Arcata High School - Advance Yearbook (Arcata, CA)

Page 22 text:

Ein at illllnuntain walk. H! rugged Oak, that has for ages spread Thy protecting arms o'er nature's matchless art, Thou who hast brav- ed the storms of winter and de- fied The elements that rage above thee, Thou who hast patiently borne the piercing rays of the fireworld, Monarch of the wood, Preserver of the goodg Ever ' extending thy long bearded branches To the fleecy-lined floor of the Heav- en above, Call down a, blessing to those 'round about thee, Silently call to the One who has pow- er, Giver of sunshine And all that is just. Shelt'ring the wood-spirits that dwell 'neath thy branches With a toga wrought by a hand divine, Of frolicking sunbeams and hazel shade, Covering with leaves when the fierce winds of winter Sweep o'er the earth like a fiend from the northland, ,ulling the birds with melodious music, Swaying in rhythm to zephyrs in Autumn, Nourishing the off-spring that live on thy life blood, Lift high thy branches Upholder of Heaven. Oh! could it be that mortal man ever In all this land and over the deep, Could patiently brave the tempest's blast, Be pure and free, Grow more like thee. Unselfishly scatter kind seeds of love To those who have strength denied, Look to our Maker and trust in His might, Ever as thee Rugged Mountain Oak. Susie Anderson, '14 Twenty

Page 21 text:

TFT AN AT Laura Campbell, '14. It came back again last night, that was the second time I have even seen it: the next time will be the last. They have none of them ever seen the black cat three times-and lived. My grandfather, my uncle, my father, all died in the same manner, . and now I, too, must die. ' I think I must be going mad. Such a thing can not be. But I am de- termined to write down the whole story. Then if I am found dead in the morning that hideous statute may be destroyed. My grandfather, John Williams, after whom I am named, was a col- lector of curios. He had travelled in many lands but had never visited Egypt until the last of June, 1897. He remained for three months and then brought back to America a small statue of a black cat. Three years later he died. His last words were, The black catlf' My uncle took the small figure, and three months later he was found dead in his home. The small image came into my father's possession. That was three weeks ago. To-night he is lying dead, and yesterday for the second time I saw the black cat. Not the image, for even as I write it stands on the table before me, but a cat, a real cat, black as night, with horrible glaring eyes. My grand- father saw this cat. My uncle saw it. My father saw it. And the third time they died. Today is the third day I have owned that image. I have tried to get rid of it, but I can't. It is nearly twelve. Near me my lawyer sits snoring-soft, strangling snores. My light is nearly out, but I sit waiting, listening. I hear the sound of padded feet on the stair and the golden eyes of the image before me seem alive with hatred. I can write no more. N inetecn

Page 23 text:

A Glnmpariann. Browning's James Lee's Wife and Tennyson's Maud Laura Campbell, '14. Browning's James Lee's Wife and Tennyson's Maud present in the form of the lyrical monologue, two distinct studies of character as de- veloped by external and internal in- fluences. Both poems are essentially dramatic in spirit and portray mo- tives, impulses and passions in action as is necessary in a true drama. Maud is the story of the love of a man, told by himself. Through a series of changing moods, envious hatred on his part is mastered in turn by love, jealousy, anger, despair, madness and patriotic love. By reas- on of the failure of a vast specula- tion brought about by Maud's father, his own father was ruined. This fi- nancial loss, preying upon his mind, finally drove the latter to commit suicide. This is the situation at the beginning of the poem. It is not, however, the story which is considered the chief theme of this poem. Rather it is the development of character influenced by an over- mastering love. This development is shown by the relation of the hero to nature and to man. The first stage or division of the poem is that in which the hero is struggling against a morbid gloom, almost indicative of insanity. His relation to both men and nature is one of absolute and unreasoning hatred. And hatred of men and nature means madness. I hate the dreadful hollow behind the the little wood, Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath, The red-ribbed ledges drip with a silent horror of blood And Echo there, whatever is 'asked her, answers 'Death. ' These are the opening lines of the poemg and these lines are sufficient to determine the character of the man who utters them. Surely there can be no power strong enough to save such a man, one who knows what he is doing, and yet cannot resist himself or his own weakness as he mutters, Whatl am I raging alone as my father raged in his mood? Must I, too, creep to the hollow and dash myself down and die, Rather than hold by the law that I made, nevermore to brood On a horror of shattered limbs and a wretched swindler's lie? But with the coming of Maud the tone of the poem is essentially differ- ent. There is still hatred or at least avoidance of man, but his relations with nature are changed. For it is true that nature may assume any as- pect and that man's conception of na- ture is but an expression of his in- most feelings. And it is likewise true that it is to nature we turn in all our moods. h A million emeralds break from the ruby-budded lime, In the little grove where I sit- if 4: in nf in The sun looked out with a smile Betwixt the cloud and the moor. Such is his attitude toward nature at the beginning of love, but with man it is far different. There is no change in his relations with them. He has not as yet gained his true place in the world. Nor is this strange. For nature in all our moods is our servant, a mere reflection of ourselves, but men remain the same. We must climb to men, but nature will rise or sink to our level. We have, then, up to this time been Twenty-one