Hunter College High School - Argus Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 33 text:

1 ! 4 I 1

Page 32 text:

The tiny village perched precariously on the mountain side was wrapped in night and stillness. In the hostelaria all the windows were dark save one, through which a candle gleamed dully. The one street of the village was deserted. From the shadowed side of a house slipped a figure merging into the shadows and again starting forth stealthily down the street. As the form neared the lighted window of the inn, at the far end of the village, it paused, and passed like a wraith. At the outskirts of the town, it stepped into the starlight, to reveal itself as a young girl dressed in the gay skirt and bodice of a shepherdess. A gaily-flowered shawl covered her head, hiding all her hair save those few curls which had escaped. In the dim light one could see the beauty of her sparkling eyes, petal-like skin, and sweetly curved lips. Turning to the village for a moment, she airily blew a kiss toward it, then removed from a bundle a small pair of wooden shoes, slipped into them, and began to climb the mountainside. When she reached a small, sheltered recess, she called out softly. The leaves rustled, a man's voice whispered 6'Margherita, and she was clasped in her lover's arms. Down from the mountainside above them came the sound of someone slipping on a stone. The lovers did not hear it. But Beniamino heard their voices and stopped, glad to overhear another's secret. From where he stood, he could watch the two beneath the full moon which rose slowly in the blue-black sky. All the silver beauty of the night was lost on Beniamino, who saw only Margherita, proud daughter of the village's richest man, in a secret meeting-place with her lover. What gossip for the towns-folk this would make. The man in the glen below him moved, and the silver insignia on his uniform gleamed in the moonlight. Beniamino gasped. A soldier! He stared more keenly. An Austrian officer! Well he knew the uniform of the hated conquerors. An Italian girl with an Austrian oflicer-Smiling in satis- faction, Beniamino continued on his way to the village. The tale of the lovers' meeting was next day on everyone's lips. Never had such a subject been offered to the town. The men waiting to go forth to harvest ripe chestnutsg the women in their homesg the barefoot children all knew and talked of Margherita's lover. One old woman in search of further news approached the girl herself, who stood defiant in her doorway. Suddenly the old woman stopped, and with fear in her face, made the sign of the cross. From far below in the valley the shrill sound of a bugle was wafted up on the clear morning air. Again the sound-silence-the bugle and the far tapping of marching feet. The villagers shouted The Austrians! The fathers, pulling their children with them, ran to their own doors. As the army marched into the village street, their red-trimmed blue uniforms covered with fine dust of a long journey, their leader advanced and harshly addressed a grim-faced man in the nearest doorway. Where is the head man of this 'charming' village? The man regarded him silentlyg then raised his hand and pointed to a stone house at the left of his own. It was Margherita's home. Page Twenty-two

Page 34 text:

. , , by , pa 1 . .mp . Y f' 1 . 3 4 . ,,. ff .MRI w. 2 'W . up r lf . 4 ,AN q, If .. I' Y Y.- , 1 r 1 1. .., .L rf I 1 .. K . 'E' I u ,..i n ' A ,l.L. 'Ffa . ..ilL,' .' 4 S :fi . ,- .Ti . ,RTL - if .U N' N .4 I-734. 11.1 4 1' .M PM 1. ra .,' STQ-1154 v 4 'U ' r , ' rg ' f V -I Q if F . . ,Q -...Jn -wifi lei 11 . V' , ,.. S, .E .. f I., , , , 4' L.. 'f'..',2'!1 . isa' F s.. 1 L . ! v., 'Gi 4.-H. K' I-.' 1 ,an ' , flir- fl n y' 1' 1552 Lb- r I , .qw -if .p . --f 4 .4 wg.. ' .5 Tlnxx U , 'i 'hid 41' ' n A 1 ,M .1 IQ, 'IJ' 5 - -x n. ,.. 4 ,:,, A I' V0 J.. T' ,. -r New ' ... u ...W ,. h. .- ' .ftn - A, ..- u'b! 'l ' 3-4' ' . 1--sr ' L 4 V v 'A . 1 Highs. , - - - ,-,-:-W I .V . H: .. '- 5- lr. Q. uf. . .1.L,l'1, .i, '-,H lu - ' 5 r-1 .-If II .. r1.4 '