Central High School - Aglaia Yearbook (Manchester, NH)

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24 IUNE fHGLA!A NUMBER OF THE ORACLE back. He must be wondering about this con- versation. NELLIE: It was he who advised it. HENRIETTE: Then ..... NELLIE: fwithout the least hostility, but also without affection, Come, my dear Hen- riette, have you something more to say to me? HENRIETTE: No. NELLIE: :Why, then, do you no longer act the same toward me? I-IENRIETTE: I am wrong. NELLIE: You have given yourself so gen- erously, so completely to your brother, dur- ing all his life, is it painful to you now to have no longer the sole care of his happiness and his future? I-IENRIETTE: Perhaps that is it. NELLIE: ffriendly, but not tenderj Hen- riette, we can't become angry with each other for such a reason ..,.. You can't wish that HENRIETTE: No, indeed, indeed, nol I do not wish it. Quite on the contrary! NELLIE: The simplest thing in the world has happened. Henry is going to be mar- riad. Already the ties which hind him to his family are no longer the only ties which bind him. It's life ,... every day life The Bible says: Thou shalt leave thy father and thy mother ....,. Plaainly it is painful for the family, but one must adjust oneself to it ,.,.. At home, in the United States, we do not make so much fuss about it ..,.. A boy leaves ,....marries....., Well, Try your luck .... In France, you put emotion into every- thing ,..... HENRIETTE: fas if to excuse herselfj I am a French woman. NELLIE: And a beautiful one! but you do not stop to think that, unless we guard ourselves against it, this error of emotion brings us both precisely where we do not wish to go, that is to say, to the point of sep- aration? I-IENRIETTE: fcoldlyj Your words are those of reason itself? I have to make some effort in order to adjust myself to the new conditions of my existence. Henry's coming marriage is a separation, it is a break ...,.. QWith a restrained emotionj a tearing apart. I feel the sorrow of it. Perhaps you might have perceived that and spared me certain painful experiences. NELLIE: Painful experiences? What have they been? HENRIETTE: What advantage will there be in telling them? NELLIE:What advantage? This impor- tant one: that they don't happen again. Why keep them secret? HENRIETTE: Donit you know them? Didn't you just have an example of them, just now? You dispose of Henry as you would of your chauffeur ..,... Why ...... , yes ,... . and sometimes you speak to him in the same tone. These are the customs of your coun- try, it seems. You might take a little pains in order to bring yourself a little nearer to our customs, since you are going to live in France. LILLIAN LEFABRE.

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T IUNE AGLAIA NUMBER OF THE ORACLE 23 An unknown aunt came from the South And with her took him back, She' hated me, I don't know why, Perchance I was too slack. I'll never forget dear Dickie, Of him I dreamt at night, But then in eighteen sixty-one, I had to go and fight. I fought with General Sherman, To Georgia with him went I. He gave me a special mission, The enemy to spy. I crept up to the' Southern line And then I heard a sound, I cocked my gun and held my breath, And sharply peered around. I saw a sentinel'S outline, Dim against a tree, He drew his gun but I shot first- 'Twas either him or me. I scurried to where he had fallen, His eyes were straying afar, I held his head, and o'er his eye I saw a cross-like scar. My God, what is your name? I groaned. He couldn't speak but tried. He whispered faintly, Dickie, Then weakly moaned and died. I sat there stunned and stupid, Crying like a mother. I hadn't lost a babe, but oh, I had killed my' brother! THOMAS E. BARTLETT. In the play Le: Americain: Chez Nous, written by Brieux in 1919, a young French physician of Fine family becomes engaged to a wealthy American Red Cross worker. His sister, who had made great sac- rifices to provide for his education, hates to sec him marry a foreigner. The near-hostility of the two girls comes to the surface in the following scene. Scene from Les Americains Chez Nous-By Brieux SCENE 8 NELLIE: fvery loyalj In spite of all the good that Henry told me about you, my dear Henriette, I believed, before seeing you, that you were a crabbed old maid with a dried-up heart, and had promised myself to reduce our contacts to such as were unavoidable. HENRIETTE: fsorrowfulj That will be as you please. NELLIE: Now, I should like to have you for my friend. I-IENRIETTE: Friendship does not come on order. NELLIE: It is won, you mean . I-IENRIETTE: Yes. NELLIE: You had let me believe that I had won your friendship, Henriette, and I was training myself to deserve it. You had trusted me. HENRIETTE: Perhaps. NELLIE: You told me one day that I was like a sister to you. HENRIETTE: It's true. NELLIE: You would not repeat it to me today? HENRIETTE: Don't torment me... l am tired, tired. NELLIE: I think that we are just at the point where an explanation between us is needed. HENRIETTE: Well, then, soon-tomorl row-another day. NELLIE: This evening, after dinnc I-IENRIETTE: If you wish. Call Henry

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CL SS OF 1937A GRADUATION We leave thee, Alma Mater dear, Amidst a stirring sightg Our marching figures disappear Into the summer night. Receding strains of Auld Lang Sync Float faintly through the air And mark the last of one more class To leave your splendid care. IOHN BLATEOS.