Willard Middle School - Target Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

Page 20 text:

Niincompoop THE NICKNAME N1NcoMPooP was attached to Roy Austin early in his high school career. Roy was not a stupid boy nor very unusual looking. He was tall and awkward and had the habit of making most unfortunate and unexpected responses in class. It became customary for the class on these occasions to laugh uproariously and exclaim, Oh the nincompoop! As he was excluded from most affairs, Roy spent his time reading detective stories and tramping about the countryside with his gun and dog. Roy graduated with satisfactory records and soon went to work, but the name persisted. He changed from one small position to another until he finally began doing odd jobs about the town. He still spent his leisure tramping and reading. One evening while Roy was walking back toward town near the rail- road tracks, he saw a train stopped at a lonely junction. As he had never seen a train stopped at that point before, he halted at some distance and looked at the train curiously. Suddenly it occurred to him that the train was being held up. What should he do? He glanced about. A car behind the trees. It must belong to the bandits! he said half-aloud. He crept over to the car cau- tiously and with his dog beside him crouched on the bottom of the car, opening the door slightly. In only a few minutes, which seemed hours to the boy, he saw through the crevice of the unlatched door three men running toward the car. just as they neared the sedan, he suddenly pushed back the door and set the dog upon them. Aiming his gun, he shouted, Hands up!', Entirely unprepared for this turn in events, the bandits fell back. shouting their confusion. Immediately six men, three of whom were armed trainmen, rushed up from the train and surrounded the thieves. The cap- tured men were taken to the sheriff's office. In the excitement Roy was forgotten, but, after delivering the bandits to the sheriff, one of the trainmen said, Where is the boy? The company will want to reward the hero. Here he is, said the sheriff. Why, it's Nincompoop! Elizabeth Burns. Momning I saw Apollo rise tbis morn. Up -mountain peaks wbere silence reigns As Aura softly touched 111 y ebeek, I 'll sbad y bower by bubbling brook, And I rejoiced tbat I was born I gloried in what nat-ure deigns To see the world spread out beneatb. To be ber 'most i1z11itin.,g 1zook. But all too soon I saw o'erbead Apollo in bis ebariot gold. I knew 'twas time to laomeward tread, Yet I was loatb to leave tbe wold. Iean Barker.

Page 19 text:

Pat looked into the darkness, hoping to see some moving figure coming toward them. Though he looked hard, no one could be seen. Finally he said, Light the torch, boys. We're going to look for him. They Walked by many graves until one of the boys stumbled over what he thought was an unmarked grave. When Pat leaned over to help him up, he noticed it was not a grave but Dimitri. The boys thought Dimitri was feigning unconsciousness merely to frighten them and discussed leaving him there. Pat, feeling responsible for him, stayed behind. Looking once more, he noted that something about the way the body was thrown looked unusual. Stooping over, he shook him gently and called, Dimitri, Dimitriln Pat pulled the body into a sitting position, but Dimitri fell back limp. Seeing the look on their leader's face, the boys turned back to be told Di- mitri was dead. They decided that this must be reported to the authorities, so five of them left While the other five, including Pat, stayed with Dimitri, While they were waiting, Pat thought over the things he had done and made a vow over Dimitri's dead body to lead a life after this that he would not have to be ashamed of at any time. Violet Laudel. Sunrise The sun does rise behind the hill At dawn when all is cool and still, When Aurora leaves her jiizger prints Against the slay in rosy tints. The birds hegin to 0 pe their eyes And sing their joy up to the skies And soar into the heavens hlue To greet the coming day so new. The grasses quiver and awake, The winds the trees do gently shake. All the world awakes from sleep To doyff its 'mantle of silence dee p Dewdrops on the 'meadows lie, Priceless pearls, which hmmzn- eye May consider fualueless. They are hy far More lovely than our jewels are. Gertrude Davis.

Page 21 text:

Trne Pioneer Tales nA Weary Joarney THIS IS A STORY that my great-grandmother told my father: When I was a little girl, my father, mother, and I joined a caravan crossing the plains in covered wagons. While traveling, we met many hardships. Sometimes we would go without water for a day. Most of the food we had to eat was what the men could kill. At night we would form the wagons in a large ring and have men on guard for Indians. 1 I remember one night, just as I was going to sleep, the Indians began to attack us. The men all rushed for their guns and began to shoot at the In- dians. I was so scared I hid in a wagon. As I was lying there, an arrow flew through the air and landed on the wagon floor. After a while the men drove the Indians away. There were five men wounded and two killed. The next day we started off again and traveled a good many days. NVe came to the Oregon Trail, which we followed till we came to Idaho where we made our homes. We were among the first to make our homes in Idaho, where we have lived ever since. Budd Lindsay. Not Quite IT WAS SUNSET on the prairie as the people of the little caravan were pre- paring supper. My grandmother, who was a little girl then, was sent to her family wagon to cut the bacon for supper. All of a sudden she heard shots and saw the men of the train getting ready for defense. Then she saw an Indian get off his horse and sneak toward the wagon she was in. He had evidently seen her and thought she would make a nice playmate for his little girl, but, when he got there, she fought too much. The redskin then saw my great!grandfather's gun which was very beautifully en- graved. When grandmother saw a red hand reach for the gun, she hit it with the butcher knife which was very sharp. He let out a cry and disap- peared with the rest of the tribe, which were now driven away. Billy Po-nzcroy. Crossing the Plains THE TIME was 1850. My great-great-grandfather, his wife, daughter, and son with four hundred or more other people were crossing the plains. My great-great-grandfather was the captain of one hundred wag- ons. Around the wagons were guards. It happened that my great-grand- ma's brother was one of the rear guards. He soon grew so tired that he de- cided to stop and rest a while. When he awoke, he found that the wagons were far ahead of him, and he was alone on the plains with about one hun- dred Indians around him. When he got on his boots, he ran and jumped on his horse and nearly ran it to death till he caught up with the wagons. The Indians didn't attack his train because it was very big, but, when some of the people got angry or homesick and turned back, the Indians swooped down and killed them. Iefm H arklzess.