The San Francisco call., 1904-11-06

there's fourteen of US here. That'n
make a good number, an we can meet
here, in Jimmie's room, just as we'll as
not Then frankie broke in, An we
can have it secret an have passwords
an grips. Well, that brought EN- all
around. If you want to get hold Of
boy of the age of them boys, just get
up club with passwords an grips, an
badges, an maybe a secret whistle, an
selves to get in I'll miss my guess.
so we organized the club, an we
give ii name. L can't tell you what it
is, cause it's secret, but we, Jimmie,
an Bill Jones an me, made out con-
stttution, an made nominations for the
officers. Maybe we did have a lot TO do
with gettin' it runnin', but somebody
had to. an 1 didn't want the boys to
have the idea that the teacher had very
much to do with Startin it. We nomi-
mated Eddie Harris for president He
was Gne OF the quiet kind. but I knew
he belonged to the Good Templars, an
so knew a little about runnin' such
things. The boys, Bill an Jimmie.
kicked at givin' it to him, but 1 told
,em they had to have somebody that
knew Somethin' about runnin things
like that, an there wasn't nobody else
that knew but the teacher an me, an
neither one OF us could hold Office ac-
cordin' TO the constitution, nor vote
neither. l kind o. thought that since
we was goin' to have an election ev'ry
month, some of the other boys might
get it into their heads to run for presi-
dent, an they'd think since Eddie got
the Office by bein' a Good Tempiar, that
they'd have to join the Temple an so
learn how TO run things. An there
wasn't one of 'em there that 'twould
hurt TO join. If they took the pledge
now maybe they'd stick to it, an 1t
would keep EN- out O mischief at least
while they was in it An 1 thought
maybe the Temple could hold onto 'em
when once it got 'em, an that was
worth tryin'.
The constitution was adopted just
as we had it, an the officers elected.
Then the teacher said since we didn't
have anything in the constitution
about badges, he'd like to furnish 'em
for the club. Since we were to study
birds, an such things, he knew OF
something that would be all right. 1t
wasn't anything to wear, but we could
carry EN- in our pockets, an he didn't
think anybody else would have any
like EN- around here. The boys all
cheered him at this offer, an then I
made another suggestion. Says 1,
We've made our plans for a weekly
meetin' for Friday nights. Why can't
meetin Sunday afternoons from three
to five? Most of you will be through
your dinners after church and Sundey
school by that time, an it'll give us
two hours in the woods an fields, an
let you all get home In time for the
chores. The teacher can tell us about
the things we see, that we don't know,
an we can start from here They all
finally agreed, though some of 'em
thought their folks might object, but l
knew IL the folks thought they was
with the teacher an so long as they
wasn't around in the way at home
those Sunday afternoons, ii wouldn't
make no difference to the folks where
they was. Then the teacher said he
could have the badges ready for Sun
day, cause he was goin' to town the
next day..
1t was pretty late that night when
the meetin' broke up. Must have been
eleven, an 1 told the boys to say to-
their folks that / wouldn't let EN- stay
that late again. An I warned 'em not
to let out the secrets Of the club an
so they went home feelin' as big as
could be. the whole eleven of 'em, the
teacher feelin' good over the different
way the boys treated him, an the boys
all proud Of bein' IN the club right
from the start, an plannin' on things
they was goin' to do.
All the boys was on hand Sunday
afternoon, an 1t was a beautiful day.
We spent two hours in the woods,
studyin' empty birds nests, an tryin' to
see how many of 'em we could tell by
the way they looked in winter, an the
teacher gave us all our badges He'd
collected different kinds o. coins once
an he had a lot of those old white
cents with an eagle on 'em. You re-
member 'em, don't you? Bout war
time, guess. An he give each of us
one Of 'em. Only one of the boys had
ever seen one of 'em, an they was all
as careful Of en- An some of the boys
was tellin' about brothers that was
comm TO school next week, an wanted
TO join, but we'd set the limit on num-
bers at fifteen who could vote, an so
only three could get in, an I advised
the boys to walt till they'd been runnin'
a month or so before they took in the
other three.
'-On Monday mornin' Bill Wood an
Jack Smith showed up at school about
half-past ten, an tried to take the