Arizona republican., 1920-04-11
By Hazel Hall in Poetry.
PRosPEcToRs


 The mining game, including mining towns and people, is intensely inter- esting to me; and most interesting of all the different sorts of mining people are the old prospectors with their in tereSting ideas and their thrilling tales of the old west which, sad to say, are not always true, but are breathlessly fascinating in spite of that.
 spent a summer at one little mining camp and there met one of the most interesting collections of prospectors have yet seen.
 The town itself is a sleepy place. for the great machinery. of it's mills is silent and its giant tramways idle. Some of these mines closed for one reason. some for another. but the gen. eral condition of affairs has led a swarm of leasers to the place-men their leases, to make enough to grub stake themselves for another prospect ing trip.
 Part way up the mountain on the south side in a little old cabin that is about as much shelter from the rain as a sieve, lives an old man well along toward the eighties. He knows every inch of the surrounding territory after having prospected over the country for forty years. He knows all the stories of the mountains and tells wonderful tales of the time when Pancho Villa was an ore-p2cker in the vicinity
 Farther up the mountain is another old man who rumor says is lonely prospector because of an unfortunate love affair. Certainly he is a striking figure whether the rumor be true or not He is only of medium height, slender without being thin, and with heavy shock of snow white hair, heavy iron grey brows shading keen deep blue eyes, a lean aristocratic face lighted by a wonderfully pleasant smile He was a sailor in his youth and boasts of the number of times he has rounded the Horn. His sea training shows in his immaculate camp and in the intricate knots with which he fastens his pack to the back of his burros.
 To the west is the camp of a rather amusing character, a veritable human skeleton, whose nickname is Fat Jack. His hobby is his burros, two fat, sleek who have grain with their hay even when their master goes hungry.
 And so 1t goes, up one mountain and down another; east, west, north or south A surprise and pleasure to anyone who cares enough to seek them
 LOIS PERKINS.
 Senior Phoenix High School.
 It is good to have young people with such seeing eyes and hearing ears as he writer of the above piece of work.)
 COWBOYS 1 Lean, sunburned and handsome. 1 gracefully erect on his splendid paving | horse he sits. cowboy. 4 wide som- l brero on his curly head. gay silk | is knotted careiessly | around his neck. Chaps, either leather | ones with fringe or woody ones of black l pr white he has; and iligh-heeled boots l and shining silver spurs he wears In | his hand he holds his ever ready lariat, | at his side his equally ready six-shooter | hands. This is he, our cowboy of pie .ure and of story
 Lean and burned by sun and wind. | .loucbing careIessIy and comforta bly | n his saddle. mounted on a horse, small | md tough with lines of speed and of endurance but none of beauty, and | whose coat is dusty and grimy as is his | master. he sits. a cowboy, Low over ,is eyes is pulled a hat; a sombrero? ,erhaps, but more likely just a hat. ,re that is old and gives protection rom the suns hot rays The soft dirty 'oIlar Of his faded shirt lies open at the hroat. Over his shirt is ragged blue umper Chaps he has. but they are ,atched and worn. What does that yeek is done. Spurs. sharp. it's cer- ain, and shining. maybe, he wears and Iigh -hee1ed boots. In his hand he holds ifs ever-ready lariat, in his mouth. his yer present cigaret- Thus he is, our owboy Of reality and true life.
 MARGARET HILL
 Sophomore Prescott High School (Vcry we'll written. Disillusioned at 1 sst.) 5;
 THE YUMA STAGE s---