McDonogh School - Dragon Yearbook (Owings Mills, MD)

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THE DRAGON, 1919 He had gone to Yale with the intention of becoming a civil engineer, but had repeatedly drifted down and down until the best he could do was to hire himself out as a laborer. I was greatly astonished at what he had said, because while he and I were at lNfIcDonogh he had always proved to be the brightest and smartest fellow in the class. I then told him that I would keep on the lookout for a better position for him, and that as soon as I found one I would let him know. As I was hungry, I asked him to direct me to a good restaurant. He pointed out a capacious- looking place to me, and I said good-by, feeling very sorry that one of my class- mates should drop as low as that. As I drew near I looked in the window and saw on it, in large letters, Harvey,s Restaurantf' I was puzzled at first, as the name was familiar to me, and the thought came to me that it might be another of my old schoolmates, VVilliam Harvey. VVhile I was standing there, meditating, the proprietor came to the door, and lol it was NVilliam Harvey. I asked him why he was in such a profession, and he confessed that since he had left McDonogh he had never been able to get enough to eat and had finally decided to go into the eats business himself. I was no more overjoyed to see him than he was to see me, so he took me inside and Htreatedn me, as I had done him many times while at school. IVC talked over olden times together, and he made me tell him about the fellows I had seen while I was in France. YVhen I started to tell him about Michael he laughed, and said that he often saw him. Wfhile I was eating-I was sitting near the orchestra-I happened to see two faces that looked familiar. I asked him who they were. He laughed and said: Don't you recognize them? IYhy, they are 'Chaunceyl Tuttle and II-'illiam Randolph. He then took me over to where they were, and we talked over past days, I learned from Tuttle that after leaving hlcDonogh he had tried to go through college but had been unsuccessful. :Xfter wandering around the country he had come to Harx'ey's, and had accepted a position as head of the orchestra, not because hc wanted to, but because it was the best he could do. 31

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THE DRAGON,1919' on his arrival in France, and was getting along well. Eggen had been offered a commission, but he had refused it, as he would have had to part from his friend Bayly. They were in the hospital seeing some wounded soldiers who were in their company. The four of us, Bayly, Brandau, Eggen and I, after seeing that Brandaufs wounds had been properly attended to, sat down and had a pleasant chat about hIcDonogh. They had not seen any of their classmates, but had heard that Sammy hIoore, another crony of theirs, was somewhere near their sector, with a rank of lieutenant-colonel. The splendid training he received While he was at h'IcDonogh had stood him in good stead. He had been decorated with the Legion of Honor and the hrlilitary hiedaille for conspicuous bravery. After several hours, which were spent in talking over our past days, we parted-Bayly and Eggen to their company, and Brandau and I back to our trenches, where I turned Brandau over to the guard. Since then Ihave not heard of him, whether he has escaped or not, I do not know. About six weeks later, one fine morning, I Was called up before my superior officer and was told that I could have six Weeks furlough. Imagine my delight- I could go back to America, see my old friends and the good old school once more! On my arrival in America, after I had passed the necessary examinations, I got off the boat and was on my Way to a restaurant, asI Was nearly famished. I happened to cross a street Where they were fixing up the street car lines and my eye was caught by one of the laborers, who Was supposedly busy digging up the earth between the tracks. In order to get a better look at this certain individual, as his figure looked strangely familiar to me, I walked over to Where he was digging. As I got there he looked up and lol it was Ikey hlichael. Ihappened to know the man in charge of the gang in which Klichael was working, and got permission from him to take lXIichael aside and have a talk with him. After I had told him everything I knew about my other classmates, he finally began talking about himself. It seems that, after he had entered high school, preparatory to going to Yale, he found that it Was a hard thing to Work his Way through college, and when he at last got to Yale he had to work so hard in order to meet expenses that he fell to the bottom of his class. 30

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IHE DRAGON, 1919 Randolph told me that he also tried to go through college after leaving hfIcDonogh and had been unsuccessful, and had fallen back to his old habit, that of playing the cornet-he was a wonderful player-and had got a position as solo cornetist. He also had finally drifted to Harvey's, and was now occupied in tooting the cornet. Between the pieces Tuttle and he played several selections for me that brought back happy memories, such as 'LAll Hail to Our lVIcDonogh, When I'm an Old Alumnus,'l and many others. I said good-by to them and started to go in search of a room. BeforeI got far, however, Harvey called me back and told me to go to No- Wall Street and I would be given a surprise. I thanked him and, dismissing the subject of getting a room from my mind, set out for No. -- Wall Street. On my way there who should I meet walking down the street but George Gantt? I was very surprised to see him, and took him into a cafe near by and made him tell me about his doings. He told me that he was now occupied as private secretary to W. H. Bell, the well-known banker. His experience in the office at McDonogh proved so valuable that he had not found it hard to get a position as secretary. We talked over old times together and he told me many interesting things about the school. He had recently been down to Maryland on a visit to some of his relatives, and had stopped off at IVIcDonogh for a day. He told me that everything was changed except the 'fOld IVIan, who was still running the print- ing office. He said that although the '4Old Nlanw was much older, he was still able to go the rounds in golf and still gave out buds and Happlesl' to the old boys who came to see him. He went on to tell me how the printing office had changed-instead of feed- ing the press by hand, they had two self-feeding presses, two linotype machines and a big press to print pictures. All this brought back memories to me when I used to run THE WVEEK off by motor and had to feed it by hand. I was very glad to hear of the change, because I knew that the work was much easier on the boys' eyes than formerly, when I was in the printing office. Although I would have imagined he liked the position as private secretary, he repeatedly said that he was going on the stage. I looked wise and smiled, 32