University High School - Cub Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

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TI-IE BATTERED HAT By Richard Gettell E YVAS probably the of all the p znh indleis in a city where meg ging is a profession, and the art of make-up a science. It was his hat which attracted me first, an old black derby, spotted artistically. It was battered and torn, but it hung just the least bit to one side and seemed to defy the whole world in a most jaunty and fetch- ing manner. As I came opposite him, I slowed down to better ob- serve his unique head-covering, and when he noticed that I was looking at him, instantly came the well known whine of the street bum. Please, mister, can you spare a few pennies to a man what ain't et in days? It was late evening, n1y work for the day was done, and so, re- membering Van Bibber, I said, 5 Emost wretched looking .f .Q - mostly on impulse, If you know a good place to eat, letls go. He accepted with an alacrity that soothed some of my doubts, and led the way to a little one-arm lunch, where he dof fed his remark- able hat and proceeded to wrap himself around a supper that un- doubtedly would have fed three starving Armenians. Wfhen fin- ally he laid down his instruments, I gave him a cigarette and encour- aged him to talk. And there in that little white-tiled restaurant, with our C31'S filled with the rat- tling of dishes, he told me this tale. Alt was 'way back in the time when a man could get a hand-out at a back door without getting run in. I was no bum like I am now. I was a young fellow then, and handsome and full of devilment. The family thought I was a bad egg,-guess I was, and finally my uncle had a pull with somebody else, and he got me a job as some sort of secretary to the American Consul at Bombay. Probably the family thought I couldn't disgrace 'em 'way out there. Anyway, they 32

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'A A H tl' Y 5' 1 ' ,Ill v i' I 'l. .,1l, 1 11119 Mx, -ul. ,,. lull Q 11 J. 4 I1 1-I ll if ,I ,1 Q 'e u19,Q?9d9,n.9.Q-Qewmllsgne al .3193 gm l1giunignTi1rg'n1s,g..1. ng M ' A .-v ,. Y. , .v ,. v. Y , ' V 1 li U ' ' 'IGHTING CUBS' 'Q um 14 . : Let the Teddies come a growling, , 'N Bent on walloping the Cubs. ,131 ' E' 3 Let them pit their seasoned players 1 Y Up against our greenest scrubs. f ...H lip ', 1 ' Let them send their team that's heavy' 1h 1 lj' Up against our team that's light, 1 Q-0 - 'Q-. Q15 pi 3452 3133 i . .1 'F Q nt, 1 u 21117 'll JI glli E - in as ska 1323 as 1 But they never can outdo us When it comes to showing fight! Lat the Bulldogs come a snapping, hast at passes, runs, and punts. Let them be a tricky outfit, X'V1th a bunch of clever stunts. Let them play the game of football As a team of veterans ought,- ljut the Cubs, through loss or triumph, W'ill not ever be outfought! Let McClymonds come a whooping, A NVith their plunging set of backs. Let them loudly sing the praises Of the great league-leading Macks. Let them send their Black and Orange, Up against our Blue and Gold, But they never shall outfight us, As they never have of old! Let the whole five other grid squads Be triumphant, if they can. Let them be the better players, And outweigh us to the man. Let them run in rings around us, Let them pierce us with their might. But we ve yet to see the ball team lhat can beat us out for fight! -Arthur Arlett. f1i'1' M9fi E .. is I' .ffl Fm'- 4 1 I 4. .1, 4 . 'sr' ' 1 1 1 ml! 'N 1:1 tr lf' 1 ul l' 12121 lx 5, 1 I 1' l . Alili- : J lil 1, I .-2, 4- Y I 4 o 'x1jL'i- few'- . ' ' . 1 46. .gap 0-4 nf' 'Ji' 1 Q- ill! 3112- -ilu' -gip, . ', 1 I , -:liz - -.lib M, 1 , 1, L ' -11. 1 , aufnuzasgut :mania xl X .I u as :si gn 'Wi ifivi canvas U-, i v, 31

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shipped me out, and that was the last they ever saw of me. Lord knows there was nothing to it but graft. The consul needed a secretary like he needed an overcoat-might come in handy somewhere, but not in that climate. He had nothing to do, he wasn't in 142 his office six months in the five years that I was there. He used to go big-game hunting up coun- try half the time. g'YVe was a gay crew. There was a good many British officials of one sort or another with their wives, sisters, and daughters, and there was missionaries too, but they wouldnit have nothing to do with us, said we was all headed straight to perdition. VVe was al- ways having dances, and that sort of thing,--I guess they was afraid of getting home-sick if they didn't raise Cain continuous. There was ust one thing that 1 couldnit abide. That was snakes. I never got used to them like the -rest of them did. I'd always be just as scared, even of the harmless ones. There was one girl in par- ticular that used to make pets of them. Her name was Edith Par- ker, and shortly after I got there, she took up a regular monster, a young boa-constrictor, - raised him out of the egg. She called him Tom, and she used to wear him around l1er neck like a sca1'f until he got too big to handle. She was real fond of Tom, and he was of her, but finally he got too big and heavy, and she had to let him go. For a long time, weld hear stories: about this big snake that would come into the houses and scare the natives. After a while they stop- ped, and we figured that Tom was either dead, or had migrated. The natives worked up some myth about him, and he got quite a repu- tation as a local deity. But we was to meet him again. One time we all went hunting up in the hills after birds and possibly a pig or two, and lNIiss Parker and I got separated from the rest. There wasn't any use trying to find the bunch in that jungle, and we kI1CVV that they'd find us if we didnit wander away, what with their native trackers and all, so we got down off' our horses and sat under a big tree to wait until our party should find us. 'cSuddenly there bl11'St through the bushes tl1e biggest wild boar 33