Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

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THE SPECTATOR 17 JOHNNY—A HERO sn |OHN Wilson, Jr., was very angry. Just at the beginning of a game of “Hare and Hound”, his mother called him from his pals. Johnny went, scowling and grumbling to where his mother stood. “Johnny, dear”, began mother, “run down to the store and get me some vanilla and I will give you a nickel.” “Don’t want to go,” said Johnny sourly. For a while mother coaxed but when Johnny appeared obstinate, she lost her patience with him and said, “Now, young man, you march down to that store and get what I said and then you can stay in the house for the rest of the evening.” At bedtime Johnny stalked to his room and there made the terrible resolve to run away. Taking his little bank and slipping on his coat, he opened his window and stepped out on the balcony. He swiftly climbed over the railing and slid down the rainspout. What should he do? Johnny sat down on the steps to think. At last he decided to take a last visit to the state bank and look at his beloved statue of Lincoln. As he drew near the bank, he was surprised to see three men silently open the back door of the bank and dart in. Johnny thought this strange so he quietly tip-toed to the door and peeped through the crack. He drew back, astonished and dismayed, for he had seen the men open the largest vault and go in. At last he ventured to look again. He could not see the men but he could hear them move the papers around and whisper. Johnny stood for a time in thought and then crept away. As fast as his fat little legs could carry him, he ran until he arrived at the door of the police station and kicked the door with all his might. One of the night police opened the door. Johnny hurriedly told his story. The officers consulted together a few minutes and concluded that there might be some truth in the child’s story, but how did he happen to see the men? Johnny told the policemen that he had started to run away. Starting immediately for the bank, tne men and the boy reached it by the way of a dark alley. Going to the door, they looked in, to see several sachels full of money, bonds, and the like. Then the policemen waited in the shadows until finally the burglars came out of the bank. Suddenly the thieves found themselves surrounded by officers of the law, who demanded surrender. Two quickly put up their arms, but the third whipped out a revolver, shooting as it came out of his pocket. The bullet sailed unerringly into Johnny’s arm. The last thing Johnny remembered was being lifted carefully from the ground where he had fallen. The next morning, mother read the head lines of the daily paper to him: SMALL BOY MADE HERO BY SAVING THE STATE BANK “O, mother,” cried Johnny happily, as he put his uninjured arm about her neck, “Ain’t you glad I got mad at you?” —Virginia Young, ’28. A MODERN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE — -.1 HEN, in the course of High School life, it becomes necessary for the jjgOTj students to disso've the paternal bands which have connected them with the most exacting faculty, and to assume among the intellectual powers of the world an equal station, to which the laws of nature and intellect entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of learned critics requires they should declare the causes which compels them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident:— That all men are created equally brilliant: that they are endowed by the school board with certain unalienable rights: that among these are freedom of whispering, chewing gum, and day dreaming. We, the Seniors of V. H. S. feel that by right of the long train of abuses and indignities that we have endured from the faculty for the past three years, we may throw off their control over our daily lives, and institute a student government, which shall give those privileges which we feel are due us. The history of the reign of the present

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16 THE SPECTATOR SLUMMING T was the outcome of my Social Service visit to Grogan’s Alley that brings about this story. Jane and I always hated to visit this particular place, for of all our visits there seemed to be more heartache and misery in the tenements of this district than in all the others taken together, no matter how terrible they may be. I shuddered as we entered the alley. We soon separated, Jane to go her way and I, mine. My attention was soon attracted by a thoroughly drunken man. I noticed with pain, that he wore the dear old khaki of which we are all so familial-. I admit I was frightened but I decided to try to pass him. As he approached me I noticed his sunken eyes search my face with a look that I could not understand. I was astonished to see that he was very young and—well—handsome. I drew my coat more tightly about me as I attempted to pass him, but he would not have it that way. He caught at me, but I, having the advantage, on account of his condition, cleverly dodged him and fairly flew down the street. I hurried into a dirty hallway for my first visit. A pitiful cry floated to my ear as I walked down the hall. As I opened the door and gazed into the room I felt like turning my back on the misery within, but my duty called me and I calmly walked over to the bed where lay a woman. She was not over twenty-eight, but she looked so worn and haggard she might have been taken for forty. I greeted her cheerily but she only shook her head and turned away. I picked up the baby and began to quiet its crying. When I left that room an hour later both the occupants were sleeping peacefully and the room had a much better appearance. Thanks to my hour of faithful efforts! I gave a little happy sigh as I went my way. As I walked along the narrow hallway I heard footsteps of a person coming in my direction. In the dim light I recognized the young man of my encounter in the earlier part of the day. The sight of me seemed to quiet his nerves for I thought I could see some of the pain- leave his face. He spoke and then I realized he was sane and sober. My heart missed a beat. He seemed to understand my mystified look for he began to explain his conduct of our former meeting. He told of his endless search for work. His last resort had been gambling. He had been tricked into a game by a ring of crooks and, fortunately, he had won. The crooks had dragged him and stolen his winnings. When I met him he was suffering from the after effects of the drag and the pain had crazed him. He apologized for his actions, saying that he knew what he was doing but did not have the power to check himself. I forgave him and then he invited me to his home. After a moment of hesitation I accepted and followed him down the hall. He stopped before the door of the room I had just left. He opened the door and gave a little gasp of surprise when he saw the transformation of the room. He then bade me to sit down as he walked over to the bedside and lightly kissed the forehead of the sick woman. She opened her eyes and seemed relieved to find him home again. We then had a little three cornered talk and I discovered that the man was not her husband as I supposed him to be but her brother. The woman was a widow. I learned that before the war they had been accustomed to luxury, but the war had wiped away all their fortune. He liked business but had never had an opportunity to see what he could do, owing to the war. I determined then and there that he should have his chance for there were those few thousands that my father had left me waiting for a chance for a good investment like this. One year later as I entered a little store room, my eyes searched hungrily for the manager. Later as I sat in his neat little office, I smiled as I thought how closely related we soon would be. No, I did not marry Jack Kearns for what would a little crabby old maid like me want with such a young man as Jack? No, I was thinking of Jane, my niece, who was to marry Jack the next day and— I was contented! —Ethel Buckley, ’26.

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18 THE SPECTATOR faculty is a history of repeated horrors and tyrannical outrages. To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid public: They have forbidden our taking strolls at various intervals over our beautiful and extensive campus. When a crime is committed we are sent to the judge’s office without witnesses and prosecuted without a trial by jury. They have cruelly taxed us with extremely heavy tests such as most of our fellow-students are unable to meet. They do not permit us to have any voice in the making of the laws. New instructors are being installed and every one is a sworn enemy to the students. They have refused to let us test that great saying “Great minds run in the same channel” by prohibiting our talking to our friends and seeing what is really running through their minds. They have taken the joy from the Hallowe’en Season, by levying atrocious bimonthly tests—due the week previous to Hallowe’en. They have persisted in overloading our careworn minds with lengthy and difficult lessons thereby necessitating our staying in nights, studying, when we might be having a most profitable and enjoyable time elsewhere. Moreover, we have given no cause for these outrages. Our princely behavior deserves no such reward; our magnanimity and conscientious performance of sacred duties is worthy of the finest treatment at the hands of the esteemed faculty. We therefore, the Representatives of the Senior Class of ’24, in general meeting assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of Education, do in the name and by the authority of our most worthy classmates, solemnly publish and declare that they are henceforth subject only to their own wills; and are absolutely free of any tyrannical sway on the part of the aforementioned Professor, Faculty, and School Board. And for support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, our honor. The foregoing Declaration was by order of Committee, engrossed and signed by the following officials— President, Delbert Secrist Vice President, Pauline Bolar Secretary, Winona Love Treasurer, Howard Hill