Garfield Junior High School - Gleaner Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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AIR TRAVEL One of my most interesting experiences was my first trip in the air — the flight from London to Brussels. I must confess that the night before I was a bit nervous, and on the early morning motor ride to the air-station at Croyden felt as if I might be going to my doom. My heart was in my throat, as we were carefully weighed and our baggage was weighed, inspected, and stored away in the back end of the plane. We could see several passenger boats above us, making trial flights and were assured that a crew of mechanics had worked all night on our plane and that it had already been tested in the air. There were only six passengers, as miost of the allotted weight was taken up by great slabs of silver bullion being carried from the Bank of England to Belgium. We trusted that with such a precious burden our pilot would be especially careful! Presently we were each seated in a com- fortable wicker chair by a broad window and proceeded to stuff our ears full of cotton from the little metal receptacle over the chair. This, of course, was to guard against the deafening roar of the motor, which was already beginning. Soon came a few moments of bumping along over the ground, which meant that we were off, and gradually we began to rise. As we went higher and higher, all thought of fear left me and I was filled with a glorious thrill which lasted through the whole trip. It was the most wonderful sensation to go sailing along through the air with no more motion than in a motor car on a smooth highv ay. We had a perfect day for flying and there were no air bumps or disagreeable sensations of any kind; and spread out below us, distinctly visible, was the lovely panorama of English countryside — charming little villages with their clusters of quaint cottages, churches with their slender spires, glimpses of forest and meadow and stream. In what seemed an incredibly short time, we reached the sea-coast and looked down on the white cliffs of Dover with wisps of cloud floating above, and there was the channel stretching blue ahead of us. We could even see the white caps and were glad we were in the air. Almost before we knew it, we were across and getting our first view (a bird ' s- eye view) of France. Even from such a height, it looked decidedly different from England. We noticed particularly how pitifully small the trees were, for we were passing over the territory that had been devastated by the war, but every inch of the ground was being cultivated, and the little irregular farms looked like patches in a great crazy quilt. We could see the peasants working in the fields and the oxen hauling the plows. Soon we turned northward and our mechanician told us (by writing, we could not have heard a word he said!) that we were crossing over Flanders and pointed out Ypres. The country now was growing bleaker and more barren, but was interesting still with frequent canals and windmills and clusters of brick chimneys, which told of little manufacturing towns. At last we knew that

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MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS QiULS ' Glee Clu£) Boys Glee Club

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we were approaching a large cin-. and suddenl}-. -ithout any warning, we went swooping dov,-n to a perfect landing, jogging along over the field the last few yards to the station. In just three hours, we had completed a journey which would have taken a long hard day by train and boat and train again. We had arrived in time for luncheon in Brussels, most enthusiastic over travel by ' ■airT -ay ' and thankful to have had this great adventure. — H. L. !Martix TNEZUELA Dear Garfield: This letter is the result of a suggestion made by Mr. Hennessey before we came to Venezuela, so I hope that you and he enjoy it. On our way across the States we stopped at Chicago. Washington, and Xew York- We were interested in them all. but we particular!}- liked Washington, where we stayed for three days. Our first stop, after we had sailed, was at San Juan. Porto Rico. We were there a day. Then we went on to La Guaira. Venezuela. While the boat was unloading, we -isited Caracas, the capital of the countn,-. After we had been in La Guaira two days we went to Porto Cabello. and from there to the Dutch island of Curacao. Maracaibo was the next and last stop. From the harbor my first glimpse of laracaibo i which was throush a coco- palm grove) was of houses surrounded by trees and set back from a narrow paved road. Some natives were out for their Stmday walk, while men and boys were riding along on donkeys. Maracaibo. with a population of almost S6.000. is one of the hottest towns in the world. It is situated on the edge of Lake Maracaibo. which is bordered by coco- palms and banana plants. But for these trees and a few others, the native plant life here would be scarce. For this reason it is hard to believe that half an hour ' s ride takes you into the jungle. The jungle is simply aquiver with life. Queen nests are in the trees and large ant-hills are on the ground. Flocks of screeching parrots fly around, and brightly- colored birds dart about. Farther back one finds monkeys. From our house, which is on the edge of the lake, we watch the graceful sailboats and business-like oil tankers glide past. At the margin of the lake and under the palm trees we see native women wash their clothes. From da ATi till dark over- laden donkeys trot by. and. sitting astride them in the middle of the load, is usually a man or boy. Sometimes fat Indian women in flovi-ing gowns of bright calicos and with painted faces trot past on them. At night we watch the boats illuminated by the brilliant flash lightning, known as the ISIaracaibo Lights. Often we have interesting visitors. Iquana and huge bright green lizards come into the yard. Both look like miniature replicas of pre-historic monsters. Amiong our other guests are enormous red and green grass-hoppers, which, when flying, look like small airplanes, flocks of doves, and other feathered busy-bodies, who come, perhaps, just to show oft ' their gorgeous plum.age. There are many mud, thatch-roofed houses in Maracaibo. which are painted dif- ferent colors — pink. blue, and orange predominating. The better homes have tile roofs and are named, as numbers are not in use. The name of our house is Santa Cecelia. and a short distance up the road is one named ■ California.