Kalona High School - Centerika Yearbook (Kalona, IA)

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Headlines (Continued From Page Twenty) frowning face. She spoke a few hasty words to the lady, then left the room. The lady soon stopped playing, slipped on her coat and, accompanied by the girl, stepped outside. Tommy eagerly took the chance of selling his two papers. “Lady, won’t you buy a New York Times? There are only two left.” The girl answered quickly with a frowning face. “Oh, no, run along, Tatters. We don’t have any time to buy your old papers. Hurry, Aunt, let’s get home. Let him sell his papers to someone else.” These harsh words stung the shivering lad to the very depth of his heart, and when the lady saw the pain caused, she instantly bought the two remaining papers. With a cheery “goodnight” she hurried on. Tommy also hurried homeward, but just as he reached the door of the poor little cottage he called home, he heard the terrifying shriek of the fire truck. Turning on his hee’s he rapidly retraced his steps and found to his amazement that the building he had just left was in flames. The firemen were fighting with all their might while crowds of people gathered to see the horrible spectacle. The wind fairly shrieked and the rain kept pouring. Suddenly someone behind Tommy screamed out, “Oh, Aunt, that essay I had written for the prize is in the building! I forgot all about it after I had laid it on the window sill. Let me go and get it. I can never write one like it before tomorrow, when the contest closes!”’ Tommy recognized the voice immediately and because of his unselfish disposi- tion, he offered to get the essay. The girl consented without any hesitation for she thought more of the essay than the life of a newsboy. Tommy pushed his way through the crowd, reached the burning building, opened the door and then almost fell back as the stifling smoke struck him full in the face. After regaining his breath, Tommy fought his way into the room unnoticed by the fire- men. The air was scorching hot end stifling. It became harder and harder for Tommy to breathe as he went farther in. He groped a'ong the wall until he found the window and then—oh joy!—the papers. But by the time he reached the door he faltered, but his courage arose, and w'th a great struggle he finally gained the door where he was at once seen by the firemen Just as Tommy reached for the door a huge timber fell and struck his head. The fireman had reached him too late to save him. He picked up the limp form and carried him out of danger. He was met by the girl who frantically inquired if he were dead. Just one glance at the fireman’s face told all.. She knelt be- side the quiet form. His hands were tightly clutched over her beloved essay, but she forgot all about it. E “Oh, laddie, sceak! Ycu must live! I didn’t think what I asked of you, just give me one more word!”’ Suddenly those clear blue eyes opened. Tommy looked straight into the face of the girl, then with a radiant smile on h's face as if to say, “It’s all right, I wanted to do it,” he slipped away to a land where cold, newspaper routes, and rags are not known. Never had Tommy dreamed that dreary cold day that HIS name instead of the winner of the essay would make up the headlines of tomorrow’s New York Times. —Page 21— CI ea ae ey eee eee 2 ee ee ee oI ll Ss ewes —H,J.S ’40.

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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—

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a “ak ee ae Shallow Beauty Jane Meredith trudged slowly down the street when she should have been hurry- ing. She was thinking hard. Why—oh why! She just couldn’t understand it. For the last two years she had been the beauty queen in school and this year it would undoubt- edly be Beryl Hanley’s honor. The queer part of it was that the people expected Jane to be envious and jealous abcut it and she wasn’t at all. Jane had always considered her beauty, and pretty wavy, golden hair, a natural thing and a part of her. She had never let it influence her in any way and people loved her for it. But somehow when she looked at Beryl Hanley’s plat’num hair Jane herself was envious, for never in all her life had she seen such beautiful hair. There was never a hair out of place on that platinum head. She just couldn’t understand why some people wanted her to have the crown when Beryl Hanley was by far the more beautiful. Even though Beryl, who had started to Kingston High School only this last fall, had been rather cocl, proud and haughty, Jane had never held it against her. Jane’s mother, even though she and and Jane had a good many years of “rough sledding”, had taught her only daughter that real and only beauty was in living a good and natural life. Jane turned into Sharp’s Beauty Shoppe where financial conditions made it nece siry for her to work after school hours. The rain was blowing fiercely as she went in. She went to work at once with a puzzled mind. Presently the manager told her that she was to deliver a package to the home of wealthy Beryl Hanley on her way home, and it must be delivered before eight o’clock for tonight the crown was to be placed upon the beauty queen’s head. Suddenly it was time to go and Jane donned her coat and went out with the package under her arm. Water was gushing down the streets in wld torrents. A street light burned dimly up the street. There was no taxi in sight, so she started walking. In, the dark she stumbled, losing the package as she went down. Someone pul’ed her up and she looked into the face of the most popular boy in school, James Dunn, and with his flashlight they found the package nearby with the outside cover a s ggy ress. They went into a cafe nearby and asked the waiter for some new wrap- ping paper. When they began to take the old wet paper off, the lid of the box came off, too. And—' !—they stood staring at a beautiful p'atinum wig. They looked at it a moment and then Jane asked, “Do ycu supp se we can wrap this package up like it was, for no cne n ust know this?” Jame said under his breath, “Cood girl,” end Jare knew that by keeping Beryl’s secret a secret that she was the real winner of the Feauty contest—not the contest for facial beauty—but in the contest of beautiful souls she was crowned queen. —H.M.F. ’41. Street Corner Scenes As I sat nibbling cookies while waiting in our car on the street corner I found watching passers-by a splendd pastime. Here comes a grcup of high school girls swinging merrily along in their flat-heeled saddle shoes, their long, carefree bobbed hair fleating back over their col'ars. A stout lady hurriedly led her candy-besmeared son past the candy window. She was walking as fast as she could, I believe, but her son retarded her speed when he planted both nis feet on the sidewalk and stoutly an- nounced he wanted more candy. Heedlessly, the mother trudgd on pull’ng th wee lad aftr her. Now a freckle-faced newsboy wa!lked brisk!y by whistling and calling out the name of his paper. The last minute had given me an entertaining bit of the kalei- dcscopic panorama of city street corners. —A. R. B. ’40. —Paye 22—