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

Page 29 text:

-. ,-.- . ,?4 A TUSITALA rox 1929 meant happiness to him, and as he had reviewed his past, a determined look' sprang into his eyes. He made a decision to go to New York immediately. He packed a few necessary articles for his journey, and within two hours, Mr. Sotain was on a train bound for New York. With the thought of death, he hurriedly stepped from the train at Grand Central Station and ran to the nearest taxi shouting Seven-thirty-five Riverside Drive at the driver and seated himself on the edge of the seat clinching his lists the while. He did not notice the change in the neighborhood but kept urging the chauffeur to drive more quickly. h f When the taxi arrived in front ofa tall imposing apartment house, Mr. Sotain gave the driver five dollars and then ,without waiting for any changexran into the apartment elevator. Mr. Sotain's apartment, he said in a hasty mumble. Apartment six-E, said the calm, black-faced elevator man, to your right, sir. Mr. Sotain's heart began to throb. He mechanically went to the right and rang the door bell. It seemed hours before the door opened. Finally, it opened half-way, and a chorus of very cheerful and excited voices called l'Surprise! It was too much. The man could bear up no longer. As an answer, he fell bodily into the doorway. The next day, the newspapers printed the following account:-p Yesterday Mrs. Charles F. Lanvilleiiprepared a surprise party for the notable Mr. Charles F. Lanville. 'When the hour for the surprise arrived, the door bell rang, followed by a cry of Surprisel by the guests. Instead of the honored guests arrival, the body of a dead man fell into the doorway. The only mark of identification which the man possessed, was a tele- gram reading 'Come home at onceli-signed 'Dad' A The body has been placed in a city morgue where Mr. Sotain of apart- ment 6-B of the same address claimed it as that of his son. The gentleman mumbled some half understood words about a reconciliation. The death has been attributed to a sudden heart attack. u Those girls deserving honorable mention from English IV are: LUCILLE MENSCHEL LILLIAN GRUBER EVELYN JAFFE MURIEL FLEISCHMAN t '--'- X fri., ,-.-,.. ... . Page Twenty-Eiglal 'X

Page 28 text:

TUSITALA FOR l928 PRIZE SHORT STORY FROM ENGLISH IV S7lI'lU7'fJ'6 RUTH BACK Out of the night, made horrible by a penetrating cold and a lack of moon and stars, came a knock, which was heard in the warm, well-heated, living room in which Mr. Sotain sat. Mr. Sotain was not the type of person to be frightened by a mere knock at his door at an unexpected hour. But, somehow as he sat in his cozy armchair, reading his daily paper, a shudder went through him. Some people might have attributed this feeling to the natural reaction under such circumstances, and others, old maids and grouchy, worldy-wise doctors, would insist that a cold in the head was the cause. Nevertheless, I firmly state that neither guess is correct, for even Lord, the big police dog, let forth a penetrating whine at the sound of the knock, and hastily ran to the door. 'KHere, Lord, said Mr. Sotain in his low voice, which somehow lacked its usual richness of tone. But Lord kept on whining. At last Mr. Sotain rose from his chair, walked out of the living room, into the foyer, and opened the door. A messenger greeted him and handed a yellow envelope to him. Mr. Sotain tipped the messenger and hastily opened the envelope. I V Although Mr. Sotain was a business man, he was not accustomed to receive tele- grams, for his business of writing newspaper articles made the former type of corre- spondence unnecessary. Hence, he opened th letter hastily, I might even venture to say that his face portrayed a bit of mental anxiety. Come home at once-Dad. These were the only words which greeted his search- ing eyes. The letters pierced him. No reason given, just those cold words. He meditated: Six long years since he had heard any news from his father, his only should-be friend and confidant. Perhaps his father had forgiven him for the decisiveness of hi's youth. Perhaps he shouldn't have decided to leave his father and live by himself in a city, where he had neither frier1ds'or relatives. Quarrels, it has often been said, frequently occur between fathers and sons. But, time was supposed to help to bring about a reconciliation. Secretly, sudden longings to again visit the place of his childhood, where he had known the pleasant caresses of a mother, until he was ten years old, often seized him. Only that last quarrel with Dad over a future career had seemed to sever all ties of love. The father had wished that his son would some day become a prominent physician, but the sonqafter receiving his diploma iseemingly showed ingratitude by expressing a hnal opinion on the subject. I I would rather write newspaper articles for a small town paper with only fourteen dollars a week than ,to be one of the best known doctors in the United States,f' he had said. This statement had ended the father's cherished hopes, and the matter ended with a severe quarrel. The younger Mr. Sotain, then only twenty-eight, left home, and finally procured the position of assistant reporter for a Chicago newspaper. Due to his ability for this type of work, he gradually earned higher positions. But, after all, the work T T Page Tzrfezzffy-Sez'e12

Page 30 text:

TUSITALA FOR 1928 DRAMATICS Page Twenljf-Nine