Sumner High School - Spindrift Yearbook (East Sullivan, ME)

Page 29 text:

THE HARBOR BEACON? 20 wlde w1th an area of e1ghty square mlles and a populatlon of nearly tw nty mxlhons St Crolx IS not only the largest 1n SIZQ and popula tlon but It IS the rlchest and most productlve A conslderable area IS devoted to agrlculture and the proouctxon of sugar cane and troplcal frults There are two towns on the lsland worthy of note Frederlcksted and Chrlstaxnsted These towns are bus1ness centres and very lmportant for thelr productlon of sugar St Thomas whlch hes nearest Porto R100 IS by far the most Important of the lslands for lts harbor fHClllt16S Charlott Amalle IS the most lmportant harbor of the whole group of lslands For years past It has been the centre of com merce and furnlshes a coallng statlon It also shelters many shlps from the hurrlcanes that frequent th s coast It has as a consequence nearly the whole of the populatlon of the Island centered about lt Over ten thousand of the twelve thousand of populatlon l1ve ln or near Amalle and over two thousand are engaged 1n agrlculture St Johns the smallest of the islands has an rea of nearly twenty one square miles and a population of about one thousand It dlffers from 1ts sisters ln that It has no facllxtx s for agrlculture and IS valuable only for ltS harbors The harbor IH Coral Bay IS sald to be one of the finest natural harbors 1n the lslands but It IS httle used at the present ture The lsl nds have all of the modern machlnery necessary for manufacturing and agrlcultural purposes The greater part of the populatlon IS negroes descendants of slaves freed ln elghteen hundred forty elght who speak the Ergllsh language I he natlves wear llttle ClOth1Hg as the cllmate IS troprcal throughout the year The fact that the lslands do a busxness much greater than one would suppose la shown ln the exports ard lmports The exports of St Thomas amourted to approximately twenty five thousand dollars and those of St Crolx to two hundred seventy five thousand dollars These conslsted chlefly of sugar troplcal frults wmes and tobacco The lslands are now flylng the Stars and Strmes and are under the rule of the Unlted States got erned at the present trme by James Oln er W R B 17 The Coward It was a tremendously hot afternoon ln the month of July when Kall Benson an overgrown freckle faced boy of slxt en sneaked down to the swlmmwng pool namely Trlanffle Creek and pe red thru the bushes S emg no one there he quickly strlpped off h1S clothes and runnlnfr out on th end of the plank made a perfect somersault dlve No sooner had he come to the surface than his arms shot out and he gllded ov er the water Wlth the grace and ease of an expert For about five mmutes he swam the plank for another d1ve But Just then somethlng happ ned for he stood as st1ll and alert as a fox when hldlng from the huntsman As the sound of shoutlng and laughlng reach ed hlm he sprang back from the plank pulled on hls clothes wlth the exception of h1s shoes and stocklngs whlch he took ln his hand and bounded back thru the bushes and out mto the open As he dashed across a nearby field great shouts arose from the boys who were Just start mg down over the bank There goes the yaller mutt shouted one who seemed to be leader and wlth that rocks and stlcks were drrected at th tleelng boy who was now runrnng wlth shoes and stocklngs In hand as tho l1fe depended upon hls gettmg away He soon reached home and golng 31 ourd the back way went up to hls room There he sat down to get hls breath and thlnk Yes he was a coward and he couldn t help It In splte of all the resolutlons he had made he could not over come that lmpulse to turn and ,. - L 2 1 ' - Lf 4 n , , A G - n , - D , . , 7 . 9 l V a . X , , . .,.... - . ' Y 1 ' .v 1 7 U 0 p . . - . D ,J , ' ' - - , ca ' 97 ' 1 - - 7 ' 7 o 1 - .e . e . . V, W C e . Q ll ' 77 ! 7 1 D A , I, .1 ' I . . . . , - , , splasned, dove and floated , then he came out on - , , 0 S a H r- ' ' ' . . . 5' 7 Q Y 1 7 7 . . . , .1 A . . Q . 1 . . . . N n , 77 ' . , . 0 . . . , . , . , I . . , . . . - e , - A . A 3 7 . . 1 -.A 1 F .N . . . f' . , . L - . y . ,' L - ' ' - 1 ' 7

Page 28 text:

24 THE HARBOR BEACONI at Fort Schuyler This fort was being be sleged and the forces were without a flag so they cut a sheet to make the white strlpes and some scarlet cloth for the red and the blue field was made from a blue coat which belonged to one of the captains Paul J ones was the first to display the American Flag on a naval vessel It was first carrled to foreign ground by an American warsh1p Providence to the Ba hama Islands An American painter claimed that he first carried the flag to Great Britain on the day when the United States gained her Independ ence carry ing it ln the form of a painting One of the captains of a whaling vessel of Nantucket IS elven the honor of first carrying the stars and st ipes to a Br1t1sh port On January 13 1794 by another act of the Continental Congress the flag was again changed from thlrteen to fifteen stars and from thirteen to fifteen stripes Vermont and Ken tucky having been added to the orlglnal states It had been decided to add a stripe for the ad misslon of a new state to the umon It was then thought that ln time the flag would become very clumsy so on July 4 1818 the flag was agaln changed havmg th1S tlme the thirteen red and white stripes and adding a star for the admlsslon of each state This remalns the form of the Amerlcan Flag to thls day D S M 19 Our New Possesslons On January 17 1917 with the formal ex change of ratlfications of the treaty of purchase between Secretary Lansing and the Dutch Mlmster Constantine Brun the Danish West Indies ceased to exist While on this date legal soverelgnty over the Isles became ours the United States did not enter into actual possession On March 31 1917 the Danlsh West Indies were transferred to the United States but be fore this country came into full possession of the islands Mlnlster Brun recelved from the United States Treasury a warrant for twenty five milllon dollars At eleven o clock on the above date Com mander Polluck the United States Chlef naval oflicer of the lslands was ordered by wlreless to take full possesslon in the name of the Lnlted States and at the same time the name of the islands was changed to Vlfgln Islands It IS lnterestmg to note that several names were suggested and each received more or less cr1t1c1sm American Vl est Indles Dewey Is lands and Lincoln Islands were among the names suggested As American West Indles would include Porto RICO that was reyected Devs ey havlng won his fame half a world s dist nce that also was dis carded Were one of our presidents to be honored Wilson who fostered thelr becoming ours should have the honor For this reason the name Lincoln s Islands was discarded These Islands having become a possession of the United States we should know something of their geographical and commercial resources and fac1l1t1es The Virgin Islands conslst of three lslands of importance namely St Thomas St Johns and St Crolx These islands are a main elevation of which Cuba J amalca and Porto Rico are the chlef representatlves They Iorm the connectlng l1nk between the Gre ter and Lesser Antilles St Thomas which IS the best known of the group hes thlrty-eight mlles due east of the northeast extension of Porto Rico St Johns hes twelve miles east of St Thomas while St Croix lies about fifty mlles south of St Johns and St Thomas and sixty miles southeast of the southeast point of Porto Rico These islands as a whole are small and with comparatively small productive capacity but they are of vast lmportance due to the fact that they hay e several fine harbors which offer value for strategic as well as general commercial points These island harbors can easily be put into condition for naval bases as well as supply stations The largest of the group St Croix IS about seventy miles long and from one to five miles L . - - , . . . , 7 Y Q 7 7 1 1 . . . ,. , , . . 3 ' rc 1 11 ', 1 1 ' U l Q - 1 o 7. . . . . 7 . Y . 1 1 ' . . , . A .- G 1 O . .. F. ,. . . . 1 . 1 1 7 7 ' . . . , . 4 , . . . v. . 1 ' 1 ' 1 . 1 1 - 1 ' 1 1 1 ' ' 1 1 . . . . - - 1- - . . 2, . U ' I , .... . . . , 0 . . . , . . - . . I 1 1 . ' . 1 1 7 1 . 1 Y . 1 1 A 1 1 , 1 ' - . . . , . 1 ' 1 . .. . ,. . . 1

Page 30 text:

26 THE HARBOR BEACON! run when a boy ex en smaller than he wanted to fight Such thots as these made hlm feel ashamed but rnoeed they were true He had eaten no supper but decided to go out As rt was after dusk he was able to sneak down the back way and go uptown where he followed th crowd to the new reservoir whrch was berng burlt The cement dam which was berng put across here was only about half completed The water rushing between the farther end of thrs structure and the shore dashed up rn spray as rt washed down between the Juttrng rocks Two days before a boat breakrng loose from rts mooring had dashed down over thrs torrent struck the Juttrng rocks and been broken rnto thousands of preces before rt reached the water below Karl walked out on the dam and sat down behind a corl of rope that hrd hrm completely from the crowd which was about a hundred The moon m de everything almost as clear as rn the daytrme Karl looklng out from behrnd the rope was watching to see rf Brll Simmons and hrs gang were about when hrs eye fell on Judge Adams s daughter paddling a canoe Well out rn the stream Soon she headed her canoe down and was pulled rnto the current She tried to turn back but rt was too late The canoe was traveling at a swrft rate toward the falls Her cries for help reached the ears of the helpless crowd upstream 'Women went into hysterrcs and men raced frantlcally tow rd the dam altho they knew rt to be useless Of all the hundreds of people no one notrced the crouching figure far out on the dam except the grrl rn the canoe When that canoe was about thrrty yards from the falls a vorce called out from above the roaring of the water and the shoutrng of the crowd Jump No sooner was thrs sard than the grrl leaped from the canoe and the boy with one end of the rope about hrs body and the other end tred to a tree on the shore was seen to Jump from the dam and swim with all hrs might up to meet the girl who was now berng swept down stream wrth great speed Two seconds more and he had grasped her Then the struggle beffan Karl felt himself berng pulled down by the suction but strll he kept up bravely grasprng with all hrs mrfrht the unconscious grrl They were almost to the dam and Karl knew rf he could only hold out untrl some one got hold of the rope he and the grrl would be saved He fought bravely but was slowly swept toward the falls Iyow he was wrthrn a few feet of death-everything grew dark he open ed hrs eyes and Instead of berng at the foot of the falls he was lyrng comfortably rn bed at Judge Adams s wrth two of the best doctors rn town bending over him The first thrng he asked rf Mrss Adams was all right On learning that she was he closed hrs eyes and fell asleep Three days later Karl was srttrng on the prazza rn a big Morrrs charr when he saw ten boys coming up th drive It was no other than Brll Srmmors crowd Comrng up to hrrn each boy took off' hrs hat and Brll acting aS spokesman said Karl we all want to apologrze to you and want you to Jorn our gang A happier boy never lived and Karl was new er again called yaller H P 18 A Dog s Oprnron of Cats By D W 20 I am only a dog but I have my oprnrons and my oprnron of cats rs not what you d call com plrmentary My mrstress had had me about a year before she decided she wanted a cat Up to thrs trme I had always had loads of fun chasing them Very few cats came to our place after a whrle but those that drd got a good chasrng and maybe lost a lrttle fur I had got so from practice that I could tell by a glance whether a cat was gorng to run at once or try to scratch my eyes out first so I had xery few accidents Well as , Y , . . . .C , . 1 1 5 n . . g . ' 1 v 7 A . . . . . . c . O . ! . ' 7 7 . . . , . . . . . , . . . . , . . . V . Q . yards up the stream. It was a bright evening. ' e ' . a . . . A , I . . , - . . .y . . . G I 7 l - - - - n , . . . , . Y - ' as D 77 , . 1 7 . , . I -i s . . , . I ' 1 , . . , . . a , ' ' - , . . u . ' . . , V . . . I ' ll 77 ' ' , . . , , Y , ' 5 ' ' . ,