Analy High School - Azalea Yearbook (Sebastopol, CA)

Page 27 text:

would have received such a proposition with a cry of joy, she ran around the house and got her fishing pole. They then pro¬ ceeded down the hot road, wriggling their toes in the thick dust, with Chubby running ahead. When they came to Tom’s house he came out and soon Mary Ann forgot her grievances and laughed and shouted as loud as they. The creek was a couple of miles away and when they reached there Mary Ann was very hot and dusty, but she kept silent for was she not being treated on an equal basis with them? and she would scorn to have them think she was like any other girl. “Gee, I’m hot, moaned Tom, when at length they were in the cool woods; “bet I can get more’n you, Bud.” “Bet you can’t, either,” retorted Bud, screwing up his face as he placed a wriggling and squirming worm on his hook. Mary Ann kept silent, but she resolved mentally that she would also do her best. Inwardly she shuddered as she baited her hook, but she said: “Wish we had some decent worms; these are ’bout half dead, they don’t even wiggle.” Bud and Tom glanced at each other. “Gee, I never saw a girl before who’d bait her hook, did you, Bud?” asked Tom. Tom made no reply and they separated, each hunting out his own particular spot. As a farewell, Tom cried to Mary Ann: “Be sure and sit still and mebbe you’ll get a bite.” Mary Ann only tossed her head and marched away; she knew where the trout bit fine, but it was across a hot dusty field full of prickles, for the creek made a great curve here; but she shouldered her pole and in the hot sun hurried across the field, the sharp stubs of grass pricking her feet at every step. When at length she reached the shade again she sat down and with tears in her eyes, for her feet hurt abominably, she removed various stickers from her feet and took off her sun- bonnet to cool her hot face. The stream here was narrow but very deep, and the water was still. Here and there a splash of sun¬ shine, penetrating the thickness of the leaves above, would dart back and forth on the water; in the silence could be heard the stream farther down where the current was rapid. Very quietly Mary Ann sat down and cast her line; it seemed to her that she sat there for hours without a bite. Her face grew downcast as she thought of the humiliation she would endure if she faced the boys without even one fish. But suddenly her fine pulled and she knew that she had a bite. Rising quickly to 25

Page 26 text:

THE WISDOM OF MARY ANN By Lucille Scott. Fourth Prize ARY Ann opened the door slowly and walked out on the veranda, her chubby face solemn and her eyes big and round, as she reflected on the duplicity of mankind. Thoughtfully she sat down on the steps and chewed on her bonnet strings; not even Chubby s efforts to arouse her prevailed, as he whisked around her, barking and wagging his stub of a tail with the very joy of being alive and able to chase chickens on such a beautiful summer morning. At length he became sol¬ emn, looking at her as if bewildered, and the truth was it was the first time he had ever seen his ten-year-old mistress so quiet. But suddenly a whistle broke in upon Mary Ann’s revery as a boy burst into view holding in his hand a fishing pole and advancing to where she sat. With a joyful bark Chubby rushed to meet him, but Mary Ann sat still, for was not this false speci¬ men of the male sex the cause of all her trouble? He was the “next-door boy” and had a very nice long name, but Bud was what all the younger generation called him. He and Mary had been the best of chums, fishing and chasing jack-rabbits all day until the new boy came to live in the neighborhood. For a week now Bud hadn’t come near Mary Ann; she had seen him and the new boy one day and, thinking they of course would enjoy her company, had joined them, but she had been told she was in the way and that they didn’t like girls to tag along. And now her scorner and scoffer dared to break in upon her revery! Loftily she arose and, elevating her freckled nose in the air, started to enter the house when Bud cried: “Oh, Mary Ann,- hey, Mary Ann, me and Tom are goin’ fishin’ and we thought mebee you’d like to go along”. Now, Tom was the name of the detested newcomer and Mary Ann’s nose went still higher, but suddenly she paused in her flight, debated a moment, and said under her breath, “I’ll show them if a girl isn’t as good as them.huh, tagging along, is it?” Then aloud she said, “Oh well, I s’pose so, although I shouldn’t be wasting my time.” And while Bud looked at her in amazement, for before she 24

Page 28 text:

her feet, she jerked the line and hooked the fish. When she saw it she almost gave a whoop of joy for it was a beauty and quite big, but she controlled her joy and very sedately baited again, although her heart was thumping wildly under her faded gingham gown. Surely the gods were in her favor, for it seemed that as fast as she could bait her hook and cast her line, she got a bite; nearly always she got them, and when at length she could tell it was approaching dinner time she had an even dozen, one especially large. This time she crossed the field as if she had wings on her feet, and although they ached, she cooled them in the cold water and went on until she came to the big gate which opened on to the hot road. Here she sat waiting for the boys; she saw them both approaching in a few minutes. “Oh, Mary Ann,” cried Bud, “I got four beauties and he only got two, and small at that; did you have any luck ?” “Oh, well, I only got twelve; I was so disappointed,” said Mary Ann, fanning herself and gazing calmly over their heads. Both boys gasped and crowded around her, eagerly asking where she had fished and praising their size. With new respect in their eyes they started out on their long journey home, telling how they had never had such bad luck before. Certainly victory was for Mary Ann. When they reached Tom’s house the smell of cookies was wafted out to them, and as of one accord they approached the kitchen door. They sat on the porch munching their cookies while Chubby begged for crumbs. “Say,” said Tom, “I think you’re a peach of a girl; you never even yelled nor hollered when the worms wriggled and you’re sure some fisher!” Bud nooded his approval of what was said, but Mary Ann only smiled, the world-wide smile, and took another cookie. 26