Germantown High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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SGIIUIRAIINIT 4131155 GJIFGD SAW GIIUHUIEB LEAST BY EDWIN SUTHERLAND TSEEMED to me, asI talked to Iack across the dimly lighted table, that the war had not changed him much. QI think I am well qualified to judge as he and I have been chums ever since we were kidsj He was the same cheerful talkative fellow that had gone gaily 0ver There in the spirit of adventure. The horrors of lighting had evidently left no mark upon him. This was August 1919, ten months after the Armistice, and naturally the conversation drifted to the war and his experiences. He told me of many incidents, some dramatic, more pathetic, and he told them wellg so well, in fact, that I was successively thrilled and moved almost to tears. He talked interestingly for a full hour and then apologized. Sorry. Sort of forgot myself. Once I get going I hardly know when to stop. U I asked, And . . . Iohnson, what about him? . . . How did he get his? Ah Iohnson, he said slowly, Yeh . . . Iohnsonf' He carefully filled his pipeg looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and began to talk. Ieff, he said, I've known you some eighteen years, haven't I? You and I knew Iohnson four years. In these four I got to know him better, better than either you or I knew him at first, and he was no model boy scout. He had the sneakiest, lying, rottenest way about him and I came to hate him good and proper. YVell, this wore on for weeks, and several times we nearly tore each other apart. All the time my hate for him increased. Then Christmas came along and we got together some kind of a party in the main dugout. There were drinks, and cards, some singing, and we had a pretty fair time. All the boys were a little under. Can't blame 'em. They were trying to make believe they were happy. But, I noticed that Iohnson especially had taken too much. He was flushed and quarrelsome 3 he annoyed me. Iack leaned across the table. Now listen Ieff. Now comes the important part. You know those little dolls they stick on wedding cakes? YVell, someone had dug up something like it for our cake. He remained silent for a moment. I was a little under the weather that night too, he resumed, and all sorts of funny things cropped up in my mind. Among other useless bits of information which insisted on running through my brain was how Ye Olde Magicians did away with their enemies by sundry operations and attacks on wax figures, made to represent the person at whom they were sore. You know? A To me in my tipsy state the doll on the cake presented great opportunities and I thought the time had come to do away with Iohnson once and for all. I was drunk, remember. Accordingly, I drilled a neat hole with a pin through the figure's heart, murmuring at the same time Iohnson's name. I, in my drunken innocence, was surprised to see that the object of my charm was talking and wrangling as boisterously as before. My scheme was unavailing. ' At this point our party was broken fConf'in'ucd on. page 465

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3 THE CLIVEDEN on my life insurance to pay then, and I certainly don't get enough from this war business to pay it. 'Wvhy are you worrying if the war don't end by 1920? asked Buddy YVhy, the longer the war the better the chance of getting killed and beating the life insurance company. YVe both smiled-anything to keep our spirits up. - A little later, back in the trenches, I happened to notice that something was going on in the enemy's lines. It seemed that they were collecting a large number of guns into the front trenches. Funny, though, they seemed not to mind letting us see them at the task and made no efforts to conceal their movements. Buddy happened to see this act about the same time I did. He looked at me questionably. YVe both peered over the top again. My pal touched me on the shoulder and said quietly, Listen, YVill, I'll go over the top and stop the business with a small hand bomb. Now, wait 'til I return. Don't tell the chief I'm going. I looked at him and asked, NVhat do you mean? Exactly what I said, he replied. Oh, don't be foolish. They are probably collecting them so as to send them back, I said. Oh, no, they aren't. Uncle Sam has been treating them rough lately and they are trying to get even with a quick attack, Buddy corrected. I tried to stop him, but his determined spirit could not easily be broken. There's that rumor 'bout the armis- tice, I yelled back at him, and it would be a pity to get killed just before it occurred. Ah, tell it to Sue, she likes rumors, he responded as he crawled over the top out of sight. I waited restlessly in the trench for the friend the war had made for me. One good thing about the war was that it made' comrades for fellows. Sue, our mascot, a large white bull dog, came sniflling up to me as if to ask what the trouble was. If she had had a tail, no doubt she would have wagged it. I have often wondered why I let Buddy go, and each time I curse myself. A messenger came running to me, Bill, good news, yep the arm-by the way where's Buddy-he was just with you? He seemed to have scented the truth. Quick, quick, he yelled at me, call him back. The Armistice goes into effect at eleven. Get him before he is hurt. Bewildered I jumped up and stuck my head over the top. Buddy, Buddy, come back 5 it's all over. The war is-. I didn't finish. I couldn't finish. My voice choked in my throat, for there was the lifeless form of Buddy, hanging limp over some charged barbed wiring- dead from the shock of electricity. Of all the rumors of the coming armistice, this one had to be true. ' A: 3 Y !?! 1 ' ZWIQN -:II 14 1:0-

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7 JY ,f f y ..f- ' ,f ,V ' f f f f ,f A a a ,, y f eNNNiNe ff 2 f ,ffajl p l f .V,N ARNOLD-R. MAUSERT Q, Z N NN N N NN As the season for X -TQSP lyflih' , . f . -mi rr,-1 Ag - Ai.. V gunning rolls around, ,igfga Z i' th ht c d 'J A 'I .f. f, , 1 2:ih,f:5m5.:,r1,,'1:5:,zS f sais? lp, us into the great out- -'-5 p doors where we may en- 'Q ' 'H l ' 'I joy the company of Mother Nature to the utmost. As depicted by the accompany- ing illustration. The hunter goes out to spend a lovely, balmy, peaceful day, banging away at ducks. Quite unexpectedly the weather gets damp and then nice and squooozzzy. After about half an hour of this, the old boy gets fretful and pulls out his pipe, only to find that his fuel is like soup. While remarking how much this pleases him, he does a tailspin into a batch of especially gooey mud. After thanking Ma Nature for catching him in her lap, he goes about the business of loading his gun and suddenly becomes aware that one of those blank new-fangled shells he bought at Shnossenbinger's Hardware and Bakery has jammed up the works. This, of course, causes a severe mental recrudescence fDaddy, what's a severe mental recrudescence'!j during which he manages to extract the fcensoredj shell at the expense of taking a goodly nick from his thumb. Pausing a moment to salute his thumb with a broadside of strong phrases, he spies a duck in the offing, roosting on a bushl -Ann-nqb - Forgetting about the dinged digit, he takes a crack at the duck, which im- mediately rises to its full stature of about five feet nine and hollers to our hunter to kindly be a bit more careful of what he shoots, for if he doesn't he's liable to kill somebody, or at least he says .romcilzing to that effect. Toward noon, our friend is touched by the pangs of hunger. Reaching into his pocket, he drags out three roast pork sand- wiches, strongly resembling a futuristic artist's conception of a well-scrambled egg. He makes an attempt to eat this conglomeration and then washes it down with a swallow or two of-er-orangeade which elevates his spirits surprisingly. Finally he actually sees a duck and lets out a load of lead to chase it. YOWEEII Got itl He wallows out into no-mans' land and retrieves it, puts it into his bag, loads his gun and proceeds to make his way back to comparatively dry land. Here he celebrates by orangeading him- self again whilst he peers about for bigger and better ducks to conquer. Two fC'onlinucd on page 421 -:1I16lb-