Manual Arts High School - Artisan Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 104 text:

100 THE AR T I S A N S ' 3 COLONEL LAWRENCE, ARABIAN KNIGHT By Virginia Merrill The wildly colorful achievements of Colonel Thomas Edward Law- rence, a graduate of England ' s I )xford University, read like the stories of the Arabian Nights, lie hated publicity and reward. In fact, he ran away from it. So quietly, without any blaring head-lines, he brought the disunited nomadic tribes of Holy and Forbidden Arabia into a unified campaign against their Turkish oppressors. This move was one which statesmen and leaders had tried to accomplish for centuries. Lawrence united the wandering tribes of the desert, returned the sacred places of Islam to the descendant of the Prophet, and drove the Turks from Arabia. Around the period of the World War, T. E. enacted bis immense accomplishments in several fields. And although he was cited for nearly every decoration that the French and British had to offer, he always ran away from them by any swift means of transportation available. Even when ribbons and medals were presented to him he declined to wear them at any time. Along with his many accomplishments, T. E. was a journalist as well. For throughout the desert campaign he kept a journal of the events of the day. Then, after being awarded a fellowship at All Souls ' College, ( l.xfonl, lie wrote a two-hundred-thousand-word manuscript of the in- side story of his experiences in far-off Araby. Immediately after the completion of this story, the manuscript was stolen. But, undaunted, be rewrote the entire journal. We respect and like people of fame, not always for their achieve- ments, but for their personal mannerisms and tastes. One of Colonel Lawrence ' s hobbies was printing books by hand. There were few things he liked better than an attractive book. So, he built himself a small cot- tage on the edge of Epping Forest, ten miles out from London. Here he in- stalled a hand-press, and when he finally finished his Arabian book he made six copies. A few were presented to friends, and one copy went to the British Museum Library. Those who have read it consider it a pyramid in English literature. To know the story of this five-foot three, shy. modest, uncrowned King of Arabia. is a warming cheer. For it is knowing a true cadet.

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102 T II E A R T [SAN S ' 36 NIGHTMAN Bv Virginia Merrill Regarded by the Spectator Staff as one of the finest stories to appear in their supplement, it is herewith reprinted. — Art Mikol. The boy in Wayne ' s grip stiffened. Bv Courtesy Of The Spectator It was the ponderous weight of an unpleasant, poorly, shaven man that made the stairs creak so complainingly. The dimly lighted hallway was barely wide enough to permit his passage through it. The abundance of doorways denoted the fact that this was a tenement house. The cor- pulent one stopped hefore a doorway and with a jerkv, bending motion he dropped a paper to the floor. Then with his foot he shoved the paper beneath the door, rapped twice, and left as noisily as he had come. The rapping had disturbed three persons at their evening meal. The food was as meager as the room was bare and poverty striken. An elder- ' y. graying man quickly rose from the aged and cracked table and opened the door. When he saw no one, his eyes dropped fearfully to the thres- hold. After a slight start, he bent down and took the paper in his tremb- ling hands, then turned so his wife and young son could not see his dis- play of nervousness in the shaking of the paper. The note read as he had expected :