Las Animas High School - Trojan Yearbook (Las Animas, CO)

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SOAPWEEDS AND SUNSHINE A SKETCH Scene I. Place: A western prairie covered with sand and soap- weeds. Time: Sunrise. (Enter Charles. George and Frank, three sturdy boys with axes swinging on their sholders.) George: “The day is suited to our task A fiery sun illuminates the East: The sky is cloudless and the air is cool. Cool as the verdant cucumber that grows. And twining about in verdant splendor. Performs the sacred trust producing fruit. Juicy and deliciously refreshing; It fills you with a vigor never found Except upon these Western plains so grand. That roll in endless billows toward the sea. In this land where long ago the red men Sought the shaggy bison, and roamed the plain. And killed the elk and deer forever gone. I am ready now for healthful labor After a strenuous week of study ' Charles: “Let's get to work I beseech you For if we shirk We’ll never get thru. (The three start cutting the soapw’eed.) Scene IT.—Two hours later. Frank: “My worthy friends. I greatly fear We ne’er will make our fortune here. The soapw’eeds here are very sharp And stick us all the time. My axe is dull, the sun is hot, We have not earned a dime. We hew them long, we hew' them wrell. How tough they are wre cannot tell. George: “You speak the truth my wrorthy friend. But let’s continue what wre’ve begun. Though the labor is truly difficult, And the remuneration small. We have the beautiful plains before us In all their picturesque magnificence. Remember what we saw this morning From the top of yonder hill of sandy loam— The cloudy blood-kist skies of the East. Foretelling the birth of another blue day; Think! will we let it slip usless away?

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IV Well knows the fair electric light The band the Anuual heads The glitter of their sharpened wits The scratching of their “leads”. ’Tis life to guide the inspired point Across the lamp-lit sheet, ’Tis life to feel your energy Produce poetic feet. A moment in “societies”, A moment—then away, Back to the pathless “Jokes and Grinds” To remain ’til break of day. V Grave men are there in High School’s halls, Grave men with hoary hairs, Their hearts are with the Annual. For the Annual are their prayers. And loving schoolmates greet our band With a varied welcoming; If pleased, with smiles of summer; If “stang”, with tears of spring. For them we’ve used the trusty pen, Xor yet lay it down, be sure ’Til we have finished Our Annual The first “EL PANORAMA”. —Ex. MORNING The breeze is sighing through the trees; The pale moon sinks low in the west; A cockerel’s crow floats o’er the leas. To warn us of the coming day. From out the clouds of pink and gold, The bold sun shows his shining face. And from the mountains grand and old. The purple mists will soon disperse. And so each morn doth nature show. Her boundless joys in each new day. I'nmarred by failures saddening blow; With prospects for success untold. Maurine Schmitt. He: “How long does it take you to dress in the morning?’ She: “Oh—about twenty minutes.” He—proudly: “It only takes me ten.” She—same stuff: “Yes. but I wash.”

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Scene III.—Next morning k: My arm’s so still 'twill scarcely move. My back is awfully lame. Forty cricks are in my neck But I am willing just the same.” (They work steadily for several hours. Then at terrific sandstorm arises.) In unison: Soapweeds here, soapweeds there. It’s awfully hot. we think. Yucca plants are everywhere. Bui not a thing to drink! They stick us on the ankles And they stick us on the hand: Our legs are full or stickers And our eyes are full of sand. Our throats are dry and parch-ed, Vnd our backs are lame and sore: We swear by all good and bad That we’ll cut so . nevermore, (Exeunt.) JOKES AND NEAR JOKES Vandiver: “With you by my side, my dear, I have all the courage in the .a.’’' Mary: “Be careful Frank, the blinds are up.” Hazel Lamont: “Where did you get that black eye Kenneth?” Kenneth Heizer: “Oh. it is a little souvenir Crotchett gave me.” Hazel: “The murdering, blackhearted—” Kenneth: “ Don’t speak bad of the dead, my dear.” An English Militant Crusader strolled into a barn where a young man was milking a cow and indignantly asked:” “Why aren’t you at the front?” “Because, ma’am, there ain’t no milk at that end.” Johnny Moore, in Gym: “I can’t get my locker shut.” Coach: “Just take your shoes out.”