Louise S McGehee School - Spectator Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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THE SPEcTA'roR Forty-three stove and boiled for supper. This statement at the dinner table shocked the family tremendously but amused lohn. To me, the importance of this statement is that Iohn remembers it. He repeats it constantly and each time with added glee. Additional hatred toward the enemy is shown by the fact that Iohn and his friends use the name of the enemy as terms of insult among one another. There is one little girl in the group who is older and sometimes domineering. The children call her Hitler. But the greatest insult that they can give is to call someone a lap. Beside calling each other lap or Hitler, Iohn and his friends carry the game of war even further. Their favorite past-time is bombing Tokyo. One aviator sits on top of the slide emitting noises and producing gyra- tions that are supposed to represent a diving plane. The other children pretend they are the enemy. They stand on the ground armed with bean poles and operate anti-aircraft guns. However, Iohn is also vitally concerned with civilian defense. After Pearl Harbor, his grandmother said that she wanted to do what she could for defense. Iohn looked rather surprised and said, Why, Grand- ma, you couldn't build a fence. His mistaken impression changed as the war progressed. Now he thinks that defense means that everything must be saved. Iohn saves paper, tooth paste tubes, his old rubber boots, his old metal toys. In fact, hardly allows the rest of us to throw anything away. Although Iohn appears to be not at all worried over this war, he is very concerned with one phase of it. Can Santa Claus get around next year what with bombings and anti-aircraft guns? Or will Santa Claus be drafted? Even if he can come, what can he bring? Iohn knows that most toys are made of steel and tin which he says are needed by soldiers in the Army. He has decided merely to wait until next December 25th for the answer. Thus from childhood impressions, it is difficult to tell how this genera- tion will grow into a world at war. If anything, they will be more hardened to it than their parents were. Marilyn Wellemeyer '42. Description Being a doctor's daughter might have its many advantages, but waiting in the car when he is visiting a patient is a definite curse. The time is usually late afternoon, when the sun seems to go out of its way to be hot and fiery. As soon as the doctor steps into the house, a flock of children troop out, and stand, with mouths open, staring at me, as if I were a poisonous

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Forty-two THE SPECTATOR durable than metal, it would long ago have cracked. As it is, we can hear many sounds, and still be able to listen to music. Hence, I am bound to conclude that the alchemists who sought the golden capacity of the mind discovered the metallic nature of man's spirit, realizing that an otherwise mineral existence could be mined by the brain. And that those metals, plastic and durable, would often be fash- ioned nobly, and in no case so nobly as by the sculping effects of sound- Waves' O 'Clabaugh '42 The War Through the Eyes of a Four Year Old lohn is necessarily very aware of the war, for he constanly hears it blasphemed, lauded, and discussed among the family and over the radio. After a recent broadcast in which the Bed Army was often mentioned, Iohn organized his thoughts and approached me with a dissertation on the war. He knew that the fighting was going on in Europe and had de- cided that was where all the bad people were. If it weren't for the bad people, he said, there would be no war. I know not whom he classifies as bad people. Probably he doesn't either. At any rate, Iohn decided that there would be no war if only the bad people could be put into jail. However, he realized that there were neither enough policemen to lock up the great numbers of bad people nor enough jails. He said they would probably hide under houses where policemen couldn't find them. Therefore, he concluded that the Red Army must fight until all the bad people were killed. This last statement brought to my mind Iohn's morbid but hilarious view of death. His mother remarked that Iohn is growing up in an age in which the value of a human life is growing to mean less and less. As concerns Iohn, this is true. He hears a report over the radio that so many thousand men were killed. Killed? Does that mean that they are dead, Mother? asked Iohn. He thought it very funny that people should be dead and buried in the ground. On the other hand it must be admitted that Iohn has never had a close acquaintance with death. He has not experienced the loss of any member of his family or anyone very close to him. However, his con- stant concern with death and his hardened viewpoint of it, caused un- doubtedly by the war, are bound to influence him later. Coupled with Iohn's view of death is his brutal View of the enemy. He told me that he hated Hitler. This sentiment was probably provoked by his grandmother's remarks about that wicked man, Hitler. Iohn said 'that Hitler ought to be kicked in the pants, to be put into a pot on the

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Forty-four y THE SPECTATOR snake. After they have seen their fill, they, to my utter horror, proceed to beat on the car. When they have discovered that it will not fall down, they walk slowly down the street, and I am left alone. Time marches on, and I begin to feel like doing something, so I try to find a book to read. But all I can discover is the Tourist's Map of New Orleans. which I have already read six times. Upon looking around, I see a fly trying to get out of the car. I watch it a minute, then obligingly lower a window and let it out. The sun is sinking, and the street lights are turned on. I am begin- ning to be very hungry, and the fragrant odor of cooking doesn't make me feel any better. The sky is rather dark, and I can now occupy myself by counting the cars that pass by. I still haven't lost my appetite. Then I turn and see Daddy coming out of the house. He walks slowly to the car, puts his bag in the back seat, and says: lane, I was thinking about you when Mrs. Harris gave me that piece of cake, but I couldn't very well bring you any. lane Alsobrook '44 A Brief Resume of My Easter Holiday I have at last discovered a cure for the introvert-a cure which may or may not be permanent Caccording to the casei-but which never fails to work for at least a brief period. This cure of which I speak is remark- ably simplep one may effect it in any number of different ways-watching a baseball game, riding a horse, swimming, playing tennis, in fact in doing anything which entails exposure to the sun. There is something about a face red and raw from over-exposure to the sun's rays which attracts one's fellow man. lPerhaps it is merely the fact that it is so conspicuous-I do not know, and I shall not endeavor to explore the mystery. It is enough simply to say it is so.7 Even the most shy and retiring soul must eventually succumb to the demands of every- one who beholds him-and try to explain Cas if it weren't evident what has happenedl. One is not safe anywhere from prying eyes and the inevitable questions-the street car conductor, the girl at Holmes, the milk-man, all are eager to know the details, however, ghastly. Although I heartily recommend this cure for the introvert, I still be- lieve the old methods more satisfactory if one is, for example, looking for a husband. It is true fish are attracted by bright colored objects, but they are hooked only by swallowing them. Likewise, a well-cooked meal has greater powers over a man than a well-cooked face.