Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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THE SOMERVILLE RADIATOR 7 Meanwhile the Japanese were approaching through the woods. For an instant the firing stopped. Then a noise like an approaching whirl- wind swept across the open. The waiting soldiers grasped their guns even more tightly, the officers walked slowly up and down the waiting line, speak- ing words of encouragement to the men. A frightened rabbit sprang from the woods and scur- ried through the line. Then a fox and more rab- bits; the wild creatures of the woods were fleeing before the approaching storm. Xow the trees and bushes began to sway as in a hurricane. Mere and there through the leaves could be seen the blue uniforms of Japan. “Load !” rang the command down the silent line. Aim!” A thousand rifles were leveled. And then, as the hordes of Japan burst from the forest with a wild cry of Banzai! the banner of the rising sun floating in the lead, the command. “Fire!” rang forth, and the roar of the rifles as they blazed out their rain of death awoke the echoes of the Marathon. For an instant the lines of Japan wavered, but. pressed by the hordes be- hind. they came on. Now the rifles commenced to blaze along their lines, and the Americans began to go down by the score. Step by step they were forced back, leaving the ground covered thick with dead and wounded. The color-bearer dashed for- ward and planted the stars and stripes between the lines, singing We'll rally ’round the flag, boys.” For an instant the lines re-formed, but it was im- possible for one regiment to hold back the thou- sands hurled upon it. and they were again forced backward, the men fighting desperately as they re- treated. The regiments along the line began has- tily to form for the flank attack, but they withered away before the leaden hail from the Japanese rifles. Captain Taylor raised himself on his elbow, his clenched teeth holding back the stream of blood. Near where he had fallen he saw the wireless set. Dragging himself out from underneath the body of tile Japanese soldier he had impaled with his sword, he crawled to the instruments. Many of the guys on the pole had been broken, but the antenna was still in serviceable condition. After several vain attempts, he finally got on his knees and reached for the key. Slowly and distinctly, though everv movement caused sharp pains to dart through his body, he sent: Japanese have at- tacked left Hank. Send help at once. Look out for the sunken road. Captain laylor, M. . S. C. At that moment he was seen by a Japanese sol- dier. itli a curse the yellow man sprang for- ward and ran him through and through with his bayonet, but it was too late,—the message had been sent. Outside the headquarters' tent the general paced anxiously up and down. Near by stood the waiting regiments of reserves, the trains ready for an immediate start, yet no message came. The operator of the wireless station listened, but no sound came to him. Suddenly, so faintly that he could hardly read it. came the message:— “Japanese have attacked left flank. Send help at once. Look out for the sunken road. “Captain Taylor, M. V. S. C. With a yell lie dropped Ins receivers and sprang with the message towards the general. Quickly tiie troops filed into the waiting trains, and with a cheer started for the firing line. Far off in the fighting line the boys in khaki store! shoulder to shoulder with fixed bayonets, fac- ing the yellow devils from Japan. They were not in the shelter of the woods now, but out on the open plain. They knew what was coming. The Japa- nese had massed their men for the final charge. With blowing bugles and wild cries of “Banzai! they came on. Not a man in that thin, brown line wavered. The front of the advancing horde met it only to reel back, broken and disordered. Again they came on. and again they reeled back- ward. For a third time they came.—thousands and thousands of them. The brown line, weak- ened by the previous charges, began to Waver and break in places, when suddenly from their rear came the glorious notes of the bugle. To those that were left to see, the sight will never be for- gotten. Up a slight rise, on the double quick, with the setting sun gleaming on their shining bayonets, came rank after rank of Yankee volunteers. The light from the crimson west shone on the waving banners as they floated above the moving lines. For an instant the men of Japan tried to with- stand the furious charge they received, but it was impossible, and they were forced back over the ground which they had won. back into the forest, back across the clearing where the men of the wireless corps had died, back to the shelter of their entrenchments and frowning batteries. Captain Taylor was found with his dead hand still clutching the key. A week later in the East- ern newspapers his name was among those re- ported as dead. But how he died, how his mes- sage won the day, the world never knew.

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6 THE SOMERVILLE RADIATOR Captain Cavior, fll . t). 5. C. 36v Xcster C. Gustiit, E., '00 X July IS, 1911, the hot afternoon sun beat pitilessly clown on the white tents of the headquarters' staff, and the heat reflected from the sand seemed to dance in long, wavy lines back to the sky. About the tents a few soldiers walked lazily, smoking and talking to pass away the time. In one of the open doorways a middle-aged man sat writing. It was the gen- eral in command of the second great volunteer army that the United States had raised to drive back the triumphant legions of Japan. Three months before, almost without warning, the war- cloud had burst, and the Pacific coast awoke to find itself in the grip of an immense army of in- vasion. Four miles in front of the headquarters’ tents stretched the long lines of citizen soldiers—the pride of the nation—sent out to face the yellow hordes from the East. That they were outnum- bered five to one made no difference to the Yankee boys in khaki. Over hill and dale for fifty miles the long, thin lines lay. the sunlight glancing on the polished bayonets. Far out on the extreme left, in an open clearing in some dense woods, stood the gun-carriages of the Massachusetts Wireless Corps. At four o’clock on that eventful day. suddenly a low rumbling broke the stillness. The general paused and listened. Again it came, longer and louder than before. The wireless operator heard it. too. and began moving his tuning instruments in frantic haste to catch any message that might explain the sound. Suddenly came a buzzing. “Japanese batteries opened on left llank. it spelt out. Then silence. The headquarters’ operator tried in vain to call, but received no answer. Then gradually the rumbling died away. An hour later the buzzing in the receivers com- menced again. The Japanese are--------- it said. and then stopped in a sharp buzz. A minute after- ward it started again. “Japanese are co--------- another buzz and then silence. Then in short, jerkv sentences, broken by intervals, came the following message: “Japanese coming, send help, hurry. Look out for------” Silence again. But where were the Japanese coming? Send help where? The general strode up and down, racking his brains in vain for a solution to the problem. Was it from the left flank that the mes- sage came? If so, why did not the station answer when ca'l !? Was it a trick to force him to hurry his men to the left, and thus weaken the right? Meanwhile, let us see what was taking place in the woods which sheltered the left flank. Captain Taylor was walking slowly up and down behind the instruments of his corps. On his right lay the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment, on his left nothing but dense forest. Suddenly he heard a dull boom, and the next instant a twelve-inch shell went screaming over- head. burst in the rear, uprooting trees and blow- ing branches high in the air as it exploded. 'Phis was followed by another, and yet another, and soon the air was filled with flying steel. The re- ceiving set. struck by a living piece of metal, was utterly destroyed, and its fragments mingled with the mangled body of the unlucky operator. Then, after a sharp bombardment, the firing stopped. Captain Taylor was getting worried. He sent two men out with orders to search the woods to tlie left and front. Then followed an hour of anxious waiting. Suddenly a horse and rider burst from the woods, the man swaying in his saddle, and a fast-widening spot of red dyeing his khaki coat. With a final effort, he waved his arms towards the forest whence he had emerged, gasped out the word “Japanese,” then plunged from his saddle to the ground—dead. Tavlor hurried to the colonel of the Massachu- setts regiment, who sent quickly a line of skir- mishers into the woods and formed for a flank at- tack. Soon a scattering fire came from the forest, and one by one the skirmishers came into the open, then by twos and threes, and in a short time the whole line could be made out, retreating slowly backward step by step, firing as they came. '1 he wireless operator hurriedly began to send to headquarters. “The Japanese are, he sent, when a deadly dum-dum bullet struck him. and he sank to the ground. Another operator sprang forward. Scarcely had he touched the key. when he, too. sank with a groan. Man after man came up. only to send a few words and then fall before the enemy’s sharpshooters.

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8 THE SOMERVILLE RADIATOR “letters to a jfresbman 1Rumber Qwc Dear Freshman: Believe me when I say that I wish I could have again the opportunity to begin high school which you are now having. But providentially it comes but once. I mean by that that if you make the most of your opportunity you will never regret it. If you do not, you will regret it just as I do now. And I suppose that is a part of Providence that we should learn by our mis- takes. What I mean by making the most of your op- portunity is this: You are entering school not only fresh in name, but in reputation. None of the teachers know you yet. so that in the first two years you will have the opportunity to make or mar a favorable impression with them, which is no mean consideration. It is needless to say that I marred mine, and have been fighting against a reputation for laziness for the past year. You have another opportunity which comes but once in the course. It is the chance to spread along equally and normally over the four years the work wliich is required to get you into college. Don’t do the way I did. I loafed the first two and a half years, and have spent the rest of the time repeating underclass courses and studying con- tinually. with the awful nightmare of approaching examinations ever hanging over me. And I wasn't the only fool. There were quite a few of us who sat up till twelve o'clock many a night, wish- ing we had again the chance to do our studying more gradually through the four years, as it was intended we should. But we thought we knew, and we had a good time, only to find that those who worked at first have the laugh on us now. Another point: I hope you take the various school interests thoroughly to heart, as well as the study part of it. The football season is now on. and our school has a good team. Don’t leave the support of the school activities to some one else, for if everybody did that nobody would have any interest. You’ll get a lot more out of your course if you support the various athletic, social, and literary enterprises which the schools offer. The Radiatou is a fine paper, but it will be better when all the underclassmen subscribe and try to write stories and class notes for it. 'Hie Debating Society, also, ought to interest you. If you are in the English School, join it. If in the Latin School, make it a point to attend the public debates. You'll be proud to see how well your schools do. Don't forget that they are yours. If you play any instrument except the har- monica. bring it along and try to make the school orchestra. If you’re good at it. vour chances for making it arc good; because not many have the inclination or industry to learn to play anything more than “Chopsticks” on the piano. Above all. be sure to attend your class meetings and join the Athletic Association. Don’t let a clique or a society run the elections. Take an in- terest and interest others. If they want you to run for any office, don’t shirk. You’re probably as good for the place as any one—perhaps better. Don’t be a “Don’t care. or I’ll never be Your friend, A Senior. 3first ITmpresstons of Cape Cob m Isabel m. TllUbcr, X., ’00 1C Ble steamer made its way up Provincetown harbor, I stepped to the rail to catch my first glimpse of the city. It looked as though it had serious intentions of falling into the bay, rising, as it did, from the very edge of the water. I didn’t have long, however, to speculate on the possibilities of such a calamity, for within ten minutes I was on the wharf. And what an uproar! Every kind of noise and cry, from “Carriage, lady, carriage! to Baggage transfer! greeted my ears, until I thought I had stumbled into a miniature Boston. I finally man- aged to get my dress-suit case away from an enter-