Willard Middle School - Target Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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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-

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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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20 The Target livery boy. You may be able to get there before the patient takes the stuff, said the pale Mr. Stockholm. Mr. Collins lost no time in find- ing a taxi and was soon on his way. When he arrived, he raced up the stairs and rang the bell as if the house were on fire. The nurse was ready to give the medicine. When she heard the bell ringing, she was in doubt whether to give the medicine and then answer the door, or answer the door first. But the bell was ring- ing so furiously that she decided to answer the door first. Mr. Collins told the whole circumstance, and thus the patient was saved an untimely death. WH EATON ADAMS. A DOG ' S DAY Dear me, said Rowdy to him- self, what has become of Buster? Rowdy was a dog. He was a little black and brown terrier about a year old. Buster was his pal. He was a little white fox terrier with a tan spot on his back. He was about six years old. Rowdy started down the street in search of Buster, feeling sure he would find him somewhere about the town. He was trotting gaily along when suddenly he found himself in a net. He tried his best to get away, but that was impossible. He was still kicking and squirm- ing around when a man came, and, putting his hand under the net, dragged him out by the back of the neck. He was put into a strange looking wagon, which was covered with wire. T here were several other dogs in the wagon and whom should he meet but Buster. I wonder why he put us in here? remarked Rowdy. It would be fun if is wasn ' t for the wire. I ' ve heard a lot about this thing, said Buster, but this is the first time he has ever caught me. What do you mean? asked Rowdy. You see this man is hired by the city — look at that man over there! A young man was standing on the sidewalk looking at the wagon full of dogs. He hailed the driver and coming up asked, pointing to Rowdy: Where did you get that dog? He hasn ' t any license and I found him running around the streets, answered the man. How much is the fine? said the young man. He belongs to a friend of mine and I ' m sure he would hate to lose him. Buster knew by the way they spoke that they did not intend to let him out when they let Rowdy out so watching his chance he stood direct- ly in front of the door. The minute the man opened it to let Rowdy out, he sprang at his hand and gave it such a terrible dig that the man let go of the door with a sharp cry and out sprang all the dogs. Away they went as fast as their legs would carry them. I think it is not necessary to say what happened between the two men, but. anyway, it wasn ' t very pleasant. ROSELLA KEMPER. JIM ' S DEBUT When Jim first entered college his popularity was due to the fact that he was a typical farmer boy. He im- mediately became recognized in the football world. But soon his friends saw that he was becoming a dude. The notoriety he had received had