Berkeley High School - Olla Podrida Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

Page 9 text:

OLLA PODRIDA :: :: :: BERKELEY HIGH But the water was cooling , and now the sheriff and his convicts were free ! At last they reached their clothes, and they kept up a run- ning fire of talk until the last gallus had been fastened to the last pair of overalls with a twig and the last straw hat slammed doAvn over the last dripping head. It was now after noon. The dinner hour was long passed, but of this thev took no note. They robbed an orchard, a bank swallow ' s nest, killed a thrush with the slingshot, and were cooking for more world ' s to conquer. What les ' do? asked Chick. Aw, they ain ' t nothin ' to do. Le ' s go home. ' Right. Ben was spanked by his mother for fighting, going} swim- ming, tearing clothes, and some other things like that. His father did not find him in the hammock because he was spanked, but because his mother insisted on talking about it. Hello, son, said his father. What have you been doing all day? Aw, nothin . They ain ' t never nothin ' to do in this ole place. — M. F., ' 13. 7

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OLLA PODRID A BERKELEY HIGH Hey, ain ' t ye comin ' in no more? demanded Jim from the middle of the water. Aw, what ' s the use? Try swimmin ' under water. Aw, we did. ' Tain ' t no fun. Come on out. The one in the water floundered to shore. What ' ll we do, then ? Aw, they ain ' t nothin ' to do. A shout arose from the other side of the pond. They were going to play Sheriff and Prisoners. With your body wet, the dust would stick nicely, and if you daub it carefully in horizontal stripes, it makes you look just like a prisoner in his convict suit. This done, the} ' lined up in a row and the counter-out began : Oneory, Twoery, Ickery Ann. When the sheriff was picked out, he grabbed a stick from the fence, and then sent the convicts down the road. Soon he was after them. They swerved from the road and dashed for the group of pines. Oh! Why did they do that? Oh! Why? In that clump of pines sat the young men and women of the Sunday School. The convicts were upon them before they knew it, and right behind them was the sheriff. To go back was bad. To go forward, worse, but nevertheless they went forward. Bare, muddy feet pattered on white tablecloths, on sandwiches, layer cakes, eggs, plates of chicken, and what not Shrieking maidens hid their faces as the cavalcade passed by, and young men hotly pursued. Willows ' pond lay only a few lods farther, and to reach it was their ambition. Woe, misery and despair ! Between them and the pond was a patch of blackberries. They tried to turn aside their break for liberty, only to find their escape cut off by angry- browed young men. So they took the branches at a leap, and youthful hide is tender even when tanned by many a day ' s exposure to the sun, and we will all acknowledge blackberry brambles to be horrid things. 6

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OLLA PODRIDA :: :: :: BERKELEY HIGH Baron Duncler, of whom this narrative deals, lived in the age of chivalry, in a fine feudal castle situated in one of the European countries. The Baron, living as he did in the age of chivalry, and having an host of tenants and soldiery, of course had to have a violent temper and a case of gout, and, in order to have a story about this renowned personage, he must needs have had a beautiful daughter. It is not necessary to describe a beautiful girl in a story, as the reader will invari- ably picture his or her own ideal anyway so let it be enough for me to say that she was the most beautiful girl in all the country round. History does not relate whether her name was Gwendolyn or Elaine, so she shall be called Elaine, for that is more poetic and befitting. Miss Elaine had a host of suitors, but, with a woman ' s per- versity, she chose the only one with whom her papa was not on good terms. His name was Frederick, and he was the son of a neighboring Baron who was continually wrangling with Baron Duncler. So wdiat should Baron Dnnder do, when he espied young Frederick making a surreptitious visit to the castle, but fly into a violent rage and threaten all sorts of dire things, from punching the young man ' s head to having him kicked off the drawbridge into the moat. Now it was time for Elaine to interfere, and this she did, with tears and suppli- cations that papa should not hurt her poor dear Frederick, although there is still a doubt in the minds of some eminent historians as to whether Elaine ' s portly sire would not have gotten the worst of a settoo with the athletic Frederick. But we will never know what the outcome might have been, for the Baron, moved by his daughter ' s weeping, let Frederick depart in peace. Now this Frederick was a most resourceful youth, as all leading men are, and he immediately began to plot how he might get the old Baron ' s consent to his marriage with Elaine. Not being a desperado, he hardly wished to try the elopement plan, and thus incur the Baron ' s displeasure, although it would By C. B. Castle. 8