Phillips High School - Mirror Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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T II E M I R R O R A SOUL IN TORMENT The day is prett and school runs along smoothly until the fatal period. The bell rings. and very slowly he drags out of his scat and stumbles, almost falls, up the steps to the third floor. Entering room 323 or 326 he lagginglv goes to his seat and flops. For a moment there is a distant “tic-tic ’ and then another “tic-tic”, steadily increasing until the whole room i in a deafening buzz. This continues for what seems to he an eternity, with an occasional ring to signal for a carriage return, which nearly breaks fingers which arc already numb from constant wiggling. Then the merciful minute comes. The teacher’s loud booming voice sounds over this place of torment, and the clicking stops, except for the timid “tic-tic of a straggler putting the last letters on a well striven for line. The orders and commands which are sounded out fall on deaf ears, ears which arc deaf from the unaccustomed quietness (except for the teacher) which has fallen over the room. The commands and orders are given, and again there is a “tic-tic in the distance, then another “tic-tic . He falls off into dreams of airplanes being blown into bits and falling in slivers on his head, of being in an old tin barn in a hail storm. All of this is revolving in circles and a black curtain seems to be dropping over his conscious being. He is drifting, drifting into space— when suddenly the bell rings. There is a rush and a push for the door, and happiness reigns until the next day when he flops into his seat. Then tic— —Julia Owens [18]

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T he Mirror And so the boat was lowered and as he neared the pool, he saw a mermaid, young, slim and beautiful disappear beneath it surface. “I’ve travelled north and travelled south, he told his motley crew. I’ve travelled cast and travelled west, no love I ever knew, “But here at last I’ve found it”—they listened, faces set. Sail back, for I am staying to gain the love I’ve met.” He stayed and built a house to dwell in and court the timid creature. Don’t think there were no rivals for rivals there were—three mermen, intent upon winning the mermaid’s hand, made going pretty “tough”. Days grew into weeks and weeks into years before she became interested in his attentions. I see him now swim by her and then the vision dims. Centuries roll by! Another vision comes, familiar to all. A bov of twelve sit on a bank, his fishing pole in hand 1 ask him if he catches trout—he doesn’t understand. “That ain’t for what I’m fishing”, his freckled face all frowns, Them kind don't grow in this here river , and then the cork she downs, And then hack up I see her come and flopping on the hook. There is a great big catfish who’s purring as I look. A handsome face that ca.fish has. and very noble, too. I could have sworn 1 heard him say in voice that made me blue, “I’ve travelled east and travelled west; no love I ever knew. And before 1 chanced to find it, 1 was caught by you. So how the catfish came to be is now no mystery to me. —John Shaffield IDLE-FI VE-.YII N L’TES Happy graduation, fellows! Happy as the result of work accomplished, and the happy, dircct-no-time-lost method of accomplishment. A thing worthwhile is rarely done without overcoming a lot of obstacles. “Skill is tour-fifths kill , which means that killing hard work is required before one i- skillful. The skilled juggler has to—by the way, who is tha: fellow over there who scents to be obsessed with the idea o; making himscif obstreperous. Why, if it isn't that ubiqui.ous, ever-present pest, Old-Idle-hive-Minute himself, who thinks he is going to do as much damage during our New Realism as he lias in the past. Let’s get a toe-hold on the outer extremities of his esophagus and pin him about so forcefully that he will think rigor mortis has already set in, and then cast him down so hard that he won’t know whether he is coming or going. If this won’t suffice, shall we rc oit to a body slams, or shall we bodily throw ()ld-Idle-Five-Minutes out of the window and out of our lives forever? [i?j —Donald Knight

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'I' It E M IRROR “The New Realism” We have written about some of the people and things we see every day. We have tried to uncover some of their hidden glamour” and find the wonder in ordinary lives around us. JOHN PUBLIC Mix the traits of all the heroes and villains of history, literature and the Bible and the result is John Public. Ask him to help distribute food to the needy and he will do it. but in his enthusiam he will break half the traffic laws. He agrees with you that peace is the best policy and really means it. but say something about our rights being infringed upon in a foreign country and you’ll have a bloodthirsty demon on your bands. He goe- to church on Sunday, a devout Christian. On Mondav, however, with his sins forgiven, he unthinkingly starts stacking them up again for the next Sunday. He will talk about Freedom of Speech” and Liberty”, and five minutes later, prompted bv a devout patriotism, will say that all the dirty Communists should he jailed or run out of the country. His candidate for office i positively a demi-god until their views differ. Then the candidate has sold out to Wall Street or is going to turn the country over to the Facists. It is hard for him to understand that what is for his own good is sometimes bad for the country as a whole. He hears rhe burden of the slate and knows it. and has no false modesty about it. He wants everyone to understand that he should, therefore, get the most benefit from the government. He is generally conceited to this extent. Corruption in city government should he stamped out.” he says while talking to a friend who has just fixed a parking ticket for him. He did not mean to break the law, and this, to him, makes bis an individual case. His vote carries plenty of power and you could not buy it with money. But promise him certain advantages and you have his support. In his own eves he is not selling his vote but is voting for what is best for the majority, for he says that his good and the common good are the same. He really means well, hut sometimes does not understand well the questions on which he votes. 'Phis man of qualities is the much-spoken-of common man in whose fairly capable, well-meaning hands the welfare of the country rests. —Laurence Wesson EARTH MOTHER Our Earth Mother’s face i wrinkled. The rains beating upon her have caused deep rut and gorges, and she shews the signs of age by the deeply cut canyons and the long winding rivers. Her hair has been shorn by the woodsman with his ax and saw. We depend upon this Mother Earth for our living, and for our luxuries. Her once bountiful natural resources have been wasted and destroyed by the early settlers because they were deceived by the vastness thereof. Now we arc realizing what it means to he thrifty with the resources which she has left in her depleted state. Miners arc digging her heart out day by day so as to make possible our skyscrapers, automobiles, ships, railroads, and other things which are made of iron and steel. Although she still holds much in store for those who care to explore and to build, and is as liberal as ever, it is because we appreciate her that we no longer take her gifts too [19]