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

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ve me a and was Finally, I the peel- serenely or other d to me ettled in ate from ter. high 1 instinct port. rld. ie, '16. d: Both Women's and two you ex- ed up the bia? The erly wore ' Winner and Fred 915's ad- md foot- Westport s champ- of every asketball winners: and Mar- es show . as fol- very sor- nine in Gamma, Women's 1's Pan- THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 29 For Honorary organizations W. H. S. trained: two members of History Club, two of Scientific, two of Commerce, three of Education, and Erma Waltner, the only woman student member of the honorary, educational fraternity. ' Five Westport graduates have won scholarships to M. U. All of Kansas City Club officers and over half its member- ship are from W. H. S. The 1915-16 Savitar will show an in- crease in Westport's preeminence, and to take the name of a Westport graduate to Missouri is a credential in itself. Certain- ly these figures show not only that West- port has held high her colors at Missouri, but also that a University with such a per- centage of the right kind of students must be a pretty good place. Come on to Mis- souri University and help to keep high the standards of Old Westport and Old Mis- souri-two schools which anyone can be very proud to own as their Alma Maters. Marjorie Carpenter, '13. Ebc 'ilcgcno of the T7evil's Tlfopyaro In the pleasant country of eastern Con- necticut, just outside the village of Milling- ton, there lies a wild and picturesque tract of land that is known as the Devil's Hop- yard. A brook, which flows along pleas- antly enough before, becomes a thing of sparkling waterfalls and mysterious whirl- pools here, the trees and shrubbery grow thick and dark, and in one place a heap of half-rotted timbers shows that at some time there was a building at that spot. It seems a likely place for the commiting of some dark crime-but Millington tells an- other story. Many, many years ago there dwelt in Millington one Aaron Shuhite, a staunch pillar of the church, a firm believer in the doctrine of predestination, and withal, the possessor of one of the best farms in the vicinity, and two sons, Reuben and John. Reuben was the pride of the village-a de- voted son, a conscientious though some- what stupid student, and an ardent work- er in the church. His father believed that he was bound for heaven. John, on the contrary, was a handsome, quick-witted, mischief-loving lad who, according to Aaron, was headed straight for the place farthest opposite his brother's destination. Aaron had expressed this opinion so many times that John came to accept it as true, and being of a logical turn of mind, he failed to see why he should trouble him- self about lessons or behavior, if he could not possibly escape eternal punishment. So he amused himself by throwing paper- wads in school and church, and creating .a commotion wherever he went-growing more adept every year in the art of as- suming innocence when he had it not. At length, in his sixteenth winter, mat- ters came to a crisis. One Sunday the sheep-skin cover of the church Bible was missing. The next day the teacher, while administering corporal' punishment to John, noticed that his blows did not have their usual effect. Upon close examina- tion, the sheep-skin cover was found, slipped into the lining of J ohn's coat. Such sacrilege could not be toleratedg John was forthwith tried and sentenced to a month in the Haddam County jail. The month passed pleasantly for the young sinner. The jail itself was an an- cient wooden building consisting of one room only, whose windows were barred by rusty iron gratings. If he had been so in- clined, John could have broken loose easily. But he was away from his father's lec- tures, away from lessons and church at- tendance, and best of all, his companion in imprisonment was an Indian who enter-

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' A- . ,,,,-.-....,. , 1-1-q:-:,1cu.-1uw.,s,......:...:.1--v: -.,,,,-. -. fw-4 , nk-, -5 ,Y l Y, X. , 28 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. gathered. The liner was stopped and a life- boat lowered to rescue the person whom the captain believed to have fallen over- board. After all had been explained, I was surprised to find out that the sailor was only chewing tobacco. I knew that in Rus- sia both men and women smoked and used snuff-tobaco but I had never heard of any one chewing it. You bet I kept out of the captain's way after that because he wanted to throw me overboard. This ex- perience made me careful, so nothing of interest happened the rest of the journey. We fortunately passed all the examina- tions at Ellis Island and decided to come immediately to Kansas City. On the train to Kansas City, a passenger gave me a banana. I looked at it critically and was puzzled at which end to start. Finally, I discovered the secret. I took off the peel- ing, threw away the inside, and serenely ate up the peeling. Somehow or other bananas never have tasted good to me since. After much trouble, we got settled in Kansas City. I managed to graduate from ward school and decided to enter high school. I see now that it was the natural instinct for the best that led me to Westport. And here I am in the New World. Davis Le Vine, '16. Westport at BIZ. IC. in 1914-15 if FTER ALL, old gold and black is . close kin to old gold and blue, and Old Missouri is to the same tune as High upon a Hill. Perhaps this partially accounts for the existence of a regular Westport colony at M. U. For you know Westport, in 1914, sent more students to Missouri than any other high school in the state and more than Central, Manual and Northeast com- bined. And furthermore about forty per cent of her graduates were sufficiently prominent to merit having their pictures in the 1914-15 Savitar CMissouri's Annual, whose business manager was a Westport boy.J Let us look through this Savitar and try to show by the following statis- tics the number and most important po- sitions of Westport graduates. First, student and class government. Here Westporites show up as follows: Two members of Student Council, Secretary of Student Senate, All Sophomore President, Pre-Commerce President, Secretary of All- Senior, .All-Junior, All-Sophomore, and All- Freshman classes: and at least two com- mittee members from every class. In women's organizations, we find: Both freshmen representatives on Women's Council, Freshmen girl president and two members of Y. W . C. A. cabinet. In athletics-well, what would you ex- pect after the way Westport showed up the other state high schools at Columbia? The following well known Tigers formerly wore gold and blue: Paul Shepard, M Winner and football hero: String Wear and Fred Williams, basket ball stars, and 1915's ad- dition of Radford Pittam, track and foot- ball star. In girls' athletics, Westport graduates claimed: Junior tennis champ- ionship, at least two members of every class team in both hockey and basketball and three of the women M winners: namely, Erma and Vera Waltner and Mar- garet Carrington. The sororities and fraternities show Westport's social representation as fol- lows: At least one member of every sor- ority and every fraternity, and nine in each of the following: Beta, Delta Gamma, and Alpha Phi 5 five members of Women's Pan-Hellenic and five of Men's Pan- Hellenic. I For traine of Sc: Educ: woma educa Fiv scholz Club ship 2 The crease In nectia ton, 1 of lai yard. antly sparl pools thick half-i time seem some othei M2 Milli: pillai docti posse vicin Reulc Voter whai er in he v cont: misc Aarc fartl Aarc time V '-'f---'f' --Y---ww-1' '--N--H ur 1 : :u:.1:.f:i1:::.:. 'f ..,...1..,,,,,,5 -Li - A M:-1 - in 1 -Y W k

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-f'-'1 '-TCl:41a:2:l:f.'zi:1'-sf1 sf ' 'wal ' '7 f it ' ' 30 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. tained him with all sorts of outlandish A tales. J ohn's time was up at last, and one cold and snowy afternoon he started to walk the seven miles from the jail to his home. Half way there, he spied his father and brother in the family carriage, also bound towards home. O father! Oh Reuben! he called. They paid no attention to him. He ran and over- took them. Why, father, he said, aren't ye glad to see me safe and sound again? I tell ye, 'twill seem rare good to get home to a hot fire once more, and mother making hot tea- Hush I cried Aaron, in wrathful tones. We've heard o' your doin's while ye was in jail. Ye're no longer any son o' mine, John! with which he whipped up the horses and soon had left John far behind. For a few minutes the lad was indeed bewildered. He knew that none of the other villagers would take him in. There remained as a last resort Squire Thornton, the wealthiest man thereabouts, who was regarded with I-horror by the Millington- ians because he was a communicant of the Church of England. To Squire Thorn- ton's, then, he made his way. That jolly gentleman and his fairy-like daughter Evelyn heard his story gleefully and made him welcome. The next day the Squire offered to send him away and give him a chance to make ,his fortune, an offer which John joyfully accepted. f And when I come back, he told Evelyn privately, I shall marry you, and we shall live in a fine house down by the falls. The next evening, just at dusk, a chaise in which were seated the devil Call of Millington saw the horns, tail, and cloven hoofj and John Shuhite, 'drawn at a super- naturally rapid rate by an immense black horse, clattered down the main street of the village and disappeared in the wild and lonesome region below the falls. ' II. ' Reuben, said Aaron Shuhite, some years later, 'tis time ye were pickin' out a wife. ' Ay! agreed Reuben. I had thought I'd ask Miss Evelyn, he confided. There's Samantha Briggs, the grave- digger's daughter, pointed out old Aaron. However, lad, take your choice, take your choice. Only be quick about it. Reuben at once retired to a corner of the room, and with immense difficulty, pro- duced the following epistle: My dear Miss Evelyn: I take my pen in hand to inform you that for some time I been think- ing of getting married, and I should like for you to be my wife. If you will be at meeting next Sunday, the par- son will marry us afterwards, and so save all fuss. Reuben Shuhitef' This he despatched by one of the small boys of the village, and eagerly awaited the answer. It came within an hour. Miss EvelynVThornton deeply re- grets that on account of 'a previous engagement she cannot accept Mr.- Reuben Shuhite's kind- proposal of marriage for Sunday morning next. f Disappointed, but not daunted, this ardent wooer wrote an exactlysimilar note to Samantha. Her answer came in ten minutes: My Dearest Reuben- Yes, by all means. ' Samantha. I III. The next Sunday, just as the wedding party of Reuben and Samantha was is- suing' from the church, an exceedingly smart traveling carriage, with a solitary inmate, passed on the road to Squire Thornton's. The traveler, though none of the villagers recognized him, was in truth none other than John Shuhite, who was coming back to Evelyn, having made an immense fortune in the West Indian trade. Witl all 1 boug then for l mon! a h Squi buili vant Milli that Maj enec plac O. pens held strii ingi flex long and veni A had insi saw voir lool Joh lool in 4 car cau CI C4 ten L 6 yol 1 rar dee ne: str tal ' A MW A Wu W m ':': 2 a1-4' '- '-4 '---f----- -wc-as:-4:.u:4..3-::.1,... :....,... . .. ,