Wilson Central School - Crest Yearbook (Wilson, NY)

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STARLIGHT PAGE SEVENTEEN IIis thoughts seemed to keep him company as he slowly began the ascent. “Where has Alice Le Vans disappeared to? It has been five years since she was last seen by anyone who knew her. At that time she was in the company of a stranger who came to town a week before her disappearance. He must he connected with this case and I will find her if it takes a lifetime,’’ Blair exclaimed through set teeth. “Her father was good to me when I was down and out. It was he who put life in a new light to me. Well I remember the night he saved me from what 1 thought tha only way to end it all. And what an expression of pity was in her eyes as she saw me then ! But she never knew the hard road of life. Hers was an easy one, congenial surroundings, parents who almost idolized her, and never a care, all were hers. How good it must seem to have all these!” and he thought of his own hard struggle for life less than ten years ago. “Ilello, what’s this?’’ he exclaimed as by chance he left the realm of thought and came back to a material world. It was the top of the hill and what he saw was the Haunted House. Blair paused awhile before he decided to approach such a dreary abode, but having no better place to go, he made his way up the path and onto the porch, lie knocked in vain for no one came to the door. “Well, I’m going in and stay for the night, anyhow, he said as he pushed the door open and made his way inside. It was quite dark now and he could scarcely make his way about to find what sort of a place he was in. The rain still fell softly on the roof overhead and a slight breeze caused the pines in the yard to moan. “Who would ever have dreamed of my being compelled to pass a night here,” he said half aloud. “I m here now, so I suppose 1 11 have to make the best of it. I wonder who lived here, perhaps years ago. Surely the house has been vacant for some time and its material proves it to be quite long standing.” When Blair had now finished his supper—a couple of sandwiches a piece of boiled ham and a few good swallows of warm coffee from his thermos bottle—he found the old couch and taking a blanket from his small pack, he retired for the night. He lay there for some time thinking of the day s events and of flu possibility of ever finding Alice Le Vans. Sleep seemed to elude him tonight for some reason. Perhaps it was his thoughts that made him wakeful or another reason that lie disliked to acknowledge this queer house and its lonely situation. “O shucks!” he exclaimed. “I’m a big coward that’s all, who is alone in an old house.” With these words he turned over and went to sleep. How long he had slept he did not know, but he was awakened by a creaking noise not ten feet from his couch. Then there was a bang as the trap door fell backward leaving the hole uncovered. Blair raised upon his elbow just in time to see a white figure rise slowly up through the hole. He became almost paralyzed with fear; he was

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1PAGE SIXTEEN STARLIGHT that they could make better time. But we have come to the conclusion that they couldn't get enough to eat at Buffalo, so they went back to the Falls to get more. Even if we were all tired when we reached home, we all declared that we had had the best trip which we have had for a long time. THE SECRETARY, ’16. God marks how long this life shall be; How grandly broad with reach of sympathy. How high toward heaven its growth —He leaves to thee. —ALDIS DUNBAR. “1HE HAUNTED HOUSE.” The road running along the side of the hill gradually ascended from the river which paralleled it. On the left the dense forest bordered this road, while on the right, the steep sloping side of the hill descended to tin water’s edge. The distance was a good mile before the top of the hill was reached. Here was the Haunted House. As one leaves tin road and makes his way toward it a creepy chilling sensation runs up liis back and ends in a shudder. The Haunted House has a dismal aspect about it in the darkening shades of a summer’s evening, and a forbidding one in the winter's twilight. The pines which grow on every side of this house— so old as to be built of logs and consisting of two stories—moan and sigh when winter with its chilling winds passes through their drooping branches. By two steps, very rickety and the worse for the weather, one reaches tin porch. Here it is a question whether to go in or turn about and flee from the house, never to look back until its form is completely hidden by intertwining trees and distance alone. But if one chances to decide in the affirmative and crosses the threshold of the interior he finds himself in a room pervaded with a musty odor. Upon his left is another room which contains the sole piece of furniture—an old couch. At the back of this room is a door that leads to the kitchen, which is as bare as the front room. Coming back to the room containing the couch, one notices an iron ring, old and rusty, nailed to a trap door in the floor. Should this be lifted nothing but darkness is disclosed. To raise one’s self up from this discovery and look around, a desire possesses one to know more of this house so dreary and dismal and situated on an almost untraveled road. About it all is an atmosphere repelling yet fascinating. It was just dusk at tin end of a dark and rainy day, when out of the forest on the left and into the road appeared a young man clad in a suit similar to that of a hunter. ‘‘Surely this is the road they told me to take,” he spoke half aloud, ‘‘and there must be some place along here where I can find a night’s lodging.”

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PAGE EIGHTEEN STARLIGHT powerless to move except to keep his gaze riveted upon the white clothed figure. The apparition now with a slow gliding motion passed into the kitchen. When a few moments had elapsed, Blair caught the words which were uttered in a low but distinct voice, “John, 0 John, is that you? Have you come back again?” The tones were almost pitiful yet half expectant as if she were looking for some one long absent. Back from the kitchen she came and directly towards him; always moving in that ghostly manner. Then for the first time Blair beheld her face. The features were pallid but very marked. “My God!” he exclaimed under his breath, “can this be Alice Le Vans or her spirit? It must be; it cannot be other than her!” By this time the figure had passed his couch and to the front door. She made a motion as if to open tin door. Suddenly she shrank back; her arms extended before her and the palms of her hands outward as if she would repell some danger. What an expression of terror was on her face now! The hole in the floor was directly behind her and then. “O John, please don t. please don’t do if. Then with a low but piercing shriek she threw up her hands and disappeared. A few moments later the trap door fell with a thud and a'l was still. , 7.7 ' Blair could not move; he was one turned to stone. What mortal could undergo such a spectacle without loss of self control? Blair did not sleep the rest of the night. IIis thoughts were too busy and lie was completely unnerved. Wlimi dawn at last appealed in tin east it was a man with haggard features who made his way down the path between the pines 1o the road. W hat was he, Blair, to tell Be Vans and his dear wife? There could be no doubt that the Haunted House had solved the mystery of Alice Be Vans disappearance. GEORGE NORTON '1 (5. 1. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. TEN RULES FOR WORKING IN LABORATORY. You can avoid soiling your clothes by putting on your aprons. Never become careless with the alcohol lamps. They arc liable to explode. (A well known fact.) Never leave any material in the test tubes or other dishes over night or you will be minus some small change. Always read your directions carefully before beginning to work, or perhaps you will have to observe from those across tin table. Always be careful about inhaling fumes from the ammonia bottle or you will be sorry. % Take care that at least one of your drawings in each experiment is somewhat like the original. The instructor can guess at the rest. Always be quiet and never whisper to your nearest neighbor as it annoys those around you.