Germantown High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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U THE CLIVEDEN p Again lack was dismayed and unac- countably disturbed by finding out that the grass was a curious yellow color. It's appearance was far different from the ordinary grass, because at the top of each blade a small leaflet grew. Looking around once more he noticed that there appeared to be no trees in the country. As far as he could see there lay nothing but bushes of a dead-looking, reddish brown color. The land itself consisted mostly of rocks of some sparkling and glittering substance-probably mica. He could see no sign of human habitation- a fact which struck him as decidedly queer. By this time the sun had begun to go down. In all of his thirty years of experiences, Iack had never seen a sunset that could compare with this one. It seemed to be a vivid combination of the Aurora Borealis, a western desert sunset, and huge geysers of various vividly- colored gases. It had a weird and fantastic effect on the country around him. The bushes seemed to writhe and dance, the whole of the land seemed to be shivering and shaking, and even the rocks seemed to be living masses of stone which crawled and twisted in all direc- tions. All of the landscape was bathed in a curious mixture of colors, of which black soon began to predominate. The coming of the darkness made Iack realize that he would have to camp there for the night, so he began to hunt wood for a camp tire. This job was not hard, because even if there were no trees, there was plenty of brush. Yvhen he had completed this task, he felt in his pocket for a match. To his dismay he had none. After about ten minutes of utter dejection and confusion, he thought of an old Indian method he had learned when he was a boy. It was the bow and drill methods. Using his shoe lace as a bow string and two pieces of brush as bow and drill he soon had his equipment ready. After half an hours' tedious work, he managed to get a spark, and by careful nursing soon had a large camp- fire burning. Iackithen proceeded to make himself as comfortable as possible. He relaxed his tired muscles and lay flat on his stomach watching the sparks rise and soar upward. His attention was at- tracted by a vivid, green spark which did not move. It seemed strangely familiar to lack but he could not place what it resembled. Suddenly its identity burst upon him like a bomb and left aboutthe same effects behind it. XVith his mind in chaos, he tried to consider his plight in a sensible and calm manner. Out of fuel and alone on a strange planet, for the green spark was the earth he thought he was on. His thoughts of his predica- ment were suddenly and rudely inter- rupted by a hair-raising sound on the other side of the fire. His startled eyes met a huge apparition bearing down on him. Yvith a frightened gasp, lack sprang from his resting place and dashed madly away from the monster. The fact that he was able to travel five times as fast as he was accustomed to, gave him an advantage over the beast. In spite of this he was compelled to turn and twist to escape this menace. After several close shaves, his muscles began to tire. NVas there no escape? Yes, there wasl Before him a wide chasm yawned. He ran to the very edge and gave a tremendous leap. After what seemed to be endless minutes he landed on the other side with a painful jar. All during the next five minutes Iack was getting his breath back and congratulat- ing himself on his lucky escape. Hardly had he done this when he was menaced by another monster. During the next four hours he was compelled to flee from five of these

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A SllllllDlIRlllSNlINlNl?f EDISEDVIBRGM' HARRY WYETH ACK HARVEY was happy, very happy. At last he had perfected the aeroplane of his dreams. He had been trying to get a record- breaking climber and at the present moment was hugely enjoying himself in one. He was eighty thousand feet up in the air on just a trial trip. This was forty thousand feet higher than any plane had been flown until now. Yvhile lack was having the time of his life flying around in these high regions, he became aware of a distant bright spot that sparkled and glittered. His curi- osity prompted him to drive his plane towards it to discover what it was. After driving for an hour or so, lack was surprised at the tremendous size of this object. A close scrutiny of it disclosed that it was an enormous cloud. How- ever, there was something queer about this cloud. In the first place it was entirely too high for a cloud. Secondly, the cloud seemed to be composed of jagged, diamond-like particles of ice which glittered and gleamed in a very delightful way. Ordinary clouds are soft, fluffy, and billowy. This strange cloud aroused an impulsive whim to drive through it. So he drove into it head-on. When he had become tired of riding around in the cloud and had explored what he thought to be most of it, Jack decided that it was time to leave for home. He immediately began to take his bearings and to start back to earth. To his surprise his compass was behaving in an unaccountable manner. It was pointing to each of the directions in turn instead of to the north. Using it as much as he could, which was not using it at all, he tried to get out of the cloud. After an hour of futile attempts he finally realized that he was lost in the cloud. Furthermore, the supply of gas- oline was rapidly diminishing. His motor soon began to cough and sputter. It stopped all of a sudden and the plane began to fall. His speed in- creased rapidly and in hardly any time at all, the plane was rushing downward at a terrific pace. YVhen he had just about given up hope of getting control of the plane, the earth burst upon his vision. It required all his efforts and skill to get control of the plane but he did it and barely managed to bring the plane out of a tailspin and make a three-point landing on a large bush- covered plain. After a few minutes of rest from his strenuous experience, lack became aware of a bitter, acrid taste in his mouth and of a burning sensation in his nose. NVondering what it was, he opened the door of the cabin plane to get a breath of air. Almost immediately the sensations became stronger. In a minute or two he found out that it was the air that disturbed him. Thinking nothing of it, he stepped out of the plane to have a look at his motor. He experienced the curious feeling of stepping off into space and his body seemed to feel extraordinarily light. When he endeavored to step around to the front of the plane, he was fifteen feet beyond it before he knew it. This time he made a very startling and disturbing discovery. Instead of going one yard at a step he traveled five. With his mind in a turmoil, he tried to forget these things, so he looked around to take stock of his surroundings. ei171YC'

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THE CLIVEDEN terrifying creatures but he always came through unharmed. Iack finally found a haven of refuge on top of a large mass of rocks. He was perched there for several hours and was becoming sleepy when a faint humming noise aroused him from his lethargy. lxlaybe it was a rescue plane. No, it could not bel Looking upward, another danger confronted him. Coming down at him was a huge, ferocious looking bird of the prehistoric type. Down off the rocks came Iack and away he went at full speed. This time the shoe was on the other foot. The bird had the advantage. Iack ran darting and swerving like a mouse try- ing to avoid an owl. Still the bird gained. Would he escape this time? It looked like it. There was another chasm, smaller than the first, and on the other side was a dark hole, probably a cave. The bird was closer now than ever. Looking back in desperation, lack strove to go faster. Only about three hundred yards to the chasm now. The bird's beak then snapped about two feet in back of his head. Frantically, he increased his pace. He was in a state of collapse. Once more he looked back to see if he had gained any. At that moment his foot hit a rock. lack went head over heels. He rolled over and over. Abruptly he was out in space falling down, down, down. He brought up with a sudden, sickening jar. Was this heaven? Breathing painfully, he opened his eyes. A huge shape was swooping down on him. An awful shock-and then everything grew darker -darker-oblivion. LTIIIHIHIUIEB lIl?llRllE5413lIE5lIlD6lllflll11fDllNll GDI? EVIL FLORENCE B. SILBER AVE you ever wondered how you can picture in your mind such intangible perceptions as emo- tions ot good and evil? Somehow, it seems to me, when we wish to think of these, we involuntarily personify par- ticular emotions and visualize charac- ters, actual or imaginary, whose face seems to us expressive of those thoughts. As soon as the thought of anger comes to nie, a vivid picture glows in my imagina- tion. I see a man, a powerful man with mighty straining muscles. His hands are clenched, taut, as though he were about to bend a bar of strongest steel. Nevertheless it is his face which is clearest, largest, in my consciousness. His lips are drawn back, snarling, and revealing sharp white fangs and an underjaw somewhat protruding. Eye- brows lifted, veins swollen, eyes flashing, all these characteristics go to make up my personification of anger. This is, of course, purely an imagina- tive character. There is, on the other hand, that character which is drawn from life and which presents to us, a perfect personification of an emotion. It is with the latter that I am now going to deal. Indelibly traced in my mind is a character-my personification of sordid evil. I was walking down a small street- a narrow filthy street, in a section of the slums seldom used by casual pedestrians or vehicles. A shiver of fear and a premonition of evil seemed to combine and weigh on me. I hardly knew where I was-just dimly aware that I was near the corner of an intersecting street. Another chill passed over me. Then came an awareness, an intuition of some- -01119110-