Cochran Junior High School - Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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COCHRAN AERIAL how much hard work was ahead. First he collected a number of pieces of wood about two feet long. This had meant many trips to the woodpile. Next he secured an auger, bored a hole in each tree and into each little hole placed a little hollowed piece of wood which pointed downward. From the roadway below the maples was an unpaved road. Here he gathered a large pile of small stones. These he placed at the foot of each tree and across them he placed two of the boards from the wood pile. He ransacked kitchen, cellar and pantry for buckets and large tin cans. He washed these at the kitchen sink, placed them on the board at the foot of the trees, and sat down to Wait for the flow of sweet water. Laughing about it now, he says he thought maple syrup came down in bucketfuls, not in a drop, drop of dirty water into the bucket. Hour after hour he sat there listening to the constant dripping. As it was nearing evening, he poured all the sticky, dirty looking water into a live-gallon can and carried it back into the house. He placed the cans and buckets under the spouts. Each time he wakened in the night he wondered whether or not his vessels were filled, and early in the morning he dashed down to the trees. Hurrah! each was nearly full. A chum helped carry the sugar water up to the house. All day they truclged from kitchen to cellar to trees, watching the drop, drop, drop of the sugar water with great care. After three days the five- gallon can was full of sweet water and it was placed on the stove. It boiled and boiled and boiled. John looked at Aunt Jane and back to the stove, wondering whether the sugar would ever be done. He went out to play, but every little while he must have a peep into the kettle. The day seemed very long. Aunt Jane laughed, say- ing, Have patience, ,lohng give it time. Sometime later, Aunt Jane poured a little in a saucer. It tasted all right, but it looked all wrong. Aunt Jane beat up the white of an egg, stirred it into the syrup, placed clean cheese-cloth over a pintujar and poured the liquid in. Four days of hard work for a ten-year-old boyg but it had paid, for he was allowed to take it to the front door of his home and proudly say, I made it myself for Betty. Two dollars and fifty cents is too much? Well, I guess not! 11,01-T CLIMBING THE HIGHEST PEAK OF THE SAN BERNARDINO RANGE, OLD BALDY Old Baldy is some fifty miles from where most of the party lived. We traveled by autos to the foot of the peak, the highest point that can be reached by auto. There are two methods of ascending Old Baldy -by riding a burro, or walking. We decided to hike upg there- fore we ate a lunch at Camp Baldy, then, seeing that our canteens were filled with fresh water, we started our climb at about one o'clock. Just after leaving the camp We traveled up a canyon, down which a stream of sparkling water is rushing. A score or more of cottages are located along this small stream, anyone of which looked like an ideal place to rest over a week-end. After leaving the canyon the ascent became steeper, calling on us to lessen our pace and conserve our energy for the harder part of the climb. We soon arrived at Bear Flat, a small level plot, and the only level place on the long climb to the top. Here, also, is a fine spring of Water, the source of the stream which attracted our attention at the start of the hike. After a rest and refilling our canteens, we again started our up- ward climb. The bright California sun shining down upon us began to tire us and our stops for a rest became frequent. We soon arrived at Cseventy fourj

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COCI-IRAN AERIAL Dear me, let's call again. This time there was a response. I-Ie1lo! called a voice. Hello up there. I h Hell,o yourself, shouted Mary. Oh do, do come and drive away t is goat.' There was a hearty laugh, and then a man appeared. I h Well, well, my dears, how long have you been roosting up t ere? Get out, you rascal! This he said to the goat, who started for him with lowered head. Mr. Steele leaped to one side, and whacked the goat across the back witih a stick. fTlhe goat kept right on down the hill, evidently having ha enough o t at play. You can come down now, young ladies, said Mr. Steele, but I fzv1?uldn't come over into the pasture to play much. The goats don't i e strangers. ' We had nlo business to come over at ally we had been warned not to come over t is wa l. gh, indeedghzre ycqu from the Sunshine Camp up the road? es' said ary ooking at him curiously. Well, well, by the looks of those pails, which have been badly damaged by that ill-mannered Mr. Billy Goat, it strikes me that you will need someone to straighten them out. If you happen to be going to Mr. Caslon's farm, you can just hop in my wagon and come along. X ELEANOR LLOYD, Term VIII. i1O.i.. DESCRIPTION Standing in the doorway of a log cabin out in the green mountains, I could not help admiring a little ice-covered creek which wound in and out among the trees. Here and there was an open place from which the clear water bubbled up as if to get fresh air. Perched on the ice-rim at one of these little holes was a little red bird drgnkengs lO THE STOKER Standing beside the stoker I watched him fire the great boiler. The white glare from the roaring fire lighted up his face and gave a new tint to his faded blue shirt. The intense heat scorched the hand with which he shaded his eyes. The peak of his cap was wilted and droop- ed. Sweat broke out all over his Brey red face, forming into tiny streams and dropping from the end of his nose and chin to the Hoor. 0 MISCHIEF - Her yellow head did not quite reach the top of the table. She stood looking up at her mother with mischief shining in her big blue eyes, which matched the color of her rompers. She stood with her hands behind her back and a smile spread over both red cheeks. Now, Betty, what have you done? asked her mother. Looking around the room she saw an empty jam jar in one of the corners. i.-O...l... A CHANGE OF FRONT Two dollars and fifty cents for a gallon of sugar water! Well, I guess not! I can make it for nothing. Our home was quarantined with diphtheria and John was stay- ing in the country with his aunt. A row of sugar maples grew in front of the house and it seemed a cinch for a boy of ten to tap those trees. It never occurred to him Cseventy threej

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COCHRAN AERIAL the Devil's Pass. Here the trail led us over a ridge, wide enough for only one person at a time, and on either side the mountain sloped down at a dizzy angle. Here, also, we came to the first snow, huge drifts of it lying on either slope below us. A little further on and al- most to the top of the peak, we stopped again for a rest and to watch the mountain sunset. Against the western glow we could see the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island, some eighty miles distant. As there is very little twi- light here, we were soon climbing by moonlight and now some of our party who had thought it too warm at the beginning of the trip, were sorry indeed that they had left their coats at camp, for without the sun's heat we found the air of the mountain top uncomfortably cold. On arriving at the summit, we gathered a few twigs and limbs, and built a small fire, around which we gathered to eat the lunch we had brought along, thoroughly enjoying the rest before beginning the descent. Going down, we had the moon to help us find the trail, and in places where we traveled through the wood we had to use search- lights to find our way along. It was very much cooler now than it had been when we ascended the slope but a few hours since. Far below we could see lights of Camp Baldy. We drew nearer and nearer to the lights. We were so very tired when we arrived at Camp Baldy that we lost no time in getting into our automobiles and going home. ROBERT BAUM GARDTNER. ALL FOR A QUART OF ICE CREAM We started on that long walk from camp to town just for a quart of ice cream. I looked around vainly for the moon, it was nowhere to be seen. George reached for the lantern, but he was greeted with re- marks about bein' afraid and wantin' to read, and so we started up the long humpy and dusty road, heading for the little store in Wehrum, with nothing to light our way We stumbled along, our eyes every- where, but seeing nothing. We passed a little farm house where lights twinkled through half-drawn blinds. A lonely dog gave a half-hearted bark, then sat down and eyed us good-naturedly. The lights vanished as we went around the turn and we seemed millions of miles away from civilization. When a rabbit scurried across the road in front of us, we both started, then stumbled on. Ahead loomed a little grave- yard, we scurried along its low wall. Nothing happened. Farther on we plunged into a kind of tunnel made of arching trees. They shut out even the dim starlight which had been helping us along before. All the branches clutched at us, each tree grinned at us. George stop- ped and with a tug at my arm that nearly tore it off whispered, What's that? I strained my eyes, something was coming up the road. Pad, pad, pad it came. A thousand pictures of animals went through my head as I searched for a handy stone or club. On it came, a white thing of indefinite shape, traveling close to the ground. We both stood still, waiting and hoping, hardly breathing. Suddenly George laughed nervously and said, It's only a dog. With a sigh I relaxed. A black and white spotted dog trotted up to me, wagging his tail and snifliing inquisitivelyg after I had patted him a few times he went his way. He knows just where he's going, said George. We groped our way along again. George stumbled on an unseen rock and fell fiat with a resounding thud. Confound these roads, roared George as he got up, it's a pity they can't fix them, what do we pay the road commissioners for? Well, there's the town, said I as we rounded the last turn, and you can bet we were glad. VERNON HORNER. Cseventy fivej