Analy High School - Azalea Yearbook (Sebastopol, CA)

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Stripes (A True Story) By HARRIET MADDOCKS Fourth Prize XT was autumn and the California woods were brilliant with green, ■ “ yellow and red leaves. The nuts were ripe and Stripes, a lively squirrel, was busy gathering his winter store. He barked and chat¬ tered in his work and at last the nuts looked so tempting that he sat down at the foot of a tree and began to eat one. Suddenly a noise from behind him attracted his attention and, looking around, he saw a large cat watching him intently. He dropped the nut and while he was thinking which way to turn, he felt something seize him by the neck and he was dragged rapidly over rough ground, he knew not where. At last they stopped and the next thing he knew a lady was bending over him, talking to the cat: “You must not hurt squir¬ rels, Eutopia, you naughty cat. Aren’t you ashamed? I hen Mrs. Ashley picked him up and carried him inside, and put him in a bas¬ ket lined with cotton. Stripes lay there too frightened to stir. The days passed slowly at first, but gradually he grew more ac¬ customed to his surroundings and was no longer afraid when Mrs. Ashley came to feed him nuts. At last he grew bolder, and as the cat did not offer to harm him, they had good times playing about in the house. He sat up at the table now where the rest of the family ate, and drank his cream and cracked and ate his nuts. The days grew shorter and colder and instinct taught Stripes that he should make a warm nest and hide a supply of nuts; so he whisked about and gathered up all the pieces of paper and cotton he could find and tore them into fine scraps and put them in a bureau drawer. He saved part of the nuts that were given him, and one day as Mrs. Ashley sat by the fire reading he climbed up op her shoulder and hid them in her hair. One cold night he crept out of the door without anyone knowing it, and when he wished to go back inside the heavy door was closed, so he was forced to stay out all night. He craunched down in one corner of the porch, but it was so cold he could not sleep. The next morning the end of his tail was frozen and in a few days it dropped 22

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Suddenly a stone slipped, the knight stumbled; he fell down—down into the dark chasm below. With a start, Virginia awoke. Thus endeth the dream of the poor person who was deluded into taking England. The Dawn The soft wind whispers gently through the trees; A waiting hush lies over all the world; And in the blue sky up above one sees The whitening stars with all their glory furl’d. A fragrance drifts up from the wakening flowers More sweet than perfume rich of Orient strand; The murmuring brook glides through its leafy bowers; The sunbeams glint the rock that skyward towers; And lo ! the new day is at hand. —A. D. L., ’ 13 . 21

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off. Oh, how badly he felt ! Although he took a great deal of pains, with it afterwards it never looked quite the same again. As spring approached his blood ran quicker and he barked and chattered merrily. Sometimes he heard other squirrels calling in the woods, and stopped to listen. Something told him to go, but still he stayed. Day by day the desire grew stronger, until at last he went out to the edge of the woods and sat there for hours listen¬ ing. He sniffed the fragrance of the moist warm earth and it seemed to him that the woods had never been so beautiful before. Here the ground was white with toothwort and forget-me-nots, and just be¬ yond was a patch of shooting stars. Far away in the woods he heard a squirrel bark, and with a sort of answering call he bounded off to¬ wards the direction from which it came. The chattering grew louder and at last he saw two other squirrels sitting on a limb above him. One had a nut and as she whisked down to the ground to bury it in the dry leaves, Stripes thought he had never seen such a lovely squir¬ rel before. Never had he seen such fine fur and such a long, hand¬ some tail. (Here he thought of his own with a sigh of regret.) 1 le knew now why he had come and he was just going to tell her about it, when she hurried off deeper into the woods. He followed close behind and at last she climbed a tree which hung over a deep ravine. The water tumbled over mossy rocks and the white spray sprinkled the maiden-hair fern and the delicate saxifrage which grew close by. Stripes ran up the tree behind her and began to tell her how pretty she wasi but she would not listen, and only scolded him. That night he did not go back to his nest in the bureau drawer at Mrs. Ashley’s house, but slept in the open. All the next day he carried on his courtship, but it was of no avail. He heard Mrs. Ashley calling at the edge of the woods, and although he liked her very much, he could not leave I’rim, the ob¬ ject of his affections. On the third day Stripes won his suit; telling her how nice Mrs. Ashley was and what lovely things he had to eat, he at last coaxed Prim to come to the edge of the woods with him and then, bit by bit, he coaxed her to Mrs. Ashley ' s front yard, but she refused to go inside and share his nest there. He left her in the farthest end of the garden and went into the house to get her some almonds. When he came out he saw a strange squir¬ rel talking to his wife. With a pang of jealousy he saw how hand¬ some the intruder was, and with a squeal of anger he rushed at the stranger, who ran off as fast as he could. Stripes quickly decided it was best to do as his bride wished, and build a nest in the woods. The next day they went back and began to build a cozy home 23