John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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6Ll 96U'lilfl,6l. of fAe mee THOMAS FU CALLI GARGANTUA IS the name of the largest fish ever caught by man. How was he caught? Well, it all started on a Sunday moming in Iune, way back in 1912. Captain Charles Thompson of Miami, Florida, and two other men were on his auxiliary sloop, the Samoa, which was lying at anchor of Knight's Key. Suddenly they saw a shadow below the surface of the water, which appeared and disappeared with the shitting of the waves. The three men decided to investigate. Armed with harpoons and a high powered rifle, they set out in a lifeboat equipped with a motor. As they drew near, the shadow proved to be a spotted mass unlike anything they had ever seen. It started to move, apparent- ly sensing their presence. lust in time the captain hurled harpoon after har- poon into the gigantic mass. Captain Charley sent two hun- dred shots into it but with almost no effect. So he poised with a knife. ready to cut the line at the first indication 12 of a downward plunge. Later it was revealed that the fish must have been thrown to the surface by a volcanic eruption on the ocean floor, and its diving apparatus put out of commis- sion. In any case, it towed the lifeboat around for thirty-nine hours before the men maneuvered it back to Samoa. Even then, when the catch was lashed to the side of the Yacht, it flipped its tail and shattered the propeller. Professor I. S. Warmbeth of Smith- sonian Institute went to work 'examin- ing the huge carcass. Careful measure- ments revealed the monster to be forty- five feet long, and believe it or not, it w-eighed thirty thousand pounds. This was without a doubt an almost legend- ary fish in which the characteristics of the whale and shark were combined. Well, that goes to prove you can never tell what you'll find at the end of your line.

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been able to save. Yet other weeks nothing had been added. Iim and Maria were like two young children then, but they never allowed their dream to stop them from buying any- thing that was needed. It took many we-eks and many years before they were able to see that their dream was slowly coming into effect: in fact. it was five and one-hall years later when lim told Maria that she should prepare hers-elf for their trip to Austria. Iim could remember those prepara- tions now and also the day when he went to make reservations. Maria was all aglow. Although she had planned what she was going to do. she planned it all over again. The weeks flew by until the day arrived for Iim and Maria to leave simple quarters. Iim could remember vividly the good- byes that were exchanged as though they were never coming back. If they had only known. Their trip was very pleasant, but Maria had to rest quite a bit because she was excited and her heart con- dition could spoil their joumey. How- ever, once their long awaited day arrived and they set foot on Austrian soil, Maria meant to have a good time 1. I f W ' r f' bi 9 gf. LW' I H -9- - t D? there. no matter what Iim said. Maria's family and friends greeted both of them just as Iim's folks had greeted Maria. Her family had never expected to see either of them again. lim en- joyed watching Maria's face as she talked excitedly about everything. She was so happy to be among her peo- ple. For two weeks it seemed as though they were just dreaming. They would take long walks along the country- side and talk of her childhood and life in Austria. Although Iim had heard most of it before. he didn't mind hear- ing it again. But soon the time came when they had to say good-bye to everyone. Their hearts felt heavy at the thought of saying good-bye, for it seemed as though they had just arrived. Maria had been excited: too excited at this reunion. As she was kissing her mother. she fainted. lim quickly brought her inside the house and gently placed her on the bed. Everyone was rushing around the room trying to revive her. lim bent down, horror stricken at the face of his wife. It was a ghastly white. He straightened himself and said in a low quivering tone. It's too late. She's dead! Maria had overtaxed her heart and it had stopped. As jim sat there in the darkened room. he lifted his weary head and saw the ray of light that had peeped through. They had planned th-e trip. and, in a way had planned her death. She now lay buried in Austria where she had been born and brought up. Maybe she wanted it that way, but perhaps she didn't. He rose from his chair and knew that some day this wound would heal. but he would always have memories of her and their short life together. ll

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f l AT A ball game, whether it be baseball or football, you will always find some- one who knows nothing about it. She will go just to keep up the school spirit and so that her friends will not make fun of her. I was observing such a per- son at the last football game I attended. It seemed to me that the girl, whom we shall call Ioan, never attended a football game before. You see, it was quite chilly and she was obviously not dressed for it. She was dressed more for a swimming meet in an indoor pool. Of course, nobody feels the cold until about a half-hour after the game starts. At approximately that length of time after the game began. Ioan started looking around her. I could tell she was beginning to feel cold from the way her teeth were chattering. Her eyes passed enviously over everyone, for they were all warmly dressed: that is, everyone was except herself. At this moment, Adams fumbled the ball and a player from the other team caught it and made a touchdown. Ioan, hearing all the noise, of course thought that she must also participate so she stood up and yielded a loud cheer. At this, all her schoolmates tumed to stare at her. Ioan was very embarrassed and her cheeks l'lC0lflgIf'lfL0lfL5 SFUQJGL f0I EILEEN NEEDLE turned crimson. She sat down and clasped her hands in her lap and started looking at the field once more. I could almost read her mind at that moment. I'l1 bet she was saying The next time I hear cheering, I'l1 wait and see who made the touchdown before I open my big mouth. All went well for the next hour or so. Then, the other team threw a pass and our team intercepted it. Everyone stood up and cheered: that is, everyone but Ioan. Ioan kept sitting with her hands folded in her lap just as she was since the last half of the game. Noting that the shouting was more consist-ent than it was before, she looked around and saw that this time it was her own schoolmates that were cheering. There- fore. she assuredly got up and gave a loud school cheer. By the time she cheered, everyone had settled down and all was quiet as everyone was waiting for th-e next play. As you can imagine, her shout came too late. In- stead of giving her a dirty look, every- one tumed to her and laughed. She was never so humiliated in her life. She got up and walked away mumbling to herself. As she passed me I caught a few words. She was saying, Never again, no never again. I don't care what the girls say. Never again. I couldn't help laughing to myself. I3