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

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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

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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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lW'hat does this mean? Who are these ?li he thought. ITve quit believ- ing in fairies ages ago. 'But his eyes had certainly not deceived him, for these tiny, weird men were fast approaching him, marching double quick, four abreast, with their leader walking along one side beating a drum and calling out, ltLeft, right, left, right, in a high-pitched voice. The little men were about two feet high, all dressed in brown, wearing high peaked caps. They had the most qualnt and wise expressions on their miniature faces. Soon the leader was almost near enough for Carl to touch him. Then he straightened up to his full height and said: ItMy boy, come, letls go to Mars. Carl opened his eyes wide. llWh-whafs that you say? he exclaimed, trying not to appear frightened or very astonished. ilVVould you take a trip to Mars with me ? the Brownie asked Carl. Who are you? How could we get there? the excited Carl demanded. lWVe are your Childhood friends, the Brownies, who took you too Visit Toyland in the Land of Nod so long ago, and now we have come to take you to Mars. You needn,t ask how we are to get there for PM attend to that. Carl had read a little astronomy and had become interested in the earth nearest neighbor, Mars. He wished to accompany the Brownies to Mars, but he could not believe in the supernatural so easily as he could when the Brownies took him to Toyland, so he asked, Have you invented a new kind of aeroplane to get there in ?ii llLand, no, the Brownie laughed at the idea. The Fairy Queen loaned us the very same magic boat in which we sailed to Toyland. We must be back by tomorrow. You had better hurry. We will have barely time to make the trip? The Brownie was fidgeting about nervously. llAll right, said Carl, putting his cap down, le ready? The Brownie called, ilObey the servant of the Fairy Queen, 0 worthy little boat. In an instant the little boat appeared before them. There was room enough in it for Carl and all the Brownies. The leader Brownie shouted, HAll aboard V They all climbed in. A number of the Brownies had oars. Carl was not allowed to take an oar, for what can a boy do with the magic oars used by the Brownies? Away the Brownies rowed the boat through the air. Carl enjoyed the smooth gliding. The air waves were not as boisterous as ocean waves. In what seemed to Carl a very short time the leader Brownie said, llWe are at Mars. Shall we go on shore ?i, . llSuref said Carl. He was curious to know what Mars looked like, but was a little timid about alighting on unknown shores, so he kept close to his friend, the Brownie, stepping carefully. It had been growing darker all the time. Now it was so dark that he could see nothing but a gray mist. Come on, said the Brownie, taking Carlls hand. After they had left the ship Carl felt that they were walking almost in space, only now and then feeling a solid bit of rock. They walked on for some time, but it was too dark to see anything. After a time he heard a noise like ten thousand dogs and coyotes howling all at once. They felt that objects were being thrown at them, landing near their feet, but never quite hitting them. ttHurryfi said the Brownie, lithey are throwing stones at us. They hastened to the magic little boat with its load of Brownies. They got in quickly, the Brownie took his oar, and away they went. In a twinkling they reached earth and landed with a bump beside the old apple tree. Carl woke up and began to rub his eyes. III must have been dreaming, he thought. llAnyhow I am glad I am on earth, and feel the solid ground beneath my feet. Fay Jessee, :21. a 49 .h