Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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PURPLE AND WHITE. there would be something doing—pardon the slang—pretty quick. But fearing the consequences of a face to face meeting of an unsuspecting man, though well armed, and a big cinnamon bear, I threw my Winchester to my shoulder, took quick aim andfired. The bear whirled around, growling and biting himself. Then with a horrible snarl came straight for me. I fired again but being by this time thoroughly excited, I missed him, the bullet striking the ground in front of him and throwing dust and sticks in his face. Rather astonished, he turned and made off in the other direction. As the bear went out of sight, I saw the captain coming towards me and shouting, “What are you shooting at?” him the circumstances. I ran down to meet him, and told As we were only out for a short hunt, and expected to get back to camp in time to get a fairly early start (my uncle would be packing up the mules) the captain agreed to stay where we were, and not lose the trail, which was plainly shown by the streaks of blood on the rocks and logs, while I should go back to camp and tell my uncle that we had wounded a bear and wannted to follow him. Besides this. his help would be very acceptable, as he was an old hunter. When my uncle and I had reached the spot, where I had left the captain, he was nowhere to be seen. We found the bear's trail and concluded that the captain had undertaken to follow him. We took up the trail and tracked the bear with some diffj- culty for about a mile and a half, when we lost it in a little meadow, where no sign of his passage had been left by him. We stood around disconsolately, looking All at “Here he comes!” I looked the hill and sure enough there was the bear at the ground on the mountain side. once my uncle cried and immediately fired. up limping toward us. We both opened upon him, and the mountains rang with the fusil- lade. My uncle was shooting a “Sayage” sart- ridges, while my Winchester held nine, so We both rifle, whose magazine only held six he ran out of ammunition first. had hit him a time or two, but he was still half crawling, half rolling towards us, when a shot from my rifle- penetrated his shoulder, going through his heart. We both ran up to him and were watch- ing his death struggles, keeping a safe dis- tance from his threshing paws, when the captain came up again too late, and I for the second time told him «Some more bear story.” If any one doubts this account, which seems rather like those one reads in the monthly magazines, if he will come to my home my mother will proudly take him into the parlor and there show him a large brown bear-skin rug, with head and claws. —? THE PICNIc. BY HERBERT SHADLE. ZAS ita success? Well, [should say so! The ride to the grounds, the feed. Tae VOL the fun playing ball with the girls, the boating, in fact every feature made the day a perfect one. We had been on the grounds only a short time when Mr. Howell invited several girls to take a boat ride. My, how he tugged and pulled. When the ride was over he thought that he had earned his bread by the sweat of his brow. At noon we sat down to a delicious feast. consisting of chicken, Belgian hare, sand- wiches and lots of other toothsome delica- cies, in a delightfully cool spot near the water. Some of the girls must have had funny bones up their sleeves, for they kept their side of the table in a continuous uproar. Every one seemed bent on putting away in his rig enough goodies to last on the way home. Some enterprising person did not get enough, so he went around appropriat- ing everything in sight—and lots that was not. After dinner our worthy teachers felt a little drowsy and tried to entertain. us by talking in their sleep. From the midst of a beautiful vision Mr. Howell was sent into a frightful nightmare and thought that he was drowning, but awoke only to find a chunk of ice melting on his spine, and to

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PURPLE AND WHITE. 15 A BBAR HUNT IN THB SIBRRAS. . BY KENNETH HUGHES. ST summer I received an invitation from my unele, superintendent of the him to a mine on the summit of the Sierras. — Mining Company, to go with T accepted the invitation with pleasure, for two reasons. First, because our route lay through one of the most beautiful portions of the Sierras, the Kings River Canyon, and then there was a fine prospect for hunting big game. We went to Millwood by stage, and from there we accompanied the pack train to the mine. Besides my uncle and myself, there were with us a mining expert, and an ex- captain of the Volunteers in our late un- pleasantness with Spain. On the evening we reached camp we went The next morning the captain and I took our 30-30 Winchesters and walked across the meadow to the mountain on the western This for a short hunt, but without success. side. was a steep hillside, covered with snow brush, quaking asp and large The captain crept along the foot of the hillside, while I climbed granite boulders. about seventy yards up the hill, and there walked or sneaked along parallel to its base. After going about a quarter of a mile I came to a large, round rock, on which I climbed to take a view of the beautiful scenery which surrounded me, and inci- dentally to get my breath. T stood there admiring the beautiful scene which Jay before me. A small stream ran tumbling at the foot of the great rock upon which IL stood. The hillside nearly to the bottom was bare except for some low brush. { looked for the captain and saw him coim- ing along, skirting the timber and stepping cautiously and silently. I gazed around again, and to my great surprise I saw, eoing just as cautiously and silently as the He and the ‘aptain were walking toward each other, captain, a large brown bear. in fact, about one hundred yards apart. Each was ignorant of the presence of the other. The captain was probably dreaming of the battles in which he did not partici- pate (he did not get any further than Fort B.. S. F.), and Bruin of manzanita berries and clover roots. I thought to myself that

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PURPLE AND WHITE. 17 see several girls escaping through the bushes. When Miss Bovard awoke to con- sciousness she found herself swinging 10 mid-air. After that we had all kinds of games and races. Kenneth Hughes and Ben Preciado won the three-legged race, Miss Kickhoff the egg race, and Miss Bovard the old ladies’ race. The girls proved too much for the boys in the baseball game, but got their money's worth in sore fingers. Of what happened on the way home I leave my readers to imagine. We pulled in about eight o’clock to the tune of— Ki-yi! Ki-yi! Kieyippi! Ki-yi! Madera High School Hi! hi! hi! It will be many a day before we forget that picnic. Taking everything into con- sideration it was a most glorious day, and every one who did not go missed the best thing of the season. Were AFTBR SCHOOL SESSIONS. BY FRANK J. COOK. gs an auxiliary to the regular school routine the faculty has established what is known among the pupils as the “after school session.” The length of its duration depends upon the deportment of the scholars. It be- eins at 3:30 o'clock and usually adjourns in time for school to begin next day. Those who remain until supper time get history served on toast, together with cold shoulder. This is the invariable bill-of-fare, and while it may seem inadequate to many, we feel that two history lessons a day are quite sufficient when served so charmingly. After the evening meal a petition of rights is presented by the pupils, and read by the secretary, when it is thrown open to the house for argument, and is warmly dis- cussed pro andcon. It usually reads some- thing like this: We, The pupils of the Madera High School, do most humbly petition the Hon- orable Faculty for certain rights now denied us. Firstly, We are: kept after school for an almost endless period for disturbances (al- leged to have been committed by us) in words beyond the narrow horizon of our intellectual understanding. Secondly. We do not believe we should be forced to study inside when it is more pleasant in the park. Thirdly. We do not believe that chew- ing gum in school is detrimental to any piece of furniture, save our own individual digestive systems, which are our own per- sonal property’ and should be controlled by us. Lastly. We believe as long as twenty- four hours make a day that forty pages of of history, one hundred lines of Latin, twenty pages of English, with an essay on the New Comes, ten experiments in Physics and a chapter in Civil Government should make a day’s work. SN ence 3 BXCHANGES. Our list of exchanges has increased during the past year, a fact which pleases the editor to no small extent. The exchange serves as a connecting link between the schools, and by these we are able to gaze into the inner life of our co-workers. Although we do not feel competent to criticise our exchanges thoroughly, still we cannot refrain from offering some friendly advice. We notice that in some of our exchanges adver- tisements appear on the cover. We would suggest that the editors refrain from putting the adver- tisements there, as it spoils the appearance of.the paper. We would suggest that the editors refrain from printing their paper with the table of contents on the cover. Placed there it detracts from the artistic appearance of the paper. The Owl, of Fresno, our nearest neighbor, con- tains a large number of interesting stories. The prize story which appeared shows that there isa great deal of enthusiasm among the students. The Oculus, from the Gilroy High School, seems to live up to its name. It shows that the editors take a lively interest in their work. The Owl, of Hoits school, has a very artistic cover. The monogram gives a neat appearance to the paper. Among the exchanges received this year are: Aegis, Acorn, Atheneum, Advocate, Comet, Sea Urchin, Forum, Optimus, Pennant, Russ, Tocsin, Sequoia, Shamrock, Olla Podrida, Janus, Oak, Adjutant, Occident, Breeze, Wild Cat, Record, Dictum Est, and High School Bell. SBD A aN er = ae sedge ussiateier tok