Pershing Middle School - Reflections Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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But Wilma did not go just then. She stooped and picked up her pet and said, Can I take this. Do they allow Duckds in Cities ? The man smiled at her great affection and said, Of course you can take your duck. Iim sure he will enjoy the city life? With this Wilma sped up the stairs and soon returned in her best dress, which was nothing to boast of, but an old lawn dress of Mrs. Smitters made into a mother hubbard. She had her clothes tied in a neat little bundle and a shoe box for Ducko, Whom she soon had safely in his prison. They hurried out to the car which stood in front of the house. Wilma put her baggage in, crawled in after it, and they started off. She glanced down the road and saw Mrs. Smitters coming as fast as she could, waving her bag and shouting: Wilma Brackney! You brat! Where are you going? Stop! Stop! This minute W Wilma leaned back and smiled. For the first time since she could remem- ber she felt the thrill of being scolded and not feeling the sting of a slap. -Elsie I. Stricklin, I21. A Student Abroad OVith apologies to Mandevillei HIS CONFESSION, given to me at noon by one of our modest students, is remarkable only for the fact that he is novwfighting languages instead of savages and hunting trouble with the Profs. instead of giants. The adventures as related to me are too numerous to repeat, so I shall tell only those best fitted for the tranquil ear. The speaker was a handsome, well-built, manly youth of about seventeen years. He seated himself as comfortably as possible on one of the seats in the study hall and began to tell his story: While traveling through Africa with my uncle, who is a scientist in search of the rattleless rattlesnake, we had the misfortune to run across a crowd of natives who, With the ordinary pomp and ceremony, beheaded our escorts, and walking on either side of us, convoyed us into town. There the old chief said, Keep young one, hang the old one in tree. Upon hearing this I threw myself on my knees and cried for mercy on my poor uncle, but in vain. I had to watch the barbarians tie him to a tree-top and let him dangle over the lake. As I was struggling to burst my bonds, a bird of tremendous size came and took my uncle in its cruel talons and flew. away. At this my wrath knew no limit, and quickly binding the savages I suspended them by the feet from the branches of nearby trees. Then stepping over to where the Chieftain was I forced him to tell me where this bird had taken wing. He tremblingly told me it had flown to a mountain two hundred miles distant. As there was no time to waste I set out at once and covered the first hundred miles in a few hours. Then hearing a sob in a nearby thicket I went to investigate. I found a beautiful maiden, who told me she was being pursued by a wicked uncle. My heart was touched so I picked her up and resumed my journey. We had not gone far when we found ourselves surrounded by colossal men. As the foremost approached, I tackled him, and swinging him around my head by one foot to clear a path, quickly put the remainder to flight. As I picked up my beautiful blonde I noticed her exquisitely shaped mouth, but as I was in a hurry I rushed onward for I could not linger longer. mum

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with him concealed under her arm. At the door she met a young man who smiled and said, liIs the lady of the house in ?,l lINof, answered the little girl, tlShels gone to town and won,t be back for most an hour I lspect? The stranger said, iiThen please may I come in and wait for her ? Wilma exclaimed, II iScuse me Mr.,rbuteIeI canit let you come in. I donlt dare? and her eyes widened with horror of the consequences if she should not be able to keep him out. llPray tell me why ? asked the amused young man. VVonlt your mother accept strangers into her household ?Il Wilma giggled; it sounded so funny for liSmitterjl to be called liher motherlii Then she exclaimed, IO, Sir, Mrs. Smitters, is not my mother. I qust stay here and work for her. She ainit got any kids 'so she kept me to run or herfl Have you ever gone to school? asked the young man, noticing her bad grammar, Nenot much, answered Wilma. liI ainlt got no decent clothes and Smit eel mean Mrs. Smitters is glad, cause then I donit kick about stayinl home. Iid rather stay home than to go lcause the kids tease me awful about my rags? The strangers lip tightened and in a business like way he asked, llNow, what did you say this ladyis name was P Mrs. A. G. Smitters, answered the girl promptly. The man fumbled in his inner coat pocket for a moment, then drew out a small note book and began to write in it. llMy, ainlt he purtyfl thought Wilma, who had seen few people in her short life. lII wish he was my father; Iid love him as much as I do Ducko, I bilieve. I know Iid not mind to run for him. Iill bet helud be good to me and notdisipear like mamma said papa dide llPardon sister, but how did you say your guardianls name was spelled ? Wilma gave a Violent start at this interruption of her dream and came to earth as he said the last words. Wilma Clarissa Brackney, was the prompt reply. uWilma Clarissa Brackney? said the man pensively. ilWhy, I thought you said that it was something like Snivers P 0? cut in Wilma, ilI thought you was talking about me. Her name is Smitters, S-m-i-t-t-e-r-s, said the girl slowly. As she spelled it a curious smile crossed his face. So your name is Brack- ney, is it ? Yep, retorted the child, lithatls what it is. iiNow listen here youngster, you are just the little girl Ilm after. You .are going to the city with me. Your father left you some money; hes just died. He wandered away from his home seven years ago with temporary insanlty and could never locate his family after he recovered. He left a will giving everything to you. Now hurry up and get your things packed so that we can get away as quickly as possible? iiSqua-awk ! came from under Wilma,s arm. The man started, drew back, and looked at Wilma in horror but changed his expression when a very rumpled duck dropped from under her arm to the floor. He threw back his head and laughed. Wilma was half laughing, half crying in her excitement. She did not know what to- say or do. She stammered il-Thethis is my Duckofl pomtlng to the duck. ll I forgot I had him and Squeezed him when you told me all that news. I can,t believe it! What will Mrs. Smitters say? I know she wonit let me go. Now don,t get excitedf said the man softly, 1,11 attend to Mrs. Smitters and she wonlt bother you any more. Now run up and get your thmgs. magma

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When I had gone about twenty miles the girl wildly gesticulated, draw- ing my attention to a group of about sixty savages clustered about a gigantic young man who stood ten feet tall, but the savages had been too much for him and he was bound to a tree. The girl whispered, IISave him V I instantly whipped off my coat and for me it was an easy matter to scatter them around like leaves. As the last one offered more resistance than the others I had to throw him into the top of a high tree where he lodged in an eagles nest. I then noticed that the girl had released her lover from his bonds and was crying, My brother, my brother? and was pointing to a basket floating toward a cataract. Around it were the sinister heads of crocodiles. Clothed as I was, I jumped into the river and swam toward the basket. Brushing the crocodiles aside I seized the basket just as it hovered on the brink of the fall. Returning against the raging river was fatiguing work, but by taking long strokes I made the shore in spite of further opposition from the croco- diles and restored the child to its weeping sister. I glanced at my watch and saw that I had lost an hour since I met the girl. I was able to see the gigantic mountain towering in the distance, and taking long strides I rushed forward. I had covered half the remaining distance when I was confronted by a seemingly impossible barrier, a cliff with no foothold by which to climb. Luckily, however, there was a gigantic giraffe feeding on some berries that were growing at the top of the Cliff. I held out some salt on the palm of my hand and after it had bent its neck sufficiently to get its head near me I gave it the salt, and hanging on I let it lift me to the top of the cliff. There a gorrilla leaped at me from a tree but I stepped to one side and j'iu-jitsuing its arm I threw it over the cliff. I arrived at the mountain after several more adventures of a similar kind. Once I fought a bloody battle with a snake three feet in diameter, which I carried with me for a specimen. As I approached the mountain I started to go up a tree for a lookout when a panther sprang out at me. I grasped it by the tail by a quick move- ment, swung it around my head four or five times to jazz it up and then set the ferocious beast against the trunk of a tree and let it in its terrified scramble hoist me to the top. A few miles away I saw my uncle tied to a tree and grouped about him were a few savages examining the bird that abducted him. I jumped down from the tree and in a few leaps was among them. Bang! Bang! Bang! I caught the bullets in my bare hands and quickly hollowing one out I inserted some dynamite, fashioning a hand grenade, with which I destroyed the entire group. I liberated my uncle and displayed before his astonished Vision the snake, which he pronounced to be a perfect specimen of the rattleless rattlesnake. The object of our search thus being accomplished, we returned to our home. -Tom Meagher, I22. Carl,s Dream ARL WAS at home the hrst week after school was out. On a certain warm June afternoon of this Erst week Carl was sitting on the grass leaning against the apple tree, which was beautiful with blossoms. He was reading a book but soon became drowsy, and for several minutes had held the book closed With his hnger in the place where he had been reading. Suddenly he saw in the distance numerous small brown objects. As they drew nearer Carl could see that they looked like little men. m43m