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

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EASTERN ECHO 51 The Light That Failed Crash! Another monster of the sea swept across the belaiboured deck of the Nancy Ann, the game little tanker which rode the fiery-tempered seas. Old Skipper Martin, named sometimes the demon of 'the tides, was probably making his last voyage. llut, as the waves beat around and over the -small craft, his sp-irits were high. ln the midst of danger and death, he was shoutfing words of encouragement to his comrades. Keep the pumps working boys, the shouted above the din of the angry seas. The old 'lighthouse will soon be visible. O.K., sir, came back the answer of the half-starved, worn-out sailors. Suddenly, one of the men thought of prayer. Many silent prayers were sent up to the Maker above. From out of the inky blackness a tremendous squall hit the side of the little steamer, and the next moment the sea was covered with thousands of pieces of debr-is. Strange to say, the huge piece on which the men were stand-ing came off in one chunk. They knew their prayer was answered. For three days the eleven brave men faced the dangers and terrors of the high seas, and on the fourth day their coldness and starvation were brought to an end. A large gra-in boat picked up the exhausted, half-conscious looking men, who after a short revival of food, clothing and sleep felt them- selves again. One fine day the boat steamed into port. Glad were the people when the tidings, that their lost ones had returned, reached them. The lit-tle town was alive with people. Cheers rent the air for the rescued and their rescuers. After ia few days had elapsed, the now normal men paid a visit to the old lighthouse. On reaching there, they were horror-struck. In that awful storm, a huge wave struck the gallant little lighthouse-keeper who was ga-ther- ing drifttwood. It had swept him high up on t-he beach, and there he lay-in death. This incident accounted for- the light that failed. -W. Rogers, SH, 204. Their Ideal ES, there he was coming around the corner. Even in the dense London fog and fast falling rain, .loan could not m-istakc that great manly figure. She was surprised, however, to see under his large umbrella a young lady and a curly headed lad in his arms. Ioan Cairew, a progressing young antist, was tall and slim, with golden cur-ls and a pair of eyes which were rather sad and dreamy. She owned a little Art Shop in the heart of London. Every night for six weeks now, she had wa-t-ched and waited for that familiar figure to emerge around the corner and stop to look at her paintings in the

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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

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52 EASTERN ECHO window. Hereto-fore, fhe had neve-r been accompanied 'by anyone, but 'to-night he walked straight on wit-hout so much as a look into the shop. joan was very disappointed. The question that immediately rose to 'her mind was, Can it be his wi-fe and son? Yes, she was sure he looked at them with a fond and loving gaze. r Ioan's thoughts were so centred on them s-he failed to hear a young man enter the s-hop. She arose at once, ibut on seeing the worrried expression on her frien-d Tony's face, she gasped and -turned deathly white. Oh Tony, she cried, VV-hat is the matter? Is it, is it my mother? Tony, who had been a friend of the family for years, held out his protecting arms and said, Yes dear, she has reached the end of her journey. Ioan's mother had rbeen an invali-d for years but had been gradually growing w-orse. They laid her quietly away in a small country church cemetery. - A tired, pale girl waited on a number of unsympathetic customers She was wearing a pla-in white fro-ck as it had been her mot:her's wish not to go into mourning. From the day of the sad news of her mother's death, she had not seen -her unknown friend. S-he did not tell anyone of the great secret in her heart but her 'thoughts were frequently on him. In spite of her weary arp-pearance there was a light -in joan's eyes that told of something exciting in view. The next morning she was to paint the portrait of a wealthy society woman. QContinued on page 983 Distinguished English Shakespeare Artists Visit Eastern Commerce N the afternoon of January 13, 1932, Eastern Commerce was again favoured with scenes from Shakespeare. Shakespeare has been pro- duced for our school several times in the past and it will doubtless be given again and again in the future, but no matter how many players come and ago, we will never quite forget Mr. Allan Willqie and Miss Hunter- Wiatts, internationally known dramatists. ' Shakespeare seemed to live again. New scenes gave us a better under-- standing of the greatness of Shakespeare and old scenes seemed new under the capable presentation given by these two actors. Who could forget the Lending Scene from the Merchant of Venice or Mark Antony's speech from Julius Caesar? Many of us were not acquainted with the work of Oliver Goldsmith, but af-ter seeing the comedy scene from She Stoops to Conquer we wonder why his plays are not included in our year's work. The three comedy scenes, one of which has already been mentioned, The Grave Diggers scene from Hamlet and the act portraying an Eng- lish lesson from King Henry VIII, caused a great deal of merriment. Never before have we seen two and three parts played by one person Without leaving the stagej i -Dorothy Herringtorzi, 3S3, 203.