Colonel E Brooke Lee Middle School - Cougar Yearbook (Silver Spring, MD)

Page 43 text:

Along the banks of the James River, A willow tree grows wild, A willow that's stood without a quiver, While the wind and grass beguiled. Before the settlers, before the ships, And here before the seas, Into the river it's branches dip, When the land was wild and free. And while in ships from England's shore, Invaded harmlessly, Standing hundreds of years before, Untouched they left that tree. Peacefully standing by the James, Watched the Revolutionary War, Blood and death and hundreds maimed, The river flowed red to the shore. Dusty tracks then were all that was left, By the old, gnarled willow's bark. Mountains to climb and rivers to ford, Diseases and Indian raids, The Old Willow Jenny Boyd But once again we were off to war, The willow rustled in the breeze, Brave soldiers trudged as they had before, To World War I across the seas. After the war, prosperity came, Prohibition and bootlegging too, Then the depression gave Hoover the blame, But the willow prospered and grew. Another World War and Korea too, Up to the moon and back, Modern technology, science that's new, And a bicentennial fad. But life didnit pass by that willow tree, Standing by the James River, From the beginning an emblem of liberty, When the breeze causes the leaves to -5, lc.. ,- xlwp, 1 4' f l quiver. Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe, Stood by that willow tree, Gazing down at the river's flow, 'Neath the emblem of liberty. Gnarled it's branches but strong it's roots, Engraving adorning the bark, Up in the branches a white owl hoots, 'Till another war will start. o 1 ' And then in the year 1861, ,. ' it , Began the war between the states, Rv., I ' HQ A54 The battles raged in the snow and the sun, P-' 'yn Soldiers clad in blue and in gray. 'i -15, - ' . 49 lc :JI-Q., And when Sherman burnt all the cities and towns, F ' 'u Scarring the willow with black, ' ' A ' 0' '2 ,'v'+Q1 :Q Burning the cotton and houses down, L ' 'H' 4 ' fu, Driving the confederates back. , rid ' 1,3555 , 'n ' I A ' -I -e ' .F'f L1 ' But now came the expansion into the West, 'fb Ha . ,J , 3 - Ag' . Covered wagons and horses depart, ' giatmgf-fy-pgwgy G, 5 ' .Xml 'Q' I!! Abandoned wagons, decaying boards, As the willow's memory fades,

Page 42 text:

fl6fl ,.:g-N . .,, V. g Q g gy - of Cars Norbert Fichtel Cars are machines which are made to please, Some handle well and drive with ease. Cars take people to different places, Including people of different races. Some cars are slow like the Model T's, while others drive fast at incredible speeds. Cars come in different shapes and sizes, From the big old vans, to the Mazda Mizars. Some cars have luxury from end to end, like the Monte Carlo and Mercedes Benz. Some cars are built to drive fast as jets, Like the little Porsches and the sporty Corvettes. There are many styles of the typical car, they come from here and from afar. The main reason that the car came to be, was to please people like you and like me. The Trail My Cycle Failed on John Bruce 8a Greg Faust I was riding my cycle down the trail. I hit the jump and started to sail. My gears slammed into first, and my front wheel burst. I thought it was the end, but it could have been worse. 40 The Haunted Place Everyone at some age in their life 'has a special corner of the world all their own. I had one, too. I passed by it every Monday, after my piano lesson. It was a secluded point hidden behind stretches of moss grass and sand. I called it the Haunted Place. Whenl was there I would forget all my everyday aggravations and start worrying about the Haunted Place. It was evil. Diabolic spirits dwelled there and frightened away all nature, but me. It was gloomy - the sun would not shine there, and the ground was dry - rain would not tread there either. The echoes of history seemed to bounce on and off the ground, challenging me to enter this forbidden territory. My imagination would soar higher and higher as I terrified myself in my sinister fantasy. When I walked by there, the demons chained me to the spot while my stomach began to flutter. It seemed forever till I broke down the invisible wall that enclosed the area and ran away to freedom. As the days passed into weeks and the weeks into months the spirit's power seemed to be diminishing slowly. One Monday it happened. I walked past tlie Haunted Place without ever stopping. Then I remem bered and walked back. I laughed, wondering how I ever could have thought the place looked different than the grass and weeds surrounding it. The sun shone brightly throwing light on the various plants.lI was freed from my childhood mystery of evil spirits As I walked away I knew I had grown older than the Haunted Place. by Michelle Coheln Grammarville . Elayne Kriss The puzzling town of Grammarville Lies past the lake, beyond the hill. There, in a densely-wooded glen, Live two well-intentioned gentlemen. Both are related to one another, Mr. Punctuation is one, Mr. Capitalization is the other. When I venture into their forbidding glen, I I find the pair foften way past tenj Discussing hyphens and nouns of direct address, How a well-placed colon prevents a mess, The capitalization of proper nouns, Like names of days and months and towns, The proper use of commas and quotes, How to punctuate a set of notes, Question marks for every query, Exclamation points when things get eerie, The need for periods, apostrophes and such, Frankly, I find it a little too much. The occasional tourist to Grammarville Finds objects of interest, some rare, But though it's a nice place to visit, Few really enjoy living there. l

Page 44 text:

Black Frank Melissa Panich Black Frank was a very large farmer reaching 6 foot 4 inches. He had a long black bushy beard and piercing dark eyes. His monsterous hands had a mag- ical quality for setting broken bones. Although Black Frank had no medical back- ground, he would just come to small towns to sell his produce. After awhile people began to hear of his magical qualities and would be waiting for him anx- iously for help. Many stories have been told of how he would place his hands on the injured area and feel, twist, turn and bend until it had been fixed. One of Black Frank's most unusual events was when he healed a boy that had fallen off a cliff. The boy had to be carried home because he couldn't walk. They waited until Black Frank came to town. It was said that he took the boy by the neck and began twisting and manuvering him and that screams could be heard for miles around. When Black Frank was finished the boy was able to walk again. Black Frank would come and go just as mysteri- ously as his hands could repair broken bones, and improve sprained ligaments and muscles. Alison Breeze HAIKU The night has fallen everyone is fast asleep except the crickets. I . Sr 4 I ,li r ll ll F 'O N 39 . 2 . M 'If 'N fi, 'f xx 4 if fl, I , 'vg ur ' rl'-l ll 'l l ' .'TK, 42 Spring Lisa Stewart Spring is when the birds begin to sing again. Flowers and trees begin to bloom. Spring smells good, the fragrance of the new flowers mixed with the early morning dew. Spring also means summer is very close. The air is warm, school seems long, but the day drags on. The best part of spring is vacation, when it can be enjoyed fully. Heliotrope Jeanie Nairn You probably won't believe this story, but ...... I will tell it anyway. This story is about a hippo- potamus, whose name is Heliotrope. Well, Heliotrope likes to swim in the Gatun Lake. She swims around the lake and just has a good time. But Heliotrope's favorite place is at the School of the Americas in Panama. The cadets at the School of the Americas see Heliotrope everyday, and she looks so skinny that they have to give herhtheir leftover lunch. After lunch Heliotrope always takes a swim. So, Heliotrope went for a swim to the Gatun Locks. Heliotrope wanted to go through the locks to explore. So they charged her 3.50 to get through. Luckily she had some money with her. Heliotrope got part way through the locks, but then couldn't get the rest of herself through. She stayed there for 2 weeks. Everybody thought she'd be skinny enough to go through the locks but she wouldn't budge. So they called the most popular doctor in the whole world. The doctor gave Helio- trope some diet pills but that didn't work. By then 20 ships were waiting to get through the canal. One guy said, Let's get 5 truckloads of soap and slide her out. They tried but that didn't work either. Another guy said, Why don't we take Hercules , the biggest crane in Panama, and lift her out? They tried but she was so fat that she busted the crane. Then a man that used to sell balloons in Washington, D.C. pumped Heliotrope full of air, painted Good Year on her side, put a motor on her back and now she floats around Washington in the air, with a cage full of people underneath, sightseeing.