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

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Jorried. nd sud- zhat he ie boy, 1 heard tain in nall re- half a 'Down mingly d Titus ,nd had er and .ly fad- rne the uns and med to y were same a iey ran should had no air sur- .oud in 'ightly. :he fol- reason, ght vi- e, knelt nt, dis- :ft was ad that trouble hes of ler the ay the 1 both vibra- f down d,fire. ew, al- iis was us, but n more , when from THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 25 Pompeii of a holiday and a mighty combat in the arena of the great Pompeiian am- phitheatre. Twice Tiberius had taken the boy down to Pompeii and how the sights had surprised and amazed the young lad! When they showed him the amphitheatre and told him of the contests waged there, it seemed as if it was his dearest wish to see it all himself. And now one of the greatest shows of all was announced for his very birthday! How he begged and pleaded that they might go, but Tiberius had to take into account his own advanced years. At length he gave the desired promise. The boy was overflowing with joy from then on as he bade each short day good-bye and counted the lessening days and hours. Finally dawned the morning before the great day and how busy they were as they set the home in order and -prepared for their journey of the following day. When the boy went to bed that night he had fully determined to stay awake all night so as not to over-sleep, but soon Mother Nature called for rest, and she was irre- sistible. At about five the next morning, a loud rumbling and roaring went rever- berating through the cave, waking Titus and his grandfather. Then again to their terror it occurred. But that was all, al- though they noticed that the fire in the crevice seemed to have grown much larger and heaved back and forth. This was all forgotten, however, as they made prepara- tions for the day. Then they set out. It seemed as if all the world was turned toward Pompeii as they looked from their high vantage point over the Roman roads, thronged with people, leading toward Pompeii. They had gone down a slight distance toward the road when suddenly Tiberius slipped sev- eral feet and in turning to catch a hold, his foot wedged under a rock and stopped him. With the boy lifting the rock, he succeeded in pulling the foot out, but as it came, he L'-HVG 3 QFOSLH of pain and they found that, while not badly sprained, it was in no con- difion for 3 long tramp to Pompeii. The boy, with his fondest hope thwarted, bY'3V91Y helped his grandfather back to their home and then went outside to mourn alone. Hours went by and he Could See the people pouring into the great amphi- theatre, when suddenly he heard Tiberius call and hastening in, he found him kneel- ing by the crevice. The red, molten fire had risen far up and was heaving back and forth, still many feet below the surface. Later as they were eating lunch, they were almost thrown to the ground by a sudden heaving of the cave floor. Rushing to the crevice, there were mutterings and mighty rumblings and they found that the cleft had widened to over three feet and opened up far back into the mountain. A hundred feet down there was a veritable sea of molten fire boiling and heaving back and forth. Surely it was time for flight! So, picking up a few things, they set out for the sea midway between Herculaneum and Pom- peii. Painfully they wended their way down under the bright, blue sky, saving the ankle as much as possible. How glor- ious was Nature that beautiful day! Many painful steps they had taken when the boy, looking back, gave a cry of fear and to- gether they turned around. From the summit of Vesuvius was shooting up a mighty apparition as of a gigantic pine tree. Its trunk was black smoke and its branches living fire with lightning playing through them. Then the ground shook. The mighty cloud of smoke and ashes rolled towards them and clear to the sea itself fell an awful shower of burning stones cast up from the bosom of the mountain. No longer stopping to look, on and on fled the boy and the old man. But overhead darker and darker spread the mighty cloud. A night darker than the darkest night was rushing upon the realm

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q..r..-... -----'1 n'.:-a--ra'2 l:.'-v..'wcvL-:4:af.m,1..:qf... -:I-fgfqefz-rx-urw.n,.,y.1..m--W-'f- ' - f - 1 24 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. see the child homeless, had taken the boy up to his hermit home on Mount Vesuvius. What a home that .had seemed to the little fellow! The kindly care of his grand- father, never too busy to amuse him, the wonderful cave home, all this he had taken for granted throughout all his early years. And then how he loved to study and be taught by his loving and painstaking teacher the rudiments of the greatest arts of the world. For grandfather had not al- ways led this hermit life. Even at that day, fifty years afterward, the name of Titus Tiberius was spoken of with venera- tion in Rome. Many people still remem- bered with pity the young noble who had risen to the highest place in art and lit- erature in the Roman world and then, on the eve of his greatest triumph, heart- broken over his wife's crime, had fled Rome and tried to forget all under the blue Cam- panian sky. But now the young lad, thirteen years of age, was beginning to experience the changes toward manhood. Often he sat out under the great oak tree and, gazing into space, his artistic inheritance was aroused and he saw the wondrous beauty of that Campanian scene. How Wonder- fully blue was the Neopolitan Bay, seem- ingly at his very feet, and the beautiful green, Nature's favorite color, extending up and up to the very summit of Vesuvius, and then the mighty mountain itself, stretching out to the north farther and farther away toward Rome, the glorious capital of the mightiest and most powerful nation that ever ruled the world, toward Rome, the goal of his ambitions- .how wonderful it allwas! And then he would dream of how he might make a great name for himself over all the Roman empire, and that included all the world. For this was the wonderfully prosperous time of the reign of Titus, son of Vespasian, when the empire reached almost its greatest extent and all the world paid tribute to the crown of the Caesars. But of late grandfather seemed worried. He complained of visions at night and sud- denly he would wake up saying that he had heard strange sounds. But the boy, in his oblivious, youthful sleep, had heard none such. Well under the mountain in the back of the cave-home was a small re- cess and in the floor was a cleft, half a foot wide and about three feet long. 'Down and down stretched the cleft, seemingly bottomless, for one day Tiberius and Titus had dropped a burning torch down and had watched it fall, growing smaller and smaller into a mere speck and finally fad- ing from view. But time after time the old man was troubled by those visions and evil presentiments. Yet there seemed to be no cause. Then one day, as they were working hard together, suddenly came a deep rumbling as of thunder and they ran to the door, surprised that it should threaten a storm when they had had no knowledge of its approach. To their sur- prise, however, there was not a cloud in sight and the sun was shining brightly. Several times this occurred during the fol- lowing days, with apparently no reason, until one day the boy, noticing slight vi- brations around the cleft in the cave, knelt and, holding his ear close, heard faint, dis- tant mutterings. After that the cleft was closely watched and it was discovered that the rumblings had come from there. What could cause it? Surely no trouble could come to those vast stretches of southern Italy, lying peacefully under the golden, Italian sun! Day after day the rumblings gradually increased and both were occasionally disturbed by the vibra- tions. And then, one day, far, far down was discovered a little point of red.fire. Week after week the little speck grew, al- most imperceptibly. At first all this was the cause of much anxiety to Tiberius, but as the novelty wore off, it was taken more and more as a matter of course. The boy was almost fourteen now, when suddenly came an announcement from Pompe in the phithe boy dc had su When and to it seen see it greate his ve pleadei had to years. promis joy fr day gf days a Fin: great 1 set th their j the bc fully 4 so as Naturi sistiblf a loud beratii and hi terror thougl crevici and hi forgot tionsi The the w they 14 over people gone I road N eral fe foot W Withi in pul . . ,.- . -.,....a.2:.4L.L+..f,.14 :.:.4....- . W.,-..l.-M.:..-gg.:,gg,5,:,,.-,L-tgsolh , was .mv . Q it v N - V

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...- .. -1-7-:fr:f.ge:agu5::v.ff.'-v:n.-f-.w..Qf..4.1...e-i'itg:':7':7?fI 'f - ' ' . 26 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. of the sun at high noon-tide! And then while all else was blotted out by the dark- ness, blacker than that of Tartarus, sud- denly the mountain became lighted with an intense glow. It summit seemed riven in two as down its vine-clad sides flowed swiftly a mighty river of molten lava! Down, down it swept straight toward the man and boy, who stood like graven images, terrified and yet fascinated by the awful sight. How deathly stifling was the breeze that came from it as from a verit- able hell! It took the ridge by their home at a jump but, when it came to the great ridge on which the road they had left lay, it turned and continued its boiling, ghastly way toward Herculaneum. Hours and hours went by as the two struggled pain- fully onward towards the sea, guided only by the glare of the lurid mountain behind them. At intervals their way was lighted by flashes of lightning which were strik- ing on all sides. The darkness was suffo- cating and the ashes were lying many inches deep on the ground. But on and on they struggled. Finally they reached the sea and then safe in a ship, many prayers went up to mighty Jupiter thanking him that they had been unableto go to Pompeii and that he had given them strength for their es- cape. Returned to Rome, happy in giving all his knowledge for the good of the boy and realizing that the life of solitude was only selfishness, the old man took up his rightful place as head of the proudest of Roman families and the boy, Titus, at last recognized and acknowledged as a worthy member of that proud family, was well started on his career of fame. But they both felt that it was only because they had not been destined by the immortal gods to pass their lives in the selfishness of soli- tude, that they had been permitted to come safely through that terrible night at noon-day. Harry Schauffler, '17. 'Ifrom tba 016 Worlo to tba New T WAS IN the autumn of 1906 that If we decided to leave Russia and come to America. But talking about leaving Russia is easier than actually doing it. Russia plays the part of the bully who holds you and, kicking you about, shouts, Why don't you go? What are you staying here for? There are, so to speak, two classes of officials in Russia-the bribe taker Cno introduction necessaryj, and the honest one. I'll give you a picture of the honest official. A license inspector enters a photog- rapher's studio and asks the proprietor to show him his work. Please set down and I'll take your pic- ture. -There, it's all over. Where's the picture ? V i Oh, it'll be done in about a week. A week? What kind of a business man are you? Show me that picture! What, you can't do it? Oh, I see. It is then recorded by the honest official that Photographer B-'s license is duly cancelled because it has been proved he is a swindler. Having finally received permission to go, we proceeded to take leave of our friends and relatives. Every person in the town, which, by the way, is in German hands now, had to say good-bye to us. Every person had the same request to make. Say, when you get to America will you be sure and ask my uncle, aunt, cousin, Cor heaven knows who elseb, why he or she stopped writing to me? Just as if America was a single house six by four feet. At l train two w WI To here. To north. wrong had b4 womei same reach The port 4 went Liveri the W: somet Misso severe tic. I have We weeks there I rem negro in wo: I met time f aged face laugh laugh ting 1 for sc the no lucky had a A114 two-sl seen 4 one o soon 1 ducto got oi - - ' ---- ..4..:.g-.+.'..14..:.L.4.., ..u....,,. tciirizlfvulpleribl. .,NM--MMGN uw-in tics -V V ,