Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

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ft THE SPECTATOR EDITH CAVELL. Edith Cavell, well known Red Cross Nurse of England, joined the Service at the out break of war. When her Hospital was ordered to retreat, she would not go on account of a few disabled soldiers who could not go at tl time. She and a Belgium officer were accused of helping soldiers to escape and at 2 P. M. October 13th, 1915, Edith Cavell died in front of a German firing squad. But she was not forgotten, by the whole world. The United States has given her name to a mountain formerly, Mt. Hood, now Mt. Edith Cavell. --------oo------- “WELCOME.” When the Seniors took possession ot Room 21 early in the fall of 1919 some said the room was too large but others laughed and decided to wait and see what the New Year would bring. The New Year brought joy to some, but woe to others wrhen the examinations were announced After a long wait, on January 26th, a red letter day for the Seniors, a long procession filed across the hall from Study Hall to room 21. Mildred McGeary, Harriett Withington, Joseph Murphy, Xesbit Hamilton, Violet Shaffer, Eugene Fletcher, Eugene Paul. Ethylle Timberlake, and Elizabeth Shepler. This addition has filled the empty seats and we feel more united. There are just four months left till we separate again but this will not be separation till just the coming fall. Let us work together and make these months, months to be remembered by all of us. HELEN WELSH, Senior. FOR HIS COUNTRY’S HONOR James Middletown was a typical American boy. When the United States entered the war he was seventeen years old, but big for his age. He tried many times to enlist, but was always met by the inflexible reply, ‘Too young.” So, after many entreaties, he desisted, warning the officer at the re-cruting station, “Not to blame him, James Edward Middletown, if they lost the war. “The officer merely smiled grimly, and remarked that they needed, men, not boys “Over There.” So Jim left grumbling sourly about “those men at Washington,” who in his opinion could have made the required age seventeen easily enough. And then to cap the climax, “those men at Washington” ordered all wireless stations dismantled. “Why,” he said to his father. “We won't be allowed to use telephones if this| keeps up.” His father listened dulged in a long hearty laugh, gravely, but when Jim had gone, in- Some weeks after, Jim feeling his eighteenth birthday drawing near, and being in a particularly disgruntled state of mind because it did not hurry, decided to take a solitary spin along the country roads on his wheel. He pedaled steadily for a time; then seeing a narrow, wood-lined road leading off to the right, turned into it. He soon began to wish that he had selected a smoother road, for the way became so rough that he feared for his bicycle, and had just made up his mind to turn back,when he spied 2 tall masts ahead, which bore a strange resemblance to a wireless. He knew that any-

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PATRIOTISM IN V. H. S. In 1916, when war was declared on Germany by the United States, many of our high school boys enlisted to defend our flag. V. H. S. is very proud of these boys and has hung in their honor a service flag which contains thirty-six stars, two of these stars being gold, in honor of John Wherry and Le Roy Felker, both of whom made the supreme sacrifice for their country. The boys and girls who stayed at home worked hard and sold Liberty Bonds as their %“bit”. Then, again, in the last September 1919, when the Bolsheviks were trying to put this country in a turmoil, a num -ber of high school boys volunteered to work in the mill from 6 until 12 o’clock in the evening. These same students al -so kept coming to school regularly. Therefore, I think V. H. S. has shown great patriotism during the war and the labor trouble, and we are proud that “our bit” has not been in vain. JOE MURPHY—’20. -------oo------- COMMON SENSE At the present time, common sense is what Americans need most of all. The menace of Bolshevism is very thre atening, not only to America but to the whole world as well. The U. S., founded by patriots such as Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton, has always been a progressive nation, due largely to the fact that no group of radical thinkers has been allowed to manage the affairs of the nation. But now the radical Bolsheviks! And what does Bolshevism mean? Few people understand the real meaning of the word, which really is “We want more”. That is the whole thing in a nut-shell, a few wanting more than the majority. Are we, as Americans, going to allow a few raving, unbalanced foreigners to guide our national ship on the stormy sea of time? I should say not! We can manage our own affairs without help from any other country. Our ability along this line has been shown ever since the founding of the nation. Few people understand the real mean ace Bolshevism is. Most people say “Oh, the people wn’t stand for it! It will never dominate in America”, or something to that effect. But do they stop to think that some very influential men are being influenced by this ery movement? And the lower classes also are being subjected to its’ fanaticism. This is what we should realize, for what would a nation be without the influence of common people? No, brother Americans, this Bolsheviki movement MUST be crushed! We will not tolerate it! So, let us deport not only the leaders but also the thought of Bolshevism. Let them go back to Russia and fight it out! Americans is our motto, and by Americans we mean anyone who can behave as an American should. My plea is for the use of a little “Common Sense”- horse sense- if you please. The only way to break this movement is to use force, and so: Altogether now as Americans, ready- aim,-SMASH EM! VERNON HEFFELFINGER ‘20

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10 THE SPECTATOR thing of the kind had been forbidden, but, feeling a strange curiosity concerning this, he pushed ahead until he saw that he was opposite the spires. He hid his bicycle in a clump of bushes, and entered the woods. Pushing his way thorugh the underbrush, he came to a little open spot, with a small cabin, cleverly hidden by branches, in the center. And—yes surely enough,,, from one end wires ascended to the mast near-by, which Jim now preceived to be a tall tree with the branches lopped off, and thence to the other pole, forty or fifty feet distant. After a careful investigation, which revealed no human being, Jim cau-tously approached the hut. With his heart beating like a trip-hammer, he reached the dooi . and slowly, inch by inch, pushed it open. A quick glance around the room convinced him that it was unoccupied. TTpon entering for a closer inspection, he preceived that it was fitted in the most modern way for a wireless station. Rows of batteries ranged the wall and in the center of the floor stood a table, with an operator’s paraphernalia arranged in neat order upon it. Several codes wrere pasted on the wall, all in a language wfhich Jim, startled, at once saw was German. He now understood the purpose of the branches which hid the hut. This was one of the hidden wureless stations which the German spies had reared all over the country in their endeavor to transmit information to their leaders in Germany. The thought then flashed into the boy’s mind that it was his duty to get information to the officer at the recruiting station as soon as possible concerning this strange cabin in the heart of the woods. He was just turning towrards the door to carry out his thought, when his glance fell on the batteries. “I can smash them, and put the wireless out of commission,” he thought. Taking the operator’s stool, he raised it above his head, and brought it down on the first of the big glass cells. But he got no further. The next instart the stool was torn from his grasp, a big fist crashed into his jaw. and he knew no more. When he recovered consciousness, he was lying on his back in a corner of the room, with his hands and feet securely bound, and a greasy illsmelling gag in his mouth. The hum of voices outside told him that at least two men were conversing there. Then the sounds ceased and a man entered Jim could see that he was a very brutal-looking man, and this was confirmed when he approached and kicked him with his big,, spiked shoes. ‘‘Don’t you wish you had been a little less nebby, now,” he inquired, leering at the boy. “Well, it has only begun. Perhaps after you have lain there for a few hours, you will feel that it is better to mind your own business.” Then he turned, and abruptly left the room. Jim heard him talking to the other man in subdued tones, and then the sound of speech grew fainter, and he heard their footsteps crashing through the underbrush, probably on their way to town for supplies. He lay quiet for some minutes, then, hearing nothing, began to cast about for some means of escape. His eyes lit upon the broken glass from the battery winch he had shattered, and at once he got an idea. Rolling over and over until he reached a piece of sharp glass, he got it between his knees, cutting himself several times in the operation, and then, raising his hands, which were tied in front, cut the ropes which bound his wrists. With his hands free, it was an easy matter to cut the strands which confined his legs, and then remove the gag. “Now. what shall I do?” he asked himself. At first he thought of finishing the destruction which he had begun on the batteries, but. on second thought, he decided that it would be better to call the officers, and capture the valuable apparatus in good condition. So, opening the door, he started on a run across the clearing. He crashed through the woods, and was just mounting his bicycle, when shouts behind told him that he was discovered. He pushed off, and, bending low over the handle-bars, pedaled down the road at his highest speed. Then a shot rang out. followed by another and another. The men w ere taking