St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 19 text:

The Eagle of the East ltldward I. Fitzpatricla, HI. ES'l'lnlxllAY it was the 'llcutong today it is the Jap. Yesterday it was PktlI-tiE'l'lllil,lllSll1g today it is the ycl' low peril of Nippon. Some years ago an eagle screameml in Europe and shattered the tranquility of two Ilt'llllS1!lll'I'l'I'i. That eagle died. lt had hroken thc peace. Its wings are crnshedg its carcass has heen stripped of its splendid plum- ageg its hones lie hleaching in the sun. That was yesterday. Today,-another eagle, powerful and proud, preens its feathered heauty.-this time in the East. Its talons are sharp and extended for the fight. It is rcstlessg it is greedyg it is strong. Recently it has occupied a new seat, despite the protest of one of its strongest fellows. Will it too scrcannf- and hreak the peace,-and die? 511 51? ii if PZ: 'If By some people, the context of the preceding paragraph will he branded as the hysterical outburst of a trouhle-seelt- ing, trouhle-fcvmenting Jingoist. Their doctrine, they will tell you, is moderation in all things . lNere it rigidly oh- served hy all who proclaim adhesion to it, thc world would have taken a long step forward. Temperance is a wonder- tul thing. Had it heen always practiced our American lihcr- ties Would today he untrammeled hy the restrictions of cers tain constitutional amendments. But to carry temperance to excess is to transform virtue into vice. To deafen oneself to the timely warning of a friend, who senses the presence of a dangerg to still the voice of judgment hecause it cries aloud for wariness and cautiong to deny the logic ot one 's reason because its conclusions may stimulate suspicion 5- these are the acts of fools, Caesar turned unheeding ear to the warning of the sooth- saycr who bade him ttlieware the ldes of M:-Lrchlli That

Page 18 text:

The Poppies Hidden in thc orchard path a meadow lark is trilling, Trilling to the morning light that breaks across thc hill, The alder boughs are bending where a silver brook is rilling. And lily pads are showing where the pool is lying still. Spring, O lovely wanderer! comes with blossoms blowing, Pink azaleas dancing gay to melodies untold, Dainty blueliells bending bright where poppy petals glowing. Cover all the meadow lanes with chalices of gold. Golden are the poppy cups that hold the dews of morning. Goblets, spun of fairy gold, are strewn upon the lawn, Burnished gold at evening with sunset rims adorning, And softly golden, frescoed by the fingers of the dawn. Tell me, are they golden too, old pal, where you are sleeping? Has Flanders decked the fields that such a hitter space you lcnewg As glorious as the day we gave you, silent, to its keeping Beside the hidden river-bank where golden poppies grew? lieside the golden bank where oft we strayed together dreaming. Nor ever dreamed lllose velvet lids should droop zllvove your sleep, Your mantle e'er lie woven oi their tender fahric gleaming. As golden as that faith of yours-the faith they did not keep. Vincent VV. llallinan, A. B.. '19.

Page 20 text:

18 THE IGNA TIAX message was distasteful to the Roman bC4:ai1S9 if Clmllfllldcd caution, Caesar was too great, two powerful to stoop to cau- tion. And Caesar-died. ln the false security which ill? knowledge of his greatness built about him he fell-an easy victim to the schemes of lesser men. As with men--so with nations! What, we wO11dG1'-Will be the decision of mankind when it looks back on this liv- ing, breathing present to determine the wisdom of oul' gen' eral attitude toward Japan today? NVill its judgment be. that this great nation in its pride of place. at the pinnacle of its power was guilty of the self-same folly that bared the breast of Caesar to the knives of his assassins? Shall it iii the light of future analysis appear to all the world that the American people, blinded by an egotistic conception of their greatness, rushed headlong and unseeing into the very midst of dangers that were plainly visible to the normal eye of rea- son? Shall it some day be told how the American eagle was lulled into a fanciful and groundless security by the sweet music of its own laudations, how it was rendered apathetic and indifferent to danger in the consciousness of its power, on the adulations of its inferiors,-it in the midst of its lazy improvident dreaniings was victimized by the danger it was too proud to prepare against,-the practiced-sharpened and murderous talons of an eagle that flew from the East! And yt hat cause-what reason is there at the present time tor the issuance of such a warning to America? Trouble in the nature of armed conflict, between this nation and Japan has ever been a topic of at least academic interest. Vol- umes have been written on it by the more eminent strategists ot' both countries. ln the Pacific states however, and par- ticularly in California, the question has been far more than simply one ot' academic interest. Due to the inaetment of such measures as the Alien-land law for the purpose of alliording to American citizens their just proportion of pro- tection, feeling has sometimes run high both in Japan gud along our own Pacific slope. Today that feeling has been