Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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She dyed her hair green and wears a blue and lilac dress to harmonize. She raves because she cannot change the color of her eyes to pink. Q Alma Stringer was one of the latest and most desperate victims who succumbed to the infiuence of high school life. While taking a vocal course under Mrs. Hedges, she lost her mind in attempt- to place her tones in the correct location. 3 Wedding-bells and disappointment in love was the combination that drove Margaret Anderson in- sane. The marriage of two other Seniors weighs so on her mind that every time she hears the dinner- bell she imagines that it is playing the Lohengrin', Xvedding March. She has had her cell fitted up with secret passages, in which she can hide when the jailer brings her dinner. Q Mabel Garrett imagines she is nine feet tallz and, in continual fear of bumping her head, she has insisted upon having the ceiling of her cell raised ten feet. Even now, when it is about fifteen feet out of reach, she has had it padded doubly thick. Q Trying to keep up with the latest fashions of Argentine drove the unfortunate Louise Bannister crazy. Now she is in the remotest cell in the Sani- tarium, making clothes for a pug dog, which she has taken with her as a companion. She insists upon running the sewing machine at midnight by X-ray light. Q When she heard of the loss of her Senior essaY 'in the fire, Jessie Eyman received a severe chill. which mentally unbalanced her. Now she sits in an asbestos-lined cell, Wrapped in blankets and furs, with the thermometer at IOO degrees Fahrenheit. The Latin sentence read as follows: Lupa ad vagitum occurrit, lingua infantis lambit, mat- remque se gessitf' This is the way it was rendered bv a slightly excited Freshman: HA wolf ran up and licked the children like a mother. IMPRESSIONS. The sound of bells, wild and alarming, clang- ing fiercely out upon the windy night! The cry of voices as firemen hurried to and fro, adjusting ladders and lifting the long, snake-like hose! Men, women, and children huddled together on every corner and doorstepg their expressions telling of the half-conscious state of mind! Women with straight and stringy locks -of hair straggling carelessly from beneath shawls and caps: men with coat-collars turned up about their throats, and children gazing with sleepy yet excited eyes at the sight across the way. The school-house, wrapped in a coat of scarlet flames, first lapping hungrily about the Laboratory windows, then growing Wilder and wilder, climb- ing higher and higher, up, up, up, consuming every- thing within its path and reaching out its furious tongues until it touched the roof, then leaping with demonlike fury far up into the heavens till it met the dark night sky-and sending continually up- ward myriads and myriads of tiny sparks, appear- ing to be stars let loose. Soaring and sailing, up- ward and outward, vanishing at last to give way to a myriad more. At the highest windows, perched upon the top- most rungs of toppling ladders, firemen fought vain- ly to extinguish the Hames. The bottles of chemicals in the Laboratory went to their doom with a sound like the crashing of thunder. The numberless fish in their gold and silver gowns swam wildly about the aquarium. As the light of the clambering Hames grew brighter and brighter, the beautiful creatures sank away from the intense heat, down to the cooler waters be- neath the rocks-but even there the water became warmer and warmer until at last it boiled and bubbled-the Hoor beneath the glass house gave Way and the whole thing crashed downward-all but the little gold and silver creatures, who were lifted up and wafted heavenward by a great, kind, gust of wind-that carried them up among the sparks-indistinguishably like them-until they too mingled with the stars in the infinite. The graduates of past years leaned from their places to speak to friends and called each other's names in piteous tones as the fury of flames came closer and closer--then softly they bade each other good-bve and cried again to those up and down the hall and stairway. Oh, the horrible sensation! those Hames leaping and crawling about them, and the horror of seeing the friends near them go crash-

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,4f3 .1-1. A -C-'M - -'L - --- --..-'..'... -, . -, , . A '-A' Y 150- - -'-'- - -- - -'--f Y - 24 'THE VVESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. Ella Buckley is known as Whispering Ella. She contracted the habit in High School, but dur- ing the few weeks before Commencement she made a sudden resolution to break herself of the habit, with the result that her brain gave way under the severe strain. NVith a string of beads in her hands, she paces her narrow cell, whispering as she slips each one. Q Ruby Hombs is kept in a straight-jacket most of the time. When she is not, she thinks she is playing Statue.', It is believed that, while try- ing to strike a very beautiful yet difficult attitude, she strained one of the cords in her neck, which unbalanced her mental elquilibrium. Ethel Mott and Ethel Addoms, while walking past the cemetery on their way home from school. late one night, thought they saw a ghost. The awful experience drove them insane, and they now pace wildly to and fro, holding a geometry before them as a shield and shrieking, Sacred to the memory off' and Here lies. ' S Poor Ethel Rose tried to forget her sojourn in Topeka and partially succeeded until, during the Commencement program, someone mentioned Pro- hibitionf' The awful word brought such dire remembrances to her mind that she was led from the stage a raving maniac. 3 Ina Kirkpatrick gave so much time to Latin that her mind became a blank on every other subject. She thinks she is a gladiator of Cmsaris time, and spends her spare moments trying to prick Mr. Snedeger with a javelin. 3 Hazel Partington was driven mad by the theft of her curls. Some envious person grabbed the Hf0re-mentioned treasures just before Commence- ment. When Hazel discovered her loss, she re- fused to go on the stage until some wood-shavings were given to her. When her diploma was handed to her, she took off a shaving and bestowed it on the donor of the diploma, saying, Let 's swap, sirf' S Fannie Spence imagines that she is literary edi- tor of Harperis, Scribnefs, Century, Colliefs, Ev- eryibndjs, and The Saturday Evening Post. She insists upon having her clothes trimmed with pen- points- and has to be forcibly restrained from drink- mg ink. This is the saddest case of a brilliant mind gone wrong in the whole Sanitarium. Abbie Johnson went insane while attempting to invent fifty-seven varieties of coiffures. She only accomplished forty-nine, and the disappointment overwhelmed her. S Helen Weber is afflicted by a religious mania. She prances up and down her cell, trying to dig her heels as far as possible into the concrete floor, and mutters texts solemnly. 'Q . Elsie Lambornis indulgence in the artful pow- der-rag has led to a pitiful hallucination. She thinks her nose is always shiny. To remedy this imaginary defect, the poor crazed child carries constantly with her a bag of flour and a bucket of whitewash. 3 The intense excitement of being on the stage at Commencement drove Genevieve Parker insane. She now believes she is a Spanish dancer and whirls incessantly upon the Assembly Hall stage, to the intense mortification of the religiously inclined inmates. Q Hazel Himes is one of the noisiest of the in- mates. Someone proved that she said three words in succession and the terrible truth drove her insane. Now she talks incessantly in a loud tone of voice, and almost drives the other lunatics crazy. 9. Gray Hodges became mentally deranged from overstudy. Miss De Nvitt, judging from his bril- liant recitations in English, feared a total break- down, and recommended a thorough rest for his overtaxed brain. -Q Albert Mott believes he is a tennis ball, and, as his chief delight is rolling down stairs, he has to be kept in a padded room. He has marked off a court on the floor with chalk, and jumps from one side of an imaginary net to the other, raising an awful racket. His favorite exclamation is, Love fifteen. ' 3 Loie Carnahan's mind has been permanently injured by finding that she can no longer have Miss Patrick's company to guide her footsteps, and her helpful hints as to how to really appreciate Vlfednesday afternoon matinees. The poor child is now confined in a room the walls of which are pa- pered with Miss Patrick's pictures and the mold- ings lined with directions which Miss Patrick gave her before she graduated. H g...'n::..1.1c:a4..i.Zzizs.zzaz.C4 nr:-fa1:,:ia:4:-.- mi 1Lil6!'l':4t6i eIi-,irlgfgf-jjj'Y'-'gggf- --2-. A .-...I ' 4' ' ' 'X - - - -.-.-.- M-, ,,,,, ,U v V - - . . . , I N- . . . . i f ,A .. '7 .:'L .-:zu-zvnwnn. .krew.m y3,4-aLla2L2I:1Qnxsr,'.e,.mm- ,,,, , , .,,.. -. , ,

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,..,.- ,.1,:nn A., x:-- ----v .. . 26 Clif-IE VVESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. ing down from their long accustomed places into the angry pit of flames. High up in the Music room the flames gnawed, slowly at first, then furiously, until at last the piano, the beautiful instrument of a million moods-- felt the devouring flames climbing upward until, as the floor gave way, the entire body of the instru- ment broke into Hames and sunk deep into the debris with one long, pitiful, yet strangely beauti- ful cry of pain, the swan song of its existence, it went to join Hthe choir invisible. At last, when the fury of flames had done its worst. the great front door was torn back and deep within the heart of the building, standing as true and god-like as ever, wreathed round about with a frame of distant flames, stood the exquisite figure of Apollo, seeming to portray in his proud and steadfast poise that, though all else were lost, the undying spirit of the School remained. Catherine Ware, '07. THE DECLAMATION CONTEST. The sixth annual Declamation Contest of the Westport High School was held Friday evening. llflay 3l, in the Allen Library Hall. In spite of the afternoonis rain and the threatening clouds, the hall was well filled with an appreciative audience. The following program was given: The Holy City . . . . . . . . . . . .S. Adams. Westport High School Crchestra. l. Lasca .. .. .. .. .. .. ..F. Desprez. Mr. James H. Field. 2. 'sThe Cther Wise Man . . . .Dr. Van Dyke. Miss Helen H. Hetherington. SingOn ..................Denza. Girls' Chorus. 3. Gentlemen, The Kingln. J . .Robert Barr. Mr. Leslie B. Hohman. 4. A Vicarious Flirtationf' . D Miss Nanna B. Clagett. HSa1l1ng .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Mart5s. Boys' Chorus. 5. The New South . . . . . . . .Crafty Mr. VV. Paul Jones. 6. HThe Soft Spot in B, 606.,' Miss Sallie M. McCluer. HDonawellen . . . . . .S . . . . . . . .Ivanovici. Wfestport High School Crchestra. 7. Jean Valjeanu. . . . . . . . . .Victor Hugo. Mr. Paxson Winsborough. S. The Tale of Two Cities . . . . . .Dickens Miss E. Jeanette Stickle. After the contest, the judges, Mr. Porter Graves, of Central High School, Miss Dothart, of the Kansas City, Kas., High School, and Superin- tendent Gwynne, of Mound City, retired to their almost impossible task of deciding upon the winners. When it comes to choosing the best of four declama- tions, entirely different in subject matter and style, and all so well given, to say that this choice is dif- ficult is to state the fact mildly. The contestants were so nearly matched that the audience would have felt just as satisfied had the decision been given to any one of the speakers. While the judges were discussing the declama- tions, the Rev. Paul Jenkins, pastor of the Lin- wood Presbyterian Church, gave a talk about school athletics. He told stories of his life at Prince- ton and kept the audience laughing throughout. He presented a cup, given by the Schmelzer Arms Company, to Charles Gossard, for winning the 'cross-country run last Thanksgiving. He also gave medals to the Wrard School boys who won events at the Elm Ridge meet, and another cup to the Norman School for winning the relay. It was decided that the cup tied for by Grover Earl and James Hogg should remain in the School, with their names and the events they won engraved up- on it. A set of Hudson's Shakespeare was then awarded to Miss Lydia Cook for the best cover design for the mid-year l lE.RALfD and ten dollars in gold to Miss Lucille Coffin for the best design for the Commencement number. The Rev. Louis S. Cupp then presented the ten-dollar prize, given by the W. C. T. U. for the best temperance es- say, to Philip S. Barnes. Miss Alma Cutter, Miss Irene Curtis, Miss Marguerite Smith, Mr. Carl Davis, and lVlr. Vvalter Moore were given honor- able mention and awarded Swastika pins. After this the declamation judges awarded the ten-dollar prizes to Miss Sallie M. McCluer and to Mr. Paxson Winsborough. C A TREASURE-HUNT. One day, while I was rummaging in the attic, I found an old parchment, on which were written directions for locating some hidden treasure. The contents were somewhat as follows: About ten miles west of Independence, Jack- son County, Missouri, and on the old Sante Fe Trail, is a small cave, out of which flows a stream of water. ln the cave, and fifty yards from its mouth. is a small opening leading off to the left. r , . .-. . , , , .1-:f:-r-z---1--?:f:fa,.:. :a:: -' --m nf-f-:e:e.f- ' v w- 'E lle ,QT :, '.' ' '-s - -1- -- .-X-V-IQ: ix.-.-.. 1. . ' .C -.-.-. .-.,. L . . tv., 1-.--.-. N-.- .,