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

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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 ,

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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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in and l then up to t they d that air es- giving 1e boy le was up his .est of at last forthy s well t they ay had 'ods to if soli- Jcome ht at '17. ,s man U vfficial 5 duly l he is ion to if our in the erman to us. est to ca will zousin, he or 1 as if V four THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 27 At last we started on our way. On the train I overheard a conversation between two women which went thus: Where are you going? To Zhdxrs, about fifty miles south of here. Where are you going? To Pkyzshsky, about the same distance north. But say, aren't you sitting the wrong way? If you are going south, you had better sit facing the south. The two women, now sitting back to back on the same train, firmly believed they would reach their different destinations. The next morning we reached Libau, a port on the Baltic Sea. From there we went by boat to Copenhagen and then to Liverpool. Nothing unusual happened on the way except that the boat, which looked something like the ferry boat across the Missouri, nearly went under in one of the severest storms ever witnessed in the Bal- tic. If we had gone under then, we would have plenty of company now. We decided to stop in Liverpool two weeks. We had the time of our lives for there were innumerable new things to see. I remember the first glimpse I had of a negro. I'll bet I did the fifty yard dash in world's record time! The next morning I met another gentleman of color, but this time I didn't run away. No Siree! I man- aged to ask him why he didn't wash his face and hands. The negro burst out laughing, but I didn't see anything to laugh about. I thought things were get- ting mighty serious when you don't wash for so long that you become black. And the negro did laugh! I ought to thank my lucky stars that this Hgemmen of color had a keen sense of humor. Another thing also interested me, the two-storied electric street cars. I had seen all kinds of animals but not a single one of this breed before. Nevertheless, I soon learned to hop the car while the con- ductor was upstairs. One day a newsboy got off in a strange way. The car was go- ing as fast as it could and the boy just iglided off. I decided I wanted to do that, oo. V I didn't want to after that one time. A During one of these adventures we in- curred the enmity of a number of English school boys. On the other hand, we gained the friendship of a jolly cabman who Sort of acted nurse to us when we went out. 0119 dfe-'WY GV91'1i1'1g we were idling along the street when all at once these school boys jumped around the corner Indian fashion, and began pelting us with mud in all of its various forms. Of course, We started running, with our tormentors at our heels. By this time, however, our cab- man friend came up and began scattering the pests right and left. In order to im- press the beating more firmly in their minds, he decided to chase them. Some- how or other he began chasing me! I thought the man had gone crazy and I didn't want to get into the clutches of a madman so I lit out. It all ended with my sliding into a great big puddle of mud. You see Liverpool's streets were not so much better then than Kansas City's. I thought I was in for a good drubbing. H'I've got you now, you bloomin' bounder. I'll teach you to bother these foreigners. With these words he jerked me out of the puddle and began playing a tune on my ears. I began blubbering to him in the few words of English that I knew and he instantly recognized me. Be- lieve me, I prowled around indoors after dark during the remainder of our stay. Our two weeks being up, we boarded the liner Campania for Amreica. The Cam- pania was the biggest liner at that time, and it certainly was Titanic because I got lost on it the first day. I soon became ac- quainted with all the officials and sailors. As I was playing around with a sailor, I saw him open his mouth and blood spurted out. I was so frightened that I began to shout for help and soon a large crowd had