Humboldt High School - Life Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 9 text:

HUMBOLDT LIFE Adventure Seeking BY ARNOLD KOUTZ WO children crept cautiously up a flight of badly creaking stairs. From the kitchen below, the song of their mother floated softly up to them. Above loomed the attic door, the way to great deeds and remarkable ad- ventures. Sh, cautioned Bobby Redwyn aged seven, to Louise, his younger sister. Don't make any noise. Mama might hear us. The door opened slowly on hinges which protested rustily by loud creaks and squeaks. A musty odor rushed out to meet the childrens as they stood in the doorway staring fearfully into the gloomy shadows. Aw, shucks, said Bobby in a trem- ulous voice, who's fraid? I ain't, declared Louise: however, she did not relinquish her grip on Bob- by's arm. Ten minutes later, their fears for- gotten, the children were struggling with the lid of an old trunk. It opened slow- ly as if it were reluctant to reveal its treasures. The children's eyes sparkled. Oh, lookit the letters! exclaimed Bobby. i'Lots of 'em, chimed in Louise, as she brushed her unruly, curly hair from her face with a brown, chubby hand. Let's play mail man, suggested Bobby. He gathered up several of the sweet scented packets and untied the colored ribbons. Then with Louise be- hind him, he slipped quietly down stairs with a large armful of the letters and went out. A half hour elapsed before they re- turned to the attic empty handed, Evi- dently their roles as mail men had been successful. What's dis? asked Louise, as she squinted into the barrel of a dangerous looking Colt's 4 calibre pistol. Bobby took the weapon from her and looked it over carefully. l'lVlus' be a mouse trap, he decided gravely. See, the mouse sticks his head in here -he indicated the trigger guard- and this thing catches himg he tapped the trigger with a show of extreme intelligence. Oh, said Louise understandingly, as she probed deeper into the trunk. A moment later Bobby straightened up bewilderedly. Whose hair is this? he asked as he held up a bushy wig, relic of some for- gotten play in which their father had taken part. I bet it's daddy's, said Louise, with the picture of her father's bald head in her mind. Yeh, p'raps it is, assented Bobby, as he placed the wig on the floor beside the trunk and treasures. Lookit the later to Louise pair of child's bedroom slippers. He put one on over a bare foot. 'fLook, Louise, it fits! he exclaimed. He drew the other slipper on-then stood up and viewed them as he wig- gled his toes to see what motions he could discern on the softly slippered feet. Suddenly he made a resolution to himself. He took some old clothes from a nail. 'Tm gonna put these on an' play I'm Robumsing Crusof' Aw right, agreed Louise, put 'em on. In a few moments Bobby stood be- fore Louise in a ragged pair of old trousers, the legs of which hung a little below his knees in tattered disorder, and in an old shirt. Now I'm Robum-sing Cruso. You can be my dog. dived deeper into the shoes, he said a bit as he held up an old Page Five

Page 8 text:

K i W5 W -'i' 5 W X jg-,,, .-r.-- ':' l I4 ' , fvd - Q ' :-V V Wu -Z1 j W 'L ' -V f x xx -fi 5 . -I'- ' 3 6 1 1 l x X 1 T X - 5. L ' 1 gl fi! 5 LIUVIBOLDT SCHCDL Some 5 if Yi ' 'W' ' ' ' ' X gif? X L T1iwE3l?'A1 fL1UfJ'fi, 11 F 7 2 :i Q!W 'V f':PPNl 'f ? ?l QE if,m,JQli-J-PM-312 E 1 Q ,rqnhso VW' -I 0'-'ll o p- I x if F nl T ., E K 51512.11-J N1-Jll.J'f11 -J-K E Oh-PAWS N532 we mrs Jaxhiwq i,21ol,I,,,, w ir 3' ,V ' 'Q N k5.u.1J 1J .lm-+1J J 1 ' A Y X ohcuvi - fx- :zgbl lov, qvfiggm X 2 ' 1152 m Ml-'-J-IJ'-'f E in pf f U' I 2 I ,,,,,,,,,, 1,.C,2E1'I Mun-Q v.,-fY asm.. .... I E L X ' E X I : X , 5 f N I . x : ' 5 ' Q ?f4 E S m , 5. 3 n wir I Z S 4, Y Mngiqi ii E , 'nh ' X l XWQN , Q E E Il ,SSX ... , Aw Sv n ' 'X f 4 wxlsx . 1 Sv-NS 4 ,lg X Q Ss N Q ! f NX ,Q , X . QA k , ,XX A . X K . .N g Qqrax X xx 5 X , 5 f X 2' , 21 f xv 1 !,pa1r'k, y5L.lii:l'w lv tn- f. F is ,vnqrF F nl X 'WWE L X X . . Hn ,Wffi:,s,ii1mNWiWMB 'LV M I W N WN 1 M ,. w U M ,V am .M OUR COLORS IN TRIUMPH FLASHING

Page 10 text:

HUMBOLDT LIFE Bow wow! barked Louise. Bobby strutted to and fro like a miniature pirate. As he strutted, he suddenly saw the wig. Quickly he put it on. A bushy beard and moustache unfolded and slipped into place,.giving Bobby a little sur- prise and Louise a genuine shock. 'lOh, Bobby, she exclaimed, you look like a li'l ole man! Bobby lingered the beard thought- fully. l'How did this get here? he asked. Daddy ain't lost his whiskers. He strutted up and down and all but stumbled over the pistol. Let's set the trap an' catch a mouse, he suggested as he picked it up. I'll be Robum-sing Cruso catching a bear. Again he examined the pistol. 'Guess you gotta pull that thing back so it'll catch the mouse-I mean bear, he re- marked, referring to the trigger. Louise forgot to be a dog as she watched Bobby's futile attempts to pull the trigger. He held it between his feet and strug- gled with it. He rolled on the floor as he tried. It won't come, but I'll get it yet, he muttered to Louise, who sat by the trunk watching him. He walked all around the attic search- ing for something to pull the trigger with. At last he opened the door. There on the door about four feet from the floor protruded the head of a ten penny nail. Holding the pistol out before him, Bobby placed the trigger guard over the nail. Grasping the handle of the pistol in both hands, he pushed forward with all the strength of his puny body. When Frank Redwyn reached home, his face was so crimson that his wife was alarmed. Why, Frank, she asked, what is the matter? Nothing, but these, he said. He Page Six placed a large handful of letters on the kitchen table. Why, what are they? asked his wife. Mr. Redwyn stared at her a moment in silence: then licking his lips he asked huskily, Don't you recognize them? It was Mrs. Redwyn's turn to blush, I think I do, she said, Hour-our letters. Prank nodded. He looked his wife squarely in the eye, then blushing a deeper red he looked away. The kids passed out a whole parcel of them, he said, passed 'em out to the neighbors. Mrs. Redwyn wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. She merely sat and looked out of the window. 'AWhere are the kids, now? asked Frank. They've been up in the attic all afternoon, replied Mrs. Redwyn. Frank jumped to his feet. That ex- plains it, he cried: they've opened up that old trunk up there and-- Boom! The roar of a pistol reverberated through the whole house. From somewhere above them came the screams of two children. Frank dashed up the steps four at a time. There, before the attic's open door, hanging on a nail, was his old pistol, smoke still curling from the barrel. Somewhere in the attic the two chil- dren were still screaming. But when Louise, frightened but unharmed, was led forward by a queer little old man who was Bobby, Mr. Redwyn's relief was so great that he sat down on a pile of magazines and laughed. Mrs. Redwyn coming up a second later laughed with him. The children quite brave, now that their parents were with them, found themselves laughing, too. Aside from the fright of the children and some damage from the bullet which