St Stephens Academy - Academician Yearbook (Port Huron, MI)

Page 24 text:

Fortune Favors the BraVe “Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower Comes a pause in the tramps occupation Which is known as the supper hour. ,, Where and how to procure this sadly needed meal was the discomforting state in which Bill Farrel found himself one warm autumn day in 1917. This weary willie of the road had since early boyhood followed the trail leading to temptation and vice, “the railroad tracks,” sleeping and riding in box cars at night and begging his meals during the day. Bill Farrel was not an old man though his shabby clothes and unshaven face made him appear one. On the contrary he was comparatively young, having just attained the age of twenty-four. Of his early boyhood he knew little other than that he had been bon in a small town in northern Michigan, and at the age of twelve been left ar orphan. Two weeks after his mother ' s death he had been taken in by Mrs Carvel, the town ' s aristocrat, who was attracted by the lad’s beauty; but after two months as society ' s “darling little boy” and “mamma ' s pretty baby” the memory of his own sweet mother overwhelmed him and he re- solved to run away. The eleven years succeeding his departure from his native town were years of untold adventure for the boy, and though he travelled far and wide his life was generally good but for the one blot on his character, “aversion to work.” On this particular day which he happened to be spending in a small suburb of Buffalo, Bill decided he was hungrier than he had ever before been, caused by the fact that he had been turned away from the homes of three village citizens without even a morsel of bread. However, the fourth attempt he made at a small gabled cottage proved more successful for a

Page 23 text:

Class of ’21 EDWARD DOUGHERTY - - PRESIDENT GRACE MOORE - - - TREASURER JAMES LAMB .... SECETARY Reading from left to right: Seated — Verda Dougherty, Grace Moore, Madeline Gleason, Elizabeth French. Standing — George Walton, Edward Dougherty, Cecil Burke. This year’s Sophomore class is an unusually small one, only eight in number, but if we can take Jimmy Lamb’s word for it, what is lacking in quantity is made up in quality. Jimmy, by the way, was absent when the above picture was taken. Ed Dougherty was there, though. He and Cecil Bourke, you know, are the shining stars of our orchestra. Madge Gleason likes music, too, especially when there is a waxed floor to go with it. George Walton’s name is almost certain to adorn the staff of some future Academecian, while Verda Dougherty’s literary genius is demonstrated elsewhere in these pages. Grace Moore’s weakness is Cap, but we’re not sure about Elizabeth French’s unless it is conversation. Taken all in all, it’s a group hard to beat.

Page 25 text:

young girl, after hearing his well told tale of woe, invited him inside while ' he prepared the food. Bewildered and pleased at this unexpected courtesy he crossed the threshhold and as he did so he noticed a young man in the uniform of the United States army in earnest conversation with an older man whose large expressionless eyes singled him out as blind ' . At the stranger’s entrance the young man looked up and the older on ' ' raised inquiring eyes. “Only a stranger daddy, who is weary and hungry and desires our hospitality,” said the girl. During the meal Bill learned that the young soldier was the girl’s ! rother, the blind man her father. The boy was on his last furlough as he was to leave in a week for Europe along with other brave boys who heard their country’s call and answered though it cost them and their families many hardships to do so ; and the Claytons, for such was this truly patriotic family’s name symbolized the true American spirit. Having finished his meal Bill thanked his charming hostess and departed spending the succeeding days much as the preceding, but for a new thrill, a desire to do something worth while which coursed his veins every time he thought of that autumn evening, and so the example of the brave family was not as seed thrown on a stony ground though it did not ripen till early in Feb- ruary. It was while reading the Chicago papers at which place he was now located that Bill chanced to see Capt. Jack Clayton’s name on the nation’s honor roll as “killed in action” followed by a glowing account of the dead captain’s bravery. Then a sense of duty and gratitude not only to his country but also to the family of the captain, awakened him to action and he enlisted as a private in the infantry. The following days were ones of hard training and Bill unaccustomed to discipline and work, was one night on the point of deserting when he overheard the following conversation : “Fortes fortuna juvat,” exclaimed Lieut. Hogan to a young private just finished a recital of daring bravery on the part of a comrade already over- seas. The private laughed, and turned to the lieutenant with the question, “What’s that lingo you’re talking?” “That’s not lingo, it’s Latin.” “Say it again; oh I’ve got you old timer; ‘Forty fortunes you’ve got. May I ask where you got them all?” “Nothing of the kind,” said the lieutenant. “In Latin that means ‘For- tune Favors the Brave’.”