Lansdowne High School - Lahian Yearbook (Lansdowne, PA)

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A nap Off The Sea Caaste An Territories of THE, LAHIATi ISLF.S JON'O CC WS JO IftUTtf 6C i I I »ll fOINU W«»» (mu ww«v) Iv cat.o •Si Cartograph compiled from survey data supplied by the entire staff of THE 1935 LAHIAN and executed in Pen-and-ink by Dick Ellenberger. Jane King, Nancy Perkins, and others. 15

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After four years, if they hold a Passport with a proper Vise, they are free to leave the islands, and to recount tales of wonderful adventures to spellbound fishermen. What strange happenings take place in these chalk-marked grottoes, - only one who has known them as intimately as these youths, can tell. But those who have been under the spell of the magi say that here indeed, is the land of opportunity. ■ Once the portals are closed behind them, drawn as if by the siren songs of Neptune's many mermaids, they are compelled by some powerful force to search for the secret of what lies beyond; but this is denied them until they have mastered certain prescribed requirements of Freshwater apprentices in sail. Here, almost under the very gates which they have so longed to enter (for indeed, this island, which was once a part of ihe adjoining one, is now cut off by a narrow channel of water, and stands aloof from the others like a small dot in the ocean), they must find a means of crossing to the next shore. This island, which seems within a furlong's distance from the gates, withdraws if they approach by swimming; then it is that they learn what the purpose of their being held here is -— each must build his own raft for the crossing. This is the first test of the immigrants' Fortitude. ■ Those successful youths who cross the channel find themselves on a larger island, called by the quaint name of Ess , because of its curving shores and the strange swishing of the channel waters as they beat against the shore. Since they have passed their first test, the Landlubbers take the name of Shanghaied Sophomores, because they are no longer attracted by the novelty of life on Lahian Isles, therefore, they are pressed into service.- The island of S — as it is oft abbreviated — is beautiful with verdant herbs and riotous colors, and many are the temptations to remain forever to revel with queer creatures who live on a strange diet of red ink and are known as F's. But the next island with its lofty rock cliffs remind the merrymakers of their mission. No frail craft can make this crossing, for it is dangerous with shitting tides and coral reefs, where the wrecks of past attempts lie shattered. The Sophomores, who have learned that unity is the greater part of strength, must resolve to combine their indi- vidual knowledge and to build one ship for all. They appoint officers, and guided by one of the Harbor Pilots who is hired as the Supercargo in charge of all the commercial affairs of the voyage, they spend the long winter laying the keel of a '37 foot sloop. When spring comes, the ship is finished, and fearfully they launch it into the long swells and tall waters, and quickly they unfurl the sails and set their course ahead, steering carefully between the treacherous shoals. Behind them follow the anguished cries of their comrades who have spent the year in idleness and whom they have left at the mercy of sea serpents and the ancient octopus never to see again, unless one ‘should by chance attain the island by crossing alone during the summer typhoons that originate in the Temple of the gods. As they approach the stormy coast of the third island they see no harbor for their ship, for there is only foam dashed high against the forbidding rocky cliffs. There is no turning back — they must enter this land by their own efforts and at their own risk. This is the second test of the traveler's Fortitude. When the sloop is shattered on the rocks, some escape death by clinging to drifting planks, on which they are eventually washed ashore, but the waters are filled with the shrieks of the drowning. Survivors find this to be a bare island inhabited by a group of merciless pirates. This island is a perfect pirates' hide-out, for it is almost inapproachable except at either end, where there are narrow lagoons of calm water. These are separated by a rough embankment, which gives the island a resemblance to a ragged H. The apprentices, who have spent three years before the mast, are called Junior Seamen. They think that the key to the treasure they seek is hidden in the island. The magi, however, counsel that the real treasure lies beyond these shores, and that its snares are placed in the pathway to test the sailors. ■ Those who heed the magi prepare to leave the island with great speed, and they build a craft with the remains of wrecks which they find on the beach — they fashion the body of their ship from alumnus wood and cover the bottom and caulk the seams with old examination papers which are scattered all over the island. They then paint the top-sides of their pirate ship with several coats of oil and prepare to raid the next island the moment the S. S. Senior steams out of the harbor. 14

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Leaving behind them their former companions, who search in vain for buried treasure, they silently steer their galleon out of the lagoon and glide over peaceful waters into the broad harbor of an island whose gleaming sands had been visible from a great distance and had beckoned them from afar. This island, which offers no resistance to the assumption of control is resplendent with gold and precious metals, and they think that at last they have found the treasure for which they have sought, but again the magi warn them that true wealth is to be found in life and not in material riches. Again they are tempted to remain in idle luxury in these glittering thoroughfares, where warm breezes sway the tropical palms, where the very food is provided as if by heaven, and where the magi begin to grant special privileges to those worthy of trust. This sacrifice is the third test of their Fortitude, and it is the most difficult of all, for there are many to whom the gates of wisdom are barred because they have not learned self-denial. Those who look beyond this enticing splendor of gold see a fertile land surrounded by beaches, and a goodly harbor protected from the sea by an L-shaped cove. And those who are wise know that this land, too, is meant to be a stepping-stone. They prepare to leave in their own ships, for they are Master Mariners, granted passports by the Harbor Pilots to go freely into the world, because they have overcome their tests of intestinal Fortitude. Some of them return to their native homes, and some few strain onward to another group of islands whose shadowy coastlines can be seen far away on the horizon when they are pointed out by the far-seeing eyes of the magi. There are those who remain in wastefulness upon the island, but they eventually perish, or battle their way alone through unfriendly seas. When a sailor once leaves the Lahian Isles, he can never see them more, for they elude the vision of those who have passed through these islands never long for them except in memory, for they have learned the Art of Living Well. ■ Thus ends one of the strangest chronicles of the sea. Although historians may discredit it and cynics scoff at it, the fact remains that some mysterious enchantment lurks over the Lahian Isles — an enchantment which is perhaps exercised by those wise rulers who guide the struggling children through the trials of apprenticeship, i is certain that they know, but they will not disclose their secret, and none beside them understand. The fishermen only know that when the heat of summer gradually is tempered into fall, that there suddenly swings over the horizon the vision of the LAHIAN ISLES. Scientists declare that it is a mirage caused by layers of hot air; and historians call it an interesting legend; indeed an English poet went so far as to write of the Lahian Lightship — The light that never was on land or sea. But the fishermen wisely shake their heads — they know, for have not they themselves sojourned on the islands? It is the magi. 16