Ferndale Union High School - Tomahawk Yearbook (Ferndale, CA)

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Qnmanrr nf the flliarahlanh A lone, drake mallard followed the coast to the southward. He had been separated from his band on a northern marsh. The waves danced in the sunshine and a light breeze flecked the pure white foam through the air. The big lone mallard was happy in the pure joy of living as he sailed gracefully over the glistening foam-crested waves, but deep down in his heart he felt lonely and he wished for some sheltered spot in a small pond where he and a beautiful young mate might sit and preen their feathers in the warm sunlight. The lonely mallard was young and beautiful. He had a glistening green head and a proud and wary eye. He was large and strong. Day was nearing its close and the young greenhead was hungry and tired. He now flew nearer the sandhills in the hope of finding a sheltered marsh where he could feed and spend the night. Seeing a large band of sprigs leave the ocean and the sandhills he decided to follow in their wake. Imagine his joy at seelng a iarge marsh, full of sequestered ponds, with the friendly marsh-grass waving in the evening breeze. Still lonely, he called as he flew slowly over the sloughs and ponds, his bright eye ever on the alert for a resting-place. As he neared a quiet pond, he heard a low answering call. On the placid water sat a hen mallard. She was young, beautiful, and she swam gracefully about on the mirror-like water-proudly yet timidly. ' VVithout a 1noment's delay, the young drake dropped down at her side. At first she avoided him and swam away. It was then that the young drake said his first love-words and tried his best to reassure her. The young hen was very coy-even sad, it seemed to him-as she sat motionless upon the water, with head drooping and eyes averted. He swam closer and closer, speaking tender words and bidding her to be not frightened. He came close to her side and stroked her soft neck with his bill. She answered him with soft, throaty, love-coos-and in their happiness at finding each other they forgot all else. Wliile preening her feathers, he discovered that she had a broken wing. The sympathetic drake expressed his brief by drooping his head and comfort- ing her with soft love-words. He vowed to remain with her forever. She pleaded that he leave her before it be too late-to fly on to the southland, as the marsh was infested with hunters who would mercilessly kill. For days she had remained hidden there in the marsh-grass-but each day she ex- pected would be her last. He must go on and leave her or he too would be maimed or killed. But the young drake would not go-so they tucked their heads under their wings, and beneath the sheltering marsh-grass, slept peacefully side by side. The clear pond, peaceful and serene in the moonlight, with its sleeping lovers, was an ideal settirg for a tale of love and sweet content. Morning came and the sun peeped over the tops of the mountains to the 26

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As I saw the color harmony of the towers and courts, I could hardly make myself believe that those beautiful pillars were not tinted marble but only a iew boards with a sort of colored plaster over them. The many courts with :heir fountains, flowers, shrubs, and beautiful statuary, seemed to take me away from earth and place me in a true fairyland. Especially the Court of the Universe where the white doves made their homes. The Tower of Jewels of which I had heard so much, was all I had expected it to be. Both night and day it glistened like a tower of precious stones. All the interiors of the buildings were beautiful and beyond description. For instance the Horticulture Palace with its tropical gardens. Tl1e Palaces of Machinery, Mines, etc., held inventions and improvements in all the fields of research. The Food Products Palace held every kind of food that one could think of. The governmentls display of fish here, was very interesting. I have heard people say that they were disappointed in the large palaces be- cause they did not find them with beautiful frescoed ceilings, but instead old brown rafters. This did not seem to have any affect on me because I realized that these buildings were not to be permanent structures and that when they were built it was not with the idea of making them beautiful palaces but sim- ply providing a place for the various exhibits. I had for a long time wished to see the best of art and my wish was truly realized when I saw the Palace of Fine Arts. This permanent structure can be compared with the architectural classics of Ancient Greece. Here I was able to see some of the most valuable and noted masterpieces done on canvas and inbmarble and bronze. The Lagoon which is in front of this building was at its height of beauty at night when the different colored and draped boats sailed out upon its smooth surface. The Country and State buildings were all very well arranged, each truly representing its own country or state. Almost every one contained a large map and as I studied these together with the products and pictures I learned .nore about these countries than I could ever have learned from a book. The Japanese and Chinese Tea Gardens with their bamboo houses, stone bridges, shrubs, flowers and fish which had all been brought over from their far-away home, were unique in design and coloring. The Zone, although it held some very foolish things, also held some that were very interesting and instructive. I shall never forget the Panama Canal, japan Beautiful, and the Tehauntepec village of the Arizona Indians. Although the wonders of the Exposition have faded from my sight, the memory of them never can. MAREN sKow, ,I7 25

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eastward. The two mallards bathed themselves in the clear water, preened their feathers, and then commenced their search for breakfast. They had just finished eating a bunch of celery-grass which the drake had found, when they heard the sound of footsteps and men's voices. The rxvo frightened birds hid side by side in the marsh-grass with heads and necks laid flat to the water. ' The two men passed by, but a small black dog, trotting along behind, scented them and scared them from their hiding-place. Pitifully the hen tried to fly, flopping her one wing bravely-but she could not rise from the water. A shot, and with a cry to her mate, who hovered over her, her pretty head drooped and she died. The poor drake, almost bereft of reason, voiced his grief in loud quacks and vaulted into the heavens, followed by several shots which missed their mark. Once more a lonely young drake flew sadly over the gleaming waves and flying foam to the southward. ARDEN RING, ,I7 N 1 I ,V I ' -J I Y W' smirk JZ Nllix G Y f 7, X K J i 7 f A Sums at Sunriur Early one September morning, we started for a walk across the fields. Stopping on top of a rather high knoll, we looked out at the scene before us. The fog which hung low over the hills began to drift slowly away, looking like a shimmering, shining, silvery sea. Far away on the horizon, the sun, a glowing red ball, was slowly rising over the hills. The sky--the gray of early morning-was beautifully tinted from the sun's glow, while the hills a bluish mass faintly outlined against the sky, were brightened by touches of red. A little way below, could be seen low hills covered with dry grass. Then a row of stunted green trees stood out to view. Atv the foot of the hills, a barn with farmhouse nearby, almost hidden by the surrounding orchard. The barren branches of the orchard trees looked gray and stiff. A thin spiral of blue smoke, rising high above the little chimney, melted into the pale sky. My eye now wandered to the left, where the tops of a corn-field could be seen, waving gently in the breezeg while straight out before me stretched broad fields of pasture land, in one corner of which a few calves brows- ing under an old alder tree-lay, lazy and inert-the picture of bucolic con- tentment. MARY RENNER, ,I7 27 -