Southold High School - Snuffbox Yearbook (Southold, NY)

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THE SNUFF BOX THE CRIPPLED AND DEAD Mud! Everything in France was mud; or so it seemed to me, who had been plodding along with my regiment, which was nearing the front, all day. It does grow rather tiresome to lift from five to ten pounds of mud with each step you take, and to have to get off the road every once in a while for every brass hat’s aide on his motorcycle. In the distance we could hear the deep boom of cannon. At last, about five o’clock, we stopped in a small shell-torn wood for a rest and something to eat. One of the men built a small fire to warm himself. About fifteen minutes later a “frog” officer came running around a bend in the road and yelled something at us in French. Immediately orders were give, and we were soon put of the woods. None too soon, either, for just then a bombardment of the woods started. They must have seen our fire. Luckily for the man who had built this fire, nothing was done about it. At midnight we reached the trenches, and then came the bugs— cooties, to be exact. They soon had us well populated. Boy, did they itch! Thank goodness, we soon got used to them. About this time 1 struck up a friendship with a man in our platoon, and we became buddies. We shared everything. Then one awful day, we were ordered over the top—a charge! Over we went, climbed and cut through the barbed wire entanglements and broke into a run. Men were falling all around me when suddenly my buddy, who was beside me, fell. I dropped down beside him to see if he were badly hurt. Fie opened his eyes and spoke to me. He could not speak very plainly as he had been hit in the left lung, and blood was filling his mouth; but he got these words out, slowly: “Listen, Bud, I’m slipping fast. Tell my folks my last thought was for them, and—and so long, mon frere.” Then he gasped and died, there beside me. I lifted his body and took him sadly back to the long rows of dead and dying and returned to seek my regiment. Failing in this, I slept in a shell hole, and we charged again in the morning. 1 his time it was even worse. More and more men fell. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. and then I knew no more. When I came to, I was lying in a long row of wounded. I tried to move my leg, and then the horrible realization that 1 had no leg dawned upon me. To think that I must be a cripple all the rest of my life! I was later sent back to the States. That is what the war meant to me; losing my leg and my best friend. ar isn t romantic, youngster. I he man becomes a machine sent out to destroy other machines and be destroyed by machines. What chance has a mere man in a modern war? It’s for young-people like you that we try to prevent war. You'll be the machines that are crippled and killed, in the next war. 30

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THE SNUFF BOX not know the hell that was in store for them, black ivory! They were put in tiers without room to move, let alone sit up. Three or four of the poor devils tried to escape hut were whipped to death to make an example of them before the others. After these two weeks, the vessel set sail, and we headed back to America. Once every two days or so. the slaves were brought up on deck and made to dance to limber up their cramped legs. The ones who disobeyed were whipped cruelly with a cat-o'-nine-tails weighted with lead. After three weeks, sickness broke out among the blacks, and about five bodies a day were cast overboard. About this time our water supply ran short and so the blacks got none. Many died of thirst and suffocation. The stench became so terrible that it couldn’t be borne. Because of this, all the hatches were closed, which made it even worse for the blacks. Two more weeks went by. and things became much worse. By then, we were nearing America, and great care had to be taken. Two days after this, we spoke a sail on the horizon. Immediately, we put on more canvas because we did not wish to be spoken. In spite of this she gained steadily and was abreast of us by the middle of the afternoon. 1 was very happy to see that she was a man-o’-war, for the sake of the blacks in the hold, even though it meant jail and maybe death for me if we were captured. However, to my dismay, she did not make us heave to for search, but kept on. Acting on the impulse of the moment, 1 leapt into the ratlines and. drawing two handkerchiefs from my pocket, signalled desperately in the code my father had taught me in my youth. Suddenly, a pistol spoke beside me. and 1 felt a searing pain in my side. Then 1 felt myself falling, falling deep into a dark, fathomless pit. and knew no more. When 1 awoke. I found myself in a comfortable bunk in a small stateroom. A man was bending over me and had evidently just finished dressing my side. He informed me that, thanks to me, the slaver had been captured and was on its way back to Africa under a prize crew. “Then I’m not a prisoner? 1 spoke wonderingly. “Why, youngster. he said to me. “the credit of capturing the slaver goes to you!” 1 drifted off to sleep happily, knowing that I had accomplished my task. VERSE A little bit of thoughtfulness. As you have all heard told. Makes a mind of truthfulness And a heart of gold. 29 B. L. L.

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THE SNUFF BOX ON CHEWING GUM Do you chew gum? Surely you must have participated in this old American custom at some time or other. For just as the English have their tea, and the Chinese their rice, we Americans have our chewing gum. There are various brands of chewing gum, and each of us probably has his favorite. Some like licorice-flavored gum. while others prefer tiny pieces of a certain pink colored gum. said to be very beneficial to our teeth. But the favorite of most school children, especially in the grades, is the gum that comes in huge wads selling at a penny a piece. 'This gum cannot only be chewed for hours, but can also be wound around the tongue and blown into, thus producing beautiful bubbles of all shapes and sizes. How to chew gum? It’s very easy. Just take a look at any cow chewing her cud, for the process of chewing gum works on the same principle. Some people are not satisfied with merely following Madame Cow’s leisurely example, but set their jaws at a maximum speed of one hundred revolutions per minute. Where to chew gum? I don’t pretend to be an Emily Post, for if I did, this essay would have no business to be even thought of. So I’ll tell you where people do chew gum, whether it's right or not. School seems to be the ideal place for chewing gum, for the simple reason that gum chewing is forbidden there. hat can be more enjoyable than just to get a stick of gum in one’s mouth and then to be told to throw it in the basket? The only time that gum chewing is necessary in school is at a basketball game. 1 his is a time when chewing gum is a blessing to both the players and the spectators. The only place that gum chewers are actually bothersome is at a moving picture theatre. You will certainly agree with me if you have had a gum chewer sitting behind you. At the climax of the picture, a scene calling for magnificent acting, etc., your gum chewing friend ( ?) is sure to crack his gum and chew all the harder and louder, until you either lose control of your temper or walk out. You will find gum chewers in every walk of life chewing away in their own particular style. What would our great humorist. Will Rogers, do without his inevitable chewing gum? As for your favorite shopgirl in the “five and ten.’’ she would not seem the same girl minus her chewing gum. Taking everything into consideration chewing gum has its good points as well as its bad. According to the manufacturers of chewing gum, beauty authorities, doctors and dentists praise the chewing gum habit. So buy a pack of your favorite gum and chew your way to health and beauty ... in private! 31