Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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10 THE QUIVER WHY AM I A SOLDIER? My duty to my nation was to join the soldiers, in order to serve my country in time of peace and give my life in time of war. 1 am glad to do this for a country like the United States, where Freedom, lirother-hood, and Equality absolutely dominate. I will tight against the Turkish Government—a government which has no place in this civilized world ; a government whose education has not progressed since the sixteenth century; a government which has changed the paradise of Armenia into a wild country. 1 must light to have my vengeance, because the blood of Armenia, including that of my father, my mother, my nineteen-year-old sister, and my seventeen-vear-old brother, will cry out to me. If I do that, I shall be serving my nation, which loves freedom, and shall be helping to make the world wide enough for the man who loves freedom to live in. SARKIS S. KAVAKIAN, 19. THE FOREST IN WINTER After walking some distance, we arrived in the thickest part of the forest. Everything was wrapped in the most profound silence—a silence peculiar to the winter when there is deep snow. A white blanket, pure and unsullied, covered the ground. The tall pines were so laden with it that only the green of the underside of the branches was visible. The smaller trees and bushes, somewhat sheltered by the pine trees, stood out stark and bare. The slanting rays of the sun, filtering through the branches overhead, cast a mellow light over everything. The‘solemn silence, the purity of the snow, and the majesty of the pines made us feel strangely awed. LAURA LA FOND, 18. A PET DOG The best picture of a dog that I have ever seen was a painting of White Spitz. The little fluffy dog was seated on a stool. His two front paws were held up. and he sat as erect as a little dog can sit. Upon his little black nose was placed a lump of sugar, just beyond the reach of his tongue. Around his neck was tied a piece of yellow ribbon, which was a great contrast to his white, fuzzy fur. The gleam in his eyes seemed to implore, “Ah! have a heart. Give me the sugar and relieve me from this suspense.” LEO O DONNELL, ’18.

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THE QUIVER 9 later did its membership exceed three hundred persons. In 1900 the society was incorporated hy an Act of Congress and placed under government supervision. The association is now required to report to the War Department on the first day of each year, giving an extended account of all its work. A new charter was granted, and the Secretary of War, William H. Taft, was elected president of the association. Since its reorganization, the work of the Red Cross has been extended and much improved. During the time of the Japanese famine, it contributed a quarter of a million dollars. For the relief of those who suffered from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 1905, it gave over twelve thousand dollars. After the great earthquake in California, it distributed three million dollars. Aid was sent to China and Russia for the relief of sufferers during the great famine. And now, finally, the great European War found us with six thousand competent nurses and the necessary number of surgeons ready to icspond. The American Red Cress has rendered in Belgium and elsewhere greater continous help than has ever been given in any foreign war by any Red Cross of a neutral power. It is a pity that the dreadful continuance of the war is beginning to exhaust the funds so generously contributed by the Americans. Miss Mabel T. Boardman. who is perhaps the most active worker for the cause, says that the American Red Cross has always been respected by the armies in the trenches, and that it has won the love and gratitude of the warring nations from the very beginning. Thus this noble work grows. The Red Cross is ever the first to offer succor wherever there is great distress. No other society has done so much for suffering humanity. ANNA B. LA FOND, 17. Culled from a theme: “His uniform consisted of about ten buttons, and they did shine.” Miss Merrill to H. C------d (who is whispering behind her hand to others, who answer her in the same way) : “Miss C d, I fear you are spreading the Hoof and Mouth Disease in here. Miss P------k was talking about a book report one day. She in- formed us that the man in the story married a woman. German translation: “The poor woman saw her sun coming up the road.” Teacher: “Give the principal parts of bring.” Pupil: “Bring, brang brung.”

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THE QUIVER AN ADVENTURE IN THE SIERRAS 11 To the average Easterner, the word Calfornia signifies a land of sunshine, a land where flowers bloom the year round and all the fruits of the eerth may be had for the picking. Doubtless he would be surpris'd to lei.rn that in the high Sierras the snow falls to the depth of ten, twenty, and even thirty feet, at the rate of six feet in a single night, and that in snow storms men have perished not a dozen feet from the dicker which they sought. Even in these deep snows, the mail must go through. Late in the winter, when the snow is well packed, the mail is carried in sleighs drawn by two or three pairs of horses on snowshoes, until the road is well broken, when the snowshoes are taken off. These snowshoes, which are made of two plates of iron about a foot in diameter, with a plate of rubber between, and which are fastened to the horse’s hoofs by means of screws and toe straps, are useless in the.soft, deep snow; so the mail must be carried by men on snowshoes during the greater part of the winter, over routes varying in difficulty, and from ten to forty miles in length. Such a route was the one from Wayback, a way station on t,he old Oroville Emigrant Road, to Gordon’s Ranch. The route was a rather difficult one, twelve miles in length. The road wound up between firs, which towered two hundred feet into the air, to the summit, Walker’s 1 lain, so named because Walker and two companions perished there in a storm many years ago. From Walker s Plain, which is about fifty-five hundred feet above sea-level, it is about three-quarters of a mile to Eagle's Nest, a way station consisting of one large log cabin. From Eagle’s Nest, the road dips down to Gordon’s Ranch. Over this road on a winter afternoon went Cassidy and Smith, trail carriers. It was in February of the hard winter oi ’89-’90, when the snow lay twenty feet deep along the Sierras and only the gables of Eagle’s Nest showed above the surrounding white. The mail had been late in arriving at Wayback, and alarmed by gathering clouds, the two traveled at a good pace in order to reach their destination before night. But darkness fell before they arrived at the way station and with the darkness came the storm. The wind roared through the trees like the very demon of the mountains, and swirled the falling snowflakes so thick and fast that the travelers could not see ten feet in any direction. Something had to be done. There was small chance of finding Eagle’s Nest and there was no shelter at hand. Ordinarily, when snow is only ten or fifteen feet deep, a fire can be kindled by touching a match