West Paris High School - Nautilus Yearbook (West Paris, ME)

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. . , . 4 shrivelled, bearded, with oblique eyes, gleaming maniacfs eyes! I could not move. I was rooted to that awful spot. My throat was as though filled with chalk dust. My eyes burned and my heart ceased its fluttering, throbbing, pump- ing, which had become almost unbearable. I now must answer for my crime, and I was powerless. Those gl1ttering.eyes held me. The bony hands held out toward me fascinated me. I gazed at them in awful, over- whelming horror. I could feel the dilating of my eyes and nostrils. My breath came in choking gasps, and' as I stood there, the skinny hands moved with lightning speed. Before I could cry out, or even move, a red hot iron of a T shape clamped onto my forehead. My failing strength de- serted ms. I sank to the ground, senseless. Upon recovering in the same spot where I had fallen, I found myself alone. Complete darkness surrounded me. That awful avenger had gone, leaving me a branded man, so that all would know of my crime. why had he spared me to a living death? Why didn't he take me forever from the poison- ous darts of my conscience? For a long time I lay there, then, in resolve that none should know what had happened, I secured a few necessities and went far North into the remote vastness of far away Canada, into the wilderness. Here I live, a man whose happiness and hopes he has ruined. When I sleep at night, I seldom sleep well, that parchment face, those cozrse black pigtails, the thin beard and those gleaming, linear eyes, the evil countenance of that Chinaman haunt me. I only pray that soon I may rest, in sublime sleep, if I may only be forgiven for that one great sin. I only hope that those accusing eyes may soon be blotted out of my vision forever. S. E. '40

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til about six weeks before, I had been happy, living with my family in contentment, honored by all of my associates. Then one night some friends and I had a party, and after doing some carousing about, we went into a saloon, where we partook of some raw whiskey, such as is found only in the more undeveloped sections which have remained almost as those early towns of the frontier days. We became drunk, to that stage where ones' nature becomes quarrelsome. Over a sneering remark of a Chinaman, who happened to be near us, Cthis was a Chinese hamlet, where only the white people who owned the businesses lived, hiring these Mon- golians because of the small wages for which they would labor! I became angered, almost crazed. In my half drunken condition, I struck him again and again with two heavy bottles standing near. I killed him. Me! A respectable white man. A man with a loving wife and three lovely children. This Chinaman had a brother, a skinny, revengeful, treacherous fellow, with glittering eyes, long pigtails, and a dried, yellow, parchment face with a very scanty beard, adding to a countenance that seemed utterly evil and menacing, a more sinister aspect than ever. From that night on he followed my footsteps. At my office, walking home to my dwelling after working hours, even in my own home, I was not safe. Twice I had narrowly escaped the tiny, poisonous darts he sent flying at me. Once, upon going to my desk in the morning, I found a small, deadly snake curled into the drawer. At my home one evening I looked up just in time to see that foreboding Visage dis- appear from my window. In great agitation I drew the blinds. Worse than this dogging of my trail had been my con- science. That bloody, beaten Chinaman's face was before me in my dreams, on the keys.of my typewriter, and indellibly stamped upon my mind. In a few short weeks I had become a mental, physical wreck, yet because of practically no or- ganized law, and my being ar influential and prosperous man I had escaped punishment for this murder. As I crouched by that corner, in the dusky street I could hear and see nothing. Deadly quiet seemed settled over all. The beating of my heart seemed like muffled thunder. What was that! I jumped as the noise reached me. The stealthy, cat-like tread of someone brushing along the house behind me. I turned around nnd beheld---what? A yellow visage,

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THE AK KI VAL GF .JC1.SFX??'ilDlfgf . .s-Wff21SfXLl.Xf GQIQUQN BY HELKM CUMMNGS Characters 0 Mrs. Ovilla LaBee Mr. Ovilla LaBee James LaBee, their son A Pekanese Sally Gordon Maid Characters Mrs. Ovillaz A housewife about the age of 50 Mr. Ovilla: a business b man a out the age of 35, tall ard very well dressed. Maid: just a common housekeeper. Sally Gordon: a very refined, kind-hearted old lady about 59 years old. A modern old maid. James: typical boy of 12 years of age. Setting: the setting is in th li 1 e v ng room of Mr. and Prs LaBee's home. Time: Late afternoon. Equipment Divan Floor Rris Telephone Chairs Bookcase Lamps .. W, .,..,,,,-D51T ., ,,.-.-,..,-- BOOK TEL. A CASE Way, ff' EXW ! CD n E b y f I' Q u I FRONT . ...- ....... .............-... ... .....-........,................1....-... ...-......., ENT