Mount Vernon High School - Forum Yearbook (Mount Vernon, OH)

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24 THE FORUM R u b s Loma Arndt and Albert Marsh, Editors . y 4. l f- -7, The Oracle of Delphi INCE chuldhood I have been possessed of a mania for travel which was greatly en- hanced when I took up the study of Ancient History. Each time I picked up a book and read of all the gods and goddesses, the seige of Troy and the wars and glorious deeds of the Ancients, my heart would almost stop beating and I would invariably find myself drifting in- to dreamland and building air castles about the trips I would take late in life to those countries of ancient fame which surround the Mediterranean sea. Altho always possessed of this mania, or Whatever one may call it, I had, up to the present year, had very few chances of gratifying it. However, the eventful i S , year of 1911 came at last and I, together with my class of forty odd members, was graduated from the Mt. Vernon high school and, my school days being over, I was left on my resources. The excite- ment of the graduation exercises past, I began to look about for something at which to while away the long tho beauti- ful days of the summer. While my mind was thus occupied what should arrive post haste but a letter from my uncle, who resides at Norfolk and who is a ship- ping merchant, offering me some sort of a clerkship on board one of his merchant vessels bound for no other place than my long dreamed of Mediterranean sea. He said the work would be light and the voy- age pleasant and that it would be a nice vacation for me. Here it was at last. My fondest hopes were about to be realized. Nervously and with hated breath I wrote a hasty answer in the affirmative and mailed it instantly. Then came a week of hasty preparation, my trip to Norfolk and my embarkment on the steamer. I found, as my uncle had prophesied that my duties were anything but arduous and confining, and that they could easily be accomplished in a couple of hours, so as a result I had practically all the days to myself. After a voyage which to the sailors was an uneventful one but which for me was one continual train of surprises and anticipations, we sighted the coast of Spain and in a few hours had passed the Rock of Gibraltar. We stopped at Barcelona and Marseilles and at last anchored in the harbor of the little town of Prasiae in the Grecian state of Attica. The vessel was to remain here for some thing over a month, and, by uncle know- ing this, had arranged that one of the

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THE FORUM 23 receives about S500 per year, the average educated man receives a thousand more dollars per year. Counting the average period of service of a man as twenty-five years, the educated man would receive 325,000 more than the day laborer. Di- vide 825,000 by 12,340, the number of hours in twelve years' schooling, and we have more than two dollars for every hour spent in school. Education does pay from a financial standpoint.-Dart. Breaking it Gently. A Southern planter, on his return from an European trip, was met at the station by his old colored servant. Well John, said the planter during the drive to his home, what's happened since I've been away? Jes' can 't think o' nothin', Boss, re- plied the old servant, slowly scratching his head, 'ceptin' dat de dog daid. That 's not very startling, though I'm sorry of course. But he was getting quite old. What did he die of? I don' know, just positive, but I's an idea dat he done eat too much roas' hoss flesh. Iudeed! And where did he get the roast horse flesh? Well, you see, Boss, de ole gray mare done got roasted to def. You donlt say so, John! How did that happen? Well, Boss she war in de barn when de barn burned down. You don't mean to tell me that my barn has burned down? How did it catch tire? Don' know 'zactly, but we sort of specks it ketched from de house when de house burned down. Oh that's awful news! How in the world did the house catch ire? Why, Boss dat's de mystery, deed it is. But I do heah' em say as how some candles upset from round de corpse an' set fire to de de house. Corpse! did you say, John? What corpse? Has anybody died? 'Deed dey has, sah, yo' mudder-in- law has died. Oh this is terrible. What did she die of? Well, sah, we couldn 't see dat any- thing was de matter, but I heah' 'em say dat she died of shock. Died of shock? For heaven 's sake man what could have shocked her? Why, Boss, I spec' twas on account 0' yo' wife runnin' away wif the coachmanf' -Ex. Cl li How's yer wheat? First rate. Pigs doin' well? Fine. ll That puny colt come round alright? He sure did. Glad to hear things is so likely, Bill, How's yer wife? if If Mr. Jones had recently become the father of triplets. Meeting him on the street the minister congratulated him. Well, Jones, he said, I heard the Lord has smiled on you. Smiled on me? repeated Jones. He laughed out loud at me. laughed out loud at me. -Ex. Minister- Johny, do you know whe-re little boys go that fish on Sunday? Johnny- Sure, follow me an' I'll show you. -Ex. Class Stones. Freshman-Emerald. Sophomore-Blarney Stone. J unior-Grindstone. Senior-Tombstone. The Forum, Mt. Vernon, O., is a neatly arranged paper. Your stories are a trifle short.

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THE FORUM 25 sailors who knew the country well should take me to the different places of interest around that vicinity. One morning we started across the isthmus and after many interesting places had been passed we ar- rived at the famous city of Athens. After staying there several days We went by short journeys to Thebes and thence to the state of Phoicis Where We planned to stay a week in the mountains and then by a different route to work our way back to Prasiae. We tramped thru the mountainous country several days and in the middle of one afternoon, after a hard journey, my guide said that we were in the neighbor hood of the famous old oracle of Delphi and that if I thought the journey of a few miles would not be too tiresome we would camp for the rest of the day and night in the vicinity of the famous spot. I joy- fully agreed and in a short time we ar- rived at our destination. We pitched our small tent and then started to see the sights. I found it all intensely interesting as my guide told me numberless stories of the deception worked on the old Greeks by the priests who had been there. While he told me the stories as we lay there in the sunshine a dreamy sort of feeling came over me and I mused and wondered how people ever in those old, by-gone days could have been so simple and cred- ulous. Then vaguely was impressed upon my mind the sound of voices, far away and yet distinct, which were sometimes raised in noisy argument, sometimes low- ered in sweet, soft tones of pleading. But how was this ?-I heard the class of 1911 mentioned!! Had the fame of that au- gust body penetrated even to the peas- ants of this region?-I thought-I won- dered, but at last it was all clear to me: The Gods were arguing and deciding the fate of members of the class of 1911 of Mt. Vernon high school. Suddenly the tonal quality of the voices changed. It seemed as if, for some inexplicable reas- on, they had become more clear and dis- tinct and the voice of Zeus was heard commanding silence and then the argu- ments Were continued in earnest. Well, I've been interested in two of them for a long time, said a sweet low voice which I immediately guessed to be Aphroditet's goddess of love and beauty, There's a bashful youth, the president of the class, who seems to be having a pretty hard time. My one request is that after four years of college life he and Evelyn be married by tl1e Rev. Lawrence Fletch-- er and live happily ever afterward. And I want a reform in the manner of warfare and I've found the man to do it. I'll put Englehardt at the head of the army and he'll introduce sane and hu- mane warfare. He'll chaallenge the countries to football and thru him Amer- ica will gain supremacy over the world. It was the great god of war Ares, who spoke these words. Since you have all had your choice, I guess I'll do as I please with some of your charmers said the jealous Hera. Now, Irene Zeisloft must go into a nun- nery for ten years at least. Never! Irene is a charming girl and she and Helen Porter are both to be mar- ried within a year, retorted the goddess of domestic happiness. I spoke first, I guess you can't have everything your own way. Silence, I granted Athena their des- tinies yesterday, thundered Zeus. She has also as goddess of wisdom the privi- lege of deciding the fate of the learned ones. She has chosen Mae Bartlett to re- form the schools in America. There are to be no text books in school after she has made her reforms. You told me that Raymond Spechk was to be a martyr for my cause, said a