Eastern High School of Commerce - Eastern Echo Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 68 text:

EASTERN ECHO 49 hungrily at toys which, for some reason they could not comprehend, would not be by their bedside on Christmas Day. Long, low, limousines bore beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen to 'the various places of amusement which the city had to offer. Christmas spirit was in 'the veryatmosphere. lt could be felt in the breathless air of excite- ment which overhung the pulsing mass of humanity, it could be seen wherever 'the eye fell. Bright, glittering tinsel, red and green trim- mings, huge paper bells and hundreds of novel decorations were dis- played in the store windows of even the humblest merchants. The whole enormous city seemed to be shouting Yuletide gree-tings at each and every one of its children. lt could be heard in the buzz and hum of the moving mo-b. All these things served to create in the minds of the crowd the spirit of giving. This accounted for the smile on the face of B-lind B-ill, who sat huddled in a heap on -the pavement, his crutches beside him and his tin cup in -his hand, listening to the steady stream of coins which were dropped into it by kind-hearted persons who were deeply moved by the pathetic sight. Late th-at night, when the city had wrapped itself in slumber and the .lights in all the store w-indows slowly went out, one by one, Blind Bfill with the aid of his crutches slowly hobbled along on his one good leg. He Wended his way up a long, narrow street on the East Side of -the city. As he opened the door of one of the dirty, dreary, dilapi- dated houses 'he was greeted by loud, lusty shouts of welcome. Hi, there Bill! How was business, you must have made a pretty haul to-day? Not too bad, not too bad, was the reply. The main t-hen proceeded to take off the coloured glasses, unstrap his leg, stretch it a few times an-d walk around the smoky room full of dangerous look-ing men, as whole and sound in every respect as any of -the people who had given him their money. This neatly concealed 'hiding place was the rendezvous of the most tre-acfherou-s gang of crimi-n-als ever known in the history of the city. For t-hir-ty years they had bafiied t-he police by the daring and cunning of the robberies and hold-ups they had committed. Many times one of the notorious gangsters ha-d almost been caught, but a cruel fate seemed to take a pleasure in keeping the criminals just beyond the reach of the law. That n-ight, as he dressed himself, in a room far to the back of -the house, Bill's gaze rested fondly on the picture of a pretty girl about nineteen years of age. His memory travelled back to the Christmas Eve so mwany years ago, when he had stumibled on a little heap of humanity t-hat 'had been left on his front doorstep. For nineteen years Bill had sat on tihe street corners begging so that he could bring up this girl and give ber everything she desired. He had never been loved by anyone in all his life, and the adoring devotion of his foster daughter am-ply repaid him for any hardships 'he -h-ad suffered. There was not the slightest resemblance between the pompous, prosperous-looking William I. Crawford and the deiected, drooping figure of the blind beggar on the street corner. and yet they were one and the same man. As this gentleman's limousine slowly slid up the long winding drive to his p'alati1al residence, the front door was

Page 67 text:

48 EASTERN ECHO VVe will, however, let that rest and consider the hero. Since the male reader will not be interested in him, he may as well skip this paragraph. From the masculine standpoint, the hero, nine times out Off ten, looks like an overgrown sissy ia-nyway, so w:hat's the odds? Une point is essential. The hero must have curly hair and a determined chin. Oh yes! they all have to have determined c-hins. No well- equipped hero is without one. VVell, since we cannot agree on anything else, let us pass on. Oh yes, we forgot the villain. Unlike the villains in the Return of Sherlock Holmes this one has no black beard. Th-is feature h-as shrunk considerably into a s-mall pencil mark over the upper lip, which grandad, even in his gidfdiest mo-ments wo-uld never have deigned to call a moustache. A-nd of course, t'he villain must have a roaldster. The more expensive type we make it, the better villain he will become. He mus-t be well-dressed and mingle with the best society CII forgot. to mention that the hero must work for a Hliving, with a ric-h aunt in the offing who is liable to pop off at any momentj. But to get back to the menace, he must dan-ce divinely. Div-inely, I assure you is the only word tha-t fits the villain's dancing. T-hey never dance charmingly nor wonderfully, always divinely. So, as I said, the villain dances divinely. He is, of course, good-'loo-king, and to prevent the heroine from fal-ling in love with the villa-in which would be a major catastrophe, I am afraid it w-ill be necessary to sling some mud. Let us make dark insinuations about his past. It mi-ght be a good idea to have him go around robbing wido-ws or foreclosinig mortgages in his spare time, but this is a point which is optional. As for plot, that is of minor -consequence, providing we can, in some way, have the -heroine in the villain's clutclhes with the hero arriving at the psychological moment for the rescue. It might be advisable to throw in an extra thrill by having t-he heroine nearly run over by a locomotive in t-he opening chapters, saved of course by the hero, who modestly introduces 'himself as Mr. So and So, poor but honest. Of course it does not need to be a locomotive, for I cannot see why a steam-roller would n-ot serve the same purpose, but then there is al-ways something so intanigibly thrilling about being run over by a locomotive, whereas a steam-roller invariably leaves one cold, so I think t'he loco- motive gets the vote.. Now W-ith all the materials at hand, we can proceed. Those interested in t'he progress of the story may stop me in the Commerce Hall provided I look norimal. But if I have a idisihevelled appearance, if my eye ha-s a glazed look, if I seem to be mfumfbling to myself, vou will know that I have either forgotten to put in the plot or have committed some ot'her catastrophe equally drastic. -James Kew, 4G2, 300. Retribution T was Christmas Eve. Nigiht was slowly wrapping the city of New York in a cloak of darkness. Soft, white snow flakes floafted down from above, transforming even the ugliest and dirtiest streets of the city into a virtual fairyl-and. Last miin-ute shoppers bustled 'hither and -thither, from store -to st-ore, 'in a frenzy of excitement. Dirty little street urchins pressed their faces against plate glass windows, gazing 1

Page 69 text:

50 EASTERN ECHO thrown open by a slim young girl, who called out ea-gerly, Daddy, hurry in, 1 have kept dinner waiting for over an hour. lim sorry, my -dear, -but I had to leave the city on a business matter, the girl'-s fa-ther replied as he removed his hat and coat. That night as the father -and daughter had sat talking to each other in the seclusion of the-ir drawing room, Wil.liam Crawford rece-ived the greaitest shock he had ever experienced in all his exciting and unusual life. His -daughter, Doreenj just before retiring had told him of 'her engagement to Harvey Jackson, the clevereszt an-d most 'popular private detect-ive on the New York -po-lice force. The one man who caused Blind Bill and hi-s folllowers to tremble -in their shoes as they salt -gathered around a table, dividing and dis-tri'but-ing -their plunder, and planning what their next escapade would be. The net was gradu- ally being -drawn closer and -closer around the sma-ll -band of men who had, for so many years, struck terror into the hearts of the -c'ity's inhabitants by their dar-ing. The irony of -this situation appealed 'to Bill'-s strange sense of hu.mour. His daughter wished to marry the man who was on ,his track, just as eagerly as a thirsty b-loodho-und when it is hot on the scent off its prey. Never had Bill refused his girl any-thi-ng and it did not enter his head to do so now. If it was her desire to wed this man, Bill would -be the la-st person on ear-th to stop her. Bill sat up late that night. Warned by some s-trange premonition he put all his affairs to nigh-ts, straightened up -h-is papers and destroyed any eviden-ce which might -give away -his true identity -if anything should happen to him. After -managing to keep Doreen -in the dark as -to the true s-tate of affairs all her life, 'he did not wish to leave beh-ind him any ugly memory which might mar 'he-r 'future ihappiness. Doreen had always been under the impress-ion that her fa-ther was a commercial traveller, this a-ccouniting for the fact that he was away from -home on so many different occasions, sometimes for a -period of -several months. He heaved a heavy s-i-gh of relief when everything was put to rights. His daughter would be able to live in -comfort and luxury for t-he rest of her -days. B-ill was happy. He felt that -he -had made a good job of what -he had set himself to do. He had vowed that .this lonely little waif on -the streets should have everv advantage which money could buy. Doreen was a per.fect lady in 'every sense of the word, Bi-ll had every night to be proud of his work. Then and there Bill made a vow that he would say good-bye to his .old life and spend the remainder of his days in peace. A few days later Doreen Crawford walked down the street, deeplv engrossed in the conversation of the young man a-t her side. ' You see Doreen, Harvey jackson was saying, Lf I can round up this ba-nd of men I will ga-in the publicity I need and establish myself for life o-n the force. I it-hink with a li-ttle assistance from vou l shall be able to 'capture the ring leader of the w-hole outfit. We have now 3 tangible -clue to work on. VVe -are on 'the right tra-ck at last. That harmless looking creature sitting over -there is the -brains of 'the whole outht. What you must do is to follow him, find out where he goes and fContinued on page 833