Willard Middle School - Target Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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The Target A Fire and a Rescue The Louisville High School Base- ball Team had just finished practice for the afternoon. The boys then went home. When John arrived home he did his chores around the house. When he finished, he sat clown to rest Clash! Clang! Bing! Bang! went the bells on the fire engines as they tore past John ' s home. Mother, may I go to see the fire? asked a very excited John. Yes, you may go, said Mrs. Cosby. Without waiting for anything further, John rapidly mounted his wheel and rode down Main street. It ' s the Adams building, John heard one excited pedestrian say. Sure enough, it was. John dismount- ed his wheel and locked it under- neath an elm tree. Then pushing for- ward on foot, he came quite close to the burning building. The Adams building was supposed to be fireproof and so it did not have fire hose, but it was a modern building in every other way. It had elevators, stairs, electric lights, etc. Only a few of- fices were occupied. Air. Smith, a wealthy broker, was heard to shout: One hundred dol- lars ' reward to the person who saves my Liberty Bonds! The people looked at Mr. Smith and then at the burning building. Not one stirred. Here ' s a good chance to get some easy money, thought John. Then he edged his way out of the crowd and ran up to Mr. Smith and said, I ' ll save them for you if anybody can. Dashing into the burning building, he ran up the first flight and pausing at the top and looking at the burning stairs he said to himself, I ' ll never be able to climb those. Then an idea occurred to him. Running down, he entered the elevator shaft and rode up to the third floor. Looking down the hall, John could barely make out the words: MR. SMITH, Broker. Taking a breath of fresh air, he ran down the hall and, opening the door, dashed into the office out of breath. Hastily scanning the docu- ments on the desk, he put them in his pocket. Then staggering on up the hall he reached the elevator. He was nearly suffocated when he got there. After fumbling around for a few seconds, which seemed hours to John, he found the crank and, giving it a push, the elevator went down. His eyes were aching and it seemed as if his head would split open. He staggered out into the open, where many willing hands lent him assist- ance. He was taken home in Mr. Smith ' s car and John was very happy that night when he realized that he could do whatever he wanted to do with the reward. EUGENE GALLAGHER. A CIRCUS IN THE SKY. A little boy was rolling and tumbling on the grass, thinking of the posters of a coming circus he had seen. Ex- hausted, he lay on his back, kicking up his heels. The sky was blue — a deep, deep blue — and a few little puffs of clouds were slowly coming from the east. Teddy watched them with thoughts of the circus still lingering in his mind. As the clouds drew nearer they seemed to take shape. The first was

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IO The Target the people stopped, just from cu- riosity, then they became interested when they found out his cause. The bids became higher and higher un- til poor Tony held his breath in excitement. Finally the suit was sold for the sum of $25. Tony fairly bubbled over with joy. He gave half to his mother and half to the Red Cross. Tony decided that while one man was cross and mean, there are hundreds that are good. HAZEL HUNT. THE SIXPENCE. John was going to the Fair. He lived in a small English town. His father had given him a sixpence. What shall I buy? a little voice kept saying inside of him. He was to meet Jim and Ted at the cross- roads. Pretty soon he came to a large clump of trees; he heard an odd kind of noise, as if someone was crying. He ran to the place from which it came and, stooping down, he took into his arms a small white dog. The dog was very thin and weak, and his eyes looked very sad. Now John was very gentle to ani- mals and could not bear to see the poor thing die of hunger. So, for- getting all about the Fair and the boys, he ran home with the dog in his arms. When he got there, he ran into the house and, putting the dog into a chair, poured some milk out of a pitcher into a saucer, and putting the dog on the floor let him drink it all. As the dog was drinking, John ' s mother came into the room, and on seeing the pup drinking the milk she exclaimed, John, what have you done? That milk was for the baby and we have no more. John jumped up with a look of dismay on his face, but it brightened as if by magic. I ' ll run to the Fair and get some with the money father gave me for myself. May I keep the dog, mother? he asked. Yes, dear, you may. GRACE PEDERSEN. SUPERSTITION. Sambo, said Rastus, as he sat looking at a small candle that light- ed the room a little, ain ' t you ' fraid ob dem goblins an ' ghosts? What would you do if one walked in here right now? Why, said Sambo, I ' d reach right over an ' get my big gun. Well, I ' se heard you couldn ' t kill ghosts. Wen, mebee not, but I ' d sure shoot until my gun gave out o ' shots, if I saw one. They must live on an ' on an ' on, said Rastus. Just then there was a noise coming from the wind. It sounded, to them, like a moan. Sambo ' s knees trembled as he reached to the corner and picked up his gun. Look! exclaimed Rastus. Sambo ' s gun fell to the floor as he saw something white in a dark corner of the room. Rastus, with shaky hands, picked up the gun and shot six times. When he went to bed he found six bullet holes in his white pajamas that had been hanging on a nail. ALICE HENDERSON.

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12 The Target a little dog whose mouth was slowly opening in a long howl. As he came directly overhead his tail began to grow, and it grew and grew until it was very long and slim. At last the tail broke in two and the broken part immediately turned into a snake and wiggled off through the sky. Next came a little woolly bear with a great big lion behind it. Then came a huge elephant and some little fat pigs. Next a long series of carts, drown by ponies, dogs and rabbits, passed in the parade. In the carts you could see the tops of little girls ' and boys ' heads just like Teddy. Some had long pointed caps that waved in the wind, and others had broad hats with wavy ostrich plumes in them. Best of all were the clowns who walked on their hands and rolled themselves into balls. How Teddy laughed as one great big clown winked at him and stretched out his hands as if to take Teddy along with him. Then the sky was azure blue. Teddy thought that kind of a circus was very nice, for he didn ' t have to sit squeezed tight in a row, but he just lay in the grass and watched .the parade go rolling by. JOSEPHINE MILLIGAN. Miss Christy in H 9 English: Who were the criminals of the under- world? Edward Harms: The Kaiser. Miss Christy: Not yet. Miss Farwell in Latin: Where do these belong? Bonnie George: In the second congregation. (Meaning conjugation.) Ruth Henderson: Who was Cu- pid? Florence Hillhouse (absent-minded- ly): Thomas McEneany. JUST A PLAIN BUG. Edward knew he would be caught in the draft, because his father had gone to every official in the state, but he had been unable to save his loving son from the horrors of war. The fateful day arrived. How could the mother let her only child go to war and get all covered with nasty- bugs, and maybe not even get his bath three times a week? She wept incessantly, but alas! it was of no avail. He had to go. On leaving, his mother gave him, with many other articles, a box of cootie ex- terminator. Six months later finds Edward in France, fighting with the bravest. A great change has come over him. Instead of always finding the best place for himself he offers it to a comrade; instead of always complain- ing about the food, his bed (if he has one), and untimely hours, he ac- cepts these hardships good-naturedly. He applied his exterminator daily, but one day during a fierce attack by the Germans, in his excitement, he forgot to use it. His forgetfulness saved his life. While marching through a town in Germany which had been captur ed by the Allies he leaned over to scatch a cootie bite on his knee. As he did so a sniper, who was concealed in the attic of a nearby house, shot at him. If he had not leaned over at that precise moment, Edward would not, with a bullet wound in his left leg from a later shot and a medal fastened on his breast for distin- guished bravery, have been talking for the Fifth Victory Loan. SHELDON COOPER.