Lane Technical High School - Lane Tech Prep Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Page 20 The Lane Tech Annual for June, 1935 that is, after he tore it out. Why hadn't he thought of it before? But wait, . . . wouldn't the second quarter marks go in next week? Yes, he would have to take his science home together with his English, too. The day for handing out report cards came on the following Monday. Eric and Bill were com- paring their marks. What did she give you in English, Bill? I got an Ff' 'fShe gave me an F, too, and after doing all that work. I thought she would give me at least a G. I wonder what you have to do to get and E or an S in her room. Maybe I ought to bring her an apple every day. Donlt get mad, Bill. It's possible to get an S. Look at Anderson there. He has four of them. Four Sis and an EV' ffTo tell you the truth, Harris, I think you monkey around too much while you're in class. You also came in tardy a couple of times. In the long run that all counts up against you. 'fSure . . . sure, I suppose so. Hey, Eric, let's go to the corner. I have a few odds to play on the machinef' Naturally, when Bill brought his card home and showed it to his mother she was not very pleased with it. Seeing this, Harris decided to try to remedy the situation and bring up his marks. He tried Anderson's plan for doing homework during the study periods. However, those forty-five min-- utes would just fly. Before he knew it the period would be over and the work only half done. Still, when the third quarter marks went in, Billy and system, Eric, who had also been using Anderson's received slightly higher marks than before. From Drawing was a part of their jirst serncsterlv work Harris could hardly believe it. He sought out Anderson and asked to look at his card. Yes, there they were . . . four S's and an E. f'Say, Bud, how do you do it? 'fOh, I don't know. The stuff is awful easy for me. I just do it naturally. Most of the work I do in study hall. How did you make out this quar- ter, Harris? f'Not so good. In fact I didn't even get one S. Some guys get all the breaks, I guess. Take science, for instance, he didn't call on me once. How can I expect to get any good marks if he now on it was a matter of keeping the grades up until the fourth and last quarter. Harris and the rest soon found out that they could not rest on the laurels of the third quarter marks. About this time Bill had another run-in with Kurt Otto. That student had kept out of the pic- ture for a while but now he was back again, tortur- ing the members of his Class anew. Due to the scheming bully, Harris received an awful bump on the head during a gym period. The chums put doesn't give me a chance to answer any of the ques-their heads together to figure out some way to get tions? even. Try as they might they could not think of

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The Lane Tech Annual for June, 1935 Page 19 I' him. The two Laneites were brought to school every morning by Billy's father in his automobile. Perhaps this was the reason why Harris should have been on time every day. Still, there was the visit to any of Sloppy Joe's establishments, where one could lose his pennies by putting them in slot ma- chines. It took some time before a student could lose all the odd cents he had in his pocket- Besides, there were others ahead of him. Naturally, time would fly and the bell would ring. T hen it was all up to whether Billy was in a mood to be on time that certain morning. He usually was not. Another frequent visitor to the hangout was Tom- my Cook. He was, at one time, in the same scout troop as Harris. Cook had worked hard and was now an Eagle Scout while Billy was still second class. When Tommy came to Lane he signed up for the R. O. T. C. Military work had always interest- ed him. He and Bill were together in several classes. One morning the two were in their daily rendezvous when Eric came in. Billy made a fairly good try at introduction. When he finished he questioned johnson. The library was always busy. What brings you here? From the looks of you I thought you just got through running the mile. 'fNo, Bill, l just wanted to ask you if you are go- ing out for the baseball team? f'You know I can't do that. I haven't a G aver- age. I don't mean the school team. I mean the divi- sion room team We just started to organize and we need a good hitter and you're it. As you may know, we play all our games in Lincoln Park. Near- ly every room is represented. During these games the coach of the regular nine keeps a sharp look- out for new material which he can use for his team. Will you play? Okay, it's a go. Harris's division won their hrst two games. The third game was a tough one with the opposition coming out on top. Thus ended the interroom base- ball for Will and Eric for that semester. The official baseball season for the regular squad began sometime later. A series of pep meetings to L. ' v Aki Students play Santa Claus. encourage students to attend games were held. To Bill it meant getting out of classes, The get-togeth- ers were quite informal. The meetings usually open- ed with a few songs played by the Lane band. Al- ways there were cries of. . . More! More! Then the cheer of HSeven rahs and a yeah band! All right? It's a . . - . one .... two .... three! The assembly hall simply shook with the re-echoing of the loud rahs. Speeches and pep talks were next in line. The introduction of a few star performers on the nine followed. Maybe they would say two and sometimes as many as three words. Of course the customary cheers led by some contortionist had to follow every speech. Maybe a little more music and then the adjournment. One of the puzzles en- countered after each session was: How could that bass horn player carry his instrument in and around the many turns of the lighthouse steps to the right of the stage? The drum player had the same trouble. They never told anyone how they did it. A professional secret, no doubt. It was these pep meetings which made Harris re- alize that he was a small yet very important factor in the school. The freshman class was just as nec- essary as the seniors. In his mind's eye Billy could see how the cooperation of all was needed to make the school a success. Whenever a project had to be put over the entire student body was asked to do its part in helping. Billy began to recognize the fact that it was not just a matter of getting out of a few classes that the meetings were held. They were called for a purpose. As Bill looked about him he could see boys of all types, scholars, toughs, athletes and others. They surely must be coming to school for some reason. Then he got to thinking about himself. Had he given his best? Oh, well, there goes the bell. What a relief. No school work until Monday. Then he remembered the science lesson. Oh, let it ride. He could tell the teacher he did not have the page,

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The Lane Tech Annual for June, 1935 Page 21 anything until after a week. Then it was Johnson who had the brainstorm. I have it, he informed his pal, we'll fix Mr. Otto good and plenty. With this the two fell into an earnest conference as to how they would go about it. Coming out of the two-man huddle Billy announced. 'tI'll meet you right after lunch. They finished their lunch and went towards a portable where they had English. Otto was already there. Kurt, as had been his custom, always was among the first in the room. His seat was near a window. Now as the plotters watched him they could see that he was deeply buried in a wild west novel. Lucky for them, he was the only occupant of the room. He was unconscious of every one and everything around him. Eric cautiously opened the window and Billy appeared beside him. In his hand he held a newly purchased ice cream bar. Stealthily Billy moved his hand toward Otto's open neck collar. The bully was probably just reading something about cold steel and chills. For as Billy thrust the cold ice creamhdown his neck he uttered a shriek which seemed to shake the entire building. The two lower classmen were satisfied. They were at least partly revenged though it had cost them five cents. They could not help laughing at the funny antics of the husky freshman as he went into action trying to recover the melting bar. The incident was one of many which occurred between the first year Laneites. Finally the last day of the 1A semester arrived. Cook, johnson, Harris and Royal Anderson were among the freshmen who were promoted to ZB. Sidney Epstein with his ignorant ways was one of the flunkers of his class. Auld acquaintances As the four classmates made their way toward their respective homes they spoke of the wonderful vacation period which lay ahead of them. Each told of the time he was going to have. No talk was directed toward the fact that school would have to be resumed the following September. Before the group disbanded Bill proposed that each of them correspond with each other from their vacation spots. Eric and Tommy fell in with the idea en- thusiastically. Tommy offered to send the first let- ter. He kept his word. About a week and a half later Bill received a letter which started the follow- ing chain of letters which Billy either received or sent all during the summer: .-llways represented Owassippe, Michigan july 4, 1032 Dear Bill: 1 am now at scout camp and it's swell. Ilm writ- ing home to see if I can stay up here for another period. Would it be possible for you to come here at that time? We could have a lot of fun together. There is swimming every day or we can go hiking. All told, we can have a mighty smooth time. Please let me know if you can come. Last night the scouts went to Lost Lake. The one time lake is back of Beard Camp. Well, any- way, we sat on a terraced hill overlooking the lake and we had a camp fire and a regular scout meet- ing. Each troop put on a stunt. Our troop enacted Casey at the Bat. There goes the bugle calling all scouts to chow so I must close. Your pal, Tommy Cook P. S. I saw Royal Anderson up here yesterday. Chicago, Illinois July 8, 1932 Dear Tommy: Everything is hunky dory. I can come. Boy, I can hardly wait to get there. The only fiy in the ointment is the presence of the perfect scholar, An- derson. I hope he isn't there when I arrive. Iill be seeing you soon. Your chum, Bill Harris