North Central High School - Tamarack Yearbook (Spokane, WA)

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T h Tamarack January, 1933 Big Bill ' s Santa Claus Joke Stx ' oNu 1 ' kizi; SniHV liy LiicUe Adnms It w.is Christinas Kvc. Soft ft-athery flakes i)f snow were twirlinfr past tlie (jriniy win- dows of tht l)ack room of Tlu mi)soirs Hotel. Inside, the tiny room was filled with stale eiftarette smoke. A smoky oil lam) burned fit- fully from a shelf, eastinft weird shadows that wavered to and fro as they made their way across the floor and UJ) the walls toward the eeilint;. Around ;i battered table in the eenter fo the r(M m sat three rough looking young men, playing eards. Dis sittin around ' s gettin on my nerves. said Shorty, grinding a eigarette stub into the floor. Well, we ' ve done everything but kill .some- one, and the cops won ' t .stand for that. e. - elaimed Freckles with a laugh. Hig I$ill had been silent for some time, and now he sjioke. Say, he muttered, Isn ' t there a Santa Claus act to be i)ulled off at dat church up on th ' next corner? Sure! exclaimed Freckles gleefully, lA ' t ' s go up an ' put it on de blink. Naw. declared Big Bill. Ix-t em have de show. I ' ll tell you what, I ' ll play Sandy Claus here in de alley. I beared dem Kelly kids a talkin ' to their ma alxmt dis bein de night Sandy was due. Huh! Now what ' s de m.itter WMt ' me bein ' Sandy, an ' breakin ' in dere an ' loading ' em up wit ' presents? What would you Io for presents? asked Shorty disgustedly. Oh, gadder up bottles an ' cans, and jiMik. Bill said. Well it ' s Iwtter ' n sittin here, Freckles put in, but where you goin ' to get the Sandy Claus outfit? If you go walkin ' in there with out one, you ' re liable to get jilugged. Don ' t ya remember la.st ye.ir when ,Ierry McCarty i)layed Sandy at the fireman ' s ball? He just lives around de corner. You fellas wait here for me. I ' ll see if I can borry the suit. Big Bill wa.s back in a few moments with a wrinkled, but unmistakeable red and white Santa Claus suit over his arm. Help me into this rig, you fellows. ex- claimed Bill. With the help of the two. Bill was into the suit in a little while. Now you guys come wit me. We ' ll raid dat ash can down de alley. said Bill as he opened the hack door, and stepped out (mto the .soft white carpet of snow which covered everything. The three made their way down the dark alley-way to .i large battered oil barrel filled with cans, a.shes, bottles and other repulsive articles. Lifting the lid from the container, the three Ix-gan diligently U, fill the Santa Claui i)ack. When not another can could be placed in the bag. Bill with the hel)) of the two placed it m his back, and all started in the direction of the Kelly hou.se. Now you guys keep still. said Bill, as the three came to a halt at the foot of a dilai)ida- ted stairway. The two men stomi .still, silently watching their companion slowly ascend the creaking stairway. Bill reached the porch and stopi e l, listening for a sound to tell him that the oc- cuiiants of the house had heard him. As no noise came from within. Bill reache l for the knob and began to slowly open the door. He quickly stepped inside and closed it noiselessly behind him. He stoml by the door a m »ment until his eyes became accustomed to the dark- ness. Don ' t want to go knocking anything over. he growled to himself as he stejiped carefully across the kitchen fl(M)r. He reached the door to the front room and slowly pulled it open. A street lamp threw a soft mellow glow over the room, as it sh me through the frost encrus- ted windows. The bare nxrni was without a car- pet. Three small children were huddled in a bed in a far corner. Over the back of a chair in the middle of the room, hung three little stock- ings. Pinned to me of them was a larg«- no;e with the words, To Santa Claus scrawled across the top. Bill was about to stuff the st K-king; but when he read the note, he turned. Tip- toeing over to the bed, he looked down at the three faces. The two little boys were sleep- ing i)eacefully, but (Ui Uosalie ' s jiale cheeks were streaks that told of tears. In her little fist she clutched the stub of a jwncil with which she had scrawled the note which Big Bill had reail. .Muttering something under his breath. Bill |)icke l up his sack, crossed the room and went out into the night. When he reached the alley. Page twcnty-iiinc

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The Tamarack J a n u a r y , 19 3 3 My Visit to Ancient Greece I ' lKsi ' I ' rizk Story liji lli llii Hi ' is-icinijir Tlic other diiy I was lonely and time liunp heavily iii)on niy hands; so I looked around for a friendly hook; hut dear me, the only tiling at hand was A History of Ancient Greece. A mystery story would be so good just now, I thou);ht, for it was hepnnin to i)e ilusk; and a hrisk wind had suildenly come u]). The shutters were creaking, and the eaves of our old hou e were (rivinjj out the most eerie moans. ' •Oh well, I said aloud, At any rate I can improve my mind, and Mother never lets nie forget that a good hook now and then, (lo say the least, as she says), won ' t do me any harm. I settled myself comfortably, in our easiest chair, in fnmt of the fire-place and bravely set out upon a trip to ancient Greece. My book took me first to :i Spartan home where I saw tlie ladies of the household prei)aring the mid- day meal. I had plenty of leisure to mlniire tin- simiile hut graceful furnishings. I l(M ked into a cui hoard anil found the loveliest va.ses and dishes. Tlie.se people live in beauty ! I ex- claimed as 1 examined the carved figures on the elegant pottery. And what color! Kvcn the stools and benches are stained jiurple and dark red. Then I turned niy attention lo the ladies. I was really envious at first to .see their lovely dres.ses, pure white with graceful folds. They wore red and yelUnv sandals. Fortunately, ugly high heels hadn ' t been invented, so these ladies moved with natural quiet grace. -Vs I said, I was aclu.dly envious, hut then I thought of our own modern cities. No indeed, such white long gowns wouldn ' t do at all in the hustle and pace of our smoky cities. I wanted so much to stay at this home Cor dinner; but I couldn ' t spare the time, — I had so much yet to see and so little time. As 1 was leaving, I met the men coming home from the fields; and they kindly showed me the way to the Spartan schools. I .soon found that the Si)art.in boys siient their school-days (Uitdoors, and I couldn ' t hel]! comparing unfavorably our m Klern education with theirs. We sit for hours in stuffy da.ssrooms, I sighed, cntwding inlo tired heads a thinisand u.seless tilings, and these ])eoi le know how to hec mie strong and enjoy life. I sat down and watched the boys play a lively game. I s.iw them leap and run; they were laughing all the while, — Iheir white teeth gleaming and their eyes flashing. Suddenly one of the older hoys U ft the grouji and came over toward me. I could see his astonishment as he regarded my apparel. I must confess I was embaras.sed. I dug my high heels into the earth so at least he ccmldn ' t detect this atrocity. (ireetings, he exclaimeil, . ren ' t you a si ranger? es, 1 murmured, I am an .American. Because I realized he didn ' t compreheml, I added, I live across the ocean, two thousand years from now. Then he must have realized he lived in a hook, for he said, Of course, — Well, welcome. 1 was pleased .it this cli mce encounter, and I made up my mind to lraw him into comvit- sation. Won ' t you sit down? ' I asked, I soon must go l)a -k to my own einintry, and I would so iiuul ' . like to tell my friends that 1 have talked with a real Si)artan. Fair enough. he agreed, I have always wanted to find out what future peojile will, — I beg your jiardon -have done. But what shall we talk about? Oh football! Kveryone in America talks aliout football from grand))a down to the baby. In fact, we haven ' t talked about any- thing else for montlis. Do you play football here in Sparta? Yes, we play football. Oh. are you on the team? I cried. Why, of course. Everybody in Sjiarta is c.n one team or another. Isn ' t every American boy on a fiMitball team? No, I said with mi.sgivings, Oidy the big- gest, strongest boys are on the te.ims. Why, he exclaimed, are the biggest boys the only ones who need exercise? Well, you see it ' s this way, I began, Every school iiicks out the best players, and then they have a contest, and the t)est tram wins. Wins what? (( ' (iiitinucil on ii.-iKi ' 7:t) Piiiic Ivcnty riiihl

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The Tamarack January I9 3 3 Bill oi fnc l the sack, .s))illin); boltK-s, imi.-., Mnd debris in every direction. Well what ' s de big idea? asked Shorty, Didn ' t ya leave de stuff? I ' ve pot three bucks. How nnich have you fellows pot? asked Bill, disregarding Shorty ' s questions. I ' ve got two fifty, but what ' s de matter anyway? demanded Shorty. An ' you Freckles? sai l Bill. Well, I ' ve got about two dollars, but what ' re you goin ' to do? Start a bank? asked Freckles. Naw, Bill growled, Dose kids are layin ' dere believin ' dat de real Sandy is comin; an ' us fools tryin ' to jndl it fast one, its too much for me. Ya know oUI Kelly ' s been broke for months. Now wha ' da ya .say we all (xiol together and give dem kids a real Christmas! Sure. That ' s a swell idea. Freckles readily agreetl. Well. I ' ll be — said Shorty staring incredu- lously at Bill. ( mon, then, said Bill. ' I ' liere ' s a .store a cou]ile of blocks down this way where we can get some toys an ' stuff. An odd looking group consisting of a short young man, a taller one and a large fellow dressed in a wrinkled Santa ( ' la.us suit with a large cloth bag slung over his arm, entered a small toy shop. In a few minutes the three returned to the street. The tall man in the Santa Claus suit, put the cloth bag, which was now ' exceedingly lumpy, on his back, and all sta.rted for the alley. Wouldn ' t the rest of the gang have a laugh if they could .see us nov ? .said Frtx-kles with a sheepish grin. It wouldn ' t be a laugh they ' d have the wagon up here for us, put in Shorty. Now i)ii)e down, you fellas; here ' s de place. Wait here, .said Bill as he again ascended the creaking stairs and let himself into the Kelly house by the back door. Silently he crossed the kitchen and stepped into the bare little bedroom. He was about to fill the stockings, when he heard a faint noise behind him. Turning about ipiickly, Bill saw Hosalie sitting u|i in bed looking at him with large blue eyes filled with astonishment. Hello little girl, whis| ere i Bill through his artificial whiskers. Now keep quiet ' cause I ' m Santa, Clans an ' if you make any noise I ' ll fly de coo|). Itosalie solemnly shook her head in a promise not to make a sound. Bill began to till the stockings with toys from the cloth Santa Claus bag. Oh, Santa Claus! she whIspeTed hugging the doll which Bill had i)laced in her arms. Dat ' s aJI right, kid, Bill said slowly. You really came! Sure t ' ing! You ' re coming every Christmas? she said. If you ' ll be a good girl, yes. Bill tnrne l and started for the door, when a plaintive little voice called to him. Santa Claus, it said, I want to kiss you good bye. It was the first time such a thing had ever liaiipened to him. Bill reached the door and went out with a memory of two little arms that hugged him, and of a wee kiss that l ft a hot ] lace on his cheek. The three walked in silence to the corner, and paused beneath a street lamj). I .ok at di.s, said Bill as he ])assed a ])iece of j)aper to Freckles. Smoothing out the i)a] er, Freckles and Shorty read — Dear Santa Claus I have been a good girl all year, and I want you to come tcniigbt, but Benny and Freddie say you won ' t because Daddy has been out of work .so long. They say you won ' t be able to find us, but I know you will come. I want a dolly. Please bring Freddy and Benny some- thing too. Rosalie Kelly. Well, I guess Santa did find tho.se kids, said Shorty. Let ' s go back to Thompson ' s an ' finish that game. As Kosalie slipped into dreamland, with her beloved new doll beside her, the ' I ' hree Wise men. Shorty, Freckles and Bill, trudged down the street through the soft w ' hitc snow in the direction of Tbomjjson ' s Hotel. THE SKATKK Third Frikk Pokm },! June Armnlrontj Ijke a dart from a bow He is here — and gone. With him came F ' uluri ' and Faith, but now That is ))ast and done. The ice is cold and bleak and bare, . nd the stars have vanished. With sure, swift .steps he plays the game, . iid nothing keeps him from his aim. () would that I were such as he To enter life with ste]) .so sure! 0 that my days were wild and free . nd yet would keej) my goal secure! Page thirty