Kalona High School - Centerika Yearbook (Kalona, IA)

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Sacrificing For Others It was a warm, dry day in September, and, as usual, the happy groups of school children came tripping down the street and turned in at the large cement walk which led to the school house. The school building was sheltered from the sun by the large overhanging branches of the surrounding maples. Many times the citizens of the small town would stop to watch the happy children play. The new teacher just fitted in this picture of happy contentment. She was a beautiful young lady who always had the interest of her pupils at heart. She was known to everyone as “Miss Jane’’, Today was Monday and a new school week was just beginning. Little did the school children and the people of the town know that this was to be a fatal day for them. The bell rang for recess and the boys all hurried out to play, that is, all except one. Jimmy could hear the shouts of the other boys as they were playing ball, and his little body almost shook with sobs, for he could not play. He was acripple! You see, he had been born with a deformed body and it had been impossible for him to be cured. Of course, at first the boys had been more patient with him, but now it was growing tiresome and they seldom had time for a ‘‘poor crippled boy’”’. Always Jimmy would sit and watch the other boys and when the game would reach a climax, he could hardly keep from jumping up and playing too. When the bell rang for school time, all the pupils ran in, tock their seats and started studying as usual. Possibly an hour had passed when the children heard a noise and confusion on the street below. Shouting! Police sirens! Fire trucks! When the children saw the red fire trucks stop in front of the school house they guessed immediately what had happened. On the other side of the school building a terrible fire had brcken out and was spreading rapidly. Panic spread through the room and a wild scramble was made for the flight of stairs which led to the main floor, and the door below. Miss Jane was frantically shouting orders for the boys and girls to get in line and march down stairs because there were so many of them. Nevertheless, the children hurried on in a wild fury, shutting out the sound of her voice. It seemed no one thought of Jimmy but Miss Jane. Although she tried to help him she made little progress in the moving mass of children. They moved on, some falling, but quickly recovering and continuing their ways again amid the screams and shouts of the rest. Smoke had now become quite thick around the school and the haziness of the air seemed to add to the terror caused by the fire. The children were nearly all out of the building by now, and while the policemen were shouting for everyone to stand back, the children were being counted and identi- fied. Suddenly the chief ordered everyone away, for the structure would soon collapse. Everyone watched the door for signs of life, for they were afraid they mizht have over- looked someone in their hurry. It was soon discovered that Jimmy and Miss Jane were not to be found. It was impossible for anyone to enter the blazing building, and all anyone could do was to hope and pray. The crowd was tense! Suddenly two black and marred figures feil from the doorway. An officer rushed forward and got the bodies and at the same time a thunderous crash was heard and the building was no longer a school house but a heap of smoking ruins. The bodies were taken to a clearing across the street. They were immediately identified as those of Miss Jane and Jimmy. Although she was badly burned, yet she lived, but Jimmy, at whom everyone had just glanced as they passed by, had already gone on. After Miss Jane was very efficiently taken care of by a nurse and placed on a cool sheet in the hospital, she sobbed her story to the officer. “Of course I waited until ‘Continued on Page Twenty) —Page 19—

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a ee === Ses Sacrificing For Others (Continued From Page Nineteen) everyone else was out of the room before I left. As I was going down the steps I saw Jimmy barely making his way forward with great difficulty. I knew I must do some- thing at once. The smoke was getting quite bad by now and it almost choked us. I cou'd see the open door but we st'll had a little way to go before we reached it. I had held of his hand helping him along. He always looked up and smiled and tried to en- courage me. He knew he was slowing me down and urged me to go on a'one. I re- fused, and when we were just a few yards from the door. I fainted. He must have eragge® ree the rest of the way. I don’t remember anything after that. only his fai h- ful face as he saw me fall. Oh, it was awful! It must have been too much for him” W'th that she stepped and closed her eyes, whi'e the rest sat quietly by, know- ino by the look on her face the agony and suffer'ng she was going through. S'owly she opened her eyes and said, “Oh, if it only could have been me instead Of Jimmy. Jimmy was buried in the lonely little graveyard at the edge of town. No one ever again spoke lightly of him but held his name in reverence and honor. On his tombstone were written the words: “Here lies the body of Jimmy Price Who gave all he had for his sacrifice.” —M.E.S. ’40. Headlines Dusk was settling drearily on the slippery streets of New York City Rain had been falling continually since dawn. The whole city was seemingly drenched in the slowly falling rain, while the atmosphere was a mirky mixture cof smoke, soot and rain. Suddenly a cold north wind whipped up and whistled noisily around the corners. Poor little Tommy drew his ragged coat closer around him. Yet h's teeth fairly chattered with the cold and his thin hands trembled as he grasped the pack of his few remaining papers. Even the usual lusty voice trembled as he shouted. “New York Times—only a few left.—Cet the last instructicns cn how to win the one hundred dollar award for the best essay!” Very few of the pedestrians even noticed the shiverng newsboy. All were anxious to get home to a warm cozy fire. Tommy was pushed and shoved arcund bv the hurrying people. It was only with a special effort — ‘“Won’t you have a paper, lady ?”’ that he could sell any of his papers tonight. Then perhaps a kind-hearted lady would stop and after a glance into those honest blue eyes and thin pa’e face wou'd gladly purchase a paper even though she already had one. Tommy had only two newspapers left as he started wearily homeward, thinking he could sell them on the way. But as he trudged along he noticed a bright light burn- ing in a usually vacant building. Out of pure curiosity he followed the light until he came directly under the window from which it shone. He stood on tip-toe and peered into the room. There sat a kindly looking lady before a piano, and the minute Tomry peered in she began playing the sweetest music he had ever heard. He stood entranced, his hungry heart taking in every bit. The bitter cold wind was forgotten and the gentle dripping of the rain on his ragged coat was never thought of. Then a dp longing came into his heart to get more education With a little more education he might have been able to try for the| one hundred dolar prize, or maybe some day he would be able to play the piano like the Jady. Suddenly a door swung open and a young girl entered the room. She quickly laid some papers on the window sil! so close to Tommy that he could easily see ler (Continued cn Page Twenty-one) —Page 20—