Central High School - Mirror Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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dropped into his lap something small and hard. W ith an exclamation of surprise, the young king started from his reverie and looking; lip into the clear skv he saw sailing swiftly towards the desert a great A trican eagle. The voting l'haraoh thrust his hand inti) the folds of his robe and drew out a little sandal of bronzed leather, stamped in silver and trimmed with fur. “Now this is wondrous fair,” cried the young monarch, looking at the strange gift of the eagle in delighted surprise. “To whom think ve, my honored ones, doth this sandal belong and what doth it bode to the realm?” Then the officers about the throne tried to appear wise, but only looked puzzled. At length, the teacher of mysteries said, 1 fear that it is an omen from the evil gods. ( King. For the eagle is sacred to none of the gods of h'.gvpt, and a messenger not sacred could bring naught but evil to the brother of the sun.” “Not so,” said the King, “this can be no evil omen. It has been worn and In a most dainty foot. No maiden of Memphis has a foot fitted for such a shoe and she who can wear s.» small and fair a creation, must be fair herself. You have long wished me to take a cjuecn. Hear. then, my words. nly she who wears this dainty sandal shall share my throne. Find the owner of this little shoe, and you will find the wife « f your Pharaoh. At this, there was general consternation among the officers «»f the state. W as King Xcbi mad? Suppose this fair unknown should be of no official family—suppose she were one of the “mob.” But none dared to protest openly. Young Xcbi was resolved, and not one among them was so rash as to oppose the will of a Pharaoh. And now throughout the kingdom, north and south and east and west, went swift messengers seeking the maiden with the mate to the sandal of bronzed leather, stamped in silver and trimmed with fur. The messengers came to the City of Bubastis, sought out the Lord Mapu. the C.overnor and the priests of the Temple. The stors of the grove girl, the eagle and the lost sandal matched precisely the story of the king, the eagle and the sandal dropped from the clouds. Thereupon, messengers of the Pharaoh hastened to the house of Sebtt. the image-maker. If it bad not been that she was a fast-bound and loyal wife. Nebt-hcpct herself would have tried very hard to squeeze her fat foot into the little sandal. But it was of no use. Xitas trim little foot fitted the dainty sandal exactly: the mate to it was produced and worn, and in loss than a month, with feasting and flowers and song. Xita. the daughter of Sebu. the image-maker. was married to Xcbi Xofcr-ka-ra. and became therewith Xitakcr. Queen of Egypt. 15 CARL VOX C.OF.BEX ’13

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ilashup with the black cses and the hair like night, much more like the great goddess than such as thou. So. so. good Aeln-hepct, said Scbu, anxious t.» avoid a scene and yet quite as anxious to defend his fair young daughter, fret not thyself over our child's tace, so like to her beautiful mother’s- ‘Beautiful, say cat thou! broke out his angry wife, springing up from her leopard-covered couch in such a rage as to send both the shall bronze table and her own good husband sprawling on the groud. “ ilt thou never have done prating of that washed-out Libyan woman with her hair of tow and eyes of faded blue? Thou art a fool, with thy talk of her beauty and of this lazy one's chances for the grove girl's throne! 'T.ut nevertheless, said Scbu quietly as he picked himself from the ground with the help of Nita, but nevertheless, good Ncbt-hcpet, thou arc likely to be wrong, for the priest did tell me this day when he took from me the silver goddess whose nose I had repaired, that the priests were decided to desire our Nita as the grove girl. 1 he time of the festival was arrived, and gay barges, with crowds of musicians, singers, and a curious freight of fruits, flowers, and mummied cati floated down the river through the broad canals to the landing before the temple. For days crowds of pilgrims thronged the broad roadway, bowed in worship before the great bronze image of the goddess, and danced and sang and feasted in the beautiful groves. And in the midst of the great grove, upon her gaily decorated throne sat the grove girl, N ita, the daughter of Scbu. She was dressed in a long robe of crimson interwoven with patterns in gold, around her waist was a broad purple sash decorated with silver figures of Pasht, a wreath of lotus leaves encircled her fair head, while her pretty feet were incased in sandals of bronzed leather, decorated with silver cat heads, and trimmed with fur. One day, almost the last in the season of the festival, as Xita sat in the center of the throng the toc-piecc of her sandal became loosened and the shoe slipped to the ground. At once three of the attendants sprang to pick it up and a friendly rivalry for its possession ensued. Then one of the three, Kamon, wishing to show his skill at juggling and tossing, flung the sandal high in the air, intending to catch the pretty thing as it fell. But alas for Kamon s intentions! For as the bronze sandal went whirling through tlu air, a great black eagle, circling aloft on the watch for prey, caught the gleam of the slipper, and.' supposing it to be some choice morsel, swooped down upon it. caught it in his strong talons, and sailed majestically ft through the clear Egyptian skv. What a wail went up from the grove girl's startled attendants as they saw the slipper disappearing, and what a scolding poor Xita received from her angry stepmother when she came home that night with one dainty sandal of bronzed leather, silver and fur. and one soiled sandal of twisted papvrus and palm ! ’♦ ♦ In the royal palace at Memphis sat the voting Pharaoh Nebi, king of the two Egvpts. known in history by his throne name of Xofer-ka-ra. “the splendid brother of the great god of the sun.” And as he sat thus, heedless of the words of his counselors and the reports of his household officers, suddenly there 14

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Vacations 7 A vacation means a great ileal more to some people than to others.) To us, for instance, it means bliss, freedom from books, long hours and study; for often as we have been told that our school days are our happiest, that we will never be so free from responsibility, etcetera, etcetera, still we are not above accepting a three months’ vacation during the warmest part of the year. To a teacher it means freedom too. 1 imagine, but from some twenty or thirty very active young Americans in various attitudes of attention or inattention as the case may be. Now this is freedom indeed! We think we have a very hard lot to have to come to school, some of tis. But what of the lot of the teachers, who need a gimlet or crowbar or megaphone to get the inkling of an idea into our stupid heads? The best things of this world and of the next should be reserved for them, I think. What different notions people have of vacations. A girl’s idea of a good »ime is a round of parties and balls, interspersed with flowers, candy, buggv rirles and summer flirtations, just about as serious as summer showers. To a boy. all this would be boring in the extreme, sillv, bosh. To him, a camp is the place for sure enough fun. A fellow can take oft his collar, and do as he chooses there. The tiresome etiquette of life is dispensed with, and, oh, the good things to eat! P.iscuits. which on his mother’s table would insult him. are eaten with a relish: then there is coffee and corn bread and molasses and pork and beans and fish, cooked in the most extraordinary wavs. Then there is the pleasure of sleeping with only a thin blanket between himself and Mother Earth, the great fun of making a fire and cooking over it. and other similar delights. But isn’t it strange that if he had to sleep on a hard bed he would think he was treated like a stepchild: and if asked to make a fire, he would consider it a terrible hardship: and as for cooking a meal- ! And what about the stay-at-home? Ob. of course, they plan a course in reading or cooking, and lay bv a lot of sewing or something of the sort. Sometimes they do it. but more often they don’t. The summer slips by so quickly, you know. But still if they do not.go away and have a good time, they have the comfort of feeling that, at least, thev certainly will make good wives with all their knowledge of the domestic arts. So when the middle of September comes around again, of course it finds everyone eager and anxious to return to school and fully recovered from the spring fever. 16 nF.r.T TOHXSTON. n