Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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Thc c troubled day we hear everyone nxkinjr, ‘•Where i» America goins? What will come to the Americas? The Social Studio claw hu.« had good prncticc in wrestling with Ohm problems but the answers nre left for prophets. We are happy, however, to liable to answer an easier question— How the Americas begun. The Mayas Amonjf the earliest Americans that we have any recortl of were the Mayas. They lived in Mexico and Central America from 500 B. C. to 500 A. D. These people erected marvellous temples to their gods, worshipped stone idols and sometimes offered human sacrifices. They paid more attention to agriculture than to warfare and in this point differed from the Aztecs. By 160 A. 1). the Mayas had a system of writing, largely pictorial and a very accurate calendar based on the study of astronomy. They used metal for tools. They made vessels of day and wove beautiful cloth. Today three books are in existence which were made by the Mayas These books are written on both sides of long sheets of paper. Later this wonderful civilization changed. The Mayas were forced to leave the region which had been theirs for so long and find new homes elsewhere. No one knows exactly why they had to go. Some think they had used the soil so long without knowing how to improve it that cereals and plants would no longer grow. Perhaps there were other reasons that we know nothing about. Their temples were especially beautiful. The walls were embellished with ornaments and picture writing, which has led many people to believe these people were descendents of the Egyptians. It is not known where these people originated. or how they came to live in America. They were here long before the white man came to America. Then at a later day the Spaniards conquered the Mayas and ruled them for many years. Many disappeared, and they decreased in numbers and what was left was finally finished by the jungle. Today a thick growth of trees and bushes almost covering the ruins of Mayan cities is our reminder of what once was a great civilization. —R. R. H. S. The Aztecs Of ancient American peoples, the Aztecs of central Mexico are the best known as well as the most terrible. The civilization of these people was remarkable in many ways. They were not such good builders as the Mayas, but their temples and palaces were very large and beautiful. They did not know iron, but their workmen did wonderful work in gold, copper. tin and silver. They used a system of picture-writing and in their schools they were taught to read and write. They learned the their workmen did wonderful work in gold, copper. tin and silver. They used a system of pic-use of cotton which they wove into cloth. The Aztecs, we read, were pagans. Their religion was a cruel one and they had many gods and made human sacrifices. After the discovery of America. European missionaries tried to teach these Indians to give up their religious customs, but the Aztecs were so puzzled by the teaching of the missionaries that they destroyed their idols, temples, and Carvings everywhere. They thought that in this way the truth about their religion would

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attempt was made on the life of her sweetheart. This caused her to utter his name which was the beginning of her new life. Thus she was able to take her place fully in the new life waiting for her. —M. S. Gone with the Wind I enjoyed reading Gone with the Wind” written by Margaret Mitchell, and I have learned some very interesting things about the Civil War from it. It tells how the Southerners hated Lincoln, and much about the war near Atlanta. It tells how the South suffered when their homes were destroyed by the Yankees. The main character is Scarlett O'Hara, a very selfish and proud woman who thought only of herself. 1 think the author’s idea in writing this story was to show that selfishness will not bring you real happiness. The old proverb. Pride goes before a fall is perhaps another idea. The story was so interesting that I could hardly pull myself away from it. It tells of so many hardships that I am sure I know whai it was like in the South during those trying days, and how I would have hated it, had I been living then. This story has been filmed and is being shown in the larger theatres. It is said to be a wonderful picture. Some day 1 hope to see it. —F. M. ------------------ The Yearling By Marjorie K. Rnwliiue The Yearling is a story of the Baxter family in Florida. It tells about their hard life there and about their only son, Jody, who amused himself in the deep woods where they made their home. It tells how Jody found a new-horn fawn which he wanted to bring home as a pet. His father, however, said it was too young. The story tells of the father’s going hunting to get meat for winter with Jody and the dog and of the awful accident they had on the way home when a rattler struck the tather's leg. Jody ran to a neighbor's for help to take his father home. Afterawhile Jody got the fawn for a pet which he called Flag. The story tells of Jody's great love for Flag, and how Jody ran away from home when his parents said that Flag must be taken away. In the end Flag was shot. Then Jody found that he was no longer a small boy. but a man and that he had the work and the responsibilities of a man before him. —G. D. “Bob—Son of Battle The story tells how two shepherds in Northern England had trouble all the time because of their dogs, how M’Adam tried many times to make Janies Moore seem to be in the wrong, and how in the end M'Adam’s dog was caught killing sheep, and how finally the killer met his death. The book was very interesting because it was packed full of excitement, pathos, and romance. The incident that I liked best was when Bob. the dog. had just barely driven the sheep into the pen as the whistle blew during the contest for the Shepherd’s Cup. The sheep had stalled on the plank bridge when Bob leaped on the back of one of them guiding them into the pen just as the whistle announced that time was up. Had one minute been wasted, it would have cost James Moore the cup. Alfred Ollivant, the Englishman who wrote the book, was born sometime after the Civil War. He had been an officer of the Royal Artillery in Great Britain at the age of nineteen. It was while he was fiat on his back in bed from a spinal injury that he wrote his first and best known book. Bob—Son of Battle which took him several years to finish because he wrote only at intervals. This book was published in London in 1898 under the title Owd Bob. In America, after a slow start, it soon became one of the best sellers. It has been called the best dog story ever written. —H. S. 22

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never be found out by the strangers. However, some traces of their civilization were left widest royed. so we have been able to learn a number of things about these people and their ways of living. One of the most interesting things which have been found by archeologists, is a large round ‘‘calendar stone” which the Aztecs had set up in front of their Temple of the Sun. By this they kept a record of days, months and years. Upon this large stone they offered up human sacrifices. This interesting civilization ended when the Spaniards conquered Mexico in the early part of the 1500's. The Spaniards governed the country for three hundred years. As the Aztecs lost their power, their ways of living changed. They became mere Indians, and soon the remarkable Aztec civilization was at an end. H. H. and U. S. The American Indian The Indians of North America were believed to have been living here many thousands of years ago. Where they came from, we don't know, but some believe that they were a superior race descended from the Mayas of Mexico, while others believed that they came from Asia. These people were much alike in general appearance. They all hud straight, coarse, black hair, copper-colored skin, high cheek hones, heavy eye-brows, piercing eyes and n stern expression. The real name that we have given these people is not their correct name. No one knows their real name. The mistake was made by Columbus when he came here and thought he hail reached India. Since that time the name Indian has clung to these people, and the name American has been added to differentiate them from the people of India. It is rather hard to describe the character of the American Indian. In North America there were more than two hundred tribes. Kach tribe had different customs and different ways of living hut all had somewhat similar traits. They were savage in warfare and sometimes cruel. The early Indians were religious, hut their religion was nothing like ours. They believed there was a soul in every man. animal, tree and flower. They taught their children to hide their feelings and to practice greatest self control. We have been taught that the Indians of an earlier day did nothing hut hunt and fish. This was a mistake for some American Indians developed corn, and tobacco. They raised sweet potatoes, peanuts, squash, sunflowers and cotton. At one time the Indian nation was a very large one. but as America became settled the Indians were forced to move westward. Our civilization did not agree with them. Today they are few in number and not of much importance to this country. Those living today are very much like the Indian of long ago in appearance and are a reminder of the first real Americans. F. M. and G. I). I lumor Rattle-Brained Three slightly deaf men were motoring from th north to London in n noisy old onr and hearing wa difficult. A they were nearing the city, one asked: lx thl Wcmldy? ” No”, replied the second, this in Thursday. So nm I”, put in the third, Icti stop rt thb well a herd and have one. Traffic Top: Why did you drive by me after I blew my whittle? Mortornt: I nm deaf, officer. Traffic Cop: “That may be true, but you’ll cot you hearing in the morning.” The Soft An wr Motherfat ten): Tommy, your band are dirty. Tommy: Yea. mummy, I didn't wish them 0’ I'll I c ready for gardening directly after tea. Alex. P: I can't go to school today, mm-. I don’t feel well. ’ Mrs. Hickemon: Where i» it you don't feel well? Alex: In school. Charles W: I -aw an uirplutie rtyin'.” Mrs. Lowe: Don't drop your g’ . my boy. Charles: Gee!. I saw on airplane ffyin'.