Mars Area Junior Senior High School - Planet Yearbook (Mars, PA)

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- t Mars Hig School The Senior Class Prophecy It was the first day of May, 1921, and I had gone to the forest to search for May flowers... When I should have filled the basket I meant to carry it to aniavalid. Crossing the brook to gather some wind flowers I was amazed to see a tiny old man caught fast to a log by his long white beard. At first sight | thought him a horrid thing to see and would have passed on but the misery of his face made me pity him and I released him. Instantly a handsome young prince clad in costly dress of pre-Elizabethan times stood before me. He thanked me gravely and asked me if he might not help me fill my basket with May flowers. With true English he told me he was Dr. Faustus. I started back in horror, but was reassured by his gentle smile. Then he began to speak in the quaint old English manner. “Kind lady! In truth I am Dr. Faustus, the bond servant of Mephis- topholes, my soul is in his keeping. I sold my soul for knowledge and youth. I learned everything except the curse of too much knowledge My sins are unpardonable yet one day each year I return to this world and try to atone for the misery I caused. I can appear only to those who pity me.” After gathering the flowers we walked to the piazza. I brought out a tray bearing two glasses of iced tea and a dish of sweet cakes. On one table was the Senior Class Prophecy which I had tried to write that morn- | ing and upon which I had so miserably failed. After seeing Dr. -Faustus glance at it a couple of times I burst out and told him how hard I tried and how hopeless was my effort. A smile spread over his face and bowing very low asked if he might help me toward him. Then, although I am sure I never left the plazza, I found myself stand- ing before an immense marble building. At my side was Dr. Faustus dressed in a faultless American business suit. I found him a perfect gentle- man and an interesting companion throughout my wanderings. Together we entered the building and were whizzed skyward in an elevator. On one of the upper floors we found Edna Seaberg in a luxurious office managing the great World Church Movement. By patient work she told me she had risen from secretary to president after leaving old Mars High School. “That was Success,” I said to myself and started to ask a question when I felt myself magically transplanted to a quaint old New England garden where I saw Alfred Morrow, better known to his classmates as Alt, sitting in the shade of an old maple. At his elbow was a small writing table. On it was the manuscript for the latest Fatty Arbuckle movie and also a Page Twenty-three

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Mars High School ton a bill and discovers the fact that the so called Mrs. Benbow is a man in disguise. She informs the police and immediate discovery is prevented by additional advice from the ever ready Sandy. Why not introduce another wife? No sooner said than done, and Mlle. Fleurette, a French Costumer, 1s introduced as Bootles’ wife. She is wife number two. s A suffrage parade is held and Bootles’ father and mother arrive to visit him. Both wives appear on the scene at the same time and Mrs. Ben- bow, Sr., is informed by the faithful Sandy that Bootles has joined the Mormans and has two wives. Bootles’ father is not easily taken in. He employs a detective to search out the truth. This detective is an absurd Irish policeman, and when he tries to disguise as a Freshman he is hazed by the students and tossed in a blanket. At last the truth comes out. Mr. Benbow threatens to disinherit his son, but the agent of the Motor Car Company accepts Bootles’ air brake and makes him a liberal offer for it. The faculty reconsider Bootles’ expul- sion and he is allowed to re-enter college. Under the circumstances his father relents and he wins the hand of Miss Jonquil Gray and promises soon to introduce her as his third little wife. i a... eee ee eee Page Twenty-two

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Mars High School }e - new Solid Geometry just from the press. It bore his name and a letter accompanying it proved even to the doubting that Alf was a mathematician of international fame as well as the idol of a million ardent movie fans. I scarce had time to open my mouth when I saw a chain of white capped mountains on the horizon, a fitting background for a quaint Chinese-town. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but Katharine Smith in a rickshaw. As the carriage passed on she spoke lovingly to the children of the street who drew back to let her pass. Amazed at this I turned ques- tioningly to Dr. Faustus and I saw Queenie, a young nurse from a West Virginia hospital enlisting in the American Red Cross. Shots rang out amid the smoke while Katharine worked quietly on the battle field strewn with Chinese and American soldiers. The War was over but Katharine remained in the Orient. One day in the mountains of Tibet she found an herb which cured leprosy and so she 1s called The White Angel-in the land of her adoption. : “Why,” I asked myself, ““why can’t I do something useful? -Every- | one— | Lo and behold I stood on the steps of a pretty bungalow covered with roses and shaded by palm trees. Hearing the boom, boom of breakers I turned to see Paul Steiner advancing from the beach where he had moored a powerful motor boat. He waved his cap to his sweet young wife and freckled faced son who awaited his coming on the cool veranda. I won- dered what Paul Steiner was doing there when I remembered that he had been sent out to western Mexico by a large Pittsburgh concern and that his reputation as a civil engineer was growing every day. The girl I could not place though her face was familiar and some trick of memory made me think of one of my old schoolmates from M. H. S. Then as if in a dream I was back in Mars. The town was many times larger than in ’21 and the old high school had been enlarged several times till it was the most up to date in the state. It was the first day of school and among the Freshmen were a boy and a girl. That very morning over their toast and coffee Edna Hill and Loyal Purvis recalled their first day in M. H.S. Memory pictured again the unfolding of their friendship. Let- ting the day’s work rest for a minute, they reviewed the years, how Edna had taught school for two years aftcr graduating and Loyal had helped his: father in business. Loyal then proved to Edna that two can live cheaper | than one and they had lived happily ever afterward. = | Bang! Thump! ! Darn! ! ! “Why Mabel Cashdollar, what are you doing?” I gasped. “Oh nothing. I was making a sketch and when you blew in I thought you were a ghost. But just look at this sketch. I sent it to the Cartoonists’ League and it won first prize. Just now-I’m trying to decide whether I’ll Mace te sunt sa: =. ct poea ws abaattic Dan eae Page Twenty-four