Liberty High School - Lion Yearbook (Brentwood, CA)

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4 'l'HlC HIGH SVIIOUI. ANNUAL in front of her was a heap of HCWS- papers and periodicals. with a sofa cushion on top, on the other side of the room. were scattered some old letters that had apparently been orig- inally intended for the open Iireplace, and had somehow missed their des- tination. 'llwo ovcrcoats and a pack- age of dried fruit samples were on one chair. jacks banjo and a broken hoe handle on another. the shelves around the room were lilled with a miscellaneous collection of china. books, pictures and groceries. Sylvia opened the 'door to the right and shut it again with a bang: she only saw that the bed had not been made up. and you could write your name in dust on the bureau. lXlother! Do for pity sake come here and look! Did you vz'cr.' And jack wouldn't so much as have his window shade run up crooked at home. :Xt the sound of her voice Mrs. Hal- lan appeared in one door. and Jim Kee in the other. Sylvia knew of course that Chinese servants were common in California, she -knew that jack had one, but when lirst she saw him-well, she picked up her skirt with both hands, stepped gingerly across the lloor and addressed Jim loudly and distinctly: VVhere is your master? jim looked puzzledg when Sylvia knew a little better vvbo man- aged that household she did not won- Her. XVhere is Mr. Hallan, or Mr. Vin- cent? even more imperiously. Me no savceg not come home till late. lJon't you know what they are doing? iligatcef' and No savee: maybe ,Inu turned away as it' unwilling to waste more time in such frivolous converse. , . . Sylvia gave lnm one indignant glance and dashed through the kitchen to the back door. Even in her hurried passage. however, she could not help seeing in what excellent or- der the room was. She tlew through the door and along the path to the barn. How could her brother. jack, intellectual, gentlemanly, well-bred, as he had always been. be living here? She had almost reached the barn when she saw a ligure coming toward the house from the opposite direc- tion. He had on an old and dingy llannel shirt, and a pair of high rubber boots. The boots' were covered with soft, sticky mud, so was a large shovel he was carrying, and there was a goodly quantity of the same mixture on his face and hands. For a moment Sylvia hesitated, wondering what new dragon she was to meet. Then a look of utter amaze- ment eame into her face. 'Qlackl Good gracious, !uck. ' Jack raised his eyes and looked al- most as surprised as she did. Sylvial Hfhy, little sister, how did you get here today? There, don't touch me. I've been out in the irri- grating ditchesg I'm all over mud!

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THIC HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 55 SYLVIA COMES TO THE RANCH. They'lI not be expecting us till tomorrow, Sylvia. No, mother, I know it. but that will make it so much more fun. There I11lISt he some way of getting out to their place. A few minutes Iater mother and daughter were standing on the plat- form of the Santa Inez station, look- ing about for some means of getting away from it. Sylvia Hallan's older brother. Jack, had been in California for two years. on a ranch with his cousin, Harry Vincent. His mother and sister had come for the lirst time in these two years. and also to see California. After some ditiiculty Sylvia suc- ceeded in discovering a man who was goin' out that way, and who con- sented to leave them at Tulaeita Rauch. Sylvia in'her pretty tailor- made suit, looked strangely out of place in the rickety farm-wagon, but she and her mother soon settled them- selves as comfortably as possible and they started out on the long winding road. The ride was all a voyage of discovery to Sylvia and she found everything delightful. lt was the early springtime: the poppies were blooming along the roadside. the rows of orchard trees looked like succes- sions of snowdrifts, the scent of the blossoms filled the air. Away to the westward rose the mountain wall, the southern slopes of the ridges gl-ori- tied by the afternoon sun. Sylvia was enraptured. She wanted to know the name of every flower and tree they passed and plied the driver with questions till she was sure she knew all about ranching before the journey was half done. Theres the gate. he said at last, ou the right hand side there with the letter-box just beside. XVhere? Oh, yes. I see. Now don't drive ing just let us out at the gate, we want to surprise them. The driver smiled and did as requested, Sylvia ran lightly up the short road, with the orchard on the other. and nearly fell over the house before she saw it. Then began her disappointment. Jack and Harry live in that packing- house? Impossible! Jack had lived in a brownstone house at home, and this-why there wasn't even any grass around the front door, just plowed ground and one clump of violets. This house was such an insignificant. desolate looking, little affair, and she had imagined a rambling adobe ha- cienda. with a great broad veranda. There was only a tiny porch that you could cross in two steps. Sylvia crossed it in one as she made a dive for the front door. after her lirst dis- mayed pause. ' She tumbled into the room and then stopped short. Jim Kee. the general faetotum, had soon learned that young employers did not approve of too much house-cleaning and was quite willing to Hlet things be. And they were,-mostly on the Hoori Straight

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THE HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL .3 l'm not going to--oh, yes, l am too, l don't care-Jack, dear, how do you exist? ll'hen the whole family had been engaged for some time in Utidying up and tixing things. and supper was over. ,lack took Sylvia out on the porch to see the last of the sunset over our mountains, as he Called them. She looked long and silently, then glanced around at the little house and said softly, And do you J't'1lHht' like it here? Yes, very much. But jack. how can you? jack smiled quietly and saidi I can't tell you, but if you stay awhile. by and hy you'll know for yourself. And by and by Sylvia did know, HOv+-? Says Russell to the shorthand class Now we will see if you are fast. A letter to his wife he wrote And then he gave a business note. Now let me see your notes, says he. .And looked around quite knowingly, 'Compared the notes, then gave them back' -And wisely looked around: But never knew that all the time ffle held them upside down, Sing a song of sixpence, Pockets full of rye, Four and ten Sophomores Playing on the sly. VVhen the Professor left the room They all began to fool. l'Vasn't that enough to spoil The line tone of our school? A MODERN CRUSADE. The Crusades, which were so coni- tuon during the Middle .-Xles. have been revived at L. U. ll. S. This Klodern Crusade is carried on by the Faculty for the purpose of rescu- ing the nbarlwarons language from some of the Sophomores and for the cstahlishing' of the civilized and more cnltured .-Xnglo-Saxon. lt is waged primarily against the man he. done, seen and got. The flames uf the teachers' anger has been kin- dled heeause no heed is taken when corrections are made. There is an interesting tradition in connection with this First Crusade. lt seems that once upon a time in a large room on a certain day Prof. Russell was observed in earnest con- versation with a small boy. The boy looked small and the Professor looked tall. When he asl-ed the boy if he had ever learned the correct use of done and did, the lad fearlessly re- plied. Yes, sir. I dfun' that in the Grammar School. tlt is evident that he did.l This incident again stirred the liaculty to a more heated contest. Hy a recent edict of the Faculty. remission from scoldings, after hour lectures. and other suitable rewards are to be granted to all who faith- fully comply with the Terms of Peace. One by one the pupils are enlisting and we hope that before this quarter ends we shall have a standard established and maintained in our school that shall be worth striving for, E. U. H., ,UU