Fredericksburg High School - Rapahanoc Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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OTere ©ott Ctier 3n a urrp? Alvin T. Rowe, Jr. W HO the deuce is that breakin’ down the door?” shouted Harry Cuthbert formidably from his luxurious mass of pillows, sheets, and other bed- ware to the persistent knocker at his chamber door in a New Jersey college. It was Saturday and he had been trying to decide whether to get out of bed ever since half past seven. “It is I, the gallant knight of Earlymorn,” quoth the unseen visitor from behind a protecting door. “None o’ your cheap wit ’round here, if you value your life, young fellow!” was the emphatic reply. Th e answer was much humbler and more subdued, “Telegram, sir.” Harry answered not but jumped from his bed with the usual anxiety and curi¬ osity which we all experience upon receiving a telegram. He glanced at the clock which admitted that it was a quarter past ten, and barefooted it across the room to the door. “Le’ me see it,” he demanded. He quickly opened the envelope with hands slightly trembling, and these words struck his eye: “Am leaving New York for Europe at 4:00 P. M. today to spend summer. Wish you to accompany me. Fake next train if it arrives here before 3:30. Will meet you at Grand Central I erminal. Cannot wait. “Uncle Henry.” Harry was so stunned at receiving this from his rich uncle that he could barely focus his faculties into writing the reply: “Coming. Harry C.” This he handed to the waiting boy, adding, “Send it collect, and make it snappy!” H ow he had always longed for a glimpse at Europe—and now he was about to spend a whole summer there, if —things turned out right. 66

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RPvPRHPvMDC 1921 Eight new boys and nine new girls answered roll call during the sixth year: Edward Gill, Louis Armstrong, Thomas Payne, Donald Whitbeck, George Bowie, Francis de Bruyne, Flemming Ray, Lucy Gouldman, Marguerite Stevens, Mar¬ garet Pepmier, Mary Daffan, Dorothy Daffan, Sarah Orrock, Elizabeth Stairs, Evelyn Sale, and Lemuel Houston who has the record for being tardy twice a day and is called the “ten o’clock scholar.” This year our grade was made a part of the Junior High School with seven new members: Edward Smith, Truman Carneal, Robert Kilian, Maimia Fowle, Thelma Moody and Florence Dalrymple, making our class number sixty-four. The saddest event in our school life was the death of Wilfred Embrey. The most important event of our school lives was moving to the new High School in the fall of 1920. We hope to go thru High School together and graduate in 1925. —Virginia Melton. 65

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He jumped into his clothes, deposited all of his weekly allowance of four dol¬ lars in his pocket, and shot thru the door and down the steps, thru several long corridors, and at last out-of-doors, not stopping at the remonstrances of the professors and questions of the other pupils, for he was headed for the railroad station. After leaping over a goodly number of puddles from the ram of the preceding night, and barely escaping a collision with several citizens, he soon found himself at the depot. “Where—when’s the next train for N’york?” he breathlessly inquired. I he spectacled, old ticket-agent slowly, to Harry’s disgust, expounded that the next train would be the 12:05—the last one until after four o’clock—and it was now twenty minutes of eleven! “Well, gi’ me one whole ticket. How much? abbreviated Mr. Cuthbert. “Wal, wait a minute; don’ get me irated, now,” drawled the aged ticket- vendor. Then, after peering over the top of his spectacles at a table of rates for what seemed an age to Harry, he added, “It says here, three forty-nine fer one trip to N’yawuk, includin’ th’ war tax, excludin ' the—aw-uh“—here he raised his eyebrows and looked more intently at the list,—“what th’—oh, ya-as, th’ porter¬ age,—excludin’ the porterage, pullman fees, meals on train, an us—er- let’s see— charges—that’s hit—charges fer extry bag—” “Oh, all right—I know all about that—but gi’ me one. Get a wiggle on!” The old veteran slowly, but deliberately, turned around, rolled a crushing look of contempt at Harry, then regained his former position, cleared his throat, and began where he left off: “Ahem! As I was saying, —excludin’ all charges fer extry baggage an’ - Lissen, please; I haven’t even begun to pack my trunk yet,—an’ it’s very im¬ portant that I should make this train. Please gi’ me the ticket.’’ By this time a line of ticket seekers—impatient ones—had formed behind Harry, so the obstinate patriarch, after deliberately taking over one and a half valuable minutes of our hero’s time to decide which ticket to bestow upon him, passed the billet thru the bars with the change. “It’ll git thar at 2:13,” he concluded brusquely. “Next!” After breaking all pedestrian speed limits, Harry again found himself in his habitation. He had jammed the ticket and surplus fifty-one cents into his pants pocket, and was delving into his various drawers and other receptacles for the articles he thought necessary for his trip, when suddenly there was a knock upon the door. 6 7