Muskegon High School - Said and Done Yearbook (Muskegon, MI)

Page 32 text:

30 SAID AND DONE life accordingly, it was this newspaper clipping that brought the affair to my mind. The real meaning of his story never entered my mind until a week later when I visited his shack I found it in ashes. New fallen snow had blanketed the scene with a serene whiteness that hid at least partially the twisted steel and charred timbers that marked the spot. At first I believed the hre was accidental and wondered why I had not heard of it before, but the old spencer rifle leaning against a hemlock soon told 'the' t'aleL On a paper folded and placed beneath the hammer of the gun were these words. 'iFabian Laveque has gone home. From where the rifle stood a faint snow shoe trail led north. Straight as the trail of a fox the faint depression led towards the home of Fabian Laveque. STRANGER OF TI-IE FOG Night walker, YVhy dost thou sally forth this even' Under the veil of heavy atmosphere? YVhy dost thou loom before me, Here in the gloom ignore me, Then in the thick'ning shadows dis- appear? Night stalker, Wlhere hast thou gone this lonely even' VVrapt in thy cloak of black and flowing grey? YVhy shouldst thou so elude me, Lay bare my soul, denude me, Hang o'er my heart this cloud of dark dismay? Andrew Hieftje, '35 YOUNG WOMAN There was a gaiety of heart In every lilted word, And graceful music made a part Of ecstacy unheard. Anita IViener , rlatio Of' f f ff' W, H+' ln N 1 'I V I ln, .el SR V1 I f f -E my Q , We o flllacli ,,f '1rQi,lX My a5Ql5::,:1f,1ttlv:yX I' nfe fum NOW, lf1,1l'l0'i Q M . fr I- v- QNot in the manner of Lamb? VVho was the famous-or was he famous?-English-or was he Ameri- can?-writer who once said that if one is to write an essay that will stand the test of time one should choose a sub- ject closest to one's heart? XVell, any way it makes no matter who said it since it is the idea expressed in which I am interested, for the other evening alter an hour of steady gnawing on my already pulpy pen, with a few mean- ingless remarks on the white, lined paper before me, I was struck with the idea and promptly proceeded ink- ily to rave in my rambling fashion on the subject of which I am most fond- myself. In a rather conservative estimate I might venture to state at the outset that in my own opinion, which I gen- erally concede to be quite good, I am a rather nice person. Mind now, there is no note of conceit in this statementg rather I say it with the noble intentions of putting myself and my readers on an equal footing before I go off a deep end. Long before I ever was, my mother- to-be dreamed of having a future presi- dent for her child, not a new idea at that, but even at this early pre-age I made two definite mistakes, which soon placed me in that unfortunate group of human beings often indelicately termed as off-springs. The Hrst mis- take occurred in my being a girl, the second in my being at all. The years of my existence from one to four are rather vague for the most part, but from what I gather from hearsay, I was a squally, toe-biting en- fant terrible, so I shan't elaborate on

Page 31 text:

MUSKEGON other's moves and how to counter-act them. fUnderst,and, now, this was only a means of relieving the monotony of the long waiting, and neither man intended to hurt the other.j Then the light began, thrust and parry and thrust again! The stender blades crossed and recrossed, struck fire at every blow. The heavy breath- ing of the two men, the shuflie of the sea boots upon the cabin floor, combin- cd with the clash of their blades to pro- duce an air of tense expectancy. The sickly yellow light from the lantern added a still more awe inspiring touch to the scene, for their shadows danced like devils on the walls behind them, eager to direct a fatal thrust! And then it happened! Even as the two men were about to call it a draw and com- mend each other on his ability, the vessel pitched violently on its beams ends, Hinging--backward against the cabin wall and throwing Laveque for- ward against the table. --dropped his guard as he strove frantically to catch his balance and I,aveque's blade pin- ned him to the wall. Slowly his hngers released their hold on the blade and it clattered to the floor, while with his other hand he strove to free himself. Frantically, desperately, his fingers clawed the steel, then falteringly they fell to his side. --fell across the table dead! It was not true! no, no! --could not be dead! XfVhy one moment before he had stood across the table, smiling confidently and returning every thrust quick as a wink, but now he lay mo- tionless and limp across the ta'ble, blood slowly seeping from beneath his chest and spilling to the Hoor with every motion of the ship. XVhat could he do, what would the authorities think? Fabian Laveque cast one more glance at his prostrate companion and then fled on deck. The air was cool and fresh, the fog was lifting, and here and there a star showed through the haze. The cool damp air smote him in the face and cleared his brain and he began to think of the near future. Surely he MICHIGAN 2g could not proceed to St. johns, for they would hang him as high as a kite as soon as the body was found. He could not arrive there alone, for how could he explain the absence of his companion and the blood stains in the cabin? These thoughts and many more ran through Fabian I,aveque's mind before he finally selected the plan that he would Put into execution. No sooner did he have this plan definitely in mind than he set out to fulfill it. After raising the sail and extinguish- ing the riding lights, he crouched by the wheel in a IIHHCC, striving to probe the dim future, to lay his plans once he reached land, and to devise some means of eluding the police who would surely pick up his trail. Never during the rest of the trip did he leave the wheel. Never did he glance again into the cabin to see the fearful corpse across the table. Pausing in the story long enough to turn the wick up and knock the ashes out of his pipe, he continued, packing fresh tobacco into the blackened bowl of his pipe with a horny thumb as he talked. Fabian Laveque abandoned the ship on the Canadian mainland and fled. He has never been heard of since. He has lived in exile when he might have prospered in peace. Look at this. He thrust a newspaper clipping in my face. One that had been torn from a paper I had brought him recently. The article briefly stated that a Frenchman, had recently died, and that another Frenchman, Fabian Laveque, had years before wounded him in a duel and left him for dead. A long and earnest search had followed, but Laveque had never been found. It was believed that Laveque had died of exposure and starvation in the wilderness short- ly after the deed and for that reason had never been found. All this I read rapidly, then ex- claimed YVhy this is about the same man that you were telling about, Laveque never really killed --then did he? No, my host replied, but he never knew until now, and as he lived his

Page 33 text:

MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN 31 those years. It really doesn't matter though since the years following were the ones in which my character was moulded. From snapshots and personal recol- lections I can quite accurately depict mysell' as the following: .X comically rotund little figure with straight, mud-colored hair, cut in the popular Dutch bob of tlte Colleen Moore Iira, a slightly too retroussee organ ol' smell fthe result of an un- expectedly violent collision with the lioorj, an inconceivable passion lor spitting fugly wordlj at passersby, a fA ruts. , 42? few , '12 r 8 Il r , q - Sam I fed mq little cousin Jimvntu Angle worms on Toesciaqs cute little trick of seeing lions while Ulll on my daily walk and a philosophy ol' lile which included going to Sunday School regularly every Sunday with live pennies for the heathen so God wouldn't be mad when I fed my little cousin Jimmie angleworms on Tues- days. XVhen I attained the maturity of eleven solemn years the cute little trick ol' seeing lions had developed into the marvelous feat of proving to certain gullible youngsters my indenti- ty as a relation to kings and queens. 'l'hat, I believe, sums up quite nicely my scarlet past, so on to the larva stage ol' my career. 'I'o summarize my character as it i-3 at present is not difficult. In a few words, I am an animated piece of pouf, with variations, quite a distinguished description, bitt quite sans distinction, I assure you. It was not long ago I received a rude awakening to that fact. Quite by accident I overheard a coa- iersation concerning mysell' and gath- ered that my main asset, was in biting away with murder. I this world ol' survival ol' able to get grinned. In the littest, it would seem I had some chance. On second thought it occured to me that Dillinger had 'tgotten away with murder, in a manner ol' speak- ing, and where did it get him? lt might be wise to insert at this point a subtle insinuation to thc ellect that I am still a rather nice young lady, just in case my personality may have been undermined somewhat. Proof of a mathematical initrd can be found even in some ol' my earlier exploits: one in particular, I recall, when I pursuaded all the young in- nocents of the neighborhood to enter partnership with me in selling wild llowers. Our irate mothers learned of our business venture and promptly put the parental foot of disapproval on the whole affair, thus ellectively murdering a flourishing business, but not before we had gleaned l'orty-three cents Qof which I claimed thirty-hvej from unsuspecting customers. My honesty has never been doubted. but I suspect that it.'s not because no one ever wanted to. As to qualities of leadership, poise, and social abilities, well, I'm an ex- cellent leader, bitt no one ever agrees with my point of view so I never have any followersg I have an abundance of poise, but in my excitement at being in the presence of other people, I lose it: and social abilities just weren'r added to my extra curricular list. I have one pet word which I apply to anything I don't like or don't under- stand. That word is stupid , and if said with the right inflection implies no end of things, quite in keeping with my character. The fitting and proper thing to do now is to draw this piece of literary creation to a sudden, sweet end, so. contrary to my usual custom I shall do so, but not, however, before I make my last stand. I still think I'm rather a nice person.