Willard Middle School - Target Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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THE TARGET 17 JUST MY STORY. My mother and father are both Hawaiian polo ponies and so am I. Allstar, my mother, is considered a very fine pony. My father, Carry-the- News, is one of the best polo ponies in the world. Quicksilver is my name. Called so because I am so quick and because I am a deep bay except for my two forelegs which are a silvery gray. I have always been admired as far back as I can remember. People always say when they see me, How odd! My youngest colthood days were spent just like any other colt ' s. When I grew old enough to understand, All- star used to tell me about the games she had played in. They always ex- cited me and I longed for the day when I would play. I did not have to wait long though, for when I was only a year old they began teaching me to follow a ball and obey com- mands. I was broken to saddle at two and it was then that my real training began. My trainer had me on the field every day for three months teaching me to obey his slightest wish and the quick turns which are so necessary in the game. Then came the little white ball again and I had followed it for two weeks when my trainer decided to put me in a practice game and see what I could do among the other horses. That first game was a nightmare to me. There were seven other horses besides myself but it seemed as though there were a hundred. Every way I turned there were excited horses. I was frightened and tried to get away from the mix-up. My train- er must have known how I felt for he let me run down the field. His pur- pose I was not long in learning for the ball shot past me and I immedi- ately started after it. In two seconds I was in the confusion again. I did not mind it now for I was working with my rider and we were both after the ball. I was tired and sore when I came out of that first practice game. My trainer himself helped to give me my first rub-down. They rubbed me with cloths first, then wrapped me in steam- ing blankets and then in ice-cold ones. I objected to these two operations strenuously. After the cold applica- tion I was dried and massaged with oil until I thought my hide was com- ing off. This first attempt at a game mark- ed the beginning of many others and it was not long before I was the best pony in these practice frolics, as they came to be. One morning I was rid- den by a different man. I liked him and the way he handled me. He in turn remarked to my trainer, That is the best horse in the bunch. Fix him up and will take him home with me and try him out in the game against Main next week. Walter Dillingham was going to ride me in the game against Main! I could hardly believe my ears. Mr. Dillingham came to my stall after the game and patting me said, Quicksilver, if it had not been for that last run of yours we should have lost the game. I think you will more than equal your father. I am trying hard to equal him, be- cause that means my master ' s ap- proval and playing in the Internation- al Polo Games. ISABELLA HILL.

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16 THE TARGET HOW SHE PROVED HER METTLE. Jewel Merton was glad it was Sat- urday, because she disliked her school and also because for two days she would be at liberty. Her three cousins, Grace, Doris and Matilda, and Aunt Mary had gone to spend two or three days at a friend ' s house in the mountains, and Jewel had assured them that she was quite capable of being left alone. But suddenly, as she looked down the dusty road, she felt homesick and wished to return to Mexico, where her father was. Nobody cares whether I stay here or not, she thought. None of the girls like me although Aunt Mary does. Oh bother, those chickens are loose again. After shooing and coaxing the chickens back to their pen, Jewel sad- dled her pony and resolved to take a long ride. She didn ' t care where, particularly. A few minutes later she was riding down the long, dusty road. Seeing a long way off a mound on the road, Jewel quickened her horse ' s pace and soon reached it. It was the wagon that Aunt Mary and the girls had been riding in when they left, scarce- ly an hour ago. The wagon must have broken, said Jewel aloud. I wonder where they are! The horses, also, had disappeared, andjewel was going after them in the direction she thought they had taken, when she became aware of a man riding rapidly toward her. Jewel was certain that she had never seen him before. Yer Aunt Mary and the gals are at the ranch house, he said. I think they kinder want you. All right, replied Jewel, I ' ll go to them. But she got off her horse as soon as she was out of his sight and crept back through the bushes at the side of the road. They couldn ' t have come back, she reasoned, be- cause I would have passed them. I ' m goingto see what he ' s up to. When she got to the place where she had left the man, he was nowhere to be seen. Gone, too, was the wagon, and Jewel, mystified, had turned to go away, when her ear caught the sound of hammering, which seemed to come from underground. For two or three minutes she stood afraid to move. Then her hand went up to the revolver her father had given her in Mexico and she laughed at her fears. Running silently to the road, she looked around until her eye caught sight of a place where twigs were bent and broken. Following this trail, Jewel came at length to a cave-like opening, which she entered without hesitation. Stepping fearless- ly into a wide space where two men were just completing a second open- ing in the ground, Jewel fired two shots into the ground. The men faced about, but concluded to run, and a moment later were lost to sight. Oh Jewel, how can I ever thank you? exclaimed Aunt Alary. Those men were evidently smugglers who captured us because they needed our horses. Then they brought us to this cave, where you have found us. You are very brave, I think. Grace, who had been very silent during this time, now spoke, Jewel, won ' t you teach me to shoot? You can teach me in the mountains, be- cause now we ' re all going there to- gether. DOROTHY BENNETT.

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18 THE TARGET HAPPINESS. I once knew two girls, both the same age, and they lived in the same city, only one lived in a lovely man- son, while the other lived in a mean looking little cottage, right in the center of the city. The rich girl whose name was Rose, and she resembled very much the flower for which she was named, was always looking for happiness, when she had everything on earth that her parents could give her. But all the time she whined and said, I know I can never find happiness as lone as I live. In a cottage right in the business part of town, lived a girl very differ- ent from Rose in every way. Her name was Patience and she well de- served the name. Patience had four or five litle brothers and sisters, a poor sick mother, and a father who made very little, but loved his family devotedly. As Patience ' s mother was sick, she had to work in a store as a clerk with a very mean salary, But just the same it helps, as Patience would often say. When she came home, she would try to entertain her little brothers and sisters, take care of her mother, and also get dinner for her father and the family. One day Rose and her governess went into the store where Patience worked and it happened that Patience waited on them. While Rose was waiting for the package, she looked at Patience and asked, ' Why are you smiling so happily? Patience answered smilingly, Be- cause I have little brothers and sis- ters, and a lovely mother and father, and everything that could make me happy. Oh, please let me go to your home with you and see if I can find happiness, said Rose pleadingly. Why, of course you may come, but I would think it would be very easy for you to be happy as you have everything you want on earath, said Patience. This is my home, said Patience as she skipped a little ahead of Rose. And can you be happy in a place like this? asked Rose. Why, of course J can, this is the dearest place on earth to me, but please come in and see my sweet lit- tle mother. Rose hesitated but finally went. She saw a small dingy room with lit- tle children peeping out from every- where, and Rose saw a bed, in the corner of the room, with a small deli- cate woman in it. Patience ran over to the bed and kissed her mother, and all the small, eager faces that were crowding near her. She excused herself, saying that she would have to get dinner ready for father. Rose sat in mute silence watching the proceedings of the family, and when she left, she whispered in Pa- tience ' s ear, I want to thang you so much and 1 am so glad I have met you, for you have shown me the way to true happiness, in forgetting self and doing for others. LEILA M. SHIELDS. Jean Waste (having just bit her cheek): Goodness! that ' s the first taste of venison I ' ve had this season.