Commerce High School - Commerce Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

Page 103 text:

Cobe TOBE was a little negro slave who lived during the time of the Civil War. One night he ran away from his master to the place where the Union Army was encamped. He went up to the Captain and asked. “Massa Cap’n, kin I stay wif yer? I kin shine up de boots right good.” The Captain looked him over with an amused smile. He hesitated. Should he burden himself with this child? The wistful, eager expression of the boy’s eyes decided the matter. “Well, you little rascal, come along, we’ll see what you can do.” “ 'Way down upon de Suwannee Ribber,” shrilly whistled Tobe, a few days later as he was cleaning the Captain’s boots. “Tobe, how would you like to go North?” asked the Captain as he dismounted and handed the bridle to the little black hands. Tobe was proving a faithful servant and whatever belonged to “Massa Cap’n” was sacred to the poor boy. “Eh, Massa Cap’n, ef yer gwine North, I will go wif yer, but yer don’t mean to send me away from yer, do yer?” “You made those boots look fine, Tobe. Take good care of them, for it is not often I can get a pair that feel so comfortable on my feet as these do.” “Yer needn’t be feared, I’se take care of ’em, Cap’n.” The army left camp to march North. The wagon in which Tobe rode broke down. The men who were left behind to fix it up suddenly saw a troop of Confederates coming at full speed toward them. The Union men were horrified as there was no way of escape; but as the enemy did not want prisoners they were left unharmed. The raiders, however, began a search for anything of value. An officer looking under the wagon saw a blanket which seemed to be making unusual undulatory movements. Reaching down he pushed aside the blanket and saw Tobe trying to hide the precious boots. The officer, admiring the make of the boots, said, “Come, boy, hand over those boots.” “Deed, Massa, I can’t gib ’em to yer.” The rebel officer grew angry and said, Hurry, hand them over, or I will shoot you.” “ ’Deed, Massa,” began Tobe, but the click of the revolver cut him off. The rebels then dashed away as they saw the Union force reappear. The relief party, attracted by the revolver shot, hurried to the spot where the wagon broke down and found Tobe dead, but clasping his master’s boots. The Captain felt very sorrowful at what a sacrifice the faithful boy had saved his master’s property. 101

Page 102 text:

“I want two capable and reliable men to play on the boat that runs between Norfolk and the Exposition grounds. We make four trips a day, commencing at ten in the morning and returning from the last trip at seven In the evening. Do you think you can fill the bill?” “Yes, Sir,” spoke up Fred, “We are willing to accept the position and will do the best we can.” “Very well,” said the manager, “I will pay you fifty cents an hour for a start and if satisfactory will raise your wages.” “When would you want us to start?” inquired Gilbert. “Why,” said the man, “at ten this morning, it is now nine and you will have ample time to get your instruments.” “All right,” answered Fred, “we will be back on time.” Greatly elated they left the office and went back to their room for their violins, to start to work. One night, near the end of the summer, on the return trip, the boat was crowded with men. women, and children. The boys were playing and people were dancing. “Oh, my child,” cried a women’s voice. “She fell-------.” A young man had dived. All eyes were upon him. “Will he get the child!” “No; oh, yes, he has it and is swimming toward the boat.” A line is thrown to him and, with the child in his arms, he reaches the boat and is helped up by willing hands. He gives the child to its thankful mother and avoiding the compliments and praises of the crowd, our friend, Gilbert soon resumes his place in the orchestra saying to Fred: “I am so glad that I saw the accident in time to be able to save the child.” The summer is over and the boys, after a short rest at home, returned to college, satisfied that their vacation had been a profitable as well as a pleasant one. MARY W. CALL, 1911. Cfje (Dlb ©afeen IBucfeet (For Seniors.) How dear to my heart arc memories of my school days, Of teachers and pupils and studies not few. Oh Economics and Civics, the deep-tangled Shorthand, And ev’ry loved book of our English work too; The beautiful pond, that we crossed o’er to get there, The bridge that was doomed to go down with us all, The card of reports satisfying to no one; And the dear thoughts of returning to that same class in fall. 100

Page 104 text:

Never again could he find the boots comfortable. He sent them to his Northern home, and out of honor to the poor black boy had them placed in a glass case, where they are shown as a memorial to Tobe. JULIUS SMITH, 1911. ©nip a ©irl ISABEL was only a girl. Oh! what a world of meaning in the word “girl.” She had grown from childhood into girlhood and there she stopped. At sixteen, she was far from the settled ways of a young lady, and yet she wasn’t childish. To express it in her own words, “I’ll be a girl till I’m twenty, then I’ll settle down and be proper.” “Where is Isabel?” inquired Margaret as the girls met at the close of school one afternoon. “I think she is still in the building,” answered Nell and “girls Isabel has seemed unusually quiet today.” “Pshaw, Nell! Isabel quiet? She is never quiet; you have a wonderful imagination or some great hallucination of the mind, child,” was the quick retort of Margaret. “It is queer,” continued Margaret, “how she can be so happy and light hearted all the time and besides that we are always happier when she is among us. Let’s christen her, 'Gloom Dispeller.’ ” “I wonder if she will ever grow more dignified and ladylike. It seems odd to see a girl of her age so wild,” remarked Alice. “I wish she would act older,” answered Nell, “although don’t forget that we all agreed the other day that we would like to change places with Isabel if we possibly could now and be as wild as a fawn and bright as a sunbeam.” Yes, there isn’t a doubt about her wildness, yet she is loved all the more for it, where we wouldn’t be adapted to it and perhaps would be despised. But here she comes and just see her come down those steps three at a time. It is a mystery to me why there is a whole bone in her body. Isabel broke into the group and breathlessly exclaimed, “Girls I’ve been trying to keep this all day and I hate to tell you now and Oh! how I hate that place.” “What place?” “What are you going to tell us?” chorused the astonished girls. “I’m going away, to be gone a long time, I don’t know exactly how long, it is enough to know one is surely going without thinking about staying.” Every face seemed overcast with a thunder cloud, one threatening rain at every minute too. Isabel broke the awkward silence by asking the girls to accompany her 102