Hudson High School - True Blue Yearbook (Hudson, WI)

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4 delay; as Hamlet might have had an opportunity to kill Claudius, before ho did, if this incident had not happened. While sailing for England, their ship is captured by pirates, and in a sea- fight which follows, Hamlet is separated from his companions and re turns to Denmark; although, in the meautime, he has found the king’s letter, which decrees his own death, and changed it, insert ing the bearer’s name in place of his own, this causing the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet has waited for an opportune time, to carryout his pur pose. At last the time comes. Laertes' a son of Polonius. is ready to take revenge on Hamlet, for his father. Hamlet accepts Laertes’challenge, and they fight a duel. Before the combat, Claudius prepared a bowl of wine for Hamlet to insure his death, in which poison had been placed; after this had been offered to Hamlet who refuses it the queen drinks of it and dies. The king's plan to poison Hamlet is now evident. Hamlet immediately kills him, and utters these words,—’’Here, thou incestuous, murderous Dane, Drink off this potion. Follow my mother.” Hamlet, hinself has been mortally wounded by Laertes’ pois oned sword, as has Laertes himself, but before he dies Hamlet tells his friend, Horatio, to report his cause to the people, whom he be- leives are now pretty thoroughly convinced of the kings guilt. Hamlet has now accomplished every part, of his pnrpose: first, he has revenged his father’s death: second, he has convinced the people of the king's guilt. Although Hamlet is a man of strong character and great men tality, I cannot sympathize with him in all parts of the play; or give to him alone the credit of revenging his father 's death, Even though Hamlet is responsible for the successful planning of the re- venge, in my opinion more credit should be given to faie; had it not been for the shipwreck, and Hamlet’s fortunate return to Denmark the revenge could never have been accomplished. The moral of the play, is as Hamlet says: “There’s a divinity that shapes onr ends: rough-hew them how we will.” L. B.—’13.

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 the people, that Claudius is guilty, and do this without bringing disgrace upon his mother. This burden bears heavily upon Ham- let’s mind, and it is not surprising that he said, “The time is out of joint! O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it ri ht! Ham- let s purpose mu-Jt be worked out under difficult conditions: he must have positive proof of his uncle’s guilt before he can convince the people; he must form his plans so that no onesuspect him, least of all Claudius. Horatio is Hamlet’s tyue friend, audit is to him alone, that Hamlet reveals his plans. Hamlet thinks his purpose can be carried out more successfully by pretending insanity, and for this reason, he assumes the conduct of an insane person, acting a great deal differently in the presence of the king, than in the presence of his mother or Horatio. One of the results of his scheme is that when Claudius invites the plavers to come to the court, simply to amuse Hamlet, he .Hamlet, uses it as a means for carrying out his plot. While this is only an ordinary amusement, Hamlet inserts in the play the dumb show, entitled “The Murder of Gonzago,’ which exactly corresponds to the way in which his own father was murdered. He and his friend Horatio note the effect of his play upon Claud ius, thus strengthening Hamlet's suspicions against him. After the show, Hamlet is called into his mother's room for an interview with her. As he is on his way there, he has an opportunity to kill Claudius, while he is unaware of it, but Hamlet thinks this would be cowardly, and would not carry out his real purpose. Pol. onius, a friend of the king notices Hamlet enter his mother's chamber, and so conceals himself behind the arras, and listens to the conversation In a few moments, Hamlet, hearing a noise from that direction, and thinking it to be Claudius, stabs him. Pol- onious dies immediately and in a short time Hamlet’s rash act is made known. The climax of the play is reached when Claudius, becoming suspicious of Hamlet, proposes sending him to England after he has killed Polonius. Hamlet accepts the proposal willingly; and with liosencrantz and Gildenstern, the king.s servants, sails for England. This is one instance where fate enters iu and causes

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HOW I BUILD A FIRE I am not telling you, please understand, how a tire should be built, but how I build a fire. Let critics say what they will, it it the only way I ever induced one toburn. First, I rakemostof the ashes out of the firepot, leaving jusl enough for a nice bed. Then I select a stout hardwood stick for a back-log and place it as far back in the firepot as it will go; in front of this i place sticks of light wood; and lastly long stripsofpaper, together with many chips and kindling, I place in front, so that the paper ends stick out of the front draft. I next replace the lid and light a match to the p-o- jecting paper ends. They blaze up and foi a few minutes I have an excellent tire. But it is short-lived. The flame flickers and dies down; in vain I blow and fan, but I cannot bring it back. I add more paper, which blazes up at first; then slowly flickers out, until discouraged by repeated failures, I haila passing boy and say, “Johnnv, please won’t you come in and start this fire for me?’’ He comes in looks at it, snifs and seizing the kerosene can, dumps in something less than a gallon, slams down the lid, sets a match to it, and in two minutes I have as tine a fire as one could wish. M. Me.— '15. THE IDOL AT SUSA The sun was blazing down upon the western shore of the Eu- phrates River. It was a primitive city, and yet its size and popu- lation rendered it worthy of the t' rm. It consisted of a large ag- gregation of buildings constructed upon a great rrmpart of earth. In order to have a firm foundation for their buildings and to render them more easily defended, the Babylonians raised enormous plat- forms of earth. This structure was many acres in extent and was raised to a height of forty feet above the level of the plain. Upon this platform the ouildings were Incite.!. The surrounding country of this city-state oi Nippur afforded neither timber nor stone and recourse was had to sun dried bricks as the chief building material, burnt bricks being used only for the outer casing of the walls. The buildings were one storied, with thick and heavy walls, and with Hat roofs of massive cedar beams. In the centre of the eitv were the palaces of the king and the great temple of Bel.