Polytechnic High School - Caerulea Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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THE SA CRIFICE Mr. Elton fmaily spoke his mind. Hang it, he said. t'it's nu 115m pretending; we miss the boy. i'ch, answered the mother, and, as you insisted that he go hy himself, we know nothing about where he is or how they treat him. Fm going to Find out. and if everything is not all right, 11m going to bring him homtu Maybe he does nccd college credits. and self reliance, but more than that he nccds love and appreciaw lion, and we need him. She Stood and faced them. Tomorrow I am going to see him, and both of you will be glad. if you see him coming back with mu. '4 1k ii ii iii $ :1: it IR ail Mrs. Elton Inokcd helplessly around. How deserted Evans- ton was. She had always heard that college towns were fairly swarming with boys. And surcly it must be long after school houns. Somewhere in the distance there swelled a great roar made up of muffled cheers and shouts. They told her at the oHice that Richard Elton was at the game. VVuulil she wait? He would soon be back; or her message cuuhl be taken to him immediately. But the mother was deter- mined on a surprise, and besides, how could she wait? The base ball game was over. High on their shouklch, the Evanhtou buys curried their hcmus of the day. Mrs. Elton stepped timiilly aside as the mighty crowd surged dawn the street. Up abnvc the multitude, face dirt begrimcd, hair frowslcd, rode Dick. His. mother gazed! horrifierlv XVas this one of those awful hazing; she had read about? XVlmt are they go- ing to do with them? she asked the first boy whose attention she could get. i'Do with them, why, carry them around the campus antl-, thcu noticing that he was talking to a mystified old lady, the boy paused to explain. You see, they've saved the day for us. Nei- 3013 High has beaten us for six years, and now we've got their goat, beaten them, you know. And we couhhft have done it. either,E added his companion, if it hadift hccn for that new fellow, Elton. We thought he was sissy. at first, but hcill be all right if his family he's always talk- ing about will only leave him alone. He's got ncrvc, and grit. , Page Nin elem

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C IERULEA It was growing dim in the library, and Dick could see the wavy gray masses of his mother ; hair hut indistinclly. IEcr face was. invisible. How did she feel about it, he wondered, as he knelt beside her chair, just as he had always clone on dusky evenings when he hat semething special to tell her about, ever since that something had been a humped head or a bloody linger: The only sound was the tick-Licking of the 01d hall clock, It summed to Dick that it was ticking in a new life for him. To go to the Acad- emy! Why, perhaps he could play base hall thereureal haeze ball. And how prowl his mother would he if he Could make the tcaml But she would not be there 1.0 see him. W'hat would he do without hcr. The minutes ticked away. Mother, said the boy, l'of course tlm school would he great, and all that, and I want In :.lo as you and father think best: bath, the words came softly, limidly, Wlo you think, perhaps, you will miss 11 : sometimes, just a little? :k 93: i: 314 all Y lk 9k 5? 1:4 Madge got up and closed the piano. Somehow, mother, the house seems awful big and hollow lately. 11's just like a deserted 0m church? She crossed to the table where her mother was writ? ing. llDo you suppose it's just hcczmsc Dick's gone? She picked up a magazine, glanced idly through it, and put it down, as Mrs. Elton gazed fixedly out of the window. Smiling oddly, 1 caught father in Dick's mom today, she said, 'and he asked me why I didn't put some of my pennants and trophies up, to take the place of Diclds, so that when he comes home it wotft look so like a tomb. And Dick only gone a wcck. Madge ran her fingcr idly along the backs of the booksl Louking at her mother suddenly, unawares, she started. She hadn't realized her mother was getting old. Why, she always acted Dick's age. 'lDonlt look that way, mother. It's hard, 1 know, but welvc got to stand it. aud it won't be 50 bad when we get used to it. Mrs, Elton arose. Kllt's only that I havc :1 headache. I think I'll go up stairs. When M1: Elton came home he found his wife and. daughter trying to gossip over the tea table, each with a faraway look in her eyes. Mrs. Elton, for the first time in her life, put two lumps of sugar In his tea. But he did not know the difference, though he detested sugar. Something seemed to be wrong. Page Ekh teen

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CIERULEA W'hy, the way he made that hnme run-f' Their voices faded away. A few hours Ialcr a wcary little woman want slowly up her stops. AS she opened the door, .shu found herself in her daughter's arms. Mother, what is the matter? Why rlitl you come 50 5mm; and where's Hick? nNothing's Il'lc matter, and Dick is-hnck thcrcf came the answer. Why didn't you bring him? Father's hccn cnuuting the hours all rfay, and l, why I maul: Dick his. favorite fudge. And he let you come home lnnight. alone? Mm 151nm looked Empinringly from her daughter to her has? band and back again. It wasn't his fault. she explained, Wu: didn't know ahuul it. Then came the short story. hi couldn't disgrace him, she Fm- ished, by bringing him home like a naughty buy, aml I know if he REIW me, he would know how I folL And besides, he isn't my little buy any longer. When I saw him there. 50 big and proud, with everybody shouting, i realized for the first time that he is :1 man now. We want him, hut the world wants him more, and he needs his life then: more than he nceds HS. Alice Hayes, 12. Page Twenty