Guilford High School - Rostrum Yearbook (Guilford, ME)

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22 THE ROSTRUM THOSE WHO DIE According to the records, Pellitier is the best qualified man we have for this job. Jeanne Fortin and Theresa Pirout, who works in the generals office, can help himf, spoke the man in the shiny blue serge suit, looking up from his book of records. K'Pellitier can come here. You will go to the house of Pellitier and give him do it then. Jacques, Monsieur Henri this note. He is to return with you. Be one sees you come in careful that no here. You may go nowf, Later Jacques enters with another man. The man speaks, You sent for me -Henri Pellitier?,' Yes, I did. Sit down. So you are Pelli- tier. I am Raymon Foulon. Have you not heard of me in my work in the under ground systems of F rance?', Without waiting for a reply, the outspoken Fou- lon continued, Your record speaks well for you. You have done well in your ef- forts to hinder the Nazi hordes, who are trying their best to orush our gallant spirit. They can starve us, they can tor- ture us, they can kill us. But they can never kill the true France that every Frenchman holds fast in his heart, never until they kill every Frenchman who has been born into this world of hatred! 'Enough of sentiment, we must never give way to sentiment. If we do, it will be our downfall. The real purpose of your being here is to give you your or- ders. They are simple. The Tennerie factory, where you work, must be de- stroyed. Your helpers will be Jeanne Fortin and Theresa Piroutf' aBut not Jeanne, this is dangerous! Canit you put someone else in her place? You see, I love Jeanne Fortin. We were to have been married in June4but the Germans camef, I am sorry. I didn't know, but ilt can not be changed now. The plans are made. You must carry them out to every letter of every word. You know all of the people who will aid you. Jeanne can secure the explosives. Theresa will get the plans to the factory for you. She can do it easily enough. You and Jeanne both work in the factory. It will be simple. Have it happen when there are as few as possible there. We can at least try to be human. Will you do it?', I will do it. The task will be com- pletcd by Friday night. Today is Wednesday. It shall be donef, After say- ing this, Pellitier left the room. He had work to do tonight. He must see Jeanne. Fifteen minutes later, a tall, dark, un- shaven man in an old suit of work clothes, which had been shabby for a long time, walked quickly up the steps of a house in the suburbs of a once beautiful, but now ruined, Paris. He glanced cautiously around him. Seeing no one, he opened the door and stepped in quickly. In the corner of the room, bending over her book, trying to catch the fading light of a dying sun, sat a beautiful French girl. Jeanne,v the tall man murmured as he walked across the floor. Jeanne.v Henril I thought perhaps they had gotten you. I have been waiting a long time. WVhy are you so late? I have something to tell you. You and your friend, Theresa Pirout, have been chosen to help me destroy the fac- tory in which we work. It must be done by Fridayf, c'Henri, do you know that a new ship- ment of French soldiers, for the Nazis to send to the Russian front to be slaught- ered, passes the plant soon after we get out of work tomorrow? Why not kill them now? It would save them from the horrible fate that is in store for them. XVould it not be better to kill them be- fore they can become traitors to Franceiy K'Jeanne, you are right. At four-forty we will blow the place as high as the elephant who jumped the fence. If We can just get it close to the powder room, the shells which are in there will ex- plode and destroy the track and troop

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THE ROSTRUM 21 we can say to ourselves, 6'VVe can do the job, we will do it, and we must do itfi All of us are in this world for a purpose, and we should do our best to fulfill that purpose. So let us remember that if we have a desire to do a thing and if we feel that we must do it, we can and we will do it! Bernice Foss ,44. OUR BONE NEIGHBORS There are over two hundred bones in the body, but I donit believe many aver- age persons can name these promiptly, if at all. There are a few of these bones, however, that we all know. These bones represent some of the people we know very well, although I doubt if we often think of classifying people according to bones. There are the wish-bonev people, for instance. In this group of people we find the people who are always wishing for something, but who are doing very little to make their wishes come true. They wisfh that school lasted only three days a week, they wish and dream about breaking the dishes instead of washing them, they wish money grew on trees, and they wish they could go to college next fall. These people live in a dreamy world full of their desires, but what do they do about these wishes? IVhat do they do about the money they need for college next fall? They dream about possessing it, but they donit dream of doing any work to obtain it. Yes, I think we all know some of the Wishbone peo- ple, but we donit care to have them for close friends. There are also the 'funnyboneii people. XVho comes in this group? XVhy, the person who laughs because his wife has left him, the boy who grins when he Hunks an exam, the woman who bursts into laughter when she runs her stock- ing, and the girl who giggles when she has kept her date waiting an hour for her. VVe all know these people who laugh when it rains, laugh when the sun shines, laugh when they are late for school, and laugh when they burn up a cake. Of course we all want to be able to laugh at the humorous side of life, but do we want to be a person who gig- gles at everyt'hing? I think you will agree with me that the answer is definitely No . Then there are the ujawbonev people wiho are nearly opposite the ufunnybonev people. Here we find the person who yells, Turn that radio off! It sounds as though a hurricane were raging in this roomlv You promptly turn the radio off and then he complains, You'd think some was dead in the house, itis so quietlv In this group we also find the elderly aunt who raves when you are a long time doing the dishes, but if you speed up the process she scolds for she knows you canit possibly have wiped them dry. VVe also find here the person who jaws because the room is too hot, you open the window and itis too cold. Certainly everyone knows and spends some time avoiding people in this group. I will try to tell you of only one more of the borne people, like 'gbackbonev people. Among these people we find the persons we like to know and the persons we like to be. VVho are some of these backbone people? The man who started a small novelty store and is today the townis leading business man, the awk- ward country lawyer who later became one of the greatest Presidents of our na- tion and the Negrois emancipator, the young man whom people made fun of when he walked down the streets of Philadelphia with two loaves of bread in his pocket, but later he became the cityis most distinguished citizen, and the poor boy across the street who worked his way through school and is now caring for an aged father and mother. In other words, these are the people, the aback- boneii people, that are the backbone and foundation of our great nation. Donna VVelts '44,

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THE ROSTRUM 28 train. With perfect timing it can be done. A friend of mine is engineer on that train. If he knows that the plant is going to be blown up, he can turn the train off onto that old siding which goes into the supply room beside the powder room. I will make the change at the siding during our noon period. There is no afternoon train. Oh, here is Theresa. How ilong have you been here, Theresafrw I have been here long enough to get the general drift of things, I guess. Am I supposed to get the plans of the plant for you? I think I can get them tonight. I have to go back at seven-thirty this eveningf, After this, Theresa Pirout, a beautiful girl with golden hair and a fair skin, sat down beside Jeanne. No one could help but notice the contrast between the two girls. Both Ieanne and Theresa had French fathers. Ieanne's mother had been French. The Germans got her. Theresa never spoke of her mother, a Swiss woman. Theresa's moth- er was dead, but Theresa could not for- give the people of her mother's country for not fighting. In her love for liberty, equality, and fraternity she was truly French. Yes, Theresa, you are to get me the plans of the factory. YVill those plans be in the files of your General Shmidtz?', I can secure them tonight. You will be here to get them about ten o,clock?', I will be here. Now, Jeanne, take your market basket and go to Monsieur Rauilieris home. I will write you a note to give to him telling him exactly what I want. I, too, must go now. I will be back at ten o'clock.', Pellitier went quietly out into the night and disap- peared. In the house, Theresa was preparing to go back to General Shmidtis office. .She has a strange premonition that something unexpected will happen which has a great deal of effect on their plans. As Theresa walks quickly into the of- fice, she wishes she could give up the whole idea. She hears footsteps and the general comes in. He gives her orders in a Curt Nazi tone, 'iFraulein Piro-ut, I want you to typewrite these orders for me. I am going out. You may leave as soon as you have finished. Heil, Hitler!', i'Heil Hitler, Theresa answered ca-s- ually. As soon as the last dying sounds of his footsteps have faded, Theresa sat down at her desk and typed for a while. Then she got up, ran to the window and looked out. She saw that the general had left in his private car. Quickly she reached for her key to the file cabinet. Soon the file was opened and the prec- ious plans were in her hands-the plans that help to bring the doom of the Axis nearer! A funny sensation rushed through her mind. It seemed almost as if she were being Watched. Looking up, she saw a German officer staring at her. NVhat are you doing with those files? VVhere is General Shmidtz? Answer me immediatelyf, This tall blond German lad spoke accusinigly, as though he sus- pected somethinfg. She must think fast. The general? He just left a short while ago. I do not know where he went. VVhat am I doing with the file? I am looking up some maps for the generalf, She was frightened. If only she could have been a better actress. Her surprise still showed on her face. I do not believe you! You are lying! You wish to steal those plans. I am sorry that I must take you prisoner, my pretty frauleinf' He, too, was surprised. He didn't want to sentence this girl to the death she must face, if he turned her in to the German police. She was just a French girl, at least she talked like one. Without quite knowing what he did, he stepped closer and asked, MAre you French? Yes, and proud of it, Theresa snapped back the reply. My mother was Swiss, if you must be so inquisitive. How dare you say that I am trying to steal! You impudent pig! You do not