Mondovi High School - Mirror Yearbook (Mondovi, WI)

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he began, “a quaint little New England town within thirty miles of the Catskill M aintains. Upon the death of my father I ran away and joined a ship on its way to the East Indies. “For a time, all went well upon the ‘Leopard Spots' and 1 was beginning to enjoy the tiip immensely, until a raid oc- lined which change tlie course of my life. T’was the fourth day at sea and I was becoming sea sick. All morning 1 sulked up and down the deck and when noon came, was about to go below when an old ‘tar’ at the farther end of the deck called out hastily, ‘Come here my lad and help hoist up this mast, there’s a storm cornin’ up in the east.’ ” ‘‘With a curt reply I was again about to descend when 1 received a sharp lioxing upon the ears. Enraged by this I struck him over the head with a pole. Frightened almost beyond measure by what 1 had done I ran rapidly down the stairs and locked myself into my cabin. The next I knew some men were pounding wildly on the door outside. Oh! that I might jump into the sea and end this I THE INVENT By Stephei John Longstreet was an inventor of no mein ability. lie was the inventor of the electric firing gun and a few other such weapons used in warfare. Not long after he had invented the electric driven gun. lie was sitting in his under-ground workshop in New York, an idea came to him. “I have invented things used in warfare, for the destruction of life and property and why can’t I invent something that will put an end to warfare altogether.” The more he thought of the idea the more enthusiastic he became. About a month later as lie was working on his invention which was near completion he heard his telegraph instrument clicking a message in the Morse Code. He thought but at that moment the door was burst open and I was dragged forth. I must have become unconscious then, for the next I knew 1 was in a small town on the shores of the Atlantic. There, I was sentenced to twenty-five years in a penitentiary. What a beginning for a lad of fifteen! I shall not tell you what 1 have gone through these twenty years of imprisonment. With the one thought that at the end of my sentence I should start afresh, I have endured trials. When a week ago Gray came to me with a plan of escape I was only too willing to follow it out. I did as he wished and this is my end.” The convict paused, pressed his icy hands to his feverish temples and then resumed : “Mv name is Oldsbury and I am a de-scendent of the late Sir Edmond Oldsbury of England. Think of what wonders I might have achieved with such a fore father.” Again silence filled the room and feeling of his pulse Mac knew the convict had spoken his last. OR OF PEACE, n Blum ’16. had his underground workshop and the main part of his house connected by a telegraph instrument so that he could communicate with his servant. The message which was coming off of the keys was as follows: “Tom Strong is here, should I send him in?” As Tom had been his life long friend the inventor had little fear of his secret being told, so he telegraphed back: “Send him in.” John was working on his invention when his friend was admitted. “Hello John! what are you doing here now, working on some new fangled idea again?” Then his eye caught the inven- 17

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THE NIGHT’S ADVENTURE. By Edith Melrose ’19. If Mac could have known what adventures awaited him a few miles ahead; he might not have chosen Stone Pike as a road by which to reach his destination. Not knowing, however, he reined Mink’s head towards the east, then turned in his saddle and spoke to Lassie, the small bay pony, as they trotted slowly along the hard trail. The moon sailing serenely over head played hide and seek with the feathery clouds, making quaint and fantastic shadows upon the earth below. Mac whistled softly to himself as he rode along. He had passed the state’s prison that day and had shuddered as he thought of the multitudes of sinners imprisoned within that great, building with its thick, moss covered walls. The scene before him—Natures boundless freedom —drew a contrast to these sinful men, and made him shudder the more. Thi-thought applied itself to a coyote yelping hideously in the distance, followed by the plaintive cry of a screech owl in a tree over head and farther up the trail a large jackrabbit stood, for a moment on its haunches, taking the liberty to gaze curiously at Mac, before scurrying away among the bushes. Thus Mac’s mind wandered between the scene before him to the one of punishment, and as the road was a lonely one and his senses accustomed to anything unusual, his attention was quickly drawn to the faint far-away clatter of hoofs. The rider, a tall man, whose face was concealed hy a broad slouch hat, paused in his haste, to inform Mac that two convicts had escaped that day, and then galloped over the brow of the hill. A queer sensation, ran over Mac—a sensation of conflicting desires. A desire to find the convicts and be the one te bring them back and the opposite—to allow him who sought freedom to keep it. The former idea predominated when a sharp turn in the road brought him in sight of a large clump of trees, some five yards ahead. As he approached the spot, his keenness of hearing caught a harsh voice whisper, “Now’s our only chance; jump out and catch the horse that’s following.” “Alright, come on then,” and as lie spoke, he jumped out into the road followed by bis comrade. So quick were they that they were untying Lassie’s rein before he realized what they had said and were about to mount when Lassie came to her master's rescue. Rising on her bind legs she came down with great force upon the shoulders of the larger man and driving him unconscious to the ground, and would hive killed him had Mac not driven her off After catching her again Mac looked alnnit for the other man and found that he had disappeared. Seeing his opportunity when Mac was busy with the other man, he had crept off into the woods to wait until Mac had gone on his way. Knowing that it would be of no use to look for the convict then; Mac galloped on homeward to get more men and a fresh mount for himself. After arousing his father, Mac spread the alarm through the neighborhood and within a short time men from all parts of the adjoining country were there with their horses and dogs to hunt down the remaining convict. When they had starter! Mac turned back to find the crippled one A short distance from the clump of trees, he found the larger man; a mere trembling wreck, with both shoulders broken and head badly bruised. Thinking that he would live but a short time, Mac carried him to neighboring house and summoned the doctor. While awaiting his arrival the convict told the story of his life. “I was born in Hampton, New York,” 16

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tion and he said, “Oh! I see working on some new model flashlight.” “Wrong again.” John said. Then he explained to Tom what the invention was and explained the reason for making it At first Tom thought the idea ridiculous but as his friend began explaining how it worked he became enthusiastic. “It may not work” he said. “It must work, and if it does not at first, I am determined to spend a life time on it,” the inventor said. “By the way, what if some secret agent of a foreign government should get hold of it before you can put it into operation.” Paid the encouraging friend. “No one but you and my servant know of this secret [dace, all of my other inventions have been safe here and there is no possibility of anyone finding out the secret until the time is set for it to be known. Do you see this slide the inventor said shoving the slide open and disclosing a small button. If the machine should get stolen the thief would naturally look for something by which to run it. He would see this slide, open it, and the button would then catch his eye. Thinking that pressing the button would make it work he would press it and by doing sc this innocent flashlight as you called it would fall apart. The mechanism would fall into a thousand parts which would be impossible to put together without plans and these I have hid in a place that no one but myself knows.” The inventor then pressed a button, a secret door in the wall opened and having put his invention in this he closed the door again. They sat down and chatted and smoked for a while. “Is that a newspaper you have in your pocket Tom? Let me see it, T have been so busy the past few months that I haven’t had time to read much.” It was perhaps 15 minutes later when Tom was startled by his friend’s unexpected remark. “I’m going to Washington this afternoon. Do you want to go along?” “To Washington!” Tom exclaimed in surprise, “what for?” “To try to secure a patent on my new invention.” With that the inventor went over to his telegraph instrument and telegraphed instructions to his servant. He then took a small suit-case with a false bottom in it and in this he put his invention. It was a little after midnight when they alighted at the Union Depot at Washington. Taking a cab they went to a hotel for the night. The next day John and Tom left for the office of the Secretary of the Navy where they were admitted into the presence of Secretary Daniels. As the secretary was a close friend of the inventor he cordially received the young men. “Are you going to have target practise this afternoon?” John asked the secretary. “Yes, why?” “Oh! I thought I would like to se it as long as I am in the city,” said the inventor not wishing to tell the real reason of his errand. “You’re welcome and I think I can find some room for both of you in my party. We leave here at 1:15 sharp for we must be at the place of the practice about 2:30 and it’s quite a distance.” “All right we will be here” said John as they took leave. At 2 o’clock they were spinning along the paved roads to the Bay. “By the way,” said John carelessly, “how far out will the target be?” “0! somewhere around 35 miles, that electric gun makes it easy to shoot at long range.” At 2:45 the Secretary and his party were in their place of lookout. They were watching a battleship which was quickly growing smaller on the horizon. “That must be about the right distance,” said the secretary taking out his watch. “We’ll wait ten minutes longer so 18