Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Courlvsy of Conservation Commission f TI DOGWOOD IN BLOOM Close to my heart I fold each lovely thing The sweet day yieldsg and, not disconsolate, With the calm patience of the woods I waiz' For leaf and blossom when God gives us Spring! -Vfhittier. Twenty-seven

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THE NEED FOR CONSERVATION EFORE. I begin to talk on the subject of conservation, I should like .QA to compare this country at the present time with this country a century ago. The country back in the early l800's was a hunter's paradise. There was an abundance of buffalo, deer, moose, as well as all sorts of game, birds, and fish. There were no large cities, even the largest town in the more sparsely settled regions at that time being no more that what we would consider a crossroads town now. Most of the families lived miles and miles apart in small cabins that would appal us now. Sometimes there would be ten people living in a single-roomed cabin. They were in constant danger from indians and from starvation. They had no corner store to run tog they had to depend on the vegetables that they themselves could raise and the game that they could kill. They killed because they needed food, not because they enjoyed killing. Where hunting was once considered a necessity and, consequently, a matter not always to be looked forward to, it is now a very popular recreation and one that most men and some women enjoy. Through the years since the l800's the scarcity of game, fish, and birds has become so great as to be alarming. Venison is a rare delicacy, as are quail and many of the once- abundant fish. Too many hunters go out to kill, not just what they need, but what they enjoy killing. Such sport to me seems just like murder and many others regard it in this way. just recently I read a book, The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the time of which is just after the Civil War. ln it the author characterized two different kinds of men. One man made me respect him and practically forced me to admire him, while the other made me feel contemptuous of him. The former killed only what he needed, and, as he did so, he felt sad and unhappy because of what he had to do. The other killed for the sport of it. He refused to stop when he had enough and just kept up needless killing. This is the type of person who would probably make a greedy and dangerous hunter today. Since our wildlife is becoming so dangerously rare, it is the duty of all citizens to respect the conservation laws of our individual states, and to see that others do the same. The only way that we can help keep our wild-life from becoming extinct is by the observance of such laws. That our wild-life IIS becoming scarce is a fact. We can understand the urge for hunting that many men have. That is an old urge that will always exist. But, to those that carry out that urge, let us say this. If a person must hunt, let him do so sparingly. Let him take only enough for himself and his family to eat. ln that way he will obey the conservation laws, he will be providing for his family, and he will show himself to be an honorable hunter. LONNIE SLAYBACK Twenty-six

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SOME WILD FLOWERS OF MISSOURI OT a season goes by in Missouri that nature does not have something Q to offer in the way of plants. ln the coldest days of winter there are varieties of ferns, creeping around over the groundg mosses that grow on the rocks near our many springsg and always enough berries and seeds to keep the various birds busy. ln the spring and summer Nature fairly outdoes herself in making the earth seem like a large Flower-boxg even in autumn we have many and varied species of wild flowers. The first of our common wild flowers to pop up out of the snow is the dandelion. It might be interesting to know that it is not one flower but a series of flowers grouped together on one stemg the name comes from the Creek word meaning disorder. About the middle of March the bluets are the outstanding wild flowersg some of the commoner names in this class are innocence, wild forget-me-nots, and blue-eyed babies. These Howers. grow in our meadows not more than one or two inches high and have small leaves at the ground and little ones opposite each other on the stem. Perhaps the best-known and best-loved spring flower is the violet, which ranges from the little Johnny-jump-up to the bird's-foot violet. Most varieties of violets are similar in shape, but the color varies from white to purple. After the violets have held their supremacy for a while, the most beautiful of spring Horal life bursts forth in the form of blossoms on our trees, bushes, and smaller plants, with colors that are almost indescribable. In the late spring clover begins to bloom. Most of us associate it with looking for a good luck omen. Another common, but very peculiar, form of wild Hower is the Jack-in-the-pulpit, it is usually found in the woods. Some other kinds of wild Howers found at this time in Missouri are the wild lark- spur, the columbine, and daisy. Between late spring and summer there is a sort of pause for the flower- hunter, but soon we can find the wild rose, the catnip, the mints, the morning glory, and various members of the lily family. The wild rose does not resemble the cultured rose in flower, but the leaves have the same shape and both have the same curse. The catnip and mint families are not very well known or beautiful, but Missouri has an abundance of each. The morning-glory is a flower of many and varied colors, distinguished by the shape of a five-pointed star in the center of the bloom. This is a short list and description of some of our wild flowers in Missourig and if I were to attempt to describe all the various kinds of wild Howers in this state, it would require all of the space of a good-sized book, as it did Theresa C. Rickett in her XViId Flowers of Missouri. GEORGE WAGNER V 4 N eg Q ,X W f Twenty-eight