London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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L. s. C. 1. ORACLE QT RETRIBUTION BY NoRMAN FARROW A boy and a girl strolled silently be- neath the massive old elms of the campus at Traynor College. At first sight they appeared to be merely a pair of co-ed lovers, but an observer with insight would have seen some- thing more in it than that. The boy was tall, dark, rugged, a full-blooded Apache Indian, son of an Arizona chief 3 the girl, petite, fair, her hair almost red, a New York debutante of the year before. No more startling contrast could be imagined. A love such as theirs, to overstep the bounds of race and tradition, was no puppy-love. It was the age-old 'attraction of opposites. They had first met two years before, when both were fresh- men. Alice Bradley, the girl, had for several years been interested in the Western Indians, especially the Apaches of Arizona, then, when she met Naja at college, her interest in Indians in general had changed to love of one Indian in particular. With Naja it had been a case of love at firsr sight, but a love that caused him much pain. The stormy tribal scene caused when he announced his intention of going East to college was still very vivid in his mind, and he knew that to love a white girl was the ultimate sin, utterly incompatible with all tribal ideals. And yet, there was notking he could do about his love for Alice. It was a powerful, living thing, not something to be snuffed out at will, like a candle. And so their love affair progressed, with Alice, in a heav- en of delight, Naja in a sort of fearful daze. However, both knew that soon there must come a crisis, their res- pective families could not be kept in the dark indefinitely, and though Naja and Alice dreaded the day when their love must be exposed, they knew it ,must be faced. At the time the story opens, near the end of their sophomore year, they determined to end the sus- pense. Alice told her family of her love for N aja, and to her surprise they received the news much more easily than she had expected. Of course, they tried to change her mind, but when they saw that her love was really I a deep, spiritual emotion, not merely a passing fancy, they submitted grace- fully. Naja, however, had a much more difficult ordeal. His family, complete- ly unaware of his infatuation, were dumbfounded at his revela-tion. They seemed to consider Naja's deed an insult to the tribe, and although they did him no actual physical violence, he was henceforth looked on with sus- picion by the rest of the tribe, and felt ostracized from his fellow Apaches. He determined to bring Alice to Ariz- ona, if he could, in the hope of making his people feel more friendly toward her, although he knew that they, immersed in the ancient traditions of the tribe, would be terribly hard to convince. As Alice and her family were eager for friendly relations with Naja's people, the next summer Naja, on his return home, was accompanied by Alice and her mother. Meeting the girl whom Naja hoped someday to make his wife seemed to soften somewhat the feeling of the tribe to- ward Naja and his love, but they re- mained suspicious and distant. Alice saw some minor tribal ritual dances always performed for tourists, but these merely increased a secret desire of hers. Since ste had fallen in love with Naja her interest in Apache tribal rites had doubled, and through intensive reading ste had learned of a secret ritual dance never seen by the eyes of a white, to see this dance had become a passion with her. When she told Naja of her desire, he was, natur- ally, horrified. At first he gave her request for information about the dance a flat negative, but her desire was so strong and her pleadings so evidently sincere that he promised to consider. After that, N aja spent several sleepless nights debating with himself this vital question. He knew that her request was contrary to his creed and the in- violable laws of the tribe, but eventu- ally his love for Alice conquered his discretion, and he promised to help her to see the dance. Two weeks later he brought her an Apache cos- tume, told her the time and place of the ritual, and Warned her to be careful. Late that night she silently left the cottage on the edge of the town, in

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26 fell sobbing on the sand. jim had never seen her cry before. Then as he bent over her he saw the strange look on her face. She loved him and was afraid, afraid for him lest he should touch her, for slowly she opened the numb fingers of her left hand and held it up before her. Jim swayed a little as he looked, for like the beating of a far- off surf, words of his English tongue echoed. in his ears whiter than lep- rosy-leprosy-leprosy. He with- drew his eyes from the stricken girl who still held up that shining diseased hand as if to ward off a blow. With numb fingers jim unbound from his belt the worn white handker- chief and dropped it in her lap. It contained the three sovereigns the captain had given him before he left the Santa Lucia. After that he left blindly, paddled quickly around the point, set his sail and tried to forget. As afternoon wore on, he agonized under the palm-thatch. No wind came, but a gradual shifting current caught the boat and carried it farther seaward. As he felt the dull movement Jim stirred, rose and sud- denly came fully conscious. ' With swift action he turned the canoe to- ward Koh-ring and in spite of the blazing sun on his uncovered head began his return. For an hour he worked against the current, for another and yet another hour he paddled, making little headway. He was coming back to Tama-Tama who had been so careful to wash the knife before he used it. As- if the sea and sky had guessed his purpose a black cloud rose upon his left, black that ate up the day and took the sun at one gulp. A strange strumming, and a harsh wail reached him out of the rising blackness, a sound like that of the great circular saw that bites into a fresh bolt.' And then twenty feet from his boat, the cyclone struck. The sea rose to meet it, sucked up like a gigantic sheaf of wheat with a froth of foam at the top. Far back on the sheltered shore beneath a palm tree Tama- was still weeping over the three sovereigns in her lap. ' T L. s. c. 1. ORACLE CHRISTMAS The world in solemn wonder stood, A deep hush fell, When suddenly its people heard The Christmas bell. Long, long ago o'er lonely stall, A glowing star Appeared and drew the shepherds there From hills afar. All silently those rude men knelt In manger small, Beheld with awe God's Son and Heir And heard His call. -Jean Watt. J x 5' Y rigs 'Q Sai ' l lJ5?ii55i'f fX PX X X ELSIE flhb. THE WHITE MANTLE The soft white snow is falling, The world 'is turning white, And the storm king rides among us In his beauty and his might. He covers the earth with a blanket, The ground is no longer seen, And until the springtime opens It will lie in its sleep serene. The trees were bare and forbidding, Not so many hours ago, But now they are white and lovely With blossoms of flaky snow. It is God Who doth these wonders, He maketh the white snow to fall, . The grass to turn green in the springtime, And the leaves to turn scarlet all. He is closer to us in the winter Than in springtime, summer or fall,- For when His voice through the snow is sounding, 4 We all listen to His call. H --O. Littleford. i

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28 which she and her mother were stay- ing, and, keeping in the shadows asgmuch as possible, started for the ritual ground which Naja had told her how to reach. She wore the Indian costume smuggled to her by Naja, and had dyed her skin. Her red hair struck ana-incongruous note, but she wore an elaborate head-dress which, she hoped, completely concealed her hair. Slowly, painstakingly, she crept, almost on hands and knees, toward the circle of bonfires which marked the ritual '14 gg rx ., Zia Sr ' 'f rim wi -,,,-Pf' 7 ' ' 'tif 1, it ,if I T K r T' , ,' 3 Pa Ev! u. -f .r- '. All Q -was-ff -' - - - kt' ,. R ,. f - I 'gm is CK ground, then hid herself among the stunted bushes and gazed out on a sight never before witnessed by a white. Seated in a circle inside the row of fires were several hundred redskins, stolidly watching the gyrations of a dozen or more fanatical Apaches, who were whirling, brandishing long knives, and occasionally rushing headlong through one of the bonfires. Weird devil-masks worn by the dancers height- ened the effect, and Alice stared, fas- cinated, hypnotized, unconscious of the passage of time. Then suddenly the snapping of a twig somewhere behind her brought her back with a jerk to reality. Fear- fully she searched those stony faces around the fires. If there were sig- nals passing among the Indians, they were imperceptible. Nevertheless she decided it was time to leave. Rising from her hiding place, she turned and started back along the path by which she had come. Suddenly, four massive redskins appeared before her, IJ. S. C. I. ORACLE as if from out of nowhere, their hands on the hilts of sheath-knives at their belts. She looked once at their ex- pressionless facesg then screamed and fell, unconscious. She never regained consciousness. The next day, her mother, alarmed at her disappearance, organized a searching party. ' Soon members of the party discovered, under some bushes at. the bottom of a small gully, the bodies of Alice Bradley and her Indian sweetheart, each pierced with dozens of knives. It is said that love shatters the barriers of race and traditiong it is still open to question. LONDONDERRY AIR In evening's halls the stars will still be burning When we are gone, and names have passed away, And yet this thought can not assuage a yearning To lift our voices to our parting day, With faith that echoes are not lost forever, Tho' they may roll beyond our present ken,' But those who heard the jirst sad accents never Shall catch the poignant melody again. -Annie Vahalla Dodds. Stratford-Continued from Page 23 between himself and his beloved War- wickshire: Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare, Blesse be ye man yt spares thes stones And curst be he yt moves my bones. Can it be that he looked ten years into the future and envisaged this place when he wrote: Duncan is in his grave. After life's jitful fever he sleeps well. Neither the dome of St. Paul's nor the aisles of the Abbey could so fittingly enclose these bones. The Avon's winding backwaters overhung with willows, the riverside gardens with their deodars, privet hedges, holly- hocks and roses, the lush meadows, the chequered fields, the winding roads, may, in time, fade from memory, but this obscure spot of placid sanctity- never.