Palo Alto High School - Madrono Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

Page 27 text:

A DAY IN PANJASANG GORGE After spending the night at the quaint Nipa Hotel in Panjasang in the Philippines, we starred lor a trip up Panjasang Gorge. At the bank of the river we were met by the banqueros and their bancas we had engaged for the trip. Each banca, a kind of canoe, was paddled by two banqueros. As we ascended the river it became narrower, and gradually became a gorge with many rapids hurrying on their way to the mouth of the river. Ihe water was not very deep, so occasionally, when we came to the gushing rapids, we would get out and stand on the big rocks while the banqueros got our and carried or hauled the bancas into calmer waters. The sides of this tropical canyon were almost perpendicular and were densely overgrown with tropical growth. I he monkeys in the trees scolded at us as we passed, as if they thought we had no right to invade the territory that belonged to them. At times we caught glimpses of the long-tailed dwellers of these cliffs. Sometimes when there was an especially inviting rock lying in the sun, we could see an Iguana, one of those monstrous lizards, sunning himself there. All was lonely and quiet in this tropical gorge except for the chattering monkeys, an occasional song from the vanqueros, the running water, or the humming of a distant waterfall. In due time we arrived at a waterfall which the banqueros said marked the end of the trail. After watching the surging water at the foot of the falls for a while we decided to return home. The return did not take nearly so much time as the ascent, for we shot down the rapids. It was great sport. The banqueros handled their boats with remarkable skill, guiding them in and out among the boulders with ease. A great rock would loom up m midstream, and just as we were bolding our breaths in expectation of crashing into it, the boat would swerve in its course, and dash past it only to point toward another one. There was always the danger of being upset, though little danger of drowning. Each received his share of the spray. But what did that matter? Had we not seen one of the most beautiful places of Nature? Surely we were satisfied. —Mary Cox ’25 £. JKT HOW IT BEGAN My heart got caught in Bobby’s hair, (Oh, Bob’s a wily fairy,) She’d spread it out twas hardly fair— To trap a chap unwary. “Oh! Give me back my heart,” I cried, “Ev’n though you lose your tresses!” “Oh, that’s all right!” young Boh replied, “My hair an awful mess is!” We hied us to a barber chair, Where heart and hair were parted, And thus was bobbed fair Bobby’s hair, And so the fashion started. Jack Franklin '22. [25]

Page 26 text:

been unconscious for seventy-eight hours after the battle, and all that remained of the unfortunate man I went to rescue was a blood spattered stateroom and the tattered shreds of clothing. From a seaman on duty, I learned that just as we were passing the exact line of the equator, a huge black figure had jumped overboard. He had called for the ship to stop and the boats were lowered, but no remains of anything mortal could he found, so the ship went on its course again. Mr. Waldrua had left no clue of his horrible disappearance behind, so as I tell my experiences I feel that they will be rejected as false, as 1 have no substantial proof. Even the passengers of the ship lost their respect for me and even went so far as to say I had probably murdered the man and then threw him overboard. —Gustav Offekman ’23. jur THE CHRISTMAS MYSTERY It just makes me sick to hear people say that they don’t believe in Santa Claus. Of course they believe in him. I hey must. They have been brought up on that belief and they could not change it if they would; they only say that Santa Claus doesn't exist because they are afraid that other people (who feel just the same) will laugh at them. I don’t see anything to laugh at. Once 1 thought I had found mv mother playing Santa Claus and it made me feel unhappy for a week. I happened to see the grocery bill and it had an item for a special kind of fruit that we had at Christmas. But of course that was only because Santa was out of it or because there had been a blighting frost at the North Bole. Still I never look at the bills just after Christmas, and I suppose there are others who wish they could say the same. One time 1 actually saw Santa Claus. At any rate I thought I saw a red heel vanish through one door just as 1 opened the other. At one time I suspected my father of lighting the candles hut he was just as anxious to catch him as 1 was. In fact he always found him first and called me in to show me that he had been there. I don’t think that Christmas would be any fun at all without Santa Claus, and if other people don’t believe in him they ought to keep still about it and not always he taking the joy out of life. Anyway if they don’t believe in him they ought to, because there is something wrong with any one who can’t believe that the person who gives him presents really exists. Why, half the time the man who says that there is no Santa Claus is wearing a Christmas necktie! —Dennistoun Wood 23. AT TO THE SKY Oh pure and spotless, spanning, summer sky, How can I dare to look you in the eye. You are in Nature broadest, deep and free, Yet all of you and more was made for me. While I, my virtues are but slight and few, A speck unseen, compared with all of you; Not broad with depth, or even half so free, Could it have been, perhaps, that I’m for thee? Paul Carey, ’22. [241

Page 28 text:

THE EDITOR S CORNER SCHOLARSHIP A scholar to the average individual is one who devotes all of his time and energy to study, and lets all other things sink into oblivion. Hut the scholar of today must content himself not with a mere browsing over books, lie must be alive, alert, applying the principles, the ideas, and ambitions that make for a broader scholarship and a broader citizenship. Scholarship is an ideal towards which all of us should be striving. Any person, no matter how small his achievements, who attempts to improve himself and those about him is traveling the path of the scholar. 11 is knowledge is of no avail, however, unless he utilizes it and imparts it to his fellowmen. If a person’s education, like a miser’s gold, is hoarded and not made to do its part in the world’s work, it were better he were not educated at all. As Bishop Hall says, “ I lie grace of this rich jewel is too often lost in concealment.” We too often notice that the “book worm forgets his responsibility of citizenship, and fails to do his share in school activities. On the other hand we sometimes find those of us who are bearing the burden of school activities forget the scholar’s responsi- bility. Our leaders of the future will be those who realize their responsibility of citizenship through the fulfillment of their responsibility in maintaining a high standard of scholarship. Let us not then be content with an education of mere facts and information, but let us learn to labor and think independently. This seems to be the tendency toward which modern education is striving. When one has learned to think for himself he has attained much toward the ideal for which he should be striving, namely an ideal of democracy—high citizenship as a result of high scholarship. SHELTER Society is now face to face with the enormous and perplexing problem of how to house itself within its means. Why are rents so high? Because building is so expen- sive. And why is building so expensive? Because the laborer wants to do the least work for the most pay and is in turn forced to buy the high cost of shelter. Every- one is trying to out do the other fellow and thus it seems an endless circle. The great difficulty is the gross ignorance of facts by the public. This problem is of vital importance because shelter bulks so large in human affairs. We must have homes in which to live, offices for business, churches for worship, school for education, theaters for amusement and hospitals for the sick. Even trains and ships are traveling shelter. Factories, stores, stations, docks, barns, jails, and asylums all are shelter of one kind or another. Half of human existence is concerned with obtaining the necessary shelter. Society would cease to exist without it. Today there is an imperative need that the increasing demands of shelter he met intelligently and economically. There is the continual cry against the high cost and poor quality of shelter; and this cry must be answered. Conditions must be brought about so that a reasonable means of shelter will be in reach of all. What does this mean to high school students? It means that with our educational advantages we must take responsibility and leadership in overcoming this evil. We must get at the fundamental facts which are so little understood. We must learn to- apply them to the practical and vital question, and must help to bring about intelligent public opinion. We from Paly Hi ought to have a part in this movement. At least let us think about it and some day—perhaps—who knows. 126]