Morris High School - Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

Page 32 text:

- A FRIGHTF UL JO URNE Y preeipice in the darkness. NVe thought the end was at hand. Each time We heard that distant sound of thunder, we thought of the robbers and the tramp of their horses, and every time we heard the sound of the driver's voice, it seemed to us like an order to halt the coach. If one of the other passengers happened to glance in our direction, we felt if he were considering what disposition to make of our bodies. No one spoke, silence reigned in the coach, and therefore every sound from outside sounded like the explosion of a bomb. Even the rustling of the leaves on the trees, which we eould hear through the half-opened window which was supposed to admit some air into the coach, suggested our doom. And so we sat, rigid and breathless for almost two hours, which seemed two eternities, and the first free breath that es- caped any of us, accomplished that feat when we again felt the solid ground beneath us, and saw the lights in the railroad sta- tion at Reno. If we had not been too frightened, we might have appreciated the humor of that grotesque situation, when we saw the driver, his companion, and our fellow-passengers, each with difficulty releasing his suspended breath, after our having pictured them as belonging to every class of criminals that could gain admittance to the Rogues' Gallery! HFIRBIINE E. NEUSTADTL. Mott Avenue Annex. l 28

Page 31 text:

5 frightful ZIULIIUBQ . E were returning from Sporks,.a small mining ,,,i town in Nevada, to Reno, a distance of about ii, four miles, in order to get the early train east. The night was dark and dreary as that in story. i The hour also coincided with that of the fairy tale, as it was near midnight. The narrow mountain road, which was hardly more than a foot-path, was shaded from both sides, as it cut through one of the most thickly wooded tracts in the Rockies. The sky had that smutty gray and black appearance which foreboded a storm, at least so it looked to us, when we got a glimpse of it through the foliage roof above us. The day had been exceedingly hot, and rain was predicted for that night. Our fears seemed to be warranted, for at intervals, a low, ap- parently far-off rumbling could be heard, which increased the tenseness of the situation in that close, stuffy, badly lighted, incommodious, dragging coach. But the weather was not the cause of our extreme discomfort. The day before, a reward had been offered for the capture, dead or alive, of the most notorious highwayman in the west, who was known to be in our vicinity. He was known to run any risk for the success of his undertakings, and stage coaches seemed to be his specialty. In one instance he disguised as a passenger, another time he, with the help of another ruffian, so silently and quickly removed the driver and the latter's armed companion from the top of the coach, that the passengers were entirely ig- norant of what had happened, until they felt the muzzles of revolvers cooling their foreheads. The district through which we passed was known to be the most dangerous vicinity in that part of the country, and that four-mile ride was fraught with peril g for not only every turn in the road, but the entire way, presented exceptional opportunities for the highwayman. But how were we to know that he was not one of those men sitting opposite us, or that the driver or his companion was not one of the robber's band, only waiting until the coach reached a certain spot to open the door to the rest of the gang? So the situation was one of most intense terror for each individual passenger. The slow dragging of the horses made us feel that we should get out and walk, until we ventured to look out into the night, and then even the dreary interior of the coach seemed pleasant to us, compared with what we saw. Each time the animals stopped in this slow march, for fear of falling over some unseen 27

Page 33 text:

Q ATALE oetwo flirt 3 BY HARRY kaamsow i' '55 A WXTH APOLOMES TO CHARLES DxcKEN5 .3 swowms had the best of times-we had the worst of V' times, we had four prepared-we had no pre- ps- A pared 5 we had first lunch-we had no lunch, , Q l J- we had teachers-we had substitutes. It was 'T 3 the age of the revival of learning. We were freshmen! It was ia the Latin period. All students of psychology know that queer things are bound to happen in a room where a dead language is being vivisected. More so, when it is the last period of an afternoon class of freshies. At the time to which I refer, one could hear heavy groans coming from Room 417. It was not the dead language suffering under the cruel treatment of the students-no, it was only a phonographic treatment of Hidein, eadcm, idernf' Everybody joined in the chorus, includ- ing the teacher, whose bass voice could be heard above the shrill tones of the younger ones. Yes, it was a heavy groan, but in a good cause! Tl1c second stanza had been reached, when the door was hastily pushed open and the Principal, accompanied by Madame Garage, the head of the Latin department, entered. Perhaps it was modesty that prompted the music to stop so abruptly. This was the first visit of the Authorities I leave to the reader's imag- ination the effect of it upon the room. Madam Garage took the seat which the teacher offered her- and began knittingwher brows. The Principal also seated himself in a position where he could hear Qand seej a few recita- tions. When he had heard a few, he advanced and took charge of the class. Madam Garage still sat knittingvher brows. 29