Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

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THE SPECTATOR Of course it was partly his imagina tion; but so great a love did he hold for this man, that in a moment he had made a spring and throwr him upon hie face where he lay stunned, but otherwise unhurt. But not so Kent Norris. Anticipating something whch might never have happened, loyally saving his friend, the charge from the gun shot him in the leg. fracturing his leg into a hideous mass of bone and flesh. Many weary daye he spent in the hospital, and when at last he came forth on crutches, his face bore a resigned but happy look. No honors came to him for this brave deed but in his heart he knew that he had saved the life of his friend, and this brought more satisfaction and pleasure than any honors could ever have done. MILDRED McGEARY, ’20. ---------oo-------- TRY, TRY AGAIN.” The quarter was well earned by Bobbie. Hadn’t he been a good boy all the time the company was there? Bobbie welcomed it joyously. With the Big Drive on, Bobbie thought of nothing but quarters, for quarters mean thrift stamps. True, Bobbie had an enormous big foi ler that seemed to have thousands of blank spaces for the placing of stamps and they were all yet blank. This was the first quarter which had come his way since the drive started and Bobbie placed it on the mantle beside his bank until he could purchase one of those much desired pieces of green paper. Returning soon from play, the small boy went to the parlor expecting to find the quarter where he put it. The spot where it had rubbed the dust off was still there but that was all. A rather tearful Bobbie demanded explanations and it developed that father when he Saw the piece of money laying there had slipped it in the bank. When it was explained that the quarter had a very good mission to perform, Father gladly substituted for it another quarter which Bobbie thought much brighter. Down into a deep little pocket it slipped and Bobbie staited for his 14 thrift stamp. On seeing a girl approach who was selling them, Bobbie went deep into his pocket and found —a hole. A very, very tearful Bobbie, after searching diligently for the money, necided that that quarter was not meant for thrift stamps. He went 1-ome and said little about his loss. That evening Mother, mending his coat, found, lodged in he lining, a new shiny quarter. This time, let me assure you, Bobbie put his trust in neither mantles noire ckets but held it tightly in a small clenched fist. That quarter, before it paid for a thrift Stamp, found its way be hind a radiator, back into a dark corner more than once and had several other adventures equally alarming to Bobbie, who in the end. however, pasted crookedly in the upper left hand corner of a T. S. blank ■i new green piece of paper—a Thrift Stamp. MADALENE FITZSIMMONS—’22. -------oo-------- INDIAN STORIES. While efficient Lieutenant Blane was the commander of Fort Ligonier in 1763, several parties of Indians came to the fort, claiming to be triendly. One young warrior, named Maidenfoot, was very much attracted by a young girl of eleven years, named Mary Means. He gave her a beautiful string of beads. One day in late May, Mrs. Means and Mary started to the fort, for there were rumors of Indians in the immediate vicinity. The girl wore her beads. As they were going through the woods, some Indians captured them and bound them to saplings. Late in the afternoon Maidenfoot appeared, sent perhaps to take their scalps. He recognized the beads and released Mary and her mother. Then he conducted them home in a roundabout wayr, where they met Mr. Means. Madenfoot took them to the mountains to stay till the fight would be over. Before he left them the young warrior took a silk handkerchief of the girl, and on it was worked in black silk her name, Mary Means.

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13 thr spectator valiant young son of hers who, in the spring time of his life had gone to fight for her and his country, I also ‘hou.,ht of his sweetheart who anxiously awaited the “sometime” when the wax would end and he would return to her and happiness. I passed on to the next one, a man, • say “man,” but he was little more ihan a boy. As I knelt over him he ■ aved in delirium. In a tremor of fear he gripped my wrist and raised his haunted eyes in pleading. “For m.v sake, Lethe, take care of the boy.” His grip on my wrist loosened; he j ut his hand to his chest and with a i roan of agony died. I pictured a frivolous young wife and a little son, the idol of this father, and prayed that ivhen the message of his death reached her that for his sake, she would take care of the boy. I bent over a mangled form—I rhrieked—and grew faint. Oh no, it could not be, yet it was—my Jim. I took his limp brown head in my arm and kissed the war begrimed face He moved. Was there yet hol e 1 He opened his eyes and gazed bewildered, then recognition gleamed in them and with one last effort he murmured. “It's alright Betty, remember it’s for our country. Then he died in my arms. It i6 those words that have sustained me and kept me from bitterness. This is what the war brought me but I do not regret it for my Jim could not have died for a nobler cause. America will soon forget now that Peace is here. “Peace” what a wonderful word, but for one whose heart is broken—there is no peace! MARTHA HILTY. -------oo-------- A SOLDIER’S DREAM. Kent Norris dropped to the ground with a deep sigh of satisfaction, if not content. There had been fighting almost the entire day. Many of his intimate chums had been wounded or killed. Throughout the entire day he had done his best; fighting, running, and screaming here and there. The fever of fighting was in his brain, and it was many hours before he dropped into a troubled sleep out on that war-torn and body strewn battlefield. Kent saw' himself and his comrades running and capturing one trench after another; overthrowing and destroying large guns; taking German prisoners without number; capturing supi lies and ammunition; killing man of the officers of highest rank; -all these things he saw and he was the leader and hero of it all. Then can e a day when many of his comrades and high-ranking officers lined up to do him honor; how the general came and pinned a medal of honor, and when last of all, he was decorated by the French with the Croix de Guerre, his joy knew no bounds. Kent was awakened by the steady firing of heavy guns; by the shouts of comrades: and by the steady tramp of the advancing enemy. He jumped to his feet, eager to join his comrades w'ho were being rapidly marshalled into something like order. Kent was still exalted in spirit by his recent dream, and resolved that he would, at least try to do something unusual; something that would bring him the love of his countrymen and the admiration and respect of his fighting friends, for Kent had been something of a joke to the other fellows on account of daintiness and dislike of anything bordering on the rough. Among the boys in Kent’s company was a college chum Between these two boys was the strongest bond of love and friendship. Neither spoke to the other in regard to these feelings but each kn ew and trusted the other. The very dissimilarity of the two probably held them together, along with the lovable finalities of each. Kent was the 1 ami ered soul of a rich New Yorker, not exactly weak, but none too strong. His chum was poor, had been working his way through college, and was as strong as a horse. Kent loved and respected his chum for his wonderful strength, mental and physical; Kent was in a measure protected by his strong comrade. During the severe fight which followed Kent found himself close to Samson, as he was jokingly called by all his company. So close were they to a truck that Kent perceived a rifle of a German pointed toward his chum.

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THE SPECTATOR IK As time passed on, Mr. Means moved his family to Ohio. There the father and mother of the girl died, and she was married to an officer of the Revolutionary period, named Kearney. After a battle was over, .as he was crossing the field he saw an old Indian sitting on a log. He held a white handkerchief up. They searched him and found a handkerchief with the maiden name af Captain Kearney’s wife (“Mary Means”) worked on it. Maidenfoot lived with the family of Captain Kearney. Thus he was near the girl whom he had adopted as a sister after his own sister died. Among the early settlers around Ligonier was a farmer named Reed, whose family consisted of his wife and four children. Rebecca was the oldest and George was a year or so her junior. The daughter was often called upon to assist her father with outdoor labors. This gave her a strength and litheness unusual to her sex. In the summer of 1778 the men left the fort daily to look after the crops. The women were cooped up in the fort very closely during the dangerous period of the year. A favorite lural sport and exercise for the young men and women in the fort was foot racing between the extremes of the stockade. Among the young women whe entered the races, Miss Reed was the fleetest of foot. A young man named Shannon, of noted athletic power, often ran races with her, and felt a special thrill of joy when, either through his gallantry or her fleetness she came out victor. The summer of 1778 was a gloomy one. The Indians were lurking everywhere. One afternoon Rebceca and her brother George in company with a young man named Means and his sister, .Sarah,, left the fort to gather berries on a clearing about two miles .sway, where they were reported to be most plentiful. The way led through a thick growth of underbrush which almost arched over the road. While passing through this narrow road they met Major McDowell returning from the farms beyond. Suddenly the little party wras fired upon by some Indians who wTere lying in.ambush near by. George Reed and young Means were in front. Reed w’as mortally wounded, but ran Into the bushes. A ball struck McDowell’s rifle, shattered the stock, and forced splinters of it into his face and neck. Means started to run to the girl’s but was instantly surrounded by Indians. The girls started to run to the fort, but Miss Means, w'ho was holding to Miss Reeds arm was soon caught. When they caught her they were so close to Rebecca that an Indian had her by the clothes but failed to stop her. Now that she wras freed from the other girls she bounded off like a deer. The savage who had grasped her started after her. A most novel race ensued. The Indian, who doubtless thought it would be easy to catch the white girl, was soon left behind. In spite of all he could do she steadily gained. In the fort the noise was heard and a relief party started out. Shannon headed the party. When he was about half a mile from the fort, he saw Miss Reed flying before the Indian. The Indian saw Shannon and turned into the bushes. Miss Reed was very nearly ..exhausted. The rescuing party found the dead bodies of Reed and Miss Means. The Indians made their retreat with Means as a prisoner. Three years later he returned and said that the young warrior whom Miss Reed had out distanced was disgraced forever. Shannon and Miss Reed had happily married in the meantime. When the first settlers were around Vandergrift the Indians got up on Birch Rock and sihot the travelers who traveled on the Old Canal or on the road. Very few people got past safely. A young fellow by the name of Hanna was sent from what is now Apollo to Leechburg. As he came near Birch Rock, across from the mill he thought of the dangers which he must encounter. He sat down to think what to do. He was sitting on a hollow log. There was a hole in one side at about the middle. He rolled the log into the canal and got under it. He put his head in this hole and was thus enabled to see out of either end.