Bloomington High School - Aepix Yearbook (Bloomington, IL)

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THE AEGIS 13 when the little princess slipped out. Through the great front door, through the garden, keeping close to the tall hollyhocks which hid her from the palace windows, and across the daisy iield, hurried the scheming princess, free at last to go over, or under, or around, or through the tempting wall if only she could, by any means, find a way. lt must have been her lucky day for the great gate was unlocked, and all she had to do was to push. But that seemed a very hard thing to do. l guess l 'in weak 'cause l've always had a servant to open my gates, she exclaimed, but being a plucky little princess she kept on pushing until she was red in the face and all out of breath. lf she hadn't been a princess, she might have cried, but that was the most particular lesson in her queen-book,- Never Cry. No matter how vexed, or worried, or unhappy a queen is, she must not cry. So she swallowed hard and pushed some more. Suddenly the gate flew open a11d she went sprawling through it, flat on the ground. A queer little girl tried to help the princess up, but she didn 't help much, for her poor, little, thin legs were strapped in steel braces, and an ugly harness was fastened around her waist, so that she eouldn't stoop over. The little girl explained that she had been trying to pull the gate open because folks said there were daisies in the King's field and she had never seen a daisy. She was .1 very lonesome little girl, for she had 110 playmates, and her father was too poor to buy her books orltoysg it took so much money to pay the doctor who was trying to make her legs straight. The little princess listened in amazement, shocked at the elbow patches and old worn shoes which made her conscious of her own beautiful dress and dainty white slippers. - 't0h, she cried, lt makes me ashamed of myself. I'll never be disap- pointed again when l can't see my mother very often and have to be tagged to my governessf' lt isn't very pleasant to be a queen. They have to go to prisons, and they never know when their husbands are going to be beheaded, a11d their children are shut up in towers, and their favorite ladies always clope with traitors, and every other kind of horrid things, 'i the little lame girl said. But it 's worse to be lame and poor a11d my side of the wall is best, rc- torted the little princess. Back across the daisy-field ran the princess, and the lame little girl stood watching her through the open gate. Sighing and slowly shaking her head she said, No, l don 't like the other side ofthe wall, after all. l'd rather stay here, even if my legs do hurt me, where l can see my mother all the time, where my husband can keep his head and we don 't have to go to prison if we are honest. I'1l never try to open that gate again. And so each little girl, the little princess with so much in the world, and so little besides, and the poor little girl with so little in the world, and so much besides, learned that she was happiest in the place where she belonged.

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12 THE AEGIS New B. H. S! Great B. H-. S! The cry that one heard now. All eager joy for what had come, To it we made our bow. With ceilings high, and rooms, oh my! Who can their number count? And all so spacious, bright and clean, And stairs? A great amount! We entered thru, the lofty doors And marvelled at their grandeur. Then to the auditorium We went amid much splendor. And there in that most wondrous place We did allegiance swear, To all the school and all the rules To be enacted there. A GLIMPSE OVER THE WALL COLEITA AITKIN ln a far away country where the people were either very rich or very poor, a high stone wall separated two fields. The wall had been built by the king of the land. No one but the king knew why, though a great many people had their own theories on the subject. Some guessed that it was to shut in the royal household, while others were sure it was to shut out the common people. Probably both were right. The two people most annoyed by the wall were a little princess and a little girl. The little princess would have liked to be a little girl too, but she couldn't very often, for princesses had to begin, when very young, to learn to be queens. She disliked the stone wall for it was forever in the way, right between her and everything she wanted most to see. Sometimes she was allowed to gather daisies and buttercups in the field on her side of the wallg but she was getting awfully tired of daisies and butter- cups. They couldn't speak and she wanted someone to talk with. Of course her governess was thereg that was another trouble-her governess was always there, and she was tired of her governess too. Oh, if she could only climb over that horrid wall and find out what was beyond. One day the King was very ill, and everyone so worried about him that the little princess was forgotten. Even the governess stood around looking white and scared instead of attending to her regular business and she did not notice

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14 THE AEGIS PICTURES AND PICTURES A MEMBER or B. H. S. The clock on the dingy wall of the city room of the Morning Star would have struck five, if it had been a striking clock. Being unendowed with a voice, it merely pointed a warning hand at the figure five and ticked solemnly on. The city room at five in the afternoon was always a busy place. Half a dozen typewriters beat a brisk tattoo while the half dozen reporters who manned them contemplatively chewed frazzled cigars. A diminutive copy-boy slouched insolently from desk to desk, collecting the copy that the machines had ground out. Enthroned behind his large and hopelessly littered desk in one corner sat young Jim Worth, city editor. Jim was efficient, twenty-five, and busy. Beyond that there was nothing unusual about him, for we must not have too much description in a fifteen hundred word story. Before him lay a heap of copy which he was revising and supplying with headings. He had just read a very lengthy and very uninteresting article by the dramatic and musical critic of the Star, and his blue pencil hovered in the air a moment as he thought over the heading. Then he wrote: H MADAME ALONDRA TO SING HERE Famous Metropolitan Opera Soprano Will Give a Concert at the Chatterton Opera House Tonight. EXTRAOEDINAEY SEAT SALE He paused to read over the heading and then picked up from the desk a photograph which portrayed the expansive and rather buxom features of the aforesaid prima donna. For a moment Jim critically inspected her, then marked off a blue square on the copy sheet, with the inscription Insert cut here. Pushing aside the uninteresting article together with the equally unin- teresting picture of the singer, he picked up the next story, and plunged into a gruelling account of a family feud in Forty Acres. Ted, the trained office boy clumped across the room. He slapped a bundle of mail on Jim Worth 's desk and continued on his blithe road. Jim finished reading his gory tale, made a few marks with his dictatorial blue pencil and began to sort the mail. Most of it received only a glance from him and then travelled via the air route to the Exchange Editor at the adjoining desk. Of the few letters which he kept, Jim singled out a bulky, square envelope, which was addressed to Mr. James Worth, fpersonalj and which exhaled a faint odor of sandalwood.