Sonora Union High School - Green and Gold Yearbook (Sonora, CA)

Page 21 text:

-1- --- GREEN AND GOLD ll-- coach was out of sight, he once more started to his cabin, whispering to himself, Two hundred and fifty dollars! At daybreak the next morning, Rod Terry could be seen busily working at his claim. The prospects for a clean up looked very promising, and this morning Rod Terry was not working for himself, but was working to save the life of his mother, the only friend he had in the world. All that day until the shadows of night made work impossible, did Rod Terry labor, but the amount of his hard day's labor, he thought would average about three dollars. What was three dollars compared to two hundred and fifty dollars? But still the prospects for a big strike looked exceedingly promising. That night Rod Terry did not spend the evening at the Red Devil , the only saloon and gambling joint at Spring Gulch, but after a hasty supper, he went to bed, to ponder over the happiness that was sure to come to his mother, when he made the raise to send her the money for her trip. Three days later about two o'clock, Rod rushed into the 'Red Devil , his hair flying, his hat in his hand, and a look of wild excitement spreading over his countenance. I've got her boys, he lustily yelled, and she's going to go forty thousand, if she goes a cent! Quickly the other miners gathered about him, each eager to grasp his hand, and congratulate him upon his luck. About a week later, a tanned and burned young man dressed in a khaki suit, hastily climbed into the stage coach, to help bring home the two hundred and fifty dollars, and also to accompany his mother upon her trip to the South, to see that her every wish was satisfied. 4' -N SLN. ' , 3 . Y Q fi Q. f, ,jj5, ' ' w x I 'i ffigaifgpll f kg bvi. 1-Page 1'7-

Page 20 text:

-l-l GREEN AND GOLD -l--- His Reward by FRANK BAKER '15 W0 HUNDRED AND fifty dollars I Slowly Rod Terry kept repeating ' these words, as he wended his way along the dusty road, that led to his cabin. The look that dwelt upon his face, was one that would have moved the strongest man to pity. It was not the depressed look of a man who had tried and lost, but one of utter despair. Slowly he reached into the pocket of his mud-stained overalls, and drew forth a letter, and unfolding it, he read it as he walked along. M r. Rod Terry, Spring Gulch, Calif. Dear Sir: I am sending you this note to inform you, that your mother is in fast failing health, and only a change of climate.will benefit her. I think that S250 will cover the expense, and eagerly await the money, which I am sure you will send. Yours in haste, Dr. B. F. Stone, Battle Creek, Michigan. Again he folded the note and placed it in the pocket of his soil-stained overalls. A look of keen determination lit his face, as he reached into his hip pocket, and produced a. 44 Colt. Slowly he opened the stock, and satisfied himself that each one of its chambers was occupied by a shell. Suddenly the still air was broken by the sound of an oncoming vehicle. Silently Rod Terry slipped behind a huge rock, that stood beside the road. I-Ie jerked a red handana handkerchief lrom his pocket, and hastily tied it around his mouth and nose. Glancing around the rock which concealed him, he perceived, as he had expected, the stage coach, which contained the dust from all of the mining camps north of Spring Gulch. It was his plan to hold up the stage, and thus gain the money which was needed to save his mother's life. In about two minutes thc coach would bc upon him, when suddenly over Rod's mind, came a vision of his boyhood. He saw himself kneeling at his mother's knee, she affectionately stroking his head. Remember Rod, she especially the one, Rod, which says, 'Thou shalt not kill.' was saying, always obey the Ten Commandments of our dear Lord, and As the stage came upon him, Rod Terry made no effort to catch the leading horses by the reins, and to thrust his revolver into the face of the driver, but he slowly placed the revolver into his pocket, and after the stage -Page 16- V

Page 22 text:

-ii. GREEN .mo Goto -li- Dennis, C. V. by LEONARD REHM -is I ln all the two and twenty years of Dennis' young life, he had never had anything very exciting happen to him. As the son of Irish parents living in London, he had been raised much the same as other poor London children, with a fair elementary education to his credit. He always had been a very intelli- gent chap, but somehow, things never came his way, and his life had seemed -to him at least--one of unprecedented quiet. It was probably because his life had been so uneventful, that his hanker- ing for things more exciting caused Dennis to set up in his mind the idea that he had been intended for some higher plane and wider sphere than just that of a mere street boy of London. Who could tell what his future would be 2' Might he not have been intended for a pet of royalty or a descend- ant of some long lost scion of a noble house? Or would it be among the sciences or professions that he would find his calling? Dennis did not know, any more than you or I, but he had some vague notion that he would have to make the first move before fickle fortune would help him upward. Therefore, hc determined upon his first step. It carried him upwards a little, he thought, and what more could he expect? He sought employment among the wealthy of London, and was taken in by one Sidney Carlton, for whom he was to act as confidential valet. Sidney Carlton was a rich young fellow, younger than Dennis by some years, who had been left an enormous fortune by his late fatherg but not content with leaving him just that, the father had left his son under the guardianship of a crabbed old uncle-Lester Sidney, by name-who then resided at Manchester, summcrcd regxlarly at Ostcnd, nnd who young Sidney had not seen since too young to remember. At first, Carlton thought that his uncle would be easy with him, for they lived at such a distance from each other, and so the young :nan proceeded to spend the paternal millions in u way almost unprecedented in London. Becoming rather alarmed, Carlton's former valet, who, by the way, was a commissioned spy of the uncle. wrote to old Sidney, giving accounts of the young fellow's extravagances in London life and society. After receiving the valet's communication, Cai-lton's uncle did a very unwise thing. I-le wrote to his nephew, reprimanding him severely for his conduct, incidentally stating the source of his news. Need it be told how enraged Sidney Carlton was? Without even an hour's warning, he turned the poor servant out of employment, even refusing him recommend- ation for future use. Dennis got the job, but instead of being merely an ordinary servant, the Irish lad received the title of confidential valet . His first long step was accomplished. -Page 18-