Winchester School - Oui Dire Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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OUT- l 911112 25 Now she was taking care of her grand- mother very well, but she could not make the Howers that she brought from the woods grow in her garden. She cared for them very tenderly and watered them every day, but they all drooped and died as soon as she took them from the woods. Because Patricia lived so far away from the royal palace and from the beaten track to the nearest village, she did not know of the in- tention of l'rince Charles, the prince of the country, to ehoose a wife from among the sub- jects of his father's kingdom, One day she had brought in a beautiful wild rose and planted it near her kitchen door. Xiihile she was watering it, the good Fairy of Love stopped at her gate and watched her. She saw what a useless task it was for l.'atricia to plant woodland tlowers in her sunny gar- den, because they always died for lack of shade. The fairy decided that she would help to fulfil Patricia's simple wish, and to make the flowers grow with the help of l'atrici:t's constant care and attention. This was her plan. That very night she would come back and bring all the good tree fairies with her to plant trees near the cottage to shade the garden. They did -this, and also painted the cottage a beautiful clean white with the doors and window ledges green. For the good Fairy, Love, knew that the flowers would grow and bloom with care, but die if they were not watered regularly. The good fairy 'had had an idea in her head from the first, so now she sent a messenger to the palace to urge the prince to come in the direction of Patricia's cottage. The next day when he went out riding, Prince Charles did not know that a good fairy was guiding his horse, but was content to go where his horse took him. Finally he came to a road that was almost grown over with grass, but it looked so pleasant and cool that he took it, hoping it would lead to a cottage where he could get a drink of water, for he was very thirsty. That morning when Patricia went out to her garden, she was very much delighted to see that her rose bush was still alive, but did not notice that 'the forest had moved nearer to the house. She brought out her bucket of vvater and was watering her flowers when someone knocked at the gate. It was the prince, but she did not know it. He asked her for a drink of Wa-ter and the direction to the nearest village. She gave him a ffourd full of cool, sparkling Water, and theiin called her grandmother to give him the directions to the next town. Then she finished watering her flowers, and all at once they seemed to take heart and grow, and blossomed out in full bloom. The prince noticed how charming she was. how tenderly she spoke to her grandmother, and how well the garden was kept. lie had never before seen this small cottage near the woods, but resolved to come back again. XYhile he was talking to l'atricia's grandmother, he asked her if he might not call again to see the lovely garden. Something told her to say yes, for she knew that it would be all right for him to come. So he came again and again, and in the course of a few months l'rince Charles and llatricia were married and lived happily ever after, for so must all fairy tales end. D. li. 'I5. A PRICKLY CHILD OF THE DESERT. The cactus is one of the most wonderful plants of the desert. lt has showed, by the many defenses with which it has surrounded itself, its great capability of self-preservation, and its wonderful adaptability to the con- stantly changing conditions of the soil and the atmosphere of its home. .Xt one time. parts of Nevada, Arizona. Utah and Northern Mexico were a great in- land sea. Through a stretch of years, as the water gradually evaporated or leaked from this sea, the damp soil opened a great oppor- tunity for the growth of many species of plants. Une of the most important of the plants that helped to cover this vast space was the cactus-not the cactus of to-day--but the cactus of long ago. This plant was one with well-defined stalks and with multitudes of leaves, each as large as a man's head. As the heat of the sun began to dry up the soil the cactus prepared to meet this chang- ing condition. lt gradually dropped its leaves in order to prevent the all necessary moisture from evaporating too rapidly, sent its roots deeper and deeper into the earth, where the heat of the sun had not yet penetrated, and thickened its stalks into broad slabs. ln this way it was able to withstand the heat of the sun and get most of its nourishment from deep beneath the ground. There were probably many other plants which could not adapt themselves so well as the cactus to the chang- iff conditions and therefore must have per- n g ished, for we know nothing of them to-day.

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24 our- thought he was not present, but still vainly ,Cm-,flling for the midnight wanderer, and for a moment looked not up, NYhen first I HIOVCCI mint- mtg from the pitchy black, wherein was Leicester lost to sight, methought a stranger was before me standing, scribbling hastily on xi tiny tablet tl wot not how the man could .,l.,,.' ,ts again I looked in 's direction I saw that they had plglytltl me true, 'Twas indeed a strrnieixr, and such an one! Clad in muddy litt:tn li'tiii :mtl with no bearing whatsoever liiglx lit, lljltl th' ftxel'lurl4lllL'Ss of llls lillltll! eigtme ,'.:-Yet! itself on my noble form and ugly.-.E x-iiili undue admiration at my regal fea- 'wt-,s. ll, ith royal dignity, disgruntled at the 'll'!llQllllt'ss words l had just spoken. I asked of him who llc might be. To which th' impu- dent rascal said lu me: ll'hat's in a uaine to one of such keen wit and spirit? I beg of thee, most lovely one. to know what's thine, Iinraged to speechless wrath, with all the scorn of outraged majesty, I commanded the knave to leave the grounds, Leave quotha, and who art thou to say that I shall leave-nay not shall,-must leave? lYhy, lady, knowest thou not that these be the parks of the tirst lady of the land, Queen Iless, as we who are her friends, do name her? Aye, well do I know that, and all the more I say begonelu lieu-one! And hath her royal majesty not bid me use her noble parks wherein to coin my wit? lIas she not herself begged me to use mine own F ,Xh! then. said I, thou knowest the fpnAen? hoping thus to trap him. -lust so, saith he, she would list to my cl-:ver spt-ilclies by the hour, she-but they vyere clever words in which I heard thee an- suer thy avowing lover. Let's see if I have got them down aright: if so, methinks I'll use them in my newest play, '11, swear not hy the moon, th' inconstant moon'4 f'Thou knave, thou wretched fool. Stop! My very words. lVho art thou, man, to thus address me? 'Tis unbearable! I found myself screaming, angered beyond all reason and then came Leicester, alarmed, hastening to the spot. I come, my queen! Courage! I come! And dashing in as the loathsonie adventurer, was sly- ly edging towards the wood, 'most overthrew him as thev met face to face. Zounds', he cried, the scoundrel here I find, and grasped him by his villain's neck. DIRE The moon then softly slipping from behind a cloud, shone full upon the dastard and, my lord thereby carefully examining him, exclaimed: XYhy 't can't be, yet surely-m' faith, 'tis XVill Shakespeare. Ilow came you here? And thereupon he clapped the man upon the back and seemed forgetful of my very presence. But he, who rashly dared to cast his insults in my face, spake, demanding that he be presented. Klethought what should I do? My very maiden feeling revolted! Yet could I, Queen of Eng! land, turn and run even from such an one? .Xhl No! Moreover did I yearn to see the brazen countenance when the rogue should hear mine noble rank. So, quickly, did Leicester announce him to her majesty, Queen Elizabeth. He truly seemed nonplussed for a moment, stood wav- ering' in his mind, then with a distinguished grace bent low in courtly obeisance to his Ruler but spoke no word. tiraciously arising, I slowly walked beside good Leicester to -th' edge of the park, where, stopping in my stately course, I called back softly to the still figure, The queen does not ope her garden-gates to 'Sir' Shakespeare. hereafter. Hut strange! I feel no hardness towards the man despite his bold affronts. Hethinks I'll take me to his playhouse to hear this newest tale he has. Like wearied ships in silent fiight, Abandoned in the dread of night Ifle passed beyond, A vagabond. 9 F I '15 -,. -. ., . A FAIRY TALE . New at TIN time of mv story when the lairies and elves and goblins lived and held sway over the woods, there happened to dwell in a little house by a large for-egg 21 Youno' 0-irl named Patricia, and her old 0-1-anflmgtlier, Iler father and mother were deadoand she had no -brothers. She had a small piece of land in wluch she sowed corn and planted potatoes and rows of red and white cabbages. This was all they could afford to havef so they lived througli the whole year on this meagre fare, IWIIWI fllO1lg by a few clams and lish caueht in the bay. C' Iler lirsl ambition was to care for her qi-and- mother, and her second to have a Bower bed of all the most wonderful flowers that rrfevy in the woods back of her cottage. 6 N i ...LF

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26 CJUI- DIRE The cactus and a few other plants that were able to survive, began to cover these desert plains. llaving overcome the first of its foes, the drought, the cactus was still to be tortured. Klanv animals, finding that it was very good to eat, now came day after day, and destroyed thousands of the plants. The cactus began to search for a way by which to defend itself against this new foe. tlf the million cactus plants that were eaten to the ground, only a thousand or two made the effort to throw out new leaves and try once more. They under- took to protect themselves. At lirst they sent out nothing but a modified fruit bud, or leaf. which proved more tempting than ever to the auiinals, for they still continued to enjoy the edible plant. l'erhaps only a hundred out of the two thousand were able to avoid destruc- tion. This hundred, hardier than the rest, al- though eaten to the ground, sent up again and again new leaves. lfach time a new crop ap- peared the hair became stiffer and stronger and the protuberances harder and more point- ed, until they had formed a strong armor which the animals could not disregard. Thus we see the cactus was able to rise to all emerg- encies. XYhen the cactus is first planted it is a slab of brilliant green color. lt is flat, of an oval shape, and about an inch or less in thickness. This slab contains a large amount of water, and is of soft mushy libre. There I1I'C eyes on this slab which are capable of giving growth to roots, to a fruit, or to another slab, which- ever seems to be most needed. :Xfter it be- gins to grow, it becomes tough and woody and loses a great deal of its moisture. lt also changes its color from green to brown, and its slain becomes rough like the bark of a tree. This change is to protect itself from the rav- ages of ground animals. As one readily can understand, the cactus is a very hardy plant, so much so that it is able to survive conditions under which any other plant would wither and die in a short Linn-, These cactus plants are known to live from one to ten years without a drop of rain and still manage to get enough moisture from the parched desert, by sending t'heir roots down deep into the soil, to make them as juicy as a watermelon, .Xn experiment showed 'that one, lying on a lnirlap-covered wooden shelf four feet above the ground, sent down long Touts through the cracks of the boards within a few days. .Xnother experiment proved that a cactus, having been tied to a branch of a tree for nearly seven years, and having had no nourislnnent during that time, still retained life. lts slabs had withered and turned brown and appeared to have died but, when it was planted in six inches of ground, it immediately took root and threw out new flowers and slabs. lt has been proved that this plant, cared for, cultivated, watched over and protected, re- mains no longer poisonous or bitter and loses its spine entirely. lt has taken twelve years to produce the cactus as it was many years ago, but it is now very rapidly taking the place of alfalfa as food for cattle. XYe can see that the environment of a plant has a great deal to do with its character. All kinds of garden plants, well nurtured and cared for, seem to vie with one another as to which can produce the largest and the greatest num- ber of flowers. lforinstance, geraniums, roses, pansies and liollyhoclcs seem to try to return ltindnesses paid to them by brightening up the garden or flower bed with their variously col- ored blossoms. These flowers have always been well treated, but our poor cactus plant, during its entire life, has had to struggle for existence. ls it any wonder then that it has surrounded itself with all manner of defense- denionstrating the great law of life. self-pres: ervation? To a gentle application of the law of kindness, the despised cactus responds gladly by casting away its spine and poison. Surely, after such efforts. it deserves a place of honor respect in the plant kingdom. K E R, 'I and 1 ...5. SPRING. The new robin in the tree, XX lnstles clear and merrily, Spring is here! Spring is here! The crocns, peeping through the earth, l ells to all with loving mirth. Spring is here! Spring is here! l'ussy-willow by the brook, Xl lnspers with enchanting look, Spring is here! Spring is here! The cladodils are gaily dancing, XX ith their yellow robes entrancing, Spring is here! ,Spring is here! ' A lVe welcome it so gleefully, And do our work so cheerfully, Spring is here! Spring is here! M. I. C. S