Analy High School - Azalea Yearbook (Sebastopol, CA)

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around and in a voice tender with love and grief said: “Teddy dear, listen ' Then she quoted: “Oh not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; ‘Twas an angel visited the green earth And took the flower away. She then kissed the curls softly and neither spoke for a long time. But now Teddy understood. In the long, long night that followed, while he tossed about on his pillow, always thinking, thinking, of his mother ' s face as she repeated the stanza and of his little sister, Teddy could not help wondering how his mother had been able to remain so quiet and calm through the many months of Little Sister ' s sickness. And she herself was so pale and worn. Years and years afterward when Teddy grew to be a man he still thought of his mother ' s face that evening, as she recited the poem, with the moon-beams playing on her hair. But then he re¬ alized how she could bear her great sorrow. She had had time to think and think during all Little Sister ' s illness and his mother did not think useless thoughts. He knew then, that Longfellow was right when he said: “And the mother gave in tears and pain The flowers she most did love; She knew she should find them all again In the fields of light above. 20

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The sun had now disappeared behind the hill and the room was filled with vague, fleeting shadows which were soothing to Teddy after the bright, dancing figures had left his eyes. Teddy closed the book and softly stole out by the kitchen door so that he should not make any noise. He went to the barn-yard to seek comfort in the friendly chickens and turkeys but they too were sad and unhappy, or perhaps affected by the heat for they had already retired to the protecting branches of the large pepper- wood that drooped over the corn-crib. Teddy ' s father had not worked all day. Early in the morning he had hitched old Molly to the buck-board and had started off toward the village ten miles away. About noon he had returned with old Doctor Addison. They had entered the house together and neither had left it all afternoon. Every member of the family looked worried and sad. At noon when Teddy had gone in for his luncheon nobody else appeared except Mary Ann, his faithful old nurse and cook. She merely patted his head and murmured “My blessed darlin ' , then, without explaining any thing, she hastily turned around and, under pretence of examining a dying plant in the window, wiped her eyes on the corner of her apron. As there was nothing to interest him out of doors, Teddy crept into his room and sat down by the open window. He knew that his mother would come into his room for her good-night talk, even if it were mid-night before she could find time. “Mums will tell me what ' s the matter, he muttered, and then sat tracing the pattern of the rug. After many minutes his mother came in softly. She placed her hand on his head and stood thus for a long time, looking out the window, apparently at the tiny moon but in reabty at nothing. Teddy thought his mother had never looked more like an angel than she did this evening as she stood so silent and beau¬ tiful. The way the moonbeams played with the ripples of her waving hair reminded him of the ocean as he had seen it on the moonlight nights when he had spent such happy hours on the beach with his mother, father and little sister. “But that was before Little Sister fell sick and mother became thin and worried, he thought. Teddy ' s mother stood by the window for a long time, evident¬ ly trying to gain courage to speak to him. At last she turned 19

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The Roman Lamp By HARRIETT MADDOCKS Fourth Prize There was once a Roman lamp, who had the good fortune of living in a patrician’s palace in Pompeii. He was looked upon with great respect by the other lamps because he was made of silver and engraved with cuaint figures. His handle was a flowering vine and the snuffer was a flower. He was a very proud lamp and drew himself up taller than all his companions. “Some day I shall go out into the world and do great things. What a pity you can never hope to do any thing but stay in the kitchen,” he said to a plain kitchen lamp one day when he was taken out to be polished and filled with oil. Then he was carried away by a ser¬ vant and placed in the banquet room, where he dreamed of the splendor of the banquet to be given that night. Suddenly he was aroused from his dream by a scream from the Persian vase in the middle of the long table. The Persian vase was usually quiet and reserved so when she sccreamed he was all attention. “Oh what will become of us? My friend, Mr. Mouse, has just told me Vesuvius is in eruption.” Just as she spoke a rock came crashing through the roof and a shower of ashes followed it, which almost choked the Roman lamp. Just then a servant came into the room, seized the lamp and carried him to a dark cellar. The lamp shivered for the cellar was dusty and full of spider webs. Outside he could hear shrieks above the confusion. At last all was still and the lamp stood staring around him. A few frightened rats ran back and forth in the cellar and the spiders came out to look for prey. At first he avoided them, but gradually as time passed, their companionship became more agreeable. They gathered in a circle about him while he told stories about beautiful gardens and the luxurious banquets given in the patrician’s palace. One by one the spiders and then the rats dropped from the circle and the Roman lamp heard rumors of starvation, about him. 21