Springfield High School - Capitoline Yearbook (Springfield, IL)

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THE CAPITOLINE Page 7 be, show me what a certain number of people, whom I shall name, are doing and I shall make it worth your while. He nodded his head in the affirmative and after I had given him the names of those I desired to see., he bid me keep my eyes closely fixed on a round glass, a part of this strange machine, while he turned a wheel at my side which caused an intense red light to cover the glass. This light quickly diminished and in its place came a picture of a large court- room filled with people whose faces I scanned for the members of my graduating class whom in this picture I was to see. My attention was drawnto a bright looking man who I judged by his actions was defending the cause of another gentleman who was seated nearby. As I followed this lawyer in his movements it grad- ually dawned upon me that this person was no other than William J. Millar, jr., president, etc., of the class. As I watched the movements of his lips, I wondered if he were trying to crack a jo-ke as in his younger days. However, I was not much surprised at finding this dignified person in the office of a lawyer but I was exceedingly sur- prised to find that the defendant was iHonorable Harry Elhert, Sena- tor from Illinois, who was seeking a divorce, from his wife, on the grounds of cruelty. The picture faded away and in its place came one much more interesting. e c It was a picture of a prize fight and by the size of the crowd and the way they were betting I imagined it must have been one of ,those S200,000 purses fought for in San Francisco.. The fight seemled rather one-sided for one, a stout' little blackheaded Irishman was knocking the other about furiously. At last time was called and as the victor raised his head I became aware that the hero was Kid Rourke, an old class mate of mine. I presume that he, like me, had found writing wit' and humor was not lucrative so had taken to the ring, whipping the ears down ofall professional prize fighters. But my old friend Roukie was not the only one whom I recognized in this picture. For when the referee, after jumping about watching for fouls, ileaned against the side ropes, when time was called, I perceived he ,was Milton Gaffney, who was likewise a member of my classj Since foot- ball had been ruled from college sports, Coach Gaffney had been thrown out of a position, so he had become a referee of prize fights. As before, the scene vanished and another opened. gift tall slender woman, a room full of restless students, a clock several hours slow, but trying its best and a teacheris desk set to one side of the room constituted the picture. The teacher stood stern and dfignified at the front of the row of seats, trying flier best to get a recitation from the class who indifferently gazed at the pictures on the walls, looked out through the glass in the doors and watched the old clock plod along. Finally she became exasperated, turned and wrote on the blackboard, you have admitted conciliation is admissible. This struck me like a shock. Was it possible that they were still drilling Burke into students' heads and if so I pitied them with all my heart. It was not until I began to recollect our senior English Qclass that I

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Page 8 THE CAPIT OLINE recognized the teacher as Miss Minnie Nelson, the girl who organized the skating party. s w i s The next picture filled me with indescribable horror. When it opened a well dressed elderly gentleman was seated in a chair calmly reading a newspaper. In a moment a masked man crawled through an open Window and stealthily creptctoward the reader, with an open knife 'in his hand and without warning plunged it into his back. The victim half raised from his chair, then rolled to the floor evidently dead, while the murderer threw off his mask as unconcerned as could be. To my horror I recognized him as my class mate, George Klock- son. Could' it be possible, thought I, that this fellow who in his school' days had been so meek could have turned into a brute like thisl But in a short time all was explained. Mr. Klockson had turned actor and was then rehearsing anew drama which ,later drew the attention of the whole' theatre-going world. . . f - The followingpicture was. I believe as much of a surprise to me as any. The story I gained from it was' that the Misses'Theoline Sharp and Elizabeth Riggins had opened a studio, the ,former teach- ing ,paintingiand the latter singingf The most striking feature of Miss, Sharp was that she had very little hair. I wondered what had caused-this as she had had such a large amount while at school. Miss Riggins was sleeping in a chair with her head leaning on a table and I imagined she was dreaming of people with warts on their heads. Mr. Parke Freark,-who had gained great fame as ai newspaper man, was still paying his attention to both ladies, having done so for years because he was unable to come to a decision of which he like the better. The next picture is one of which I dislike to tell or even.think. It was a picture of a tombstone on which was inscribed: Karl Stock- dale, born October 31, 1889, died April zgd, IQ23: It seemed the late Mr. Stockdale had gotten into the habit of smoking cigarettes while attending the Springfield High School andsso great was his appetite for them that he rarely ate or slept. He became horribly thin and too weak to work so as a last resort he engaged himself to Ringling Bros.' Circus in their freak menagerie as The Human Coiin Nail. This life was extremely hard on him and caused his death. After that sad picture came one, lit to be framed and labeled with the motto, I-Iome Sweet I-Iomef' iBefore a 'cheerful grate fire, in a large arm chair, sat a mother with a baby in her lap and several chil- dren playing by her side. As the fire flickered and threw a better light on the scene, I became aware that the mother of this happy family was the former Miss Esther Ralph, salutatorian of the Mid-Year, 1909, graduating class. ' ' Y I A very pleasant picture followed that one. Before an altar stood a preacher going through the ceremony of marrying .a middle-aged couple. Something. in the preacherlsi expression tolld me that this holy man was no other than Carl Rebok of my class. It seems Carl had 'played baseball with the Cubs forseveral seasons but had run up against Billy Sunday and had been converted. The groom I did not