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

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r its cur- on ivy. he fort is along the imb, one is at once that can .e ground l mounds nding on u wonder :H I f V . s 41 f i , Q' fl: ame time sen for a 9 are un- loden slab .me, birth iers have f boulders few have lme of the and old- THE VVESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 23 There are a few who lie buried on this hill, that lived to the age of five score. Standing before such a grave, one bends his head in quiet veneration. Pausing before graves like these, one can in his imagination go back and experience, as it were, the life of some of these people. One can see them breaking New England home ties and coming west to help build a state and sustain a principle. lle can picture the toiling of the men as they built homes, and the helpful- ness of the women as they strived to furnish these homes with meagre comforts. Qne can picture a flourishing town in the early 60's sending all its able-bodied men to the front and then see a few, a very few, re- turning to find the place deserted. But the whistle of an approaching locomo- tive breaks in upon the scene, and we again see the ruins of the deserted town. Looking to the east we can see the hazy, smoky cloud that hangs over the city. To the north, faintly outlined against the hills, can be seen the buildings composing Park College. To the south, on a neighboring hill, is Quindaro College for negroes. Here within the range of our vision is a vast metropolis and schools for both races of people. Qne cannot help but think of the vast change that has come over the Ameri- can people during the last Hfty years. Then negro education was a thing un- dreamed of, now it is a reality. Then edu- cation in general was meagre, but now it is to be had on every hand. Then the great cities were few, and Kansas City had not, as yet, taken her place among the few. Quin- daro helped to blaze the way for much of future development. lt was the decline of Quindaro that helped along the growth of Kansas City. Now the history of Quindaro can be found only in musty volumes, and we have almost forgotten that it ever ex- isted. But let us remember tiat Quindaro played a significant part in the growth of the Southwest, and occupied a most vital position in the early history of Kansas City. . DQNALD E. BLACK, 'll. The Services of Samuel Adams in the War of the Revolution tThis essay won third prize in the Sons of the American Revolution Contest for 1911.1 X reading over the history of the struggle of the liiritish colonists in n America for the preservation of their civil rights, from the beginning of llritain's unfortunate oppressive policy to the declaring of independence by a Con- gress of Americans, we are struck with the repeated reappearance of Massachu- setts in struggles with the encroachments of llritish tyranny on civil rights. Espec- ially is this truc of the tense period between the close of the lfrench and lndian iXYar and the outbreak of the Revolution. Partly because of her wealth and commercial im- portance, partly because of her homogeniety of population, largely because of the stern Puritan blood in the veins of her inhab- itants, and above all because of her system of folk-motes, cycle upon cycle, and the active participation of her sons in the great- est and smallest affairs of government, did Massachusetts come to be the great and activelleader of the colonies in contests for home authority and in all civil crises. ln

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22 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. old fort. One wall, perhaps sixty feet high, remains standing, although a little warped with age. The other wall has crumbled somewhat. High up on these can be seen the portholes, whose purpose became one of ornament rather than use. At the south- western extremity of the building Cjust vis- ible in the pictureg there is a cave-like open- ing, the entrance to a tunnel. This used to lead to the river, a few rods away, providing a secret means of exit for those in the fort. wall remains, barely visible under its cur- tain of wild grape vines and poison ivy. A little distance to the WGSY Of the fort is a huge bluff, such as is common along the Missouri. After a strenuous climb, one gains the summit of this hill and is at once impressed with the distant view that can be had. On close examination the ground is found to be covered with small mounds and you realize that you are standing on the graves of early settlers. You wonder l i e 2 Roms OF AN OLD DWELLING But time has wrought great changes upon this as well as upon the rest. The opening upon the side of the river has become filled with driftwood and lost to sight. Xhfhen the railroad company built its road through the town, a portion of the tunnel caved in. It has now become so clogged that one C311 only proceed a few feet into its interior. Near its entrance runs a small stream and back of this is another ruin, all that 15 left of what was once a double house. Une long why such a sightly and at the same time such an unhandy place was chosen for a cemetery, Some of the mounds are un- marked. Qthers have a simple wooden slab at the head inscribed with the name, birth and death of the deceased. Others have memorials chipped on the surface of boulders found along the water's edge. A few have Q Plain granite or marble slab. Some of the inscriptions are very quaint and old- fashioned. Tliere hill, that Standing head in graves lil go bacli in soniei breaking xvest tr: principle men as ness of t these hc can pict offs sen front ai' turning But tl tive bre see the to the cloud 1 north, l be see their llritai the d gress the 1 setts of Ri ially the Q

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24 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. like manner and for like reasons did Boston come to control Massachusetts and to dic- tate her policies, and finally to be the stage of the policies, the struggles and crises of a continent. And how completely Clifl 5211111161 Adams come to control Boston, and to what purpose, we shall soon see. Samuel Adams made possible the Wfar of the Revolution, by bringing about the Dec- laration of Independence. This is a start- ling statement, but it is true nevertheless. The independence of the American colonies was his vision, his mission, early conceived --as early as 1765, says Hutchinson-when none else dreamed of such a thing, con- stanly striven for during his whole career with all the resources of his almost unim- aginable authority and prestige, with all the powers of a consummate politician, with all the fervor and intensity of a burning soul, wholly unshared by others almost down to the very Declaration itself. How com- pletely he was alone in his ideal is shown by the fact that throughout the First Con- gress and even later he was looked upon as a fanatic, and that even amid his closest associates and co-workers he stood alone in the advocacy of American independence. This last gives some idea of the difficulties which constantly beset him, it cannot dis- close them all. The very fact of his being solitary in his ideal made a gulf which it was hard to cross. Sometimes his great power was in itself an obstacle. Beside keeping himself as much as possible in the background, he had constantly to fight the power of the Loyalists, men who supported the king often from the sincerest convic- tions, and especially in this regard Thomas Hutchinson, Massachusetts' last royal gov- ernor in peace and by civil authority, a man always patient, much enduring and much misrepresented . and vililied. VVith him Adams waged a battle royal, keenly con- tested but ever dignined, until at last Hutch- inson's power was overthrown by measures not wholly innocent of trickery-the famgug Hutchinson Letters. It was not only loy- alists but reactionaries in his own ranks with whom Adams had to contend. More: he had constantly to struggle against an indecisiveness, an inglorious supineness in his own countrymen, where to falter was to lose all. But above all,'crowning all, what in fact amounted to his life work, he was obliged to make his own public opinion. In 1760 the colonists were, it is true, firmly set against yielding one jot or tittle of their ancient privileges, but nevertheless were they loyal sons of England. Their firmly protestant stand on their rights was merely a part of their English heritage. These men never dreamed of separation from the mother-country. Not until the days of Con- cord and Lexington was there borne in upon them the necessity of the step. But Adams had dreamed of it long before. During all these years he had gradually so wrought upon their minds and hearts that when at last the time came they were ready for the step. One can hardly conceive of such a power, such an authority and prestige. It must have appeared wonderful to Adams him- self. It seems hardly possible to us now- a-days. W'hence, then, was it? It is a characteristic of the glorious pa- triots those stern times produced, that to a devoted fervor, an intensity and sublimity of vision they added a cool practicality that was principally concerned with the means thereto. And Adams was no exception. His literary remains bear witness to a strong style, unburdened with ornament, not in the least rhetorical, but capable of a fire and a fervor and of transmitting that fire and fervor to other breasts. His logic WHS good always, often irreproachable, and, all-important, convincing. D u r i n g the whole of the long struggle against British 'f1'Y-Hlally he poured forth a very Hggd Of lgigllgllllgi articles, lC'Et61'-S,-1'CSOlL1'E1OHS, instruc- 3 ate PHPCFS, petitions and declarations Of 1'1gh'fS- Nflthing escaped his notice. He was ever watchful, ever wary of some new move. Others Stamp . claratol' llis ene at rest to serv dozen S bly, all little, s constar eration the stu ciates. He k A thot consun affair whose Massa witnes ated t the fa inson goveri ing B in th gates under Some ery ir inson no m his e the t was whici a pos stroy Hr youn Agai his 5 and one iiatr and intri