Cloverdale Union High School - Spectator Yearbook (Cloverdale, CA)

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The Victory and the Girl ZOLA IIOTELL, ’14 It was one of those mornings in early February when the air is filled with a crispness that causes eyes to sparkle, the blood to rush through the veins, and make the step elastic with the very joy of living, that a group of boys stood talking and laughing before the laboratory door. “I say, have you heard the news?” inquired a tall, good natured looking youth, as he rushed up to the group. 44 What ' s the joke, Ray? Havn’t found a new girl have you?” asked one of the boys with a grin. 44 Girl! Fiddlesticks! Don’t you know that Dan has been expelled and now we will have no show of winning the pennant from Wilcox High again this year?” 44 What! Dan expelled! Impossible! Surely Prof, wouldn’t be so mean as that! What’s the row?” Came from the astonished group of boys. 4 4 He is mean enough, and furthermore he has already ex¬ pelled him. You know Dan had only one more chance, and that on good behavior, and now he has broken bonds, got into a scrape and that ended it. There isn’t another boy that can run as Dan can, and he was our only hope of victory over Wilcox,” explained Ray with a very dejected look, as he saw the other boys’ faces fall at the bad news. 44 What about Wilcox, and what’s the row, fellows?” asked Ned Anderson, a tall looking boy, who had come up to the gathering just in time to hear the latter part of the speech, and noticing the crestfallen looks of the boys. 4 4 Dan Nelson has been expelled, and there will be no hopes of the pennant being taken by one of our boys again this year.” explained Ray, as he took Ned by the arm and walked away with him. Ned was a new boy in the school, having entered at the beginning of the semester, and was rather ignorant about school happenings as yet. 20

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1 nd to he •ea ■ry to , I Led lat t I mt iad ers ion red the his es. on Sty 3St- up lay ieir cks in¬ habitants out. Here the fire chief had lost his life in a ram¬ shackle building . Now nothing greeted the eye but heaps of twisted iron and cellar holes, all intermingled with ashes and dust. The utter ruin and desolation around me at that moment has seldom been seen by man. The ruined structures, bent, shatter¬ ed, twisted, and distorted by the destructive elements, suggest a world long since dead and forgotten. This effect was height¬ ened by a brilliant moonlight. The very Creator had forgotten this place, No sounds, no lights, not a living thing was there to suggest life had ever been in these desolate ruins. The rustle of the wind through the torn and broken structures seemed to be the whispering of spirits of beings long, long ago departed. Not a worm, not an insect, not a bug, not a bird, or mouse, not a blade of grass or any living creature sent forth its friendly greeting. It seemed as if I had landed in a dead planet to view the remaius of its departed life. On yonder walls the lights and shadows were the spirits of ladies in holiday shopping. The murmur of the wind on its ragged edge was an echo of their laughter and gossip. Yonder dark shadows were a group of fellows with more than they could carry. That falling brick was an echo of their discordant voices. The whistle of the wind through that arch was the song of the Salvation Army Lassie calling men from their lives of sin. I seemed to pass into a trance and see the old life be¬ fore me again, the busy city with its unending stream of life but all spectral and dim, a shadow life passing before my eyes. At last weariness caused me to turn away and as I left the desolation behind me the challenge of the sentry broke the spell. A. W. MILLER. 19

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“You see it was this way,’’ Ray went on to say as Ned asked Ray to tell him about it. “About four years ago. a crowd of fellows came from Wilcox High and stole our peon.ant from our campus, holding it as their trophy, and challenging our High to win it back by taking it in the mile run. So far, we have lost every year, but we had built high hopes of winning it this year as Dan was such a swell runner and now the Prof, had to go and expell him and we won’t get it back for another year,” Ray finished dolefully. “Can’t any of the Juniors enter, that want to?” asked Ned. an anxious look on his face. “Yes, but there isn’t any one to enter unless you are thinks ing of it?” came jokingly from Ray, then unexpectedly, “Say old man, didn t you tell me one time that you had gone in for the track before you came here?” “Oh, I used to practice once in a while with the rest of the fellows.” Ned answered slowly. “Would you enter again ” eagerly asked Ray. “I might,” answered Ned indifferently as he turned on his heel and walked away. At the ball game a week later Ned was chosen as referee It was just before the gam-3 commenced, and he stood fingering the ball lovingly and eagerly scanning the faces of the crowd, in hopes of recognizing the face of the girl whose friendship he coveted. At last he saw her among a circle of ardent admirers. A. pang of jealousy shot through him; and he bit his lips with the low expression. “You WILL be proud of me some day, if I have anything to say about it.” Just then the girl turned towards him and he gave a start of surprise. Surely she was wearing the pin he had exchanged with her, for he could dis¬ tinctly see the gold pin on the white sweater which she wore. How well he remembered the day when she had refusd to wear it again for she thought he was a traitor to his school. He could even now hear the words, “Here is your pin. I do not care to have anything to do with a boy that is not loyal to his school.” and himself saying as he drew himself up proudly. 21