Cochran Junior High School - Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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COCHRAN BASKETBALL TEAM

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COCHRAN AERIAL We immediately jumped into the large Packard twin six and with a muffled roar were on our way to the headquarters of the Twenty-eighth Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard. As we skimmed over the shining tar road, we passed the tank company, which was on the field slowly rumbling up and down in battle formation of three abreast like a tribe of small clumsy elephants. just then Bill exclaimed, Look over there, the 'lllth' are having their bayonet drill. Oh, boy, look at 'em charge! There they go over the top and into the other trenches, they are ramming their bayonets into a bundle of sticks that are supposed to be men. But look here to the right, I said, nudging Bill. f'The cavalry are drilling. Look at the Major on that firey roan, and the Captain just behind leading his regiment. A As we turned around from the cavalry drill we saw just ahead a company of infantry, under the command of a first lieutenant, han- dling the big, clumsy army rifles. By the way they handled their rifles and the stern, crisp orders of the officer, we knew that this was the despised awkward squad. The car, however, was traveling at such a rate that we had soon passed that squad and as we rounded a curve, Bill pulled me to one side and pointed to the side of the road. 'fThe engineers have nearly finished their road, he said. Sure enough, the engineers, who had been building a road through the woods, were just putting the Hsnishing touches to it. The men were pitching shovels full of soft earthwhile the sweat was rolling in drops off their sun-scorched shoulders. just then, as the automobile carried us out of view of the laboring engineers, we began to hear the sharp crack-crack-crack of the army rilie and quicker spat-spat-spat of'the machine gun. From this we knew that one of the companies was out on the rifle range, and in a few minutes we were whizzing past the range See that private who is lying behind the sand bag? Watch his rifle kick when he shoots, said Bill. I, watching, could see the man's shoulder jerk back as he pressed the trigger. Above him, on a slight knoll, was a machine gun, sur- rounded by a group of guardsmen who were being instructed in its care and use. To their left, another machine gun squadron were shoot- ing, seemingly streams of fire, from that destructive weapon which was pointed at a row of moving, tiny-loking tin men about siii hun- dred yards away. Now we were driving up a slight hill i11to Division Headquarters where Major-General Williani G. Price, Co1nmander-in-Chief of the encampment, and his staff had their ofnces and tents. The long row of tents were streched out along the top of the hill with the General's huge wall tent in the center standing out like an ofiicer at the head of his regiment. The tall, narrow Hagpole rose up in front of the Com- mander's tent and under this each night a detail of three men slowly let down 0ld Glory while the strains of The Star Spangled Banner echoed through the ranks of the five thousand soldiers standing rev- erently at attention. 'My uncle stopped here and disappeared into the General's tent, leaving Bill and me dreaming of the days when we would become stern, resolute ofiicers. - HOMER RESSLER, Term VIII. 0. A TRIP ON THE EXPRESS Jimmy Arnold sprang up to the platform of the old iron horse, slapped Duck McCabe, the engineer, on the shoulder, then got his shovel and set to work. jimmy was young-about twenty, I guess, Cforty sevenj

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cocHRAN AERIAL H W a line lad for his age, and willing to work. He was firing on the Cum- berland Valley Express. A'minute later Dick stepped up on the plat- form with a wide grin. Ready, Jimmy? he asked. Yep, jimmy grinned back. All right, fire her up a bit more, we've got about a quarter of a minute. Duck grabbed the whistle rope in one hand and with the other held his watch. At the set time he pulled the rope. The whistle screamed twice, the engine roared, 3.11Cl the train lurched forward, gath- ering speed at every turn of the wheels. Down through the yards it tore, up over Cable Creek bridge it flew. The express was started on its long journey down the valley. Jimmy would not be home for four rays. ROBERT MILLER, Term VII. liol. A CANOE RIDE Have you the oars ?l' screamed Ruth from the canoe where it was pulled upon the bank of the river. h allies, and I'll be with you in a minute, I shouted as I ran down t e 1 . We shoved the little green canoe out into shallow water and then jumped in. It was six o'clock in the morning, and was to be our first venture alone. Shall we go up stream. or down? Ruth was poling the canoe until we decided. Let's row up stream. If we can manage the canoe, we'll go down. In a few minutes we were under the bridge. The canoe swerved. Heavens, the sink holes! Suppose the boat turns over, there's no- body to call. I was frantic. At last we were safe and as we rowed slowly after our struggle, looking up we saw Betty standing in the dancing pavilion, frantically waving a colored handkerchief to draw our attention. Yo-ho, across the waters came the call. ' Yo-ho, we returned. By this time my hands were dripping with perspiration, and look- ing down, as I drew them along in the water to cool them, I saw a number of small, speckled fish. As we rowed past the boys' cottage, we heard the Victrola playing and saw the boys doing their morning chores. Down near shore, a girl in a red bathing suit was standing on a rock, poised for a dive, but as we watched her disappear beneath the water, our canoe scraped upon a rock. We realized that the only thing for us to do was try to get our paddles on the same side of the canoe and push with all our might, and then as soon as we got off the rock to dip our paddles just deep enough in the water to turn the canoe and go down stream with the current. Oh, gracious, my paddle is caught in these weeds, Ruth cried. Suddenly looking around, we saw a fisherman's flatboat coming rapidly toward us. In a few minutes his boat was brought up along- side of our canoe. I-Ie poled his boat and stepped onto the rock upon which we were stranded. Then, for the first time, we were thankful that the water was very shallow. Do you need any assistance? he asked as he patiently loosened the weeds that were tangled about our paddle. We thanked him, and he pushed us off the rock, telling us not to attempt to go farther up stream, the water was too shallow, and there were many boulders. As we drifted down stream, we heard shouts of laughter. A num- Cforty nincl