Central High School - Mirror Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

Page 24 text:

In the Woods Before Sunrise I he gray light of dawn had scarcely appeared when a youthful Izaak alton. rod case in hand, alighted at the terminus of an out of town car. It was a morning typical of early spring, cool. damp, cloudy. A light shower had fallen during the night leaving everything with a delicious freshness. I he youth smiled contentedly, yawned a hit and began the ascent of the hill, beyond which lay one of the finest trout streams in Alabama. Fifteen minutes of brisk walking through the dripping underbrush was amply rewarded bv the view from tlie top. Spread out before him lay a small range of mountains, covered with sombre, dark blue pines and soft, velvet green, newly foliaged oaks; the color of these trees harmonizing almost perfectly in the mellow light. Just blow him a narrow strip of light green willows and beeches, broken here and there by the light orange of a clump of maples or the snowiness of a blossoming dogwood, marked the course of the stream. Above, the low filmy clouds could he seen moving slowly to the north until they reached a point where they were lost in the distant foggy mountains. It was indeed a restful scene and the angler appreciated it. As lie stood enjoying the beauty of all this a single mocking bird flew to the top of a slender hickory and burst forth in song. Almost at the same instant a dozen other birds began to sing. These songsters increased until the woods were alive with feathered musicians. The familiar notes of the wood thrush, the faraway coo of a mourning dove, the shrill whistle oi a startled yellow-hammer and the harsh call of the blue-jav, brought back to the youth the memories of the time, not long passed, when he was only a barefoot country bov. listening to these same birds in the woods at home. He glanced at bis watch, picked up his rod case, and started down the hill. As lie did so a frightened chipmunk raced madly to the mouth of bis den. squealed defiantly and disappeared. Halfway down the bill a rabbit burst from cover and sped away through the bushes. Finally, the little creek was reached, a comfortable seat selected near a deep, clear pool and the angler prepared to enjoy life and wonder whv people do not visit the woods before sunrise. 2' —Jesse Smith. '14.

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RUBY HEATON CURTIS HARPER ALICE JONES “The Last Leaf”—A Paraphrase Only once before have I seen him pass my house; and now again I hear the pavement-stones resounding as he. bent with age and worldly cares, feebly walks by, tapping with his cane. I have heard that when he was young and strong, long before he was touched or blighted by fatal time, there was no youth more courageous or valiant to be seen by the » ld town crier as he went his round. But as lu- walks now through the streets, looking at every person he meets so forlornly, shaking his feeble head, and muttering to himself, he seems to say. They are g0h«•. Moss-covered tombstones mark the resting place of the loved ones of his vouth. and all the names he used to hear have for years been carved on the cold, cruel tomb. . Mv grandmama has told me—she is long since dead and gone—that he when young and handsome had a Roman nose and a ruddy, healthy glow upon his sun-tanned check. h. but now that he has been grasped by Father Time, his nose is sharp and thin, and it almost meets his pointed chin. He is bent and stooped and his laugh is pierced by a melancholy crack. I know I should not sit here and laugh as 1 look at him. It is really a sin. But his old three-cornered hat and peculiar breeches are all so queer and out of date. Xow. if I should live to be the last and withered one of my generation, the last leaf upon the tree, and should live when all else was young and bright, let them smile, as I am doing, at the old fashioned bough where I alone remain. —Harry J. White. 13.

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A Pipe Dream Vast improvements in science will benefit the coming generation. The inadequate lighting facilities of today will not trouble our descendants. The electric light to-bc will as far surpass the modern incandescent, as the present Mazda docs the candle of our grandfathers. A puff of my pipe—and I see that immense plants will be erected to take the darkness out of night by re-enforcing the moon so that its rays will shine as the noonday sun. The by-products of these plants will be utilized by High School teachers for the illumination of dull pupils. Navigation will be developed. Large ships will sail in the air. almost completely doing away with the ocean-going vessels. The Commercial Club of Birmingham will erect air castles throughout Alabama. These will he equipped with field glasses, and will be used as observation stations that the whole state may see the greatness of Birmingham. A fresh whiff—and 1 realize that the art of surgery will become extinct; all ills will be cured by dissolving the organ instead of by cutting. This will be possible to the extreme extent of dissolving the temper of a quarrelsome woman. However, this will require a very strong anti-suffragette toxin discovered bv Mr. Henpccko. The hot'davs of July will be made like bleak December weather. Scientific methods will change hot air to freezing temperature. An allied process will he used by large corporations to freeze out small competitors in the commercial world. Coal for fuel will be unknown in the centuries to come. The great inventors will have assembled machinery to burn compressed air creating the most powerful heat. The hot air furnaces of the future will consume the “vocal discharge” of the hot air” talkers. The economic zeal of the future will admit of no waste. Another draw from tnv pipe—and 1 realize that the leading material for building will be compressed, crvstalized smoke. The large industries will have immense tanks in which all smoke from furnaces and other plants will he stored. T his, by scientific treatment, will be condensed and crystallized into a brick, harder than steel and more elastic than rubber, making an ideal brick building and a noiseless pavement. The city dude's tread will then be as light as bis head. All smoke of the city may be consumed in the above product with one exception—the manufacturers have put their ban on cigarette smoke. t Attendance in school will he compulsory. I lie legislatures will favor hydraulic pressure. M pipe still burns, and I am dreaming on. —Henry I.. F.hlhert. T6.