Northampton Area High School - Amptennian Yearbook (Northampton, PA)

Page 33 text:

eral nurses and doctors near them, fixing their wounds. They were U. S. soldiers. I could not tell who the enemy was whom they were fighting. At one side of the field 1 saw a young captain lying. He had been badly wounded by the enemy. At his side was standing a nurse. It was Hattie Becker. She was attending the young captain,.whose life she was trying hard to save. She had enlisted in the red cross army the year after her high school career closed, and she was still there. She was one of the head nurses of her division. At the time she was near the firing line and in danger of her life. But the roar of the guns became louder and the picture before me looked so sad that I could stay no longer; so 1 moved to the next opening. What a change this next opening brought to me compared to the one just gone by! 1 was carried from the battle field to a country grocery store, on Centre Square in Laury's. The store was full of farmers who were discussing politics. There were many barrels and boxes all around the store containing oranges and many other articles for sale. Judging from the prices which were fastened to the boxes and barrels, I knew it must be somewhere around the year 1925. for the prices were very high. Behind the counter was a small man who I recognized to be Harry Young. He came to high school to learn h.r.v to take care of the financial end of his father’s store. Now the store was entirely in his charge, and judging from the size of it. lie was making a success. Harry was still as small as ever. I saw nothing of much interest to me there, so 1 moved to the next opening. Here, to my great surprise, 1 was looking at an automobile containing three women, in one of the main streets of New York. At first 1 could not recognize them. Later I found them to be three of my classmates, Margaret Jones, Alice Frey and Stella Rodenbach. They were giving free lectures on “Woman Suffrage”. Alice was studying out the “dope , while Margaret and Stella were taking turns at speaking. Stella bad cultivated her voice to a great extent and was a very good s|x-akcr. Any one who was a member of the class of 1917 could have easily foretold that Stella would some day be a good speaker, for she was always practising in school. Margaret was president of the Woman Suffrage committee of Weaversville. She succeeded in getting Alice and Stella interested and they also became members. At this time they were on a trip to show their ability and to become known to the people who were interested in Woman Suffrage. 1 was waiting for someone in the crowd around the automobile I there were about five hundred people) to step —29—

Page 32 text:

high position. Having satisfied fny curiosity 1 moved to the next opening. I lere I saw a young lady sitting in front of a large mirror fixing her hair and powdering her face. This young lady was Olive Kuntz. the secretary of the class of 1917. By the style of her dress 1 could guess that it was about the year 1927. In her school-days she had always been interested in moving pictures, and now she was the leading actress of the Wolf Film Co. In the short time of ten years she had become famous on the screen. Nothing but her interest and future desire to become an actress, while she was yet in high school, brought her to this position. Thru the next opening I saw something which I did not expect to see. This time I was looking at an automobile speedway. 1 saw an automobile coming towards me at the rate of about one hundred miles an hour. As quick as a flash the machine stopped in front of me and out jumped my friend and classmate Arthur Wolf. The automobile which he drove was an eight cyl. Fiat. While he was at high school, everybody thought that some day he would he a great violinist, but he became an automobile racer and won several cups in his long races. The license on his car was one of the year 1930. He only stopped for a few seconds to look at a weak tire, and was off again in a great hurry, and 1 soon lost sight of him. Before I looked into the next opening I heard the click of a typewriter. When 1 did look in. I was looking into the private office of some large firm. The noise of the typewriter was made by a small young lady. This young lady was Mabel Best. Her boss was a rich merchant. He had just dictated a letter to her and she was writing it at the rate of sixty words a minute. On the boss' desk was a calendar of 1926. She had been stenographer at this place ever since she left high school, and had gained this high position, as private stenographer, by being loyal to her bosses. All she had to do was write his letters and receive her pay. In fact she liked the location of the place better than the position. The office of the firm was located at the upper end of Northampton. The town had grown about five times its size since 1917. I did not want to disturb Mabel, for she was very busy, as she always was in school, so I moved to the next opening. Thru the next opening 1 was looking into a large field. Several miles away I could hear the thunder of cannon and field guns. It was a battle field. There were many soldiers lying on the ground, and sev-

Page 34 text:

forward and give Stella a bunch of flowers, but as none stepped forward I moved to the next opening. 1 hru the next opening I saw a familiar place. It was room twenty-three in the Northampton High school building. In this room was a young lady teaching Latin to a class of pupils. This young lady was Hannah Dilliard. She always did love the X. H. S., and after leaving it in 1917 she meant to return to it some day and become a member of the faculty. She always was bright in Latin and it was her favorite study, so after leaving high school she took up an advanced course in some western college and then returned to do her duty in Northampton. 1 y the looks of the pupils they got along very well with their teacher. But as I did not know much of what she or her pupils were talking about. I left them undisturbed. Next I saw a lady seated, in a corner of a large room, at a desk. She was writing very earnestly at something. Around her were piled many books and papers. She turned and started to search for something in a book, and as she did so I saw it was Marie Erschen. She had become a poetess and spent much of her time in writing short poems and also many short stories for the Saturday Evening Lost. She became famous thru her works and meany people bought this magazine only to read her works. The favorite expression. “Poets are born, not made”, is true in the case of Marie, for she was always making verses while sh • was in school. Of course most of her works were humorous and coul 1 only he used to read to pass away the time, and not as a source of education. She was thinking deeply about something and I cautiously move 1 away for fear I would disturb her. Next I saw into a large room which looked to me something like a laboratory, for it was filled with bottles and other laboratory apparatus. The room at the time was filled with gases and smoke, as the result of an explosion. When the smoke had cleared away 1 saw the occupant of the place lying on the door amidst much broken glass. It was John Prye. After leaving school he worked in the laboratory at the Atlas Cement Co for a short time and soon became head chemist. Because of his great knowledge of chemistry he built a small laboratory in the cellar of his home, and it was here where the explosion had just occurred, while he was trying to invent a noiseless explosive. I believe he was successful, for I heard no noise as the explosion took place. Thru the next opening I was looking into the mathematical room of some large college. It was filled with students who were listening very —30—