Emmerich Manual High School - Ivian Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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20 THE BOOSTER JANUARY 1918 PROPHECY BY MARIAN H. WEHNER About two weeks ago I had an un- usually large Latin assignment, and after spending some time in attempting to unravel the mysteries of subjunc- tives, ablatives, chiasmus, and anti- thesis, I fell to wondering if all my work in Latin would benefit me in any way. The spirit of musing must have been upon me deeply, for without any definite knowledge on my part of his entrance, I chanced to see before me a queer figure, that of a rather short stout man in middle age and clad in a loose white robe which looked very much like the Toga pictured before me in my Latin book. I have been in- structed to some degree regarding the rules of etiquette, but there my polite- ness failed me. I sat staring at my visitor with wide open eyes and gap- ing mouth. Cognoscesne me non? asked he. Then he added with all solemnity and importance, Ego sum Cicero. Then in English, You see I always like to do a good turn and just to help you out, and incidentally to polish up on gathering evidence for a new lawsuit against the abode of Catiline, I thought I ' d come around and help you out a little bit on that class prophecy you ' ll have to write. Now just put on your coat and hat, and we shall travel a little into the future for the fun of see- ing what your classmates will be doing some ten years from the present. That is wonderfully kind of you, and I shall be delighted to take ad- vantage of the opportunity, I said, but how about your countryman, Vir- gil? I thought he was chief conductor through the mystic realms. Oh, he usually is, replied Cicero, but just now he has an engagement with Jesse Colin, your class poet, I believe, who, because of his unusual poetic genius aspires to be the great, great, ever-so great grandson of Dante. If I understood correctly what Virgil said just ' before I left him, they were going on an invisible tour through Hades this evening. Almost before I could breathe, by some mysterious process, I found my guide and myself in police court, and the judge of the court — surely I couldn ' t be mistaken — was Arthur Batley, formerly Count in the January 1918 Class. Next case, called the judge, in those well-known commanding tones. I was again to be surprised, for there entered a policewoman, who I was sure could be none other than Katheryn Ashe. She was dragging behind her an unwilling prisoner, Raymond Helm. Your Honor, this prisoner is ac- cused of stealing a lady ' s silk handker- chief while he was escorting her home from a dance, said Officer Katheryn, as she apprached. Oh, come on, I whispered to my guide, I know he is guilty. Let ' s not waste any time on this trial. Immediately after this speech was uttered, our ears were assailed with al- most unbearable screeches and howls. We found ourselves in a record room of the Columbia Graphonola Company, where it sounded as if pandemonium had broken loose. Don ' t worry, said my guide in a soothing voice, and don ' t let the noise bother you. It ' s only produced by Mildred Mason and Dai I Cox in an at- tempt to make ' canned ' music for the Columbia Company. Another rapid transportation took place. We were somewhere in Prance. I saw with amazement Sum- ner Wiltsie and Charles MacGinnis, the faithful Booster editors, compil- ing a history of the great war for de- mocracy in which freedom so wonder- fully triumphed. I glanced through some pages of manuscript, and my heart swelled with pride when I read how Haskle Kersey, a Sammie from our own January ' 18 Class had cut off the Kaiser ' s head. My mind instantly reverted to Jack and the Baked Bean Stalk, and really I could not help wondering if our belligerent classmate had learned to do the great feat by watching and imitating the plans of the hero, Jack. The historians were residing at the home of another Man- ualite, none other than Dorothy Geisen- dorff. She had gone to Europe as a Red Cross nurse to care for the Sam- mies, but became charmed with a dar- ing French officer and at the close of the war had married him. I won- dered how she had ever learned to speak French, but she had learned all right, because her tongue was going just as fast as it ever did when we used to study in the library long ago. Our return to America was made by way of New England. My guide and

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THE BOOSTER 19 We, the January Emmerich Manual School of the City of Indianapolis, in the County of Marion, and in the State of Indiana, being of sound mind and memory, do make, publish and de- clare this our last Will and Testa- ment in manner following, that is to say: First: We declare that all of our just debts be paid, also the bill for the tombstone which was ordered by Ray- mond Helm. Second: We give to our class spon- sor, Miss Burnside, our heartfelt ap- preciation and gratitude for her wil- lingness to promote class activities. Third: We give and bequeath Five Hundred ($500.00) Dollars for the purchase of searchlights and direct that every one entering the building before eight o ' clock be furnished with one of these lights, so that there will be no head-on collisions or serious ac- cidents when a student attempts to reach his roll room. Fourth: We give and bequeath One Thousand ($1,000.00) Dollars and di- rect that a complete set of shock ab- sorbers be put on each seat in the au- ditorium, (need for this was shown Ivy Day.) Fifth: We give and bequeath one gross of pink pencils to George Gar- ard, treasurer of the June Class, so that he may figure his class debts as successfully as our treasurer, Baron Henry. Sixth: We will one of Count Bat- ley ' s shoes to Captain Spitz, of the Knitting Battery X, to be made into a saddle. Seventh: We give Mr. Koontz, Ber- nett Willis ' pomp to be used instead of a cat fur in charging the electro- phorous. Eighth: We will part of Hershel Deming ' s bashfulness to John Rice. (Don ' t you think that he needs it?) Ninth: We give and bequeath Tony Foster ' s Santa Claus suit to one of the Faculty (preferably one who is quite stout and good natured). Mr. Stark will probably be the heir to this. Tenth: We will the dancing quali- ties of Grace Aldrich to Mrs. Vernon Castle. Eleventh: We give to the school library ten copies of The Extrava- JANUARY 1918 WILL BY WILLIAM WILSON gance of Deputy. Twelfth ' 18 Class of the Training High Primping by Kathryn We give all of our knit- ting needles, knitting bags, etc., to the June Class. We direct that Kearsley McComb see that these are put to good use. Thirteenth: CENSORED. Fourteenth: We give Raymond Helm ' s ability to help himself to the leading man in the June Class play. Fifteenth : We give the extra height of Arthur Boulin to String Bean Hurd. Sixteenth: We give and bequeath the Army Sweater, worn by one of the members of the January Class to George Garrard, since he intends to go to the front. (We intended to give this to another member of the class, but we see that that member has one.) Seventeenth: We give to the June Class the advice not to dance in the property room during class play re- hearsals, because, in spite of the se- cret bell you arrange, you will be caught. Eighteenth: To some girl in the next June Class, we give part of the life of Nina Sanders, i. e. the mirror in the cloak room No. 29. Nineteenth: To Ralph Werner we give the exquisite pair of spectacles Avorn by Deacon Small, as Ralph seems to be quite fond of glasses, or rather the frames themselves. Twentieth: We give to Joe Schoen 29 cents to buy a class ribbon so that he won ' t have to do without as Louis Koss did. Lastly: We hereby appoint Mr. Hol- loway executor of this last Will and Testament: hereby revoking all for- mer Wills made by us. In Witness Whereof, We have here- unto subscribed our names, the 18th day of January, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Eighteen. Skinner, come out from behind the booshes. Why didn ' t Mr. Ammerman lose his tie? There were plenty of them along the track. Thelma Dold says that she doesn ' t see why the boys always paddle the poor little canoes.

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THE BOOSTER I stopped at a small New Hampshire village where I found our former vice- president, Cora Frederick, surrounded by peace, solitude, happy memories, and fifteen cats. These seemed to me to indicate happy spinsterhood, and my suspicions were confirmed, for as Cora peacefully knitted in the grow- ing twilight, I heard her softly sing to the assembled cats: Backward turn backward, O time, in thy flight, Make me a Manualite just for to- night. Bring back the track meets and Man- ual ' s huge score, Let Ray call me ' Cooney ' as in days of yore. After leaving ' Cora in such apparent happiness, a number of scenes in which my classmates were portrayed flashed before me. I saw Arthur Boul- den unaffected by the heavy hand of time standing on the steps of the mon- ument placidly washing the face of Miss Indiana. I saw Mary and Esther Whitney sit- ting on the steps of Columbia Univer- sity sobbing loudly over an open letter. I supposed, of course, that it was a let- ter telling of the necessary departure of a lover, or the death of the family cat, but my companian and guide said, No. You see, he explained, they have just received their degrees from Co- lumbia, after obtaining degrees from four other universities. That is no cause for grief, I said. Yes, replied Cicero, but when Mary got her Master of Arts degree, it was only A. M. and not A.+M. Don ' t you remember they always made A+ ' s before? ■ Next we saw Golda Ray who had taken the place of our well-known friend, Golduh Stubbins of the Bean family. Golduh I had married Clarunz, but Golda II was efficiently performing her duties in just as awkward a man- ner as Golduh I had ever done them. At that time Golda and Roger were having a sad dispute over breakfast. It seemed that Roger ' s eggs were not soft boiled as he liked them, but we heard Golda fling back as a triumphant reply: Mr. Bean, I can ' t help it ' cause them aigs ain ' t soft. I borled the last t T vo hours, and they ain ' t soft yet and I ain ' t gonna fool with ' em no longer. After that the office of the Robinson Hen Tooth File Company came before our delighted eyes. There we beheld the company with Earle Robinson as president and Louise Schneider and Minnie Bezner as confidential secre- taries, supplying the world market with an unusually fine quality of steel files for sharpening hen teeth. And by the way, they employed Raymond Bruner and Burnet Willis, both dashing travel- ing salesmen, to teach the hens how to file their teeth. They didn ' t seem to have much trouble so long as they had intelligent hens. I turned towards my companion and yawned wearily. Are you tired? he inquired. Yes, I answered. Even this un- usual pleasure tires me because it means so much traveling. Well, suppose we stop it then, said he. There are only a few more, so I won ' t mind telling you their future careers, that is, if they wouldn ' t mind having them told. They can all be re- peated while we are on the street car going home. Herschell Deming is now traveling with the Polkola Vaudeville Company as rapid adder and star mathematician in general. He is at present attempting to prove by trigonometry that one right angle plus one straight angle minus an angle of ninety degrees equals one-half of a three hundred sixty degree angle. Es- ther Lavanchy, informally known as Billy, is a famous movie star having taken the place of our old friend Billie Burke. Doris became tired of the commonplace name Jones; so, ' in the little white church ' round the cor- ner, ' it was changed to the romantic one of Mrs. Percivale MacSnipwoggler. Without doubt, he must have been a foreigner. You, yourself, said my Latin guide finally, will be — Tremont street, called the car con- ductor, and in some unceremonious way I left the car without my even- ing ' s companion and without learning my own fate. So ends the story of my acquisition of the prophecy, dear classmates. I doubt not that some of you will be disinclined to believe it, nevertheless, it is true. I assure you it is no dream, for I lacked the courage which I must have had to eat the mince pie and pick- les necessary to produce so gigantic a dream. However, if that state in which you were found does not suit you, with- out doubt you may change it by a lit- tle more difficult labor. In fact, I (Continued on page 24.)