Senn High School - Forum Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 12 text:

i -iilgiluqlllllllujllul Illwll lllll :pin ii mmm il ll ' Lv iTi,z ! Q ' 'shag ' in :Eff Milt -r opp y l iillllllllllll ma- es.. as J- ERHAPS the porcupine is thought of most commonly as an animal which furnishes decorations for Indian moccasins or as an exponet of a new kind of armor. In reality the struc- ture of the beast is quite simple. Very effective hollow quills cover all exposed places except a black, ugly face and a pink shirt front. Almost everyone has his or her hobby. The porcnpine's hob- by is salt. He immediately loses all of his laziness when anyone is within smell- ing distance. This is a strong statement too, for he is extremely lazy. Why shouldn't he be? Nature has done her best for himg in the spring and summer he eats buds and leaves, especially those from the birch tree: while in winter, when every other animal in the woods is starving, the porcupine tears off the out- er bark and eats the soft inner layer. Last summer a fat and pompous por- cupine waddled onto the beach before our cottage in northern Vvisconsin and after some deliberation climbed into a birch tree and out onto very small branches, that seemed as though they would not hold his weight at all. There he lay all afternoon, half asleep, while occasionally he would pull in a leaf with his'paw and eat it. The porcupine, instead of the pig, should be called the height of obstinacy. Attempt to drive him in one direction and he will come straight for your legs and slap his tail with good effect. The only way to drive him in one direction is to try forcing him in the opposite one, and the porcupine will invariably lie at the other end of the trail when you get there. The porky has another inter- esting quality alsog he has no fear of 10 man as all the other wild things have. This is shown by an experience of a friend of mine who woke up one morn- ing, while camping near Porcupine Motmtain, with seven quills sticking into him as souvenirs of a nocturnal visit. The porcupine may be timid one day, and if you are caught without a club, drive you under the rear Hap of your tent the next. The game laws of nearly all states pro- tect porcupines for the entire year, be- cause it is asserted that they are the only animals which are able to be killed eas- ily by a person lost in the woods, an easy tap on the nose being enough to finish one. This is the only use which has been found to disprove that he is a mistake, and he barely got by at that. An ex- perienced woodsman has said: Once, to test the law, I added porcupine to my bill of fare-a vile, maloderous suffix that might delight a lover of strong cheese. It is undoubtably a good law: but I cannot imagine anyone being grate- ful for it unless the stern alternative were death or porcupine. The wild an- imals would gladly eat Unk XVunk, which is the Indian name for Porcupine. fNow your curiosity is satisfiedj, but he simply rolls up in a ball and could not be touched without harm except by an iron hand. Often, after a very hard winter, a lynx or weasel, wiser but ter- ribly hungry, works its nose under the body to the soft throat. One taste of blood and it is the end of both animals. For Unk XVunk swings his tail with a vicious sweep and his enemy is filled with quills, barbed like a harpoon, which every moment sends deeper into the body until they reach the heart or brain. The bear is the only animal that has the

Page 11 text:

THE FORUM N ine Having given him a quick glance which showed me that he was no country fel- low, I replied that I wouldn't he in the least surprised if he could be. He said that his mother, who was in a small road- ster that I could see from where I stood, had seen that I was in some predicament, and had told him to get me. Well, un- usual situations call for unusual actions. I followed him. The little old lady, whom he presented as his mother, struck a soft spot in my heart, and I decided inwardly that what- ever she told me to do must be all right, and I'd do it, After I had explained my plight, she said that if her son would take her home, he could then take me in the machine to the Junction where I could make proper connections. I decided after I was on the road with the young man that he needed talking to. He didn't respond to my efforts very quickly. In fact I got so tired of answer- ing my own questions that I started on another track. I told him all about Midge's brother-in-law, how perfect he was, and what a model for all brother- in-laws. I-Ie became interested, and told n1e that perhaps my opinion, formed through the medium of Phyl's letters, would change when I met the young man. From then on, until we came to tl1e junction, we really enjoyed our- selves. Strange to say, with all my trouble, I arrived at Phyl's house on two o'clock of the appointed day. About two hours later, after I had made myself quite at home, and also presentable, and when I was coming down the stairs to tell all about my haps and mishaps, I heard Midge talking to a man on the porch. I heard her calling him Dade, and saying that she hadn't expected him so soon. Here at last then, was the wonder of wonders. I'hyl's brother-in-law! Phyl called me to meet Lawrie, As I came down the last steps I recognized the voice. I almost fell over my own feet! But I had to come down, voice or no voice! I stumbled on until tin- ally Midge had me by the hand and was saying: I want you to meet my 'brother,' Lawrence Carruthers. Lawrie, this is Impie, my old 'roomie.' After one agonized glance, which showed the real- ization of my worst fears, I burst out into uncontrollable laughter in which Lawrie joined. Midge, in a very injured tone, complained because she was let out of the joke. Do I have to tell you that my opinion of Lawrie has changed just as he fthe young man of the machinej said, that I had such a wonderful time at Midge's that I hated to leave? If your imagin- ation ftoo vivid at timeslj doesn't tell you this, I'll help you out with some in- teresting details when I Seventh Heaven. Molly dear, d0esn't a this, demand a sequel as reply? You know I can receive as many letters as you write-so do your duty! Heaps of love, From your own, Impie. get back to volume like an immediate P. S. You will soon have a chance to meet the marvel ffor he is all of that, though in a diderent way than I expect- edj for I've asked him up for the Hop. Myrtle Lorch. i EE . .5 rf' .-I-., 1 ui' .. ., ,R . , -1 l l 1 if :ff

Page 13 text:

THE FORUM Eleven right idea, and he uses a dirty trick. He throws dirt on him until the porcu- pine rolls all his quills out, then the hear slips his paw under the body and hurls him again and again against a tree until he is all played out. Unk Wunk seemingly knows so little that it is a question whether or not he was ever taught hy his parents. It is the cause of some debate, whether he rolls up in a ball by instinct or by slow learn- ing. It is also a question whether his stupidity, which brings him out of hun- dreds of difliculties where his wits would fail, is like tl1e possum's idiocy, only a mask for his deep wisdom. A thousand generations of fat porcupines have taught him the folly of rush and worry, and so he lives a peaceful life. If you have one question when you nrst meet him, you will have twenty after a lesson or two. His whole paragraph begins and ends with a question mark, and leaves a dash for what is left unsaid. The porcupine has a great love of fuzi and amusement, however. The same man that I mentioned before saw a very amusing incident that shows this. I will quote his story. He had an idea in hie head this time, and was looking for something. A breeze had come down tree-tops above him. He would look steadily up at the tossing branches, and then hurry on to survey the next little tree he met, with paws raised against the trunk and chill eyes following the mo- tion overhead. At last he iound what he wanted, two small trees growing close together. He climbed one of these clum- sily, higher and higher until the slender top bent under his weight towards the other. Then he reached out to grasp the second tree with his forepaws, hooked his hind feet tirmly around the tirst, and lay there binding the treetops together, while the wind rose and began to rock his strange cradle. l.Yider and wider he swung, stretching out like a rubber band. His only note, meanwhile was an occa- sional squeal ot' satisfaction after a par- ticularly good stretch. XVhere did Unk XX'unk learn all this? Perhaps, since most ot' what animals know, according to my way of thinking, is a matter of learning, not instinct-his mother taught him some things which we have not seen. If so, Unk XVunk has more in his sleepy head than we give him credit for, and there is a very inter- esting lesson awaiting him who tirst linds and enters the Porcupine School. john R. Green, from the mountains and was swaying the Room 260. u , 5 THE ' f - 1 - 5,4 ' 4 - .2 ,f . V . Y,,..,s A, .YY, ,