Polytechnic High School - Caerulea Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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10 ' CAERI JLEA '21 IIIHIHIIIlIIIIIIlIlIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIlllIllllIlIIIIIIlllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIlllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIHIIIIHIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIHIIHIIIIIIHIIIHIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKHIIIIIIIIII halted for a moment and then started a flanking movement to each side. The boys were done for. But no! They heard voices. Help was at hand. llfany men rushed into the clearing and set to work. The fire was speedily checked. The men brought news that the wind had changed suddenly, which accounted for the flanking move- ment of the flames. The main fire burned itself out the next day, after having destroyed many, many square miles of forest and caus- ing untold loss. In the meantime the boys were carried back to the city. Their clothes were torn, their eyebrows and lashes were burnt of, their hair was scorched. But they had saved the reservoir and the water supply to the city. They were petted and pampered, and there was talk of medals from Washington. Especially happy, however, was Ivan Bony, for at last he understood. The Americans were not his enemies, but his friends. He had learned the great lesson in Americanism, and it had come to him as a revelation, that the American Boy is not serious in all that he says and does. Several weeks later to this American school in this American city came two men, undoubtedly Russians, who, in this aforesaid American school, inquired for Prince Ivanoff Bonovitch. Ivan was called. To him the men bowed respectfully and began to speak in Russian. . Your Royal Highness, the time is come when you may go back to Russia and fight for your rights. At last your long awaited call is here. Come with us. Without an instant's hesitation, Prince Ivan answered in English, in the presence of the principal, Ernie Rogers, Tom Hargis, Reginald Smith, and many others, Honorable sirs, I say to you that back to Russia I will not go! And furthermore, I wish to say that I renounce my right to the title of Prince. You may take that mes- sage back. As for me, I am going to be an Americanln

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LITERARY 9 IlllllllllllIIIHIHIIIHIIIIIHlllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllHIIIIIKIIIIIIIIIIIUKIHIIIIlI!IIVIIIlllllllllIIIIIllllillllIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllll boys, we had better eat a bite and then get to work. He opened his knapsack and began eating. The rest followed his example. After they had finished, they started to build a back-fire with the purpose of burning a strip on the side of the reservoir menaced by the fire. They kept the fire well under control and soon had a considerable strip burned free of brush and trees. Then all they could do was to fwait until the fire should come down upon them, and to keep the flame from jumping the open space. Down rushed the fire upon the little clearing in which the doz- en boys kept guard. Down rushed the fire, driven by the south wind, roaring, charging, destroying everything in its path. To Ivan and the rest down in the little clearing the flames seemed to roar and flash and laugh at their puny efforts. The smoke began to come into the clearing. Apparently the only thing to do was to run and leave the reservoir to its fate, for what good could they do anyway? But did any of them ever so much as think of running? No, because they were Americans. They were Amer- icans with the exception of one, Ivan Bonovitch. He was a Russian who hated the Americans, and yet, strangely, he had no thought of running either. In the fighting that followed Ivan saw many things. He saw Ernest Rogers, the braggart, the bully, intent on one thing, the checking of the fire, smiling at him, encouraging him, and telling him that they would win out yet. Tom Hargis was everywhere. Ivan saw him, at the risk of his own life, save a boy from being hit by a falling tree. The boys saw Ivan also in a different light. They saw him with utmost coolness perform his duty as if he were used to danger. Tom Hargis smiled as he watched Ivan. I always knew he had the right stuff in him,', he kept repeating to himself. The boys could not hold out much longer. They were scorched in the blaze which seemed to dry them up. They were parched with thirst and nearly exhausted by their work. Yet they fought on, doggedly fighting the fires which continually broke out upon the wooden base of the reservoir. The fire reached the fire-break and

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IllIIIllllIllllIIllHIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIII IIHIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVlllllllIIIHIIIIIIHIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIHI A LITTLE WISH Eve Richardson '21 A group of children-I heard them say What they would like to be some dayg A brave policeman, a robber bold, And a bloodthirsty pirate With hidden gold, A kind school-teacher, and a lady who sings, With pretty dresses and diamond rings. Then I looked at the youngest, a tiny miss, Just as she hugged her dolly and gave it a kissg And what would you be, my baby so fair, With your dimpled face and that golden hairg A princess, who sits on her throne in a crown' Or a beautiful lady With a beautiful gowng Or a lily-bud fairy .Who dances all day In fern beds and violets, with the sun-beams at play?' But she patted her baby with motherly air, And gave me a babyls blue-eyed stare, This is 'Lizibuth Anne, my pretty, my baby doll, Illl be her niuvverg I guess that's allf, 9 Oh, little mother, with that innocent wish so sweet, I hope that God guides your little feet, And keeps you as pure as you are at the start, A mother's love in your mother-heartg And brings you the happiness, patience, and anxious fears That come when a mother smiles, or a mother fears. Oh, dear little babe, with your sweet eyes of blue, ltlay God bring a real 'Liz'buth Annen to you.