Chaminade College Preparatory School - Cardinal Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Dec. I9, 1958 CARDINAL AND WHITE Page Three THE DECISION 11 Short Story, by ferry llflurplzy Illusiration by Dennis Printy As the light of the late summer evening grew dim, William King sat in an over-stuffed easy chair, which seemed out of place in the small, four-room house. There was a thick coat of dust on the old table and on the three chairs in the middle of the room. The dirty supper dishes rested on the smooth-topped sink bank. The windows, bare of drapes and shades, were wide open, allowing bugs of all kinds to swarm into the hot, stuffy room. The tall, black-skin-ned figure lifted his heavy bulk from the chair and strode slowly over to the window. He closed it and moved to the old ice box, the kind that had a fan motor on top, and helped himself to a half-full bottle of milk. He took a gulp, put the top back on, and then replaced it. He had a stern face, a high forehead, thin eyebrows, and deep- set eyes. It was 8:30 when Wil1iam's mother entered the back door, carrying a carpet bag. Mrs. King was a short, chunky woman of forty who looked a lot older. Her graying hair flowed in all direc- tions. Her fat face looked serious. How do you feel? she asked. I'n1 okay. How come you're so late again tonight? You been seeing that lady from the NAA- CP? As she sat down in one of the wooden chairs she replied, Yeah, she sez everything is going to be all right. She sez the others is going to be there, too. So's you can go to school tamara with no worry at all. I don't know, Mag to me it just seems to be beggin' for trouble. You never can tell what them damn fool whites are going to do. William King, is you scared of them whites? Remember, they is no different than you or me. And what is you ascared of? The police is to be there. There ain't going to be no trouble at all. But Ma, you remember what happened last year up in Court Royal. The police were there too. And Phillskirk isn't any different than them up there. No, we're beggin' for troubleg I'm telling you we're beggin' for trouble. Willie, you's a right to go to the High. You gotta fight for your rights. You can't let them scare ya off. But Ma, you heard what John Mason down at the bank said he'd do if any of us try to go to Phills- kirk High. And with all them Ku Klux Klan crosses burning every night, it just isn't safe. At that moment a boy wearing dirty blue jeans and a torn T- shirt came through the open back door, carrying a worn ball glove in his left hand. He was short but of athletic build. His eyes were wide and the light from the ceil- ing reflected off his shiny black skin. We won Ma, we beat 'em 17 to 12 and I got three hits! he ex- claimed happily. That's fine, Donnie, replied Mrs. King to her younger son. We is going to play again Saturday, and if we're lucky we might get to play on the field. Why don't ya go to bed, Don- nie? Ya gotta big day tamaraf' But Ma, it just got dark. I don't want to go to bed now. You heard me, get ta bed. Willie sat motionless like a stone statue, with a blank expres- sion on his face. After Mrs. King put Donnie to bed she came back into the room. She sat in a chair next to the dirty table. Neither said a word. A strong odor came through the back screen door. The Kings had always left the back door open to get a draft, but when the wind shifted the odor came into the room. Mrs. King rose to shut the door. Some day I is going to buy a top for that garbage can. Some day. William sat quietly, with his head in his big black hands, as if he were in deep contemplation. William, do youse feel all right? Youse gotta headache? No, Ma, I feel fine. I was just thinking about tomorrow, going to school and all. William, you is going to Phills- kirk High tamara, ain't ya? I don't know, Mag I just don't know. Nobody is going to force you to go, you know. It's got to be your own decision. I'll go to bed. Goodnight, William. Goodnight, Ma. He walked towards the door that led to the bedroom. His brother was already asleep, in the double bed they shared. Five minutes later William was in bed. But he couldn't fall asleep. He thought, maybe if I went to Phillskirk everything would be all right. But there would more likely be trouble, with the colored getting the worst part of it, as they usually do. The easy thing to do was to go to Wilson, an all-colored school, where he had gone the year be- fore. Although it was overcrowd- ed, it wasn't too bad. It would be Wilson. Ma said decision. Nobody easier to go to it was his own fflontinued on page U

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Page Two CARDINAL AND WH ITE Dec. 19, 1958 Iunior Editorial by Jim Bozdech Our Lady of Angels School had been inspected only a week before. It had been found safe as far as fire safety went. A week later, ninety-two were dead-by fire. How? What had escaped the in- spector? What little hazard, too small to notice, went unseen? What small mistake of an inspector caused ninety-two to perish? Per- haps a pile of papers was allowed to escape inspection. Perhaps, somewhere in the school, an oily rag was left, forgotten, and al- lowed to smoulder. Small things. Small things-which cost ninety- two their lives and countless others grief. How many small things are al- lowed to cause untold damage in our lives? How many of our small mistakes magnify themselves by the greatness of the damage they do? The experience of a care- fully worked problem turning out miserably wrong because of a mistake so small it went unnoticed is common. And even the best of us may go through life un- consciously interchanging or and Hare. A small mistake? Yes, but a mistake that can give the right people the wrong impression. Even such a small mistake as omitting a comma here and there can mark a person as careless and, of course, lead to the inevitable bad impres- sion. that little things must be abolished, By work, these lt should be clear, then, these small mistakes, these persistant accuracy in our possibly we can eliminate little things . . . which do great damage. By carefully scrutinizing our school assignments now, per- haps we can obviate the worry of making a wrong impression. By carefully checking and re-checking the problems where small mistakes occur most, maybe we can do away with those idiotic small mis- takes. Here, too, the checking -of school work, of course-will, with luck, eliminate small mis- takes. School work, though obvi- ously not the only place where a grammar or mathematical mistake LIBRARY EXPANDS Along with the new classrooms and labs, we of Chaminade also have a fine library. Our library furnishes information to all stu- dents and teachers in fields from psychology to history. While pass- ing through the well-stocked shelves one sees thrilling mysteries, dan- gerous adventures, and the age-old classics. With the able assistance of Bro. Herman Drees, the li- brarian, one can find something that Will surely please. The re- Iuan Perez reads in library. Shown are the books he has read since May. ference books of the library are in constant use and even though they can't be taken out, one is always out of the set in use at some table. Though the library was finished last year, the shelving was not completed until the past summer when the Brothers could devote full time to the project, The two study periods that use the library find Bro. Herman a grea-t help for tough problems and find the reference books helpful for term papers and such. The library, then, is an integral part of life at Chaminade, as proved by the fact that this year nearly 60 books are taken out each day, as com- pared to 40 a day last year. On the day before the retreat, 140 books were taken out, which were mainly for spiritual reading. may occurg but, now school work should be our main concern. Elim- ination of the plague of small mis- takes will make life much easier. MOTHERS TOUR HOMES On Tuesday, December 2, the Chaminade Mothers' Club conduct- ed its annual Holiday House Tour. Eight homes were toured by moth- ers of Chaminade boys and their friends and relatives. This year a new attraction was added to the agenda of the tour. This spectacular sight was that of our own alma mater, Chaminade. In our Audio-visual Hall, the former school chapel, which was transfigured into a homey, old- fashioned country kitchen, hot cof- fee and coffee-cake were served to weary tourists. Also in -the country kitchen was a Pantry Shelf, where excel- lent home-made pastries such as cakes, pies, cookies and jams made by our own mothers, were sold. The homes toured by the Cham- inade ladies were both interesting and beautifully decorated. They were of many types, including the sophisticated English, the tradi- tional colonial, and the ostentatious Spanish architectures. The main points of interest in each of the homes were many and varied from beautiful floral dis- plays to magnificently decorated entrance halls. Without interviewing any of the ladies who attended this year's tour, it is easily said that all en- joyed themselves and anxiously anticipate coming to next year's tour. STAFF Senior Editorial Staff ...... -Bob Rodgers, Rich Rabenau, Mike Adrian Iunior Editorial Staff ..,......... F. Krewet. P. Pruess, I. Walsh Sports ....... - ....... G. LaVigne, I. Murphy Circulation Manager ................ R. Meister Photography .......................,.... C. Klinqert, R. Wander, T. Ianson. T. Mueller Art .......... u, .................................... D. Printy Reporters..- ............,.......... I. Bozdech, W. Burqlechner, E. Busekrus. G. Faherty, D. Halloran, I. Nicholson, B. Povich, I. Holwing, C. Rumors, L. Saenqer Prep Reporters .... L. Quillman. D. Milfeld Moderator .,,.....,..... Bro. Wm. Nance, S.M.

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Page Four CARDINAL AND WHITE Dec. I9, 1958 The Decision fflontinued from page 31 would force him. But then again, if he ran from his rights now, he might never get them. Although William was overbur- dened with worry, he finally got to sleep. Mrs. King was also worried. She wanted William to go to Phillskirk High, but she feared that even though the police were going to be there, William might still get hurt. She new that if he went to Phillskirk High, her cleaning busi- ness would slack off. Many of the people for whom she worked were against integration. Mrs. King was tired. She cleaned houses, working six days a week to earn thirty dollars to support the two boys. Things had been easier for her when her husband was around, but since he had left there wasn't too much else she could do but clean houses. She knew she neg- lected the house, but she never clean up had too much time to except on Sundays. She knew she but she neglected her children, didn't have enough time for them either. Twenty minutes after bed, Mrs. King was in slumber. going to a heavy The alarm rang at seven o'clock, as it did every morning. William stayed in bed for a few minutes before getting up. Finally he dragged himself from between the three-week-old dirty sheets. He got dressed. His mother was al- ready up fixing breakfast. It was 7:30 when he walked into the kitchen. He was dressed in clean khaki pants and a sport shirt. It's a nice day, said Mrs. King, placing a bowl of cereal in front of William. Yeah, it looks like it's going to be a nice day. Donnie then came into the room in his usual blue jeans and T- shirt. Boy, am I hungry! he said as he sat down to breakfast. Nobody said anything for fif- teen minutes. Mrs. King finally broke the si- lence: Ya better had leave early for school today, Donnie. 'Tm going by Warren's house. He told me not to forget. Don't you mess around and be late on the first day. Donnie left the house at 8:15, for it was a half-hour walk to Waden Public School. It was all colored. Then Mrs. King turned her at- tention to William. You Your lunch is on top of the ice box. had better get along too. Yes, I guess I'd better get going. William went out the front door to the sidewalk. He paused. Then he turned to his right in the di- rection of Phillskirk High. The Emi kers 'S-ucceed In Competition Senior speakers, left to right: W. Olive. W. Burglechner, R. Hellrung. I. Rolwing and D. Curry. The speech team, which repre- sents Chaminade for the 1958-1959 C.I.S.L. season, includes Robert Hellrung and David Curry in original oratory, Ray Wander and William Burglechner in non-orig- inal oratory, Michael Morris and Bob Leggat in extemporaneous speaking, John Rolwing in radio, Jerry Walsh and Bill Olive in humorous interpretation, and last but not least, Joe Wick and Bernie Povich in serious interpretation. In the first meet, which was held at Fontbonne College, John Rol- wing and Bob Hellrung made the finals. This ranked the school rather high in league standing. At the second meet, held at Maryville College on Dec. 6, the team did quite well. Bob Hellrung and Dave Curry tied for third place in original oratory in the finals, Ray Wander took first Montinued on page 82