Walnut Grove High School - Yearbook (Walnut Grove, MO)

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FU' 'Il' 'ell' 'll' !llFll' ILQII.' Ulf Ill' 'll' 'UW III EI ifuzst Qinw uiil. - One day at noon a stranger entered the Waliiut Grove High School building. This man was, from all appearances, an English- man, for his dress and manner did not betoken a native American. He was nervous and probably being a little excited he kept con- tinually glancing about him as if seeking some one, yet dreading to see them. The Englishman first stopped in the hallway after entering the building but the noise of the grade pupils here seemed to annoy him and he began to ascend the stairs to the rooms of the High School. He walked across the upper hall until he came to the Professor's room and all the time he was looking swiftly about him searching every face. At the moment the Englishman appeared in the door of the room the Professor was busy grading some notebooks that lay piled on the desk before himg and he did not look up. He was interrupted in his work by the sound of a voice saying, Pardon me but this is Professor Andrew: is it not? Receiving a reply in the affirmative, the stranger introduced him- self. I am Professor Rodgers of the VVoodland Business College. I am making a tour of all the classified High Schools in Southwest Missouri in the interest of my college. I want to give before the pupils of these schools a practical demonstration of what may be accomplished in ours. And I would like to give a lecture to the pupils of your school this evening if you can spare me the time. This request had been delivered in a nervous, explosive fashion and it was a full half minute before Andrew could reply. As he was about to do so there was a noise in the hall and a second stranger appeared in the door of the room. He was also evidently 'II' 'll' 'll' 'IIUII' 'IIUII' 'II' 'll' 'Il'

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gMNNh,nNh HP NWHWMP7iUU-iNh.fJHHWE f' 3' L- --p l An- L5 i. If :. lf: X 1 .L -1. Then to his slumbering solitude Came a vision harsh and rude, Such as Smith had never seen before. Through the room there rushed a sighing As of wicked souls a dying, And a ghost came right up thru the Hoor. Followed sound most wild and ringing Like the chant of demons singing As their victims roasted are and Hayed. With gleaming eyes the vision cried And his roaring tones made Smith decide: Look at thyself, and tnembling Smith obeyed. A Round the room through the gloom Crawling worms began to loom And fell upon the books lying near. Through the pages of the sages Crept the worms with their rages And ate the books that Smith held dear. A worm raised its head and Smith gave a groan. He saw by the light the worm's face was his own. Slowly he rose and began to affirm: All too late I see what I have lacked, This is exact without straying from fact, For I am only a book-eating Worm. ai , 1 1 4 1-4. F-1. 1 ,4.. u--. i it i 1 1 N , 1, - 3. 'Q it 1 :L l I gl gi! lu QOH' 'll' 'II' Ill' 'IIUII' 'IIUIII 'II' 'll' Ill' 'Huy

Page 57 text:

'III 'II' 'Il' IIIUII' 'IIUII' 'H' P 'II' 'il' B Qffllll E 5 A 4- E a foreigner, being a tall, heavy, fellow with iron-gray mustache and hair and eyes shadowy and dark lit up by gleams like smoldering hres. At the sight of this newcomer Professor Rodgers turned pale and grasped the desk before him to keep from falling. He was terribly frightened. YVith a quick movement of his hand he drew a paper from his inside coat pocket and clutched it fiercely while he looked defiance toward the man in the door. Professor Andrew did not notice this and rising he walked across the room to interview the second man. In this short moment Professor Rodgers seeing that he was unnoticed glanced about him for some means of escape from the room. As he did so he noticed an overcoat lying on the desk before him. Stooping he thrust the paper he held in his hand into a pocket of the coat. Then Prof. Andrew, having finished his conference with the second man, turned again to Mr. Rodgers. That evening, Rodgers gave a demonstrative lecture on the mathematical facilities of the VVoodland Business College to a congregation of students in the Assembly Hall. It was given in the rapid, jerky manner of a man who was laboring under some great nervous strain. The library of the YV. G. H. S. is in the rear of the Assembly Hall. After the lecture when all had gone and the room was quiet, a shade of a window in the library suddenly stirred and from be- hind it stepped a tall, heavy looking man with iron-gray mustache and hair. Just then, Uncle Billy, the janitor, was heard coming up the stairs to lock the doors for the night and the tall man fled down an opposite flight of steps and left the building, unseen. It was night, dark and gloomy. After the sun had disappeared, clouds, dull gray, heavy and somber gathered swiftly along the lifeless sky of the north and threatened a night of storm and rain. A wind of fitful gusts sprang up, mourning of the lost souls of the dead as it swept along. It was a night such as thieves, vag- abonds and evil-doers delight in. Along a back alley near the school house, at midnight crept three men. They all stooped and hurried along as if pursued by a phantom. The man in front carried a bundle over his shoulder, while the other two carried a ladder between them. Straight to the building they hurried. Here they first tried all the doors but E. E QIUII' ull' Ill' 'll' 'IIUII' 'IIUII' 'II' 'll' III' 'IIUIW