Columbus School for Girls - Topknot Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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COLUMBUS SCHOOL for GIRLS THINGS ARE SELDOM VVHAT THEY SEEM HEY were sitting at a small round table which was covered by a red and white checked cloth. On this table were a couple of bottles, partly emptied, and a box of pretzels. The boy and girl drank slowly the contents of these bottles and crunched the pretzels, as they listened to five big coons pour forth jazz. joan, in her too tight, too short, green dress, and Tom in his sweater, cap, and dirty trousers weren't half so much absorbed in each other as they were in the blare of trumpets, the gentle crooning of saxes, and the harmonizing of voices. Those boys could play! Mad little tremors of ecstasy ran up and down Joan's back, and made her want to cry out at the sadness of certain pieces! That orchestra must have known nothing of its real value, or it never would have stayed in this cheap night club. For that is just what it was. Not only the place itself was cheap but also the people. And how are such people to know whether they are hearing good jazz or not? The people were loud and coarse but chiefly interested in their own alicairs. They danced to the music, or sat about making love to one another, and laughed long and loud at the jokes they cracked. People of all kinds were there, and across the dance floor from Joan and Tom sat a couple who seemed to be well acquainted with the people around them, and Tom looking at them said, Joan, have you ever seen a half-castefn Half-caste! why, I donlt believe so, but what made you ask? Do you see that darkvskinned little girl over there? VVell, she is certainly one, in both looks and manners. Joan looked at the girl and her boy friend for a while, and then said, VVell, Tom, that fair-haired boy with your half-caste looks like one of these emotional lovers you see in the movies. 'When the five darkies started to play a slow, melodious piece that gripped one with its charm, the dark-skinned girl and fair-haired boy danced, Joan and Tom sat still so they might watch the two they had been discussing. As the piece changed into a rapid fox-trot, suddenly the girl was dancing by herself -- a dance as wild as the music. All the people on the floor stopped dancing when they noticed her, and began to gather about. U81

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TOP-KNOT, 1930 AT NIGHT At night I love to hear the waves Pound on the rockbound shore, Or watch the lightning's vivid flash And hear the thunder's roar, Or listen to the wind that shrieks And makes the fir trees wail, Or watch the meteors shoot through space, Leaving a fiery trail. At night I love to wander down A silver moonlit lane, And hear the startled marsh bird's cry Re-echoed back again. And let the cool breeze fan my face And toss my hair afright. I love to watch and hear and feel, I love to live at night. JANE Mmcuzv, 1930 fPrize Poem? , MORNING Dawn, and grey mist softening dark skiesg Mist, and trees silhouetted against cloudsg Trees, and new hope filling tired eyesg Hope, and faith wreathing earth in shrouds. HARRIET ATVVELL, 1930 l 171

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TOP-KNOT, 1930 Everyone started clapping his hands and stamping his feet in time to the music, they yelled at her and the place was soon in a riot. From where she sat watching this dancing joan knew that she herself was able to do better than that little 'fbrown-skinned beauty. And as abruptly as that girl had begun dancing, so Joan jumped up and began. Tom was her sole audience for a few minutes till someone else noticed her, then that person pointed out the new attraction and gradually all were seeing only Joan. But while watching Joan, no one stamped or clapped, for here was true beauty in artistic dancing. Joan was lost to everybody and everything except the music to which she danced. She did not see Tom sitting stupefied at their table, nor did she notice the people around her, or her rival who had stopped her own dancing to swagger over and gaze idly at -Ioan's nimble feet. All looked in wonder at her slim, agile figure swaying so gracefully to the music. Here was something exceedingly lovely, and there is something wonderful in the fact that all those people were able to feel and recognize the beautiful and distinguish it from the common. They stood in awe, touched as they never had been before. The music stopped with a crash, leaving Joan poised in the middle of the Hoor, dazed. Slowly she realized everything and slowly she walked over to Tom, who rose to congratulate her. But before he could say a word joan said, I want to go home now, Tom. The people stood in a circle about them and stared at Joan while she and Tom got ready to leave. The crowd fell away to let them through, but before they could get out the door three couples entered. Not only was it evident from their dress that these couples didn't belong among this class of people, for the girls were dressed in very smart evening clothes and the boys in their tuxes, but they also had that air of being well bred. VVhen these couples got inside they stopped to look around the place and so saw Joan and Tom just leaving. 'fVVhy, joan! Tom! But Joan did not hear the surprised cry of her younger sister, who was slumming too. ANN TIMBERMAN, 1931 U94