Lowe High School - Towers Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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18 The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book “What? Eighty cents? That’s coming, but can’t you make it twenty cents more? Come folks, come, come, am I offered only a dollar for this kettle?” “Why its nearly new, just take a look and you’ll see for yourself. There, did I hear someone say a dollar and a quarter? That’s com¬ ing on fine, but”- “What. Did someone Isay a dollar and half? Well, that’s bet¬ ter but its worth more. All right folks, its going at a dollar and a half, only a dollar and a half. Go¬ ing, going—sold.” “Of course, young lady, there is a little hole in the bottom of the kettle but you can easily mend that.” -o- HUNCHES Mr. Watson would have been an excellent provider for his wife and two daughter-, except that he had one unforgivable fault. He could never resist the high-powered sales talk of men who wished to sell him stock in imaginary propositions. Consequently, numerous family quarrels resulted, in which the younger daughter Betty, usually took her father’s part against the others. Once Mr. Watson had made a fortunate investment in bonds, and he always used this as an argu¬ ment when his wife and Elsie, the elder daughter, tried to prevent him from investing in some new scheme. He had tried several dozen different stocks since his first lucky buy, and he had always been unfortunate enough to lose his money. No matter how Mrs. Watson and Elsie remonstrated with him, however, he was just as eager to throw away his money the next time. On the last occasion Mr. Watson had been given a gold opportunity , to buy Wildcat Special, which was the best get-rich-quick scheme he had ever discovered. Betty, who had more influence with her father than either her teister or her mother, tried to dissuade him, as she had done on former occasions, but he was determined. Now Mr. Watson was a firm be¬ liever in hunches, and Betty was, too. One evening, Mr. Watson an¬ nounced to his family that he had invested all his spare money in Wildcat Special. Betty worried a great deal over her father that night, and when she finally fell asleep, she had a dream, which she afterwards said must have been a hunch. She seemed to be standing on a deserted road, when suddenly she noticed two strange-looking fig¬ ures coming towards her. As they approached, she discovered that they were made entirely of paper, and they reminded her very much of some of the stock certificates which her father had at home. Each of the figures bore a pla¬ card, one reading “Wildcat Spec¬ ial and the other “Security Lim¬ ited.” As she watched Security Limited begun to dwindle away and finally disappeared altogeth- ed. Betty feared this paper giant, so turning around, she began to run away quickly. She stumbled and fell—then suddenly she was awake in bed, panting. Her dream troubled her greatly at first, and she thought about it a good deal. She told no one, but a plan had begun to form in her mind, and the more she thought of it, the more she liked the idea Mr. Watson had given his two daughters a very generous allow¬ ance and Betty had saved most of hers. Consequently, she had near¬ ly five hundred dollars to her credit in the bank. Finally, she determined to carry out her plan. She withdrew her money from the

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The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book 17 his life had been a harum-scarum He was one of the first to enlist at the outbreak of the War giving a wrong age so that he might fight for “King and Country”. Out in Flanders Fields, Doan found was no longer the play-time he had imagined. It was no long¬ er fighting with sword $ and toy pistols but with any s’aughteriig weapons that sc : ence could inven . ' 1 here were weary days and nights in trenches half-filled with mud and swarming with rats; days when they were lucky if they got canned soup, or bread and jam to eat. But nothing could daunt the spirit of Doan, not even those weary vigils in the trenches. After such night-mares, came fights with the Germans, and the War was a little nearer the end. Doan had become a favorite with the men, but the only friend he seriously cared for was Staden. One day Staden’s dog, Bud, had come into the trenches with a brok¬ en leg. Staden was too busy to at¬ tend to it, and with a tenderness he seldom displayed Doan had set the leg. A warm friendship had sprung up between the two men and the dog. With continual associ¬ ation, the two men’s friendship had deepened into love for each other. Two years of fighting had pass¬ ed by and neither of the two men .had received the slightest injury. Then one day retreating from a hot skirmish with the Germans, Doan found Staden no longer with his regiment. A curious pull came at Doan’s heart, and with the dog at his heels, he turned back to the battlefield. The field was covered with men of both sides, some dead, others dying. The dog, sensing the trouble, sniffed at the bodies, pass¬ ing from one to another. At length he halted at one and set up a mournful, howl. Doan knelt down, and to his joy found that Staden was still breathing. He pulled the emergency flask from his pocket and was applying it to Staden’s lips when a crumpled fig¬ ure to his right suddenly straight¬ ened itself, sat up, and with delib¬ erate aim fired at Doan’s breast. Then with a hoarse laugh it fell back. Doan feM over, but with a super-human effort clutched the dog around the neck and pointing in the direction from which he had come, said “Pull master back to British.” Whereupon, falling over on his side he died. The dog wagged its tail piteous¬ ly, licked Doan’s face, then because orders were orders, set his teeth in Staden’s coat, and began that long drag to the British trenches. When recovered from his wounds Staden with other men erected a small cross in Doan’s memory up¬ on which was inscribed. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” Maude Holding—C3A. -o • — “A STUDENT’S AUCTION By Angela Ouellette “Come on folks, buy this nice kett ' e. It’s the best article in the auction. How much am I bid? Thirty cents? Is that all? Well, I want more than that.” “Come on fo ' ks, another bid. What? Forty cents? Now that’s coming on better, but it’s not hall enough. Why, just take a look at it, so nice and shiny and bright. Fifty cents did you say ? No. much too small a price for this kettle. Did the gentleman out there say sixty? What, am I offered only sixty cents for this kettle? Why I wouldn’t sell it for less than eighty-five cents, maybe more. “Come on folks, just a few more tries at it.”

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The Windsor-Walkerville Technical School Year Book 19 bank and went to the family law¬ yer. She confided to him her plan,, and although he strongly ad¬ vised her against it, she remained firm. At length, he promised to invest her five hundred in the Sec¬ urity Limited, which was at that time selling at a very low figure. A few days later, Betty’s father told her that he had lost all his money in Wildcat Specials and was very near ruin. He expressed a wish that he had purchased Sec¬ urity Limited, for then he would have been very rich. She then had the pleasure of giving him her shares in Security Limited which she had been keeping hidden for this occasion. Together they told the rest of the family, and Betty was heartily praised although she gave all the credit to her hunch. Today, if you are a visitor to Mr. Watson’s house, and wish to start a discussion, you have only to ask any of them if dreams come true, or if they believe in hunches, for Mr. Watson has at last seen the error of his way and no longer gambles in stocks. EVELYN MASRDEN—C3B. -o- WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE LOW LOW Prize Essay, Hilda Haisman. — C3A The Great War was grim and an event of honor and terrible tragedy, but there were many humorous incidents to make life bearable. During the war we lived in the south of England, just 30 miles from London, and we were in much danger of the German air raids, which generally occurred every moonlit night, We always knew when there was going to be an air raid because all the lights were dimmed, and then we would wait and anxiously wonder what the outcome would be. First we would hear our own guns in the distance as the enemy machines came with¬ in their range. This dull boom¬ ing would become louder and louder like the approach of a mighty storm. Then we would hear the droning of the enemy planes followed by dull vibrat¬ ing thuds as they hurled forth their weapons of death and de¬ struction. By this time the planes were getting quite near and then pandemonium broke loose. All the guns which were stationed in our immediate vicinity came into act¬ ion, and with mighty roars, sent their red hot shells into the sky. By this time,. everyone who was abroad had hurriedly taken cover to avoid being hit by the frag¬ ments of bursting shells. Now and again a shrill whistling sound could be heard followed by a hiss¬ ing thud as an unexploded shell fell from the sky and buried it¬ self in the earth. One night, while my uncle was working in the Chatham Naval dockyard, the lights suddenly went out. Of course this was the signal to let the workmen know that Ger¬ man planes were approaching. My Uncle and his pals imme¬ diately groped round in the dark¬ ness to find a place of safety, and crawled under what by its dark outline, appeared to be a steel arm¬ our-plated turret. These gun tur¬ rets are used to cover the big guns on the battle-ships. Inside this structure it was pitch dark, and the men felt absolutely secure. They sat joking, and having a quiet smoke. “Well, Jim,” remark¬ ed one of the men, “I’m glad we’re not out in that racket. This is as safe as the Bank of England.” After the Germans had come and gone and the lights had come on again they crawled out from their retreat. To their surprise they found that they had been cowering under a large black can¬ vas awning, which would have hardly protected them from the fall of a common ordinary brick. As my Uncle was the one who had