Willard Middle School - Target Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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i8 The Target them seem to think that one leg should reach from the body to the floor and the other one should be shorter. They try to make it so by standing on one foot, or leaning against their desks when reciting, the boys especially. Why do they do it? Is it be- cause they think they look better? The teachers certainly think the} ' don ' t. Does it make them think bet- ter? No, it doesn ' t because it takes more effort to stand on one foot than on two, and this takes away some of the pupil ' s attention from his recitation, because it requires some thought to keep from falling over. We ought to realize that when re- citing in class we should pay atten- tion to our work. When we stand on one foot it gives the idea that we are not interested in our work. It is disr espectful to our teachers, too. How would it look if the teachers leaned against their desks as much as some of the pupils do? And now, let us all avoid this habit of appearing to be lazy, and lacking in interest in our work. HELEN BLASDALE. ACROSS THE PLAINS IN ' 49 Dr. Peters, with his wife, children, and some friends, left a small town in Missouri in a caravan for Califor- nia in 1849. He had five children, the youngest being only three, while the oldest was fifteen. The caravan consisted of about ten wagons and twenty-five people. Several days after leaving Missouri, the gold seekers were stricken with a dreaded disease and were forced to camp on the spot. Probably all would have died had it not have been for the aid of Dr. Peters, who, by his untiring efforts, saved most of them. During the sickness his youngest child died. Finally they were able to resume their weary journey. At night they would arrange their wagons in a circle, outside of which they had guards posted to warn them in case of an attack by the Indians. Just inside of the wagons they had the horses securely tied so they would not stampede during an attack by the red savages. Inside of this double ring they slept themselves. One night they heard a yell from one of the sentries and upon investi- gating they discovered that he had been killed by the Indians. Then fearing an attack, they prepared to give them a warm reception should they come. Just before sunrise, when the night is darkest, the Indians attacked, yell- ing like madmen. If they had ex- pected to surprise and capture the caravan they were doomed to disap- pointment, for they were forced to re- treat after finding the fire of the defenders too hot. After a few more desperate charges they finally gave up the fight. Before reaching Sacra- mento they had several more Indian scares, but they all turned out to be false alarms. Before they arrived at Sacramento their shoes were all worn out, and they had to wear moccasins made from skins until they could buy some more shoes. Finally, after many hardships, their efforts were re- warded and thej- arrived in San Francisco safe. SANBORN SMITH.

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The Target 17 The students of the Willard School are much indebted to the pupils of the English classes of Mrs. Colmore and Miss Stockton, for the pleasure the} ' ' have given us in the tableaus and plays, presented by their students this term. On February 11th the play, Evan- geline, was presented by the pupils of Mrs. Colmore ' s class, before the pupils of the eighth grades. It was again presented on the twenty-seventh before the ninth grade students. The play was dramatized and arranged en- tirely by Edith Comstock with the co-operation of her classmates and the assistance of Mrs. Johnson who supervised the dancing. Kathrine Sibley, two weeks later, presented a delightful group of tableaus taken from Longfellow ' s Evangeline, reading a selection to illustrate each picture. The General Electric company kindly furnished the lighting for each scene. It has been estimated that the light so generously furnished by the General Electric company would have cost the school about two hundred and fifty dollors. The pictures were most carefully and artistically planned and executed. Katherine Sibley and her corps of as- sistants deserve much praise. Miss Stockton ' s English class dramatized A Man Without a County. The best scenes were chosen by Miss Stockton from the dramatiza- tions handed in by the class. The class then voted for the people they wished to take the different parts. The Seventh Grade chorus were thus delightfully surprised by the drama- tization of the well-known story A Man Without a Country. We hope to see many such pro- grams, for they are always interesting, and greatly enjoyed. Such programs mean hours of extra thought and effort on the part of the participants, but their labors are not in vain. A strong spirit of unity is fostered and every student is bound to feel that when the opportunity is offered it is his duty to give pleasure to his fellow students and gain honors for his school. MARJORIE WAIDE. BLEACHER STRENGTH In the recent baseball games with Garfield and Edison, the opposing schools had large bodies of patriotic rooters on hand to cheer on the players. A team with strong back- ing behind it, no matter how good a team, will have more spirit and fight in it than a team without boosters. All of our great colleges hold ral- lies before important games to fire the players with enthusiasm and to arouse the interest of the students. It would be a good idea if we could stage a rally every Monday afternoon, as the games are on Tuesday. Last year the Willard team received the cup offered to the winning school. If we are going to keep the cup, we must win it this season and next, as the team winning it three times will be entitled to keep it perma- nently. To do this the students must turn out at all the games and show the players that they are backing them to the finish, as bleacher strength wins many a game. JOHN RHODES. A BAD HABIT Abraham Lincoln was once asked how long a man ' s legs ought to be. He replied that they should be long enough to reach from his body to the floor. Some pupils of Willard School do not seem to think so. Some of

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The Target 19 Our Feathered Neighbors Outside our dining room window my father put up a bird tray. We have trained some jasmine vines upon it and the birds perch on the branches. In winter we have suet, red berries, apples and mush for the birds. In the middle of the lawn we have a bird pool with shrubbery be- hind it. Many birds come there to bathe and then sing to us. The hermit thrush is our favorite winter bird. He is brown with a speckled breast. He is very slender and the stateliest bird we have. He eats Christmas red berries. First he cocks his head to one side, then as quick as lightning he pops a berry into his mouth. I have never known him to eat more than five at a time. Another of our favorite birds is the ruby crowned kinglet, who is a small bird with a red topknot, that only shows when he ruffles up his feathers. He is a greenish bird and has a beautiful song, which we do not hear in Berkeley. We have warblers, song spar- rows, towhees, robins and bluejays. Once this winter the bluebirds came to the pool and twice we have seen cedar waxwings there. We are very fond of our birds and they must be of us for they come even if we are playing or eating in the dining room. One white crowned sparrow is banded, which means that it has a small band of aluminum with a num- ber on it, on his leg. Some person caught the bird and banded it and sent the number, the date and place where it was caught, to Washington. There they keep a list of these things. If a scientist catches the bird he re- ports to the society when and where it was caught. In this way they find new records in the migration habits of the birds. The other night as I was pulling down the shade, two green eyes stared at me from the bird tray. It was a cat and, as he was a most un- welcome guest, I did not hesitate to, scare him away. RUTH MEAD. A NARROW ESCAPE (A True Story) To begin with, strychnine is a deadly poison when given in large doses. Mr. Collins, a prescription phar- macist, thought he knew where every chemical in the drug store was. One day a prescription for asperin came in, and he filled it without looking at the label on the bottle. In putting it back on the shelf he accidentally turned the label toward the wall. When the proprietor, Mr. Stockholm, came in he asked: What is in that bottle that has no label? Asperin, answered Mr. Collins. The proprietor walked over to the shelf and picked up the bottle. Then he noticed the label on which was printed Strychinne. Some one had changed the asperin bottle with the strychnine. Meanwhile the delivery boy had gone to deliver the prescrip- tion. This is not asperin, this is strych- nine, said Mr. Stockholom. My God! cried Mr. Collins, I filled a prescription for asperin out of that bottle just a few minutes ago! Get a taxi and go after the de-