Steele High School - Annual Yearbook (Dayton, OH)

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STEELE MAGNET Page Twenty-Three those words which were heard around the World and Woke the slumbering forces of liberty into vigorous, successful action! Then jump a century and a quarter and ride out to see McClellan's battle-grounds of Fair Oaks and Seven Pines. His earthworks are still there in plain view and his lines can be easily traced. Now hurry down to the mouth of the river again and take a 'dual look out from Hampton over the exact spot where the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac Was fought and the little Yankee cheese box revolutionized the navies of the world, making them abandon their wooden men-of-War and build steel-clad fighters. I have not mentioned half that is to be seen and studied on this historic spot, but perhaps you may be prompted to see it all some day. BI MAY Birds' song and brook's song Rollicking and gay, Child voices, wild voices, The World is at play! Love-time and life-time, And bluebirds on the wing, Fairy bells ring clearly- '4Rejoice, all! 'T is spring ! Daffodils and springtime, Dalfodils and gold, Daffodils and sunshine, Fairies, as of old, To a winter-deadened world J oyously do bring Gold of daffodils and sun, Calling gaily, Spring!

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Page Twenty-Two STEELE MAGNET Here, crossing the James River, is the ledge of limestone which causes the Falls, and checked the northward progress of the Jamestown settlers and established the settlement of Richmond as the head of navi- gation. Even though traders might portage around these rapids, still all cargoes must be transferred there, and this emptying and reloading of boats made business. Anything tha.t makes business soon collects men and starts a settlement, a.nd, if this is permanent, the settlement becomes a village, then a town, and nnally a city. Richmond to-day is about as large as Dayton. The James is the most southern of four rivers that flow into Chesa- peake Bay from the west. Between its mouth and the Falls existed about all the civiliza.tion and culture of America for nearly a. century. This was a long time longer than the reader or I have lived or will live. The interest begins at Capes Charles and Henry, away down at the mouth of the bay, then Old Point Comfort, as it is still called. These three capes are still there and one can imagine he sees that forlorn band of first settlers moving up the bay looking out a.nxiously for a comfortable and safe resting place. Then there is Jamestown, a tangle of underbrush with the lone, old chimney whose picture adorns our geographies and histories. There is the region of the first Indian massacre, which nearly destroyed every hope of those colonists. Williamsburg still exists, it was the seat of government for years, also the seat of learning. Here was and is the college where Washington a.nd Jefferson and John Randolph were educated. Some of their names may be deciphered, cut in the long pine benches. The college still does its work, supported by the State and presided over by a son of President Tyler. The old mansion or palace of the royal governors and the powder magazine are points of great interest, especially the little English church where royalty and the gentry came to worship. Here you may sit in Washington's pew, and see the silver baptismal service presented by the queen of England, and look over the registry and read the autograph signatures of many illustrious names famous in our history. I could linger about that church and its little cluster of tombstones for days. Nearly every stone has a. name or a date that is full of historical significance. Only a few miles away is Yorktown, where Cornwallis surrendered-the lines of his earthworks still show,- a.nd Appomattox on the creek of that name where the Confederate general, Lee, surrendered to General Grant and ended the Civil War. Then a.t Petersburg is the huge crater where Grant blew up the Confederate camp by undermining it, causing a terrible slaughter of men on both sides both by the explosion and the subsequent fighting. It was the capture of Peters- burg by Grant that caused Lee to send a dispatch to Jeff Davis that he must evacuate Richmond. Davis received this dispatch in church on Sunday and immediately interrupted the service by rapidly leaving They point out his pew and show you his course as he made his rapid exit. Another church in Richmond is famous as the place where Patrick Henry said, Give me liberty or give me death g the pew is there yet and the very spot where he stood is marked on the floor. Think of that little St. John's Episcopal Church standing all these years, well preserved and untouched by the battle-marks of war, as a memorial of

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Page Twenty-Four STEELE MAGNET GERMANY DURING WAR TIMES RAYMOND ADLER E arrived in Salzburg, Austria Hungary, on the day that war was declared between Austria. Hungary and Servia. Fearing that we would be kept in the city of Salzburg until the troops had all marched, we packed up our trunks and left hurriedly for Munich, Germany. In Munich there was talk of Germany declaring warg so, being desir- ous of getting near Berlin as soon as possible, we left for Nuremberg the next morning. From Nuremberg We went to Dresden, where we went to a hotel to spend the night, intending to go to Berlin the next morning. My father and I arose early and went down to the station to find out when the next train left for Berlin. On arriving at the sta.tion, We were astonished to iind that it was clo ed. Not understanding the reason why, we asked the nearest policeman, and he with many excited gestures and flourishes told us that the tracks would be used only to transport troops and provisions to the border, and prisoners and wounded men back to the hospitals. We next went to the North German Lloyd offices and asked them whether our boat would sail on its scheduled time. They looked at us as if we were crazy and said that probably no boats would sail for six months. But how were we to get home, if no boats were going? we asked. The German behind the counter merely smiled and told us it would be risking our lives to go out in a vessel flying the German flag. On our way home we passed the postman delivering the morning mail, and, wondering why we had not received anypmail from America, we stopped him and asked the reason. The American mail was not being delivered on account of each German soldier receiving a postal card tell- ing him to be at a certain place at a certain time in his regular fighting uniform. The postal card did not state where he was going, but only gave instructions what to do. We stepped into the Hamburg-American Line oiiices and inquired there also about the boats. Receiving no favor- able reply, we went to the consuls, and there, with a crowd of excited American people, were told the good news that the United States Govern- ment was going to send transports to take us home. In the meantime, things had been very lively in Dresden. The nrst detachment of 30,000 troops marched out two days later, at about twlo o'c1ock in the morning. In the barrel of every musket was a small bou- quet and the men marched singing joyously the Wacht Am Rheinf' while we stood and shouted f'Auf Wiedersehnf' as they passed us. It was a beautiful and sa.d sight, for they were the nation's youngest and fairest. 'Four days later lists were published which showed that ten per cent. of them had been killed. I Every day, twenty-four trains passed through Dresden, each train consisting of forty freight cars, each car containing fifty men, and ten pieces of artillery carried on four flat cars in the rear. During each night sixteen trains passed through, making a total of forty trains each twenty-