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

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THE SPECTATOR 29 hall to a small, though snugly furnished bedroom. He looked around in wonder at the snow-white bed and curtains. Dick was then told to follow the maid to the dining room. He stood in the doorway until Mrs. Brown came toward him and led him to a chair beside her at the table. At her left sat little Grace, their only child. She was a small child with large, blue eyes, rosy cheeks and curly blown hair. Mr. Brown spoke kindly to Dick and told him that this was to be liis home, and that he and Mrs. Brown would try to be a father and mother to him. These kind words put Dick at his ease, and he was soon eating a hearty dinner, in spite of the homesick feeling that stole over him now and then. After dinner Dick was told that he would be allowed to do whatever he pleased for a week or so, until he grew stronger. He could go wherever he chose as long as he stayed within sight of the house. In the days that followed, Dick went from place to place. He was so deeply interested in everything pertaining to Mother Nature! He learned to know all the birds and trees, and often wished that his pals at home could share his joy—this living so close to Nature. His cheeks were becoming pink! Happvland was to be his salvation! Soon New York and its miseries seemed a thing of the past, but his mother, sister, and brother were ever before him—a sacred memory. He was ever planning what he would do for them when he became big and strong. Eight years have passed. Dick has grown to be a tall, manly lad of twenty. Mr. Brown has made Dick assistant manager of the farm. Dick has saved his earnings and has purchased a small farm adjoining Mr. Brown’s where live his mother and brother. His sister had died two years after Dick left for the “Happy- land.” Grace has grown to be a tall, beautiful girl of eighteen; and her friendship and Dick’s has ripened into love. Often Dick wanders into the woods and among the flowers and trees that he has learned to love so, to reflect upon the time when as a poor, frail lad he first beheld the wonders of Clover- dale, his “Happvland.” M. E. D., ’17.

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28 THE SPECTATOR itrk 0 YE MOTHER,” sang out little red-haired, freckled-faced Dick O’Neil, as lie boarded the train together with a crowd of other boys, after being nearly hugged to death by his little sister and his mother. Dick had been raised in the tenement district of New York and since a wee child had con¬ tributed to the support of the family by selling newspapers. His mother worked in a shirtwaist factory; her work was hard and the wages low. What little she made barely afforded them a scanty living. His father, when living, had been a shoe-maker, and though he did not make much, the family managed to live quite comfortably. He, however, died when Dick and the other children were quite small, and therefore left the family in great need. A kind old gentleman, Mr. Smith, had taken a fancy to Dick and a few other newsboys. He had offered to take them to Cali¬ fornia and secure them jobs on farms. Dick’s mother had con¬ sented, after learning that with plenty of fresh air and good food, Dick would become a strong, healthy boy, and would be able to support her in her old age. As the train neared it’s destination, five days after Dick had boarded it, Mr. Smith called his group of boys together and ex¬ plained that California was a great deal different from New York; he reminded the boys that they were going to work for people who expected them to be honest and upright in every way. When the train stopped at Cl overdale, a man in a two-horse wagon was waiting for Dick. After bidding his friends farewell and thanking Mr. Smith for his kindness, Dick climbed to the seat beside Mr. Brown and was soon on his way to his future home. After winding six or seven miles in the mountains they reached a large, white farm-house wdtli many out buildings. In the rear and to the right were forests of large trees which gave the house a snug appearance. To the left was a small lake sur¬ rounded by many flowering shrubs and ferns. All this Dick took in with a bewildered glance. He longed to climb down from the wagon and run into the forest, to plunge into the lake with the ducks, and to chase butterflies and pick the beautiful flowers growing in profusion. Mr. Brown drove up to the side door and helped Dick down from the wagon. He summoned a maid and told her to show Dick his room. Dick followed her up the long flight of stairs down the

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30 THE SPECTATOR ifow Jfmnttf Irokp Up tlip iKorkg Jlnutt (fkttp WISH to warn you, gentle reader, that if you are looking for romance or for silly senti¬ ment you had better not waste your valuable time reading this tale, for it is a story of men; men in the open, out in God’s country where they play the game of life fairly and never grumble if the cards are against them. I shall introduce our hero immediately. His name is Jimmy Hogan, mechanic by instinct and game warden by profession. He became a game warden because he had to live in the open and this job gave him a chance to make money while recovering his health. He could still exercise his bent for mechan¬ ics, since his district was small and he had little to do. Being in¬ terested in aeronautics, he had built and perfected a flyer some¬ what along the lines of a Bleriot monoplane. But this will come later. I said before that he had very little to do. This was a mistake, for rumors had begun to float around that deer were being killed and shipped to the big hotels in the city. Hogan was warned by some friendly ranchers to watch what was known as the Big Rocky Point, for the rumors said that it was here that the hunters had their camp. A few days later he decided to visit the point and see for } himself if there was any sign of hunters in the country. He spent the day in fruitless search finding nothing to re¬ ward his efforts but a deserted camp hid in a nook of the hills. Nothing doing, he decided, and about four o’clock turned his mule’s head homeward. He was riding along a smooth grassy ridge covered with scrub oak and interspersed with large open places of an acre or more in extent. Just in front of him was a clump of manzanita and in it hung a deer. “Holy mackerel,” breathed the game warden (only he said something different) “Wonder who did this, guess I’ll turn Becky loose and hide and await develop¬ ments.” He quickly unsaddled and, hiding his accoutrements securely, he climbed a small live oak about two hundreds off and prepared to wait for the hunter to come and claim his prize. The limb on which he sat was beginning to get very hard when his waiting was rewarded by seeing a couple of men come up the hill¬ side with another deer, and, almost simultaneously with their appearance, a low humming sound struck his ear. “Gee whiz, wliat’s that ? Why it’s an aeroplane,” flitted through his mind so