Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

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THE SPECTATOR 21 GETTYSBURG HEROINES 'XE cannot read of the history of the Battle of Gettysburg without feeling a thrill of admiration for the women who so courageously served and even gave their lives for their country. One incident which is related concerns a woman named Annie Etheridge, just out of her teens, who volunteered as a daughter of a regiment in the Army of the Potomac. She served four years and was presented with a badge by her state, for her devotion to the wounded at Gettysburg. Though not called upon to fight, Annie had spirit enough to make a battle heroine. At Gettysburg she went to the outposts with the skirmishers and was ordered back. On her way back she discovered a line of low trenches, where the enemy lay concealed, so turning her face to the front she called “Boys do your duty, and whip those fellows!” A hearty cheer was the response and a volley was poured into the hidden trenches. Annie was hit in the hand, her horse was wounded, and her skirt was riddled. She performed deeds of daring in bringing wounded from the field under fire, turning a retreating party of soldiers face about by offering to lead them. On the battle field she toiled under the scorching sun and the pouring rains with no thought but for those who were suffering and dying all around her. The story of pretty Jennie Wade is a very romantic and sad one. To Corporal Johnson Skelly, she was the ideal—the girl he left behind him. It was her picture and her letters that cheered him during long and weary days at the front and then he was wounded and for lack of medical attention, life fled. Mercifully Jennie did not hear of her lover’s death for she herself was to be sorely tried. The stork that cares for neither war nor peace had visited the home of her sister, and in order that the baby have attention, and the mother be made comfortable, Jennie and her mother had gone to the little red house that lay in the path of the invading enemy. When the lead begun to fly, Jennie was placidly baking. While the battle waged fiercer the girl went on kneading dough, undismayed by her obvious danger. But finally a bullet found its way into Jennie’s kitchen and with a convulsive cry she clasped her hands to her breast and fell. But perhaps after all it was a friendly bullet that kept her frorp learning that her sweetheart had found a friendless grave only a few days before. Annie Roberts is but another example of indomitable courage. Young, gentle, affectionate Annie, hearing that the regiment in which her brother and husband were enrolled, scarcely existed except for its dying and its dead, unhesitatingly set out for the fateful scene. Reaching it she trod the blood soaked fields searching among the prostrate bodies for her loved ones. From hospital to hospital, and trench to trench amid rain and mud she trudged on day after day. Did Annie Roberts succeed? She found her noble gray-haired brother with a leg torn off and at length she heard from her brave husband who was a wounded prisoner at Libby. These are but typical of many cases of bravery and devotion, but they all point to one fact, that these women loved their country and their flag and were ready and willing, if necessary, to give their lives for her. Pauline Bolar, ’24. THE LIBERTY BELL VERY person in this broad land is proud of the old Liberty Bell. It is a sacred and silent witness now of the great deeds of long ago. November 1st, 1751, the superintendents of the old Statehouse in Philadelphia, wrote to London and asked for a good bell of about 2000 pounds weight. The bell came in August, 1752. When it was hung and tried for the sound, it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper, witnout any violence whatever. The bell was re-cast in Philadelphia, but it made such a poor sound that it was again broken up and re-cast. This time it was satisfactory. On July 8th, 1776, this bell became famous. On that day the Statehouse yard was crowded with eager patriots. They had

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20 THE SPECTATOR Plans have been made to hold swimming classes in the evening for the town folks. Let us hope that in the pleasure and enjoyment we get from these additions, we will not forget our regular studies, which in the long run, mean more to us and the standard of our school than athletics. Just a word of thanks to all the friends of our school, who did their part, in helping to bring this wonderful work about. Let us hope that they themselves will get the benefit as well as the students of Vander-grift High School. —Catherine Gregg, ’24. AMERICA’S FIRST COLLEGES w w iARVARD, the oldest institution for £ 1 higher education in America, was founded sixteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims. From the earliest days to the present time it has secured a leadership among educational institutions in the United States. It was the first to allow the changes of education, the most important of these being the elective system (This system allows the student to select his own studies). From this institution three of our most important and popular presidents have graduated, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt. Not only men in the political field have graduated from here; but men of literature also. The name Harvard was given to the institution in honor of a Puritan who had died and left his fortune and his small library amounting to 250 books in general, to the institution. Princeton University is located in Princeton, New Jersey. This institution was founded by the Presbyterians of New York as a college of New Jersey. This university consists of three different departments, the academic, science, and the graduate department. It was the first American college to make provisions regarding chemistry and was among the first to recognize the elective system. It is also to be praised as a college where some of the founders and builders of the nations were at one time registered among the student body. Yale University is situated in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded by ten ministers. It was later named Yale in honor of a son of one of the founders of New Haven. This institution is recognized as a school of several different departments such as the graduate, arts, science, academic, theology, philosophy, law, and medicine departments. It is also noted for its valuable library consisting of about 600,000 volumes. One thing significant regarding this insti- tution is the forest school, which was founded in 1900 by Mr. and Mrs. Pinchot and sons. Graduates of this school are given a special degree of master of forestry. Columbia University is one of the oldest and most important institutions in the United States. This university is situated in New York overlooking the Hudson river. In 1754 a charter was granted by King George II and the college was called Kings. Later some years after the close of the Revolutionary war the school was called Columbia. Some of the most important departments are the professional schools, the college of physicians and surgeons, the schools of mining engineering, chemistry and teachers. Women are admitted as professional students to the teachers college and to the college of pharmacy. William and Mary College is situated at Williamsburg, Virginia and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for men in the United States. The charter was granted in 1693 by William and Mary of England. It is supported by the state of Virginia and during the Revolutionary war it was given up by the students as a barrack for soldiers. From here, three of our presidents have graduated and a host of other prominent men such as army officers, senators, governors, and ministers. Vassar College is located near Poughkeepsie, New York. It was the generosity of Matthew Vassar who donated 200 acres with $800,000 for the founding of a college for women. It is one of the oldest and foremost of American colleges. The campus is on a hill near the Hudson. Many of the large buildings are gifts of the alumnae and the trustees. Mrs. Fredrick F'rris Thompson donated a library consisting of 9,000 volumes as a memorial for her husband who had served as a trustee for many years. Vassar has a faculty of 145 and the student registration is 1,100. —Dorothy Lauffer, :24.

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22 THE SPECTATOR met to hear the reading of the great Declaration of Independence. When it was read the multitude gave a mighty shout. But above the roar of human voices rang out, sharp and bold, the great bell. Its tongue spoke defiance to tyranny and comfort to the colonists. Its stern voice sounded from sea to sea. It called the men of Georgia to join the men of Massachusetts. It sounded through city and forest, calling merchant and farmer and forester to the front. Its notes rang across the rugged sea and sent a shudder through England. The Liberty Bell it was. It called the men of America to their duty. It rang for Independence! In 1777 it was hastily placed on a wagon and hurried to Allentown, that the British might not break it up and cast it into cannon. It was returned late in 1778. For fifty years it rang the glad tidings of liberty on every anniversary! On the morning of July 8th, 1835, while it was tolling the solemn news of the death of Chief Justice Marshall, who died in Philadelphia two days before, it cracked. On February 22, 1843, it was rang to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the greatest American. But the old bell could not bear the strain, the crack lengthened and widened, and its tongue became silent forever. —Martha Staniek, ’28. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN N April 14th., the manager of Ford’s Theatre invited the President and General Grant to witness the representation of “Our American Cousin” and it was announced that they both would be present but Grant was obliged to leave the city. Lincoln, feeling that it would be a disappointment if he should fail, relunctantly consented to go. With his wife and two friends, he reached the theatre a little before nine o’clock, and took seats in a box reserved for the party. The whole audience rose as the President entered, and he was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. As Lincoln was listening with great interest to the play, an actor named John Wilkes Booth reached the door of the box where the President was seated, presented a pistol within a few inches of Lincoln’s head, and fired a bullet into his brain. Lincoln instantly lost all consciousness and did not move. The assassin leaped upon the stage shouting, “Sic semper tyranis”, meaning “So be it always to tyrants,” then rushed across the stage and in the confusion which ensued, mounted a fleet horse and escaped. Tne helpless form of the President was borne across the street to a private house. An examination showed that the wound was mortal. At twenty-two minutes past seven o’clock in the morning of April 15, 1865, President Lincoln, without recovering consciousness, breathed his last. The body of the President was moved to the White House where 50,000 people took a last look at his loved face. It may be truly said that the funeral train extended fifteen hundred miles—from Washington to Springfield, Illinois. Later his remains were placed in an appropriate tomb. And, so it was that our beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, met his death. —Louise Wherry, ’25. THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON OR many years we have studied the career of Washington, and with every step the greatness of the man has grown upon us. We see in Washington a great soldier who fought a trying war to a successful end; a great statesman who did more than all other men to lay the foundation of a republic which has endured in prosperity for more than a century. We find in him a marvelous judgment which was never at fault, a penetrating vision which beheld the future of America when it was too dim for other eyes; a will of iron and an unequalled strength of patriotic purpose. We see in him, too, a pure high-minded gentleman of dauntless courage and stainless honor, simple and stately of manner, kind and generous of heart. Such he was in truth. The historian and biographer