Fort Hamilton High School - Tower Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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TO THINE GWN SELF As The moon emerged Trom iTs hazy covering behind The soIiTary cloud in The sky, iT shone upon a prosTraTe Torm, lying on The whiTe sand, legs and arms Tlung Trom The lean body. MomenTs passed. MomenTs in which The waTer whispered soTTIy as iT passed over The gIisTening pebbles and Then swiTTIy receded again. IvIomenTs in which The oTher worldiness oT The scene seemed To permeaTe The whole being oT The man and make him grow more quiescenT wiTh every second. Two o'cIock in The morning and my Train leaves aT 6 . . . his eyes opened Tor The TirsT Time and he sTared unseeingly aT The cold, unconcerned moon. I-Iis Tace was sensiTive and mobile, The mouTh was Turned up aT one end inTo a sorT oT ironic smile, The upper parT oT his Tace had a perpefual look oT wonder, The IeTT eyebrow was always raised in quizzical amusemenT aT The world. IT was a Tace ThaT poked good-naTured Tun aT The Tollies oT people, iT was a Tace ThaT iusT sTopped shor'T oT cynicism. The amusemenT had IeTT his Tace, Though only The guesTioning eyes and The impulsive lips-now TighT wiTh repressed anger, remained. The momenT ThaT comes To all men, The momenT in which They reTreaT To a quieT spoT and ponder on quesTions ThaT have defied probing Tor cenTuries, had come To This boy . . . he was only I9 . . . early. IT was Time Tor him now To make peace wiThin himseIT and To decide on his aTTiTude Toward IiTe and The world he would be in . . . The TaTes allowing . . . Tor The nexT half-cenTury. I-Ie Turned so ThaT he could see all The splendid immensiTy oT The scene-The sky dark, The moon briIIianT, The sea quieT and diaphonous wifh The sTrangesT mixTure oT colors-grey and silver and green and blue and black: and The lonely expanse oT clean, smooTh beach: and The iuTTing islands To The IeTT, and inTiniTe waTer ThaT was The ATIanTic, sTraighT ahead. The gods were Truly aT peace This nighT. The boy began To speak. To speak as if expecTing an answer Trom The waTer and The sky and The beach. Once upon a Time-noT so long ago in years, buT already awTuIIy hard To remember . . . There was a diTTerenT world. IT was a world oT IaughTer. The IaughTer of The high school kids as They sTreamed ouT oT school aT The sTroke oT 3: The IaughTer oT The kids aT The soda TounTain on Friday nighTs: The cheerTuI smile on The clerk aT The candy' sTore as he handed a IiT+Ie girl 3 caramels Tor a sTicky, 'i TighTIy cIuTched penny, The mixTure OT IaughTer .fbi U, 'I fl ,5 and envy when one oT The boys ran away and QT,-11 -,cf-5' Iii! 'oined The Nav . A irI in ever orT The s., j , 5, I Y Q Y rv Y ,,,,gf,1, G . ' winked aT each oTher. ThaT was The Time when - gauge-J.g:..n . . . every moTher in Town did n-oT have a son in The Navy. ThaT was The Time when The newesT v ii? Y cliche was We musT do someThing Tor Those '4 9, ,ss 2 ggi- . .. .. . . TEE? P poor Chinese and noT DonT you know There s ' -3 - ' Q a war going on? .K X 1 Y- -1 1 I H .2-K , Y I don'T know' murmured The boy, I .don'T 8 know. IT couIdn'T really have been a good

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SERVING OUR COUNTRY TO TI-IE GRADUATING CLASS OF JANUARY, I945: ' I'm very happy To have This chance To send my personal wishes Tor TuTure success To all The graduaTing seniors. I've Icnown and enjoyed The associaTion wiTh many oT you beTore my enTrance inTo The army. Well over a year has Tlown by, buT I sTill have many pIeasanT mem- ories oT numerous individuals. I regreT noT having been able To conTinue on wiTh you To wiTness your ioy on graduaTion, s+iII I'm very proud To have been able To do my IiTTIe biT in our counTry's eTTorT aT This Time. I wish you all success in your TuTure plans and careers. I hope ThaT you soon sTarT and conTinue Them in a world aT peace. Sincerely, Cpl. IvIorTon G. STone. CPI.. IVIORTON G. STONE, John DonoTrio, I7.oberT Dale, Erwin I-Ieine, James Andrews, Theo. I-Iavness, RoberT Delaney, John Cyriazhs, ViTo Roselli, Sigurd Foss, Donald I-Iarris, George Jorgensen, Joseph Vurpura, James Ivlazzeo, RoberT Wagner, George Moser, John STendera, George Johnson, Francis Keane, Edward Cassidy, John Sheehan, Jos. Swenson, Gerard Finnegan, William Scully, Edward Barry, Douglas BaTT, Saul Newman, David DunseaTh. 7

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world. NOT when There were people who did noT have The righT To Iive. And yeT all l've f . nl I 7 , heard in These lasT Tive days is We wanT 7 , - -- - ff if Things as They were. WhaT do They wanT in 4553, -.3..,,' ThaT sTaTus quo? Gum in The candy case, Their i ':Igi Lf? TavoriTe brand oT cigareTTes, a good 5c cigar, A, - . . . .. . .-., a pockeT book wiThouT raTion poinTs lingling around . . . Chinese babies being Ted opium, 1, Jews being purged, Negroes noT being able 'i To geT iobs, kids in The slums OT N. Y., London , V , s and Paris growing up To be Al Capones? Good :,. ' God! - if 7 ,ff , v .' ' Lg,,5o,,,i, As The lasT biTTer words OT accusaTion and quesTion Taded away, There was a compIeTe and uTTer silence. WiTh his arms around his knees, The boy waiTed Tor an answer. BuT no answer came. Only an unyielding quieT. And he Tell back in despair. And Then he heard someThing. The sea. And as he lay, iTs murmurs seemed To Tell him oT anoTher who had come seeking comTorT, over I5O years ago . . . This man worried Tor Tear ThaT I3 liTTle independenT sTaTes wouIdn'T see The need Tor a merging oT power. ThaT I3 liTTle governmenTs wouIdn'T give up a whiT oT Their sovereigniTy Tor someThing as absTracT and Tar TeTched an ideal as a union. . . . a oneness of purpose and acTions. I-Ie prayed Tor wisdom and paTience and The righT words To make Them see ThaT They were To be The nucleus oT a greaT naTion, had They only The desire and The Torbearance. I-Ie hadmany doubTs, and he came here many a nighT, even as you. A wild idea iT was . . . buT look! ThoughTTulIy, The boy picked up a shell and Toyed wiTh iT aimlessly. I-Ie held iT To his ear. IT Too, had a message . . . There was anoTher soldier who came here, Too. JusT like him excepT Tor his color. I-Ie cafme here wondering if The war was worThwhiIe. IT his people, who had been The cause oT The war would be any beTTer OTT aTTer iT. IT TrighTened him. Would IiTe be beTTer Tor him and his wiTe iT They did have Treedom? They had been lucky. The masTer had been kind- There was Tood and sheITer and help when you were sick, and securiTy. Did Treedom have anyThing beTTer To olzlfer? Or even anyThing as good. Oh yes-he doubTedI BuT he wenT back and he ToughT Tor oThers who had noT had kind masTers--and Tor a dream called a Union. And look-look. The boy ThoughT oT his company aT camp-and he looked raTher proudly aT The shell. I-Ie goT up and sTarTed walking up and down The beach. And even The sand spoke To him-oT a woman who came To ask iT The world which had been made safe Tor democracy was worTh her husband's IiTe. The crunching OT The sand seemed To say I Told her, yes, buT now I don'T know. Maybe she, in her biTTerness was righT. I-low can I know how To comTorT you. Maybe This war can have no good eiTher. As Though To reTuTe This blasphemy, The waves began rolling in TasTer and TasTer and Their soTT murmur Turned To a loud roar- NoI Noi iT said. And The boy Turned To The sea, and laughed again-The lines oT his Tace moved inTo Their lConTinued on Page 46l 9