Ensley High School - Jacket Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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THE GLEAM 7 South are as wonderful as the West, each in its own way. California has been advertised. The people, especially the native sons and daughters, sell their state to the visitors. They advertise by large sign boards, newspapers. printed pamphlets and by word of mouth. They are hospitable. They talk constantly of California and its good points and at all times make excuses for all unpleasantnesses. After considering and weighing in the balance, all the good and all the bad, I find that wherever you are, whether North, East, South or West, you will find the same proportion of good things and the same proportion of bad in any section. After all contentment and happiness remain within ourselves, and the amount each individual holds depends largely upon his own desires to adapt himself to his surroundings, and choose only those things which make for the betterment of him. CAP. NEAL. -----------:o:----------- Home Lonely I wander through the woods. O’er many a hill and dale; I wander by many a waving field. And linger in many a vale; But no matter where I wander. Be it far, or be it near. To me there is no earthly place So sweet as home, and dear. ROGER RUSSELL. ’25 :o: A Star The unknown is an awful thing, and as I lie on my cozy little bed to-night peering through my window, through the bare branches of a giant tree, I see something that makes my very being throb with excitement, that makes my mind run in strange channels never dreamed of before. What is it I see in a far distance? It is a little star, shining and gleaming and bright. I'm thinking of you,- little star, and as I see your twinkling form and guiding light I cannot help but wonder that if within your bosom slumbers a tribe of mortals like unto ourselves; if they are greater in knowledge than ourselves; greater in spirit, strength—Oh, what a tale you could tell, little star, shining in the heavens. Perhaps your life is tinted with a sadness sadder by far than our own. Fame may fade, glory and riches may pass into the things of the past, but you remain steadfact, always twinkling forth your rays of glimmering light that make men wonder. We grow from our infancy to our manhood and you see us through our many struggles, through our trials and triumphs, through our joy and happiness, through sorrow and pain, and you see us pass away suddenly as we came. WILLIAM McARDLE, 25

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6 THE GLEAM California as a state is unusual in size. I was greatly impressed by the vastness of everything, the great distances everywhere. Its valleys are broad, its mountains high, its cities are large and the ocean makes its entire Western border. At the point where the Pacific Ocean cuts in and forms the San Francisco bay and Golden Gate, the city of San Francisco has been built. The ocean, the bay and that teeming city, located on the very edge of a “peninsula”, were a sight rather awe inspiring to me. The coast is dotted with cities of all sizes, the principal one besides San Francisco being Los Angeles. Upon first thought one believes they are neighboring cities, but the distance between them is 467 miles. Those great distances cannot help but be a surprise to people from the more closely settled sections of the United States. A Coast Line trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco will show not one fertile valley but dozens of them, not one orchard or vineyard, but many dozens of them. The air of prosperity is everywhere. The ranches and ranch houses are well improved and quite in keeping with the beautiful trees, flowers, etc., surrounding them. The houses in the cities arc more of the home variety than the apartment. Many sections are filled almost entirely with bungalows very unusual in their style of architecture. This is especially true of Hollywood and Los Angeles. The climate has its good and bad features. The rainy season becomes very tiresome, but the six months of sunshine seem to be welcomed by all. That is the time of the year when most tourists go, hence the reputation for “Sunny California.” There are really two kinds of temperature, that of the coast towns and that of the interior. The coast has an average of 60-70 degrees while the weather is very warm in the central valley, the San Joaquin. Educationally, the state has made great strides. In all the schools, a very high standard of scholarship is maintained. The school buildings are not only beautiful and expensive, but entirely modem, practical and most adequately equipped in every way. The rural schools are plentiful and easily accessible on account of the good hard-surface roads everwhere over the state. The city schools, both elementary and high schools, and the colleges have the same air of prosperity and completeness exhibited everywhere. The idea of attractiveness and cleanliness, inside and outside the buildings, seems never to be lost sight of. The University of California at Berkeley and Leland-Stanford University at Palo Alto are very beautifully located naturally, and man has done all possible besides to improve upon nature. Now, with all these good things I have mentioned, I have not told any bad. No person, place or thing can be entirely perfect or absolutely ideal. Every state and nation has its desirable and undesirable features. The one nearly always balances the other. The East, the North and the

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8 THE GLEAM Christmas Christmas, Christmas, each time you've passed, You've found us wiser than the last; Wiser, yet older by another year. Advanced, yet diminished, in our career. When you find us on each December day, You bring to our memory a holy day; Out of the years, past and gone. We recall a day when Christ was born. Once on a holy and wondrous night There shot from heaven a lustrous light, Shedding its glory from on high That all might know that God was nigh. Though time may roll his cycles on. That light shall ne'er grow dim or wan. But shall fill the world with heavenly chimes, And remind us all of Christmas times. FRED SHORT, ’24 ---------:o:---------- A Secret A new boy has come to live with us, And over him we girls do fuss; Because of his charms and sunny smiles. We try to capture him with our wiles. His eyes are blue and his cheeks are rosy; He always reposes in a swing very cosy; He cuddles close to us, and fondly caresses Our golden, red, brown, or bobbed tresses. Though he does not smoke, he keeps late hours, And uses all his charms and powers To attract the attention of everyone, So we maidens will notice him alone. When I go home, his bright face welcomes me; In me there are no pangs of jealousy; I’m sure he does not love another; How can he? He's my baby brother. SOPHIA BONFIELD, '24