Benjamin School for Girls - Tusitala Yearbook (New York, NY)

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T U s 1 T A L A F 0 R 1 9 2 s A Q--W4-t maya +1aaa Dinner was to be served soon, and so there was nothing to do but wear each others' clothes. Sunday evening a very much excited girl rushed into Room 415, Hung her bag on the bed, and shouted, Pris! Oh, Pris! where are you?,' Oh, Phyl, here I am, and Priscilla rushed in. Look,,' and Phyllis ungloved a small white hand on which shone a flawless diamond u -1 ring. Congratulations , cried Priscilla, tell me all about it. Well-it was all because of your clothes. My clothes? gasped Priscilla. Yes. Bill explained that he had been in love with me for a long while but hadn't dared to say anything because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to support me in the manner in which I have been accustomed to living, but when he saw me in your plain clothes, he immediately pictured me in a gingham apron, decided I might be able to get used to such a life, and proposed. But say-what's that?,' pointing to a pin Priscilla wore over her heart. i'Why, exclaimed Priscilla, blushing, Howard's frat pin. Not really! cried Phyllis Oh! tell me all about itf' Well, this time it was all because of your clothes. You see, Howard confessed he had always wanted to marry a girl who had both brains and looks. He liked me when he met me, he admitted, but when he saw me in your clothes he made up his mind, therefore the pin, at least until I get the ring. So I guess after all clothes do make the man. rr rr u Honorable Mentionzflinglish II The Emfrilzg ............ ..............,.,..........,........,......................... ....... G R ACE SCOTT Pollyr Dilemma: ................................................................,......................... FRANCES LYON THE PRIZE SHORT STORY FROM ENGLISH III REZ'7'fbZIfi07Z HORTENSE FELDMAN For fifteen years, jerry Phillips had been nurturing a single aim in life: revenge. As he was skillfully manoeuvering his taxicab through a maze of cars, he realized that he was no closer to his objective, -on that day, than he was fifteen years ago, when his hunger for retaliation was first born. These are the circumstances that changed him, almost overnight, from a good-humored, grinning lad to an embittered, scheming man. jerry spent-his youth in a mid-western town. His father, Abe Phillips, was always the butt of Dame Fortunes sprightly jokes. just as soon as he thought some success was about to come to him, an untoward event would immediately shatter all his hopes. There were days when Abe Phillips deprived himself of food in order to provide for his invalid wife and for jerry. Their fortune changed very suddenly. Mr. Phillips had purchased some worthless property, on the outskirts of the city, which no one but such a simple, trusting man as I Page Tu'e11!y-Fire

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f - Wifi -if 'I'USliliAl-A Fun IOQH Oh, Ilm afraid I have the wrong room , gasped Priscilla, I was sure the matron said 4I5. Most probably did, remarked the other girl, didn't think yould have a room to yourself, did you? A pause during which the girls looked at each other. So we're to be room-mates, eh? Guess we'll get along if you give me my own way. My namels Phyllis, what's yours?,' Priscilla gasped at this sudden onrush of questions but finally managed to answer. My stuff will be put away in a few minutes, then, you can start to unpack, added Phyllis. Thus, Priscilla was initiated into the mysteries of college life and the intimate friendship with girls of her own age. Time passed, and now the Christmas holidays were drawing near. A deep friend- ship had sprung up between Priscilla Ellis and Phyllis Edgerton, which many believed had to break soon because of the great difference in the personality of the two girls. It's comell' shouted Phyllis rushing into the room one afternoon towards the end of November. What's come?', questioned Priscilla, who was trying to study for an exam the next day. An invite to spend the week-end of December 14 at the Tower's Long Island home. Bill Edwards will be there, and if he doesn't propose then, he never will, for I'm going out and buy loads and loads of stunning clothes. If clothes can't get him, I guess it'll be all off. I suppose so, still, clothes arenit everything, you know,', answered Priscilla, and then, 'Tm invited to Alicels house party that same week-end, you know, Phyl. I really shouldn't go because all of my clothes look like rags, and Dad wrote that he had lost a lot of money in some deal, therefore I canlt ask him for any money. Howard Waberton will be there and it looks as if my chances for attaching him are rather slim. Oh, Howard won't even notice what you're wearing, retorted Phyllis. All he cares about is the human mind, philosophy, and all that bunkf' The morning of the fourteenth found the girls in a frenzy-classes must be at- tended, baggage packed, and a million and one other things left to the last minute had to be remembered. When this was all done, the girls rushed to classes, asking the chamber-maid to give the bags to the chauffeurs. Four o'clock came around, classes were over, and the bags had gone. There were still five minutes in which to say good-bye. Well, Pris, I wish you all the luck in the world and-Oh, Gosh!-if you don't make Howard Illl never forgive you. Yes, and Phyl, don't you dare allow all those gorgeous clothes to go to waste. This was all that could be said. It was now time for each to board her train, and so each girl started on the trip that was to mean so much to her. At exactly 5:20 two more excited girls could not be found, than Priscilla and Phyllis. As both bags had the same initials, by some unforeseen trick of fate, the maid had given Phyllis' bag to Priscilla's chauffeur and vice versa, Phyllis receiving Priscilla's plain sport dresses, Priscilla, the complete ownership of Phyllis' stunning new outfit. Page Twefzly-Fozfr

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r . .- T ' TUSITALA wir 1939 he would even consider buying. Unexpectedly, the terminus of two great railroads was established there. Abe Phillips, however, was not to enjoy any alleviation of his cares. A smooth-tongued swindler, under the assumed name of Clarence jones, caused Abe to invest not only his own money but the money of a number of rather poor families in some worthless stock. This tragedy darkened j'erry's eyes to everything but his intense horror of life, and an overpowering lust for the blood of the foul perpetrator of the disaster. Jerry knew that the swindler, who called himself Clarence Jones, lived in New York. Jerry had such a clear picture of the man, engraved in his mind, that he could never mistake him. Besides, jones had a scar in the form of a cross on his right temple. jerry, obsessed with the desire for vengeance, soon found himself in New York. He took a position as a taxi driver because he felt that he would thus be enabled to come in contact with many people. Guess 1,11 shoot through Tenth Avenue to avoid the rush. Maybe Illl be able to pick up some of the after-theatre crowd,' said jerry to himself. Subconsciously, only one fervent idea predominated his mind: Where is that day when Clarence jones, blood will pay the debt he owes me? It was two o'clock in the morning before jerry was ready to set out for the garage. He never knew how it happened. While rounding a curve at a moderate rate of speed, a wretched drunkard reeled in front of the cab. jerry could not stop his car before the wheels ran the man over. Jerry hastened to extricate the emaciated mass from under the car. The blood trickled over his hands. Good God, save this man, was jerry's impassioned plea. He was carrying the man into the taxi to rush him to a hospital, when, by the light of the street lamp, jerry descried a ,cross-shaped scar on the unconscious man's right temple. Then, he recognized Clarence jones. The fiend, who had blighted the life of the only two people jerry had ever loved, was at his mercy. The man, whom he had spent his life to kill, was delivered, dying, into his hands. His agonized, pent-up feelings burst forth. jerry realized how easily he could murder him. Murder? Murder that drunken wreck! Was it for this moment he had pawned his precious life? He had consecrated his life to assassinate a fellow creature. How could he, with the inferior wisdom of a mortal, attempt to adjust the balance of Life? Some kind Heaven gave Jerry Phillips the strength to refuse to let that depraved man ruin his life also. Five minutes later, jerry deposited the inebriated, bleeding creature in a hospital. jerry put his whole heart into a fervid prayer, Please, Good Lord, don't let that- poor devil die. However, Jim Stolking, alias Clarence jones, never regained consciousness. jerry was easily absolved from all blame. Nevertheless, the fact that he had killed a man while motoring, unnerved jerry to such a high degree that he resolved never to drive again. ' Now jerry, as we all know by now, always possessed perseverance, this, added to his newly found clearsightedness is helping him to reconstruct the broken vestiges of his life. Those stories deserving honorablesmention are: V The El Tram ........................,................................. ....,..,... H ELEN GELLER Hefzmzrhe .................. ....... ...., 1 . HADELE HARRISON What Could If Be? ..... ....... A DELAIDE SALOMON idgfrwaffiylsfx if A PCT if TNT