Hamilton Collegiate Institute - Vox Lycei Yearbook (Hamilton, Ontario Canada)

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42 VOX LYCEI Christmas, 1923 thought of lying curled up in luxurious comfort before a cheerful tire, a book spread out in front of me, while the wind howled outside and the rain spattered upon the roof overhead. So that this night I welcomed with joy the thought of spending a pleasant evening. As for my work, that would keep for another time. Meanwhile nothing must interfere with my comfort, no unpleasant thoughts concerning algebra and trigonometry must mar my enjoyment. As I walk, the world becomes shrouded in :L veil of darkness. How fickle is nature! The heavens, but yestcrnight a moonlit sea, have without warning be- come a swirling, raging whirlpool! Now and then short lightnings shooting through the sky reveal a heavy onrush of ominous clouds. Suddenly the thunder, beginning with a low growl, breaks forth in a mighty roar of fury, and thick, stinging drops beat down in my face. The storm, as if released from a long bondage, overwhelms the earth in a, mighty cataract: a wind- blown sheet of icy water, which, like a merciless war-lord, drives all to destruc- tion. And thus, throughout the long night, the tempest rages. Ah, unfortunate one that I am, with what relish I ate my substantial slipper that night! Had I but the slightest inkl- ing of the experience which I was soon to undergo, perhaps I would not, like a greedy gourmand, have asked for a. third helping of dessert. Nay, it is more likely that I would have left my supper-of which I partook so heavily, and which was, I am certain, the cause of all my woes-totally untouched. As it was, I smacked my lips, as would a Falstaff, after satisfying the foremost law of nature, and sinking down i11 glorious ease amid the soft down of a morris chair, I drew up my legs under me, while the fire crackled pleasantly, and was soon deeply engrossed in the depths of Inferno. On and on I read, undisturbed by the frequently flashing lightnings, and the thunders, which, growing ever stronger and more fierce, seemed as if they would rend the very house from its foundations. But at last Morpheus, whom I had thus far rebuffed, would brook play no longer. Slowly the book slid from my hand, my eyelids began to close drowsily, and I experienced that feeling of lethargy which comes over one after partaking too freely of the earth 's bounty. I became but half-sensible to 1ny surroundings. In a darkening haze the room took on weird, grotesque shapes, the tire seemed to tlare up suddenly till it assumed the proportions of a furious conflagration, and-I fell back in deep and profound slumber. Then I dreamed-a vision such as only a supper like the one I had eaten could create. It seemed that the four walls of the room, animated by some supernatural force, quickly receded until they disap- peared in dark, gloomy eavernsg that the tioor gradually descended, lower and lower, till at las' it took shape as a rocky ter- race in the very bowels of the earth. From everywhere, and yet from nowhere, came a long, drawn-out wail. which sud- denly broke off into a harsh, rasping, demoniacal laughter: then, as suddenly, rose to an agonized, blood-curdling shriek, Good heavens! What child of caprice could this be? IVhat name 'had this foul nest of fiends? Of a sudden, the air is rent by a thun- derous roar, a. thick, yellow-gray smoke oozes forth from the porous walls, malici- ous tongucs of fire shoot out from every corner, and, pursuing a 'horde of crazed, shrieking creatures, in cold terror I rec- ognized the very master of Hades him- self! Then he is gone, in his fiery chariot, drawn by two green-eyed serpents! For a moment I stand, my eyes staring, un- able to move. Then comes a sweeping reaction, and I shake as with the palsy, like an aspen leaf. For a space all became silent. Then, turning, I beheld in mute wonder, Dante, and accompanying him, the august Shade of Vergill My heart leaped within me! Surely, with them I could find protection, shelter from the countless, unknown dangers conjured up by my fertile imag- ination. All at once the Shade of Vergil looked up, and beholding me, beckoned to me to approach. W-hen I had done so, in a surprisingly cultured and gentle voice it asked of me, How earnest thou here? I do not know, I replied, in what strange manner I made the transition from our earth to these hellish regions. XVondrous, indeed, are the Ways of

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PRCCDCRASTHNATHQN By HARRY PAIKIX. It was my first aequaintanee with Dante, and I was so impressed, that all the day I thought of nothing but Inferno and the Shade of Vergil. At night as I walked along the avenue, it Seemed to me that I saw imps and red demons. with fiery green eyes, and horns, and long, lolling' tongues, lurking in every clark corner. As I lay in bed and heard the wind howling througfli the treetops. I thought of the iiendish wails of agony that eehoed and re-eehoed throuwhout the s length of Hades: and in the morning, the steam of my breath in the eold air re- minded me of the greenish yellow vapour issuing forth from the Devil 's great eaul' drons. Indeed. so greatly was I affected by the poet's wealth of imagination that I forgot all things else and became possessed of but one idea, namely. to iinish the book in one great eulp, and then to devour it over again. Thus I formed the habit of putting off my work for a more suitable time, and thus fell a vietim to the fiend, procrastination. At first, as with all other bad habits. the menaee looked small and puny, some- thing easily conquered by the will. But gradually it loomed larger and larger until I, who had been thus far deceiving myself, was at last terrified to find that it was my master. The few neglected chapters had beeome a veritable moun- tain of unknown pages: so that an in- grained laziness, combined with the seem- ing hopelessness of my task, eaused me to deeeive myself into believing' that it was now too late to begin again. and I sank deeper into the mire. Each clay I told myself that I would begin again to-morrow, but for me to- morrow never came. To read a book for the pleasure of reading it, voluntarily, is far more agreeable and more easy than to read one as a, compulsory task. So that I had only to let my eye stray from a cold algebra or geometry to the warm, glowing classic of Daute's'and my even- ing's resolutions to study faithfully were shattered. It was now the third time that I was reading' f'Inferno, for, such is the greatness of a vlassiv that, at eaeh different time that it is read, there may be found some new hidden meaning, some new beauty of thought and expression: so that the interest and the enthusiasm is ever inereased by a new light, a new insight into the writer's mind. And so matters might have gone on indefinitely, while I eontinued to fall farther and farther behind. But there eame a day that I was rudely and forvibly awakened to the full, terrible realization of the viee whieh had all but mastered me, and this happened in the following manner: I eame out of school one afternoon, after being.: made partieularly wretehefl by a vigilant teacher, who stressed only too well my most profound igiioraiiee of trigonometry, and beheld a sky overeast by a gigantie blaek eloud. whieh lowered threateningly over the whole City. And, as a person attlieted with a partieular ail- ment seems to gather a eertain pliilosopliie eonsolation on beholding' another afilieted with the same ailment, so I felt somewhat eonsoled upon beholding the wretehed state of the weather. Nature. at least, was in sympathy with me. Turning down Main street, I proeeeded homewards, thinking' with a sinking heart about the coming: examinations. A wind had sprung up, and here and there along the sidewalks, was coinniingling' in a gay Whirl the dust of the streets with the fallen brown leaves. The c-louds had begun to move in a massive blaek line across the heavens, and the western sky was suddenly lighted by a seeming' heav- enly radianee. I hastened my steps in order to arrive home before the storm broke, and of a sudden expr-rieneed a eurious lightheart- edness. Being one of those unfortunates who is governed by moods, I had often experienced an epieurean pleasure at the

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Christmas, 1923 VOX nature! commented the Shade. Puzzled, but not daring to satisfy my curiosity by questioning the Shade as to the portent of these words, I remained silent. Since thou art here, thou mayest ae- company us on our journey through Hades. But take heed lest thou lose sight of our persons, else misfortune will surely befall thee. And so, with a, heart filled with grati- tude, I went with them on their way. To describe all thehorrors I beheld would be a task almost beyond human powers. Let it suftiee, therefore, that I relate those several scenes which had the most effect on me. After viewing the different stages of suffering and anguish which was the lot of certain, wocbegone souls, whose earthly life had been given to sensuality and an egotistical gratification of desires, of murderers and thieves, and of sundry others who had lived evil lives, we came at last upon a scene, which, bee cause of its proximity to my own thoughts, made the hair stand up on my head. In the centre of a large, forbidding cavern, there was burning, with a heat so intense that it all but drove out thc senses, a mighty furnace, in which, jutting out like evil black spikes, lay a row of six iron rods-branding rods-and, cluster- ed about the furnace, ministering to the flames, their grinning, evil features re- iieeted in the glowing light, was a horde of black imps, the Devil's own servants, But wait, thy curiosity will soon be satisfiedf' said thc Shade of Vergil to individuals, who gazed out of glassy eyes me, in answer to my thoughts. There- upon, there entered' the cavern two red demons, bearing between them a poor, weeping soul, whose piteous cries but lent merriment to his blackehearted captors. Immediately a half dozen imps, like inf satiafble vultures, sprang upon the creature, bound him hand and foot, then lashed him to insensibility with great whips of steel. Suddenly these fiends sprang up, and each grasping a rod, imprinted the fiat, white-hot end of it in the sensitive, quivering tiesh of their victim. This done, they revived him with cold water, and, grinning maliciously, left him to endure the excruciating torture of 'his condition. Oh, God! that I should be a witI1eSS of LYOEI 43 this. Many more were brought in and treated in a like manner. I grew faint with revulsionq a. nameless dread seized me, and in a shaking voice, I asked: Vi'l1at crime have these poor souls been guilty of that they must suffer thus? These, answered the Shade of Vergil, are those accursed whose watchword was proerastinatiou, whose maxim through- out life wats, I shall do it tovmorrowfl I started violently. Many times had I given voice to these self-same words, and to me they had seemed innocent enough, if, perhaps, smacking somewhat of indol- 0114342 Look! exclaimed the Shade. The suffering' souls arose, twisting and writhing in their agony, and behold! on their backs, branded in great red capital letters, were the words, I Shall Do It To-Morrowfl Oh, the cold horror of itl A wave of keen repentance, of virtue in- spired by terror, possessed me. If ever I should return to earth--. Glad enough was I when we left the foul place. IVe next came to a chamber, from which there issued forth such a volley of mocking laughter, such heart- 1'QIllllIl,L', piteous sobs, such an insane come motion, that I thought surely Bedlam must be a veritable haven of peace in comparison. We entered. Oh, the sight that met our eyes! There, on a long table in the centre of the room, lay a ,iumblcd mass of bones and skulls of every size and form, which a number of hideous little dwarfs were busily en- gaged in piecing together into skeletons, ,Qflllllillg and ghastly. Soon, alas, too soon, I was to discover the reason of their work. In the darkest corner of the chamber, huddled together in numb terror, crouched a. motley collection of at the bloody jaws of monstrous, red- cyod dogs: great, ferocious brutes. straining' at their leashes, which were held hy chafing demons, impatient to see the animals freed. At any moment might come the terrible word of com- mand, at anyw- Suddenly there is a tiendish ery, Newt and with 51 leap of insensate fury, the great beasts bear down upon their hyp- notized vietims, and proceed to rend them limb from limb. J