University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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Judge, laughing at the incredulous look on the boy ' s face. What a bright hoj ' he was. The Judge was really enjoying himself. He had forgotten boys were so interesting. He had not had a talk with his own son for — well, a longer time than he cared to admit. But this was different : it was like talk- ing with himself. ' ' Used to come out here to this very place and fish. On days like this. too. It ' s all just the same as it was then — every inch. I suppose everything ' s the same. Do you still spell down ' over there, and learn your tables word for word and read ' Peter Rice Eats Fish And Catches Eels ' ' .And puzzle over your Latin grammar until you wish Latin had never been invented? The Judge was really getting excited, hut the boy merely opened his eyes. Huh? he said. Mensa. mensae. mensarmn. I ' m doing pretty well at mem ory work. And I suppose the big boys still teach the little ones Bible texts, and you speak pieces on Friday afternoons, eh? I remember one I spoke once. It began, ' Ye call me chief, who for twelve long years ' — um — I don ' t remember the rest. Did you ever speak that piece, Willie? My name ' s Jim. answered the boy; ; ' n ' we never do none o ' them things any more. The Judge ' s excitement fell. You don ' t! he said, frown- ing. Naw ; not sense we got the new teacher, explained Jim- mie. I ain ' t never studied some o ' them things, an ' sense he conic, the rest is different, too. But you learn your letters and your tables just the same and — He don ' t do nothin ' like Miss Bridges uster interrupted Jinimie. placidly. We don ' t have nothin ' much to learn by heart any more cause he invelopes. He z. ' hatr Dunno. The boy shook his head cheerfully. That ' s what he calls it. You don ' t speak pieces and spell down — and learn texts I Why, what do you do? That ' s too bad. We learn science. Watermelons and water — algae and the distance to the moon. Watermelons and — come, that ' s a new one on me. I thought all boys knew about watermelons, though. Know ' nuff to grow ' em, an ' that ' s more ' n the teacher knows. D ' you ever hear ' at melons hadn ' t no color inside till they was cut? The boy was filled with righteous indigna- tion. n ' he tells ns ' bout birds an ' things. Birds ! Guess I know — He ' s different from our old teacher, the Judge said sadly. When I was a bare-legged shaver like you — Jimmie grinned cheerfully, no whit abashed — we used to study what we called the ' three Rs ' — reading, writing and ' rithmetic. I suppose you ' re too far advanced to touch on them. Nope. But I ' m nearly through readin ' into liter ' chure. An ' it ' s in ' rithmetic at we don ' t have to study any more, ' cause he invelopes in class so much. It ' s bully. I should think it might be. answered the Judge, grimly, but it ' s very different from what we used to have. I sup- pose he makes it so easy that you can afford to spend a good deal of your time studying how to catch fish. Or maybe that ' s included in the curriculum? Jimmie chuckled with due appreciation. I do come out here purty often. he admitted. It ' s worth a licking isn ' t it? asked the Judge, some of his enthusiasm coming back as he remembered several ex- ploits of his own boyhood.

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THE JUDGE ' S DECISION. It was a glorious June day, bright, fragrant, musical. The woods were full of life and movement. A squirrel darted down one tree and up another. Rabbits whisked through the new undergrowth. Birds caroled merrily in the leafy foliage over- head. At the foot of a huge walnut tree stood a tall, heavy-set man whose dress and bearing proclaimed him city bred. His face, stern and uncompromising as that of a great judge usually is, was relaxed for a moment in a smile ; his keen eyes were softened by the glow of pleasant memories as he stood looking into a little clearing at a rough log school house, whose open windows and door proclaimed that school kept. Just as I remember it, the Judge mused. Xot a blade of grass different from forty years ago. I suppose inside it s just the same. too. I must go in. He drew the picture in his own mind — the cracked green- ish blackboards covered with rude sketches ; the long, knife- scarred forms in which six or eight boys could sit at once and enjoy themselves: the placid teacher listening sleepily to a row of bare-legged youngsters spellin ' down or stum bling over their letters in turn. How it all came back to him ' He alone was changed. He fell to wondering what had bcci)me of the others — Jim mie and Walter and Tad — and Sallie. .Sallie! He had not thought of her for years. He wondered if he could find their old trysting place after all this time. Yes, here was the little foot-path still : and he followed it, coming upon the place sooner than he had expected. Tt was a bit of open ground by the side of the sleepy little river, just as he had left it; and — yes, there was the hollow tree. He cautiously put his hand inside, smiling at the act. -%L I say, what yer doin ' in that tree? The Judge turned sharply around and to his consternation beheld a small boy sitting on the stump of a tree overhanging the river and holding a fishing pole in one hand and an apple in the other. W hy, I was — merely investigating, the man answered uith some annisement. I — I — Why? Oh, I put — put — things there sometimes the boy ex- plained, swinging his bare legs uneasily. 1 he Judge looked at him in silence. The picture was com- plete. The boy might be himself of forty years ago. He felt a desire to talk with him but he could not think of any- thing to say but What are you doing here at this time of day? You ought to be in school. — which he felt was not exactly a propitious remark, calculated to insure him in the ' boy ' s esteem. I ' m a-ii-hin ' . answered the boy. with such an innocent, straight-forward look on his freckled face that the Judge nearly laughed aloud. -A wave of sympathy swept over him. He seated himself on a stump and smiled at the boy. You ' re incidentally ' playing hookey. aren ' t you? he queried. Yep. answered the boy defiantly, between bites of the apple. Guess you ' d play it too. if you had to go to school over there. It ' s awful slow. I ' ve done it many a time. began the Judge. I used to go to school over there and — Did ye? Honest? Cracky! How long ago? Forty years. Seems like a life time, doesn ' t it. said the

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Lickin ' ! Jimmie ejaculated, scornfully. ' ' We don ' t never get no lickin ' . Teacher don ' t b ' lieve m it. That ' s why I come so much. You don ' t never get — the Judge repeated, startled out of his grammar. Your teacher doesn ' t believe in whipping. What does he do with you? Oh, differ ' nt things. Gen ' ally he makes me stay in to make up. But I don ' t mind that much if I have a whole day out here. Less father catches on. He licks. The Judge rose sorrowfully. Here was a change, in- deed. Probably for the best — and yet men had turned out pretty well under the old regime. He turned away, pondering the question, which had suddenly assumed great importance. TTsen his eye fell on the hollow tree and he stopped You young rascal, what do you put in that tree? he demanded. The boy looked angrily at him. I won ' t tell. he mut- tered, a wave of red sweeping up over the freckles. The Judge thrust his hand deep down and drew out a folded bit of paper. Jinunie sprang to the bank and ran to- wards him. but he dropped it back again. I won ' t touch it. Jimmie, he said, the unwonted soft look in his keen eyes again. Good-by, my boy. And as he walked slowly away, the smile came ajain to his stern lips. I was disappointed at first, he mused. But I guess the teaching don ' t count so much, anyhow. It ' ll turn out the same in the end. Boys and girls haven ' t changed a mite in forty years, after all. They mayn ' t be learning the .■ anie things we learned, liut they ' re doing the same, and that ' s what counts. With all their new methods in education, the boy is just the same as he was forty years ago. Forty-long — WHY I LIKE NORMAL. We have a purpose fixed and full When we attend the Normal school And there, v.e ' ve taught ourselves to rule .■ t Normal. We find congenial schoolmates, too, And teachers, better there are few. And buildings well equipped and new .■ t Normal. The course of studies overflow With all the things that we would know: Such blessings does our state bestow At Normal. P.sychology and Course in .Art Gymnastics also, has a part Among the things good to one ' s heart At Normal. We go down in Knowledge Springs. We have the chance to try our wings. All these and many other things At Normal. • Of all we might enumerate — There is no gain that ' s quite so great As that of the Certificate. We earn at Normal. years — ago. M. S., ' o. ' M. C. B.