to get his soft pink hands in the black, soft. oozy mud that he ran out the back door in haste and started down the old wooden steps. After it was all over he cried, I faw down and go boom! A few years passed and one morning as he was coming down to breakfast, late as usual, he tripped on the soft stair carpet, sumersaulted, rolled and fell down those high, narrow second floor stairs. Even though it did hurt he tried to be manly and keep back the tears. Next came school. As young legs are stronger than old ones the First grade room was located on the third floor. And according to his now established custom he had to see if these steps were any softer than the others. The steps were not so wide but it was a long way to the bottom which he soon found out. His motto he now changed to Never again. Then there are those narrow high cellar stairs so hateful to every boy. How many times have they been the cause of the downfall of a jar of Mother's most de- licious jam. If there were no cellar stairs it would give the poor always tired-out boy an excuse for not firing the furnace or bringing up that much needed basket of potatoes. Better let sister do that. A sure sign that winter is coming is when the janitors bring out the board planks from the cellar and adjust them on the City Hall and Post Oiiice stone steps. Those nice hot blistering stone steps in the summer and glassy icy ones when King Winter reigns. Seems to be the very best place for sleighing. But since this is impossible what is better than to go to High School and ascend and descend that worn and much trodden stairway, the reproduction of the famous stairway in the Grand Opera House 118

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