Bristol High School - Green and White Yearbook (Bristol, RI)

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16 THE GREEN AND WHITE “BLACK” The word black is one of the most picturesque and most widely used words in the English language, but comparatively few of us ever really stop to consider its actual significance. Before we go on, let us consult the learned Mr. Webster, and determine his views upon the subject. Black. Mr. Webster would lead us to believe, has a variety of meanings, among which are—“destitute of light; of the darkest hue ; opposed to white ; enveloped in darkness ; dismal, gloomy or forbidding; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrocious; evil; calamitous; threatening; clouded with anger; sullen. Certainly it isn't a word to inspire or cheer a man ! In substance of this, let us say the word over to ourselves slowly: B-L-A-C-K! Immediately, so the psychologists tell us, we experience a feeling of revulsion, a subconscious fear, a certain, nameless terror. Our fear is not a definite, matter-of-fact emotion; a threatening, fear-inspiring, sensuously evil web has clogged our minds, and drugged them in its meshes. We are, to use a psychological term, self-hypnotized. Obviously, black is a potent word. To begin with, the universe was conceived in darkness, for after God had created the earth he said, “Let there be light, and there was light!” God used the power of this darkness that he had created with the earth in a number of cases, in fact nearly every incident in the Bible is connected in some way with darkness. For example, one of the seven plagues of Egypt was a period of intense darkness; God gave Moses “The Ten Commandments at night, in the midst of a thunder storm; the angel appeared to Mary at night; Jesus was born at night; Joseph fled into Egypt with Mary and Joseph at night; and most significant of all, a three-hour period of utter darkness fell upon the earth when Christ was crucified. Black has, from time immemorial, been a symbol of sin and evil. Night is considered the time when criminals and addicts of evil roam abroad. The black flag, also referred to as the Black-Jack,” is the “trade-mark’’ of piracy. Who has never heard of a blackguard, a blackhearted scoundrel, or the ‘blacksheep” of a family. A “black list” is a list composed of undesirable persons, a “black leg” is a person who endeavors to obtain money by cheating at races or cards, and to “black-ball” an undesirable person is to bar him from membership in a society or organization. Black is acknowledged as a symbol of depression and pessimism. Who among us has never heard of anyone with a dark past or one who has a black future? A dictionary will tell us that a pessimist is one who looks on the dark side of life, and a certain well known proverb states that, “It is darkest just before dawn !”Blackhasalwavs been used to represent gloom and despair, and a storm is heralded by dark. lowering clouds. Finally, the psychologist tell us that the best way to punish a wrongdoer is to place him in a depressing environment ; a child is punished by being placed in a dark closet, and there is an ancient and honorable custom of confining a particularly obnox- ious criminal in a dark dungeon. Who is not more or less afraid of the dark? Most significant of all, black is undeniably the symbol of death ! Black is the color worn by one in mourning; the vulture and raven, generally associated with death, are “raven black. “Black cattle” are cattle raised expressly for slaughter! The executioner is always dressed in black, and the black-cap” is the cap worn bv a judge when pronouncing sentence of death. Many more examples of the widespread use of black might be set forth, but it would only be expanding this article to unnecessary length, as the material already presnted must have convinced the reader of the true significance of that most picturesoue of words—BLACK! GEORGE H. WILSON. ’34. -------- -------- PILLS (With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe’s “Bells”) See the doctor with the pills. Horrid pills! How many of them do we eat against our own sweet will. How we swallow, swallow, sallow A glass of luke warm water Which the durn pill will not follow, But hides in some throaty hollow, As if composed of tar and mortar! While we choke, choke And at our throat we poke. Contemplating not to pay the doctor’s blamed old bill For the pills, pills, pills, pills, Pills, pills, pills, For the whitish and the greenish horrid pills. See the vellow headache pills. Golden pills. What a mass of nerves that pill must kill! Though they are a pretty sight They are to me no shining light! From their glassy walled vials Keep me afar! For a pill I'd walk a mile, That statement is the cause for my unchecked smile-Rather eat the jar! So prav the land where no prescriptions are filled For the pills, pills, pills, pills. For the large and choking, worthless pills! Pills, pills, pills. ELEANOR RAF., ’34. --------- -------- Tall. Reaching into the very heavens. Its slender, shapely, form Rising majestically over Manhattan’s disjointed skyline, The Empire building. V. C. OTTEN, ’34. —-------- -------- Mr. Walker—“What insecticide would you use to destroy insects, enemies of the cabbage ? Doran—“Flit.”