Southwest High School - Roundup Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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COVERED WAGON By JoE BRITT A strange looking bird nearly two feet long, making a queer chirping sound, dashed across the road. The three children standing near the covered wagon watched it stop and look back at them. Nearly half its length was tail, which suddenly stood almost straight up as the bird came to a stop. The children grew excited and tried to catch it, but they didn't go far because their parents had warned them of the Apaches. Cecelia, the oldest, suggested to her brother Tom that he get out his new paint set and try to paint it on the covered wagon canvas. These three children lived more than a century ago. Their wagon was slowly wending its way from Missouri to California. Just now it was stranded miles from any habitation, in the territory of the Apache Indians. At this particular moment, Tom Ward was not thinking of the Apaches, but of how the bird would look painted on the side of their covered wagon. He wondered, as he started to paint, just how he could make the feathers ruflled. He must not forget to paint the bright red and blue spots behind the eyes, and the tail must stand up at its proper angle. When Tom finally had finished and stood back to view his picture, there was displeasure in his eyes: he had not done a Fifteen

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In March, 1935, the bids on the original plans were rejected and the Com- missioner of School Buildings was directed to prepare new plans in conformity with recommendations of the Superintendent of Instruction. The next few months were filled with the submission and selection of bids, until, finally, on November 27, 1935, the oilice of the contractors and engineers was erected. It was a small frame building that is remembered only because it was the start of actual work. Soon after, on Monday, December 3, 1935, the ground was broken and excavation for pier foundations was begun, W The cornerstone of the new S800,000 building was finally laid on Decem- ber 10, 1936. There had been some delay in laying the cornerstone due to a controversy over the naming of the school. A short time after this great event, Eugene H. Paulus, of the Building Department, was sent out to super- intend the construction of the school. Months followed, during which contracts were signed, janitors and matrons were appointed to their oflices in the building, and the ceremony of placing the sculptured figures over the entrance was completed. The last chapter in this brief history is the first chapter in the life of the school. On September 7, 1937, Southwest High School opened with an enrollment of twelve hundred students. The controversy over the naming of the school that began in 1934 has not been settled, leaving the name of the school undecided. But a bare tract of land, a vision, a plan, a building-and a dream has become a reality. Fourteen

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. very good job. The canvas was not easy to paint on: yet in a crude sort of way the picture did resemble the bird. Just then Tom's mother interrupted and wanted him to help his father Hx the wagon. A troubled frown appeared over Tom's eyes as he thought again of how their wagon was stalled all alone in the wilderness. Tom, as well as his mother and father, knew the danger of one lone wagon traveling westward, for they were now getting into the territory of the Apache Indians. Soon the wagon was repaired, and the family gathered the provisions together and started on to overtake the caravan. They proceeded on their way for two days, and in another day would have overtaken the caravan if it had not been for the breaking of one of the singletrees of the wagon. Tom's father announced that a new singletree must be made: and no matter how fast he worked, it could not be finished before mid-afternoon. Would they catch up with the other wagons before they were attacked by the Apaches? Tom was thinking of all these things as he turned to the picture on the side of the wagon. He picked up a bucket, and set out in search of water. Close at his heels came Cecelia and Louise. Just then a flock of wild turkeys strutted across the road. Their bronze feathers gleamed in the sun. Tom told his two sisters to run back and tell the good news to the family. The morning shadows were flung across the sand creek as Tom walked in the middle of its dry bed. Somehow he was afraid. He did not like to be there alone. The way grew more fearful as he went on farther. He won- dered if his voice could be heard back at the wagon if he called. Just then something sticking up above the tops of the brush made him stand still in fright. It was the top of an Indian tepee. Tom would have raced back to Sixteen