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

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so thin, and so intellectual, that his father was grievously worried for fear the boy would get sick from sheer excess of knowledge. Mr. Thorpe decided to break the college training short, and find some occupation for his son which would take him from his books. ln a happy moment, he thought of his friend, the editor of the Clarion, out west. Letters were ex- changed between the two, and it was finally arranged that Galey should join the staff on the Clarion as a reporter, re- ceiving a nominal salary, which his father secretly paid. Galey made his journalistic debut on the first day of July. He was strangely out of place in the Clarion ofhce, where the usual atmosphere of feverish haste was ever present, with coatless reporters scribbling in the midst of a litter of copy sheets, typewriters buzzing away at top speed, and copy boys rushing in and out. Added to the confusion was the din of the press room below, and the vibration of the whole building. ln the midst of this turmoil, however, C-aley was unperturbed. He went about his business in a slow preoccupied manner, living in his own academic atmosphere and exemplifying every- thing that a reporter on an up-to-date city newspaper like the Clarion should not be. The staff in general regarded him first with mild curiosity, then with indifference. Too busy to give him but passing notice, they thought he was some harmlessthing that the editor was taking care of. Jack Douglas in particular, however, a reporter of one year's experience was galled by Galey's pres- ence in the Clarion office from the first. l-le was a brisk, jaunty fellow who liked to be called a keen young blood. He dressed conspicuously, though not flashily, spent his money carelessly, and considered himself blase and clever. As l said, C-aley grated on Douglas from the first. This awkward, intellectual scarecrow, so free from self-interest, so lacking in worldly wisdom, so very sincere, was repulsive to Douglas' sensitive nature. At first he treated Galey with veiled contempt, so that Galey was inwardly hurt, without having cause to find fault with Douglas' conduct. This went on for some time. As the attitude of Douglas toward Galey became more openly unkind, that of the rest of the staff became more friendly. Douglas seemed to delight in taking advantage of the boy's simple sincerity and of making a joke of him, by what he thought was his cleverness. One morning Douglas entered the office in his jaunty manner, approached Galey, who was standing idle in a corner, watching the busy confusion of the room, and spoke to him in a patronizing tone. Say, Thorpe, he said, l have got to make a little trip to the country, and can't get back before three o'clock. l Twenty

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-l-l'lQ Cub 3 and Casey i JE: Jones ft LW' nf. fsecond Prize Sloryj y fr in if l . wif A'A B i. 3 MI .,WK?mn l...uew1NjU ,,. gi! W W C My turn for a story? l'll tell one that happened when l was a reporter on the Evening Clarion. In the fourth year of my connection with the Clarion, a fellow named Galey Thorpe joined the staff. He was a char- acter that would have delighted Dickens, and he was so en- tirely unconscious of himself that he would never have changed. Caley was six feet in height and thin, woefully thin. His face was large, his cheeks hollow, and his complexion sallow. He wore thick glasses with gold rims, and his eyes bulged like those of a fish out of water. He always dressed himself in black clothes, and his ties were eternally white. He was awkward, but did not seem to know it, and he lacked extreme- ly in worldly wisdom. l took the trouble to inquire into the past of this interest- ing character, and found that his father and the editor of the Clarion had been classmates in college. The former had gone out west and had risen in the newspaper business to his re- sponsible position on the Clarion. The elder Thorpe had stayed in the east and was a successful lawyer. Galey was his only child, and his only worry, for ever since the boy was four years old he had read everything from Butler's Analogy of Religion, to Joe lVliller's Book of Guns. At the age of twenty he was ready for college, and to college he went, but what he learned there outside of what he already knew would not have been worth considering, because he had read prob- ably everything on the curriculum, and a great deal more which was not. At the end of his first year at college, Galey was Nineteen

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1 wish you would handle a case for me. A fellow by the name of Casey Jones has just died under very peculiar circum- stances, and we want a write-up for today's paper. If you go to the police station and inquire they can probably tell you something about it. If they can't, just inquire about town until you get your information. l have never tried to write this kind of a case, said Galey, but I'll do the best l can to help you. ' Thanks, replied Douglas, dryly, and turned away. Of course it was a joke, and we all knew it. I was about to tell Galey not to take Douglas' words seriously, but he had hurried away to the police station on his wild goose chase, before I could stop him. An officer who was at the station at the time told me what occurred. Mr. Keegan was at the desk, a man of much dignity and hot temper. Galey ap- proached him awkwardly. l represent the Clarion, he said, and l have come to find out about a man called Casey jones who has died under peculiar circumstances. What was that name, again? snapped Mr. Keegan. Casey jones, replied Galey. See here, young fellow, said Mr. Keegan, angrily, get- ting red in the face, don't try to play any of your smart re- porters' jokes on me. l've been made sport of before by such as you, and l'm halfia mind to fine you for contempt of court. This is no place for fooling. Poor Galey was so dumbfounded by this outburst that he could only gaze open-mouthed at the irate sergeant. At this point the phone rang. Mr. Keegan answered and after a moment his face softened. When he had finished talking, he addressed Galey. Say, cub, he said, l think I know what you're after. The station master at the freight yards of the R. and M. railroad just phoned that an old engineer, who the boys call Casey Jones, has been hurt in a wreck. l'm going to send a couple of officers down in an auto to handle the crowd. You can go along with them, if you want to, and get your story. Mr. Keegan seemed relieved to find that his dignity had not been lowered by his being made the victim of a joke, and he offered the special consideration of allowing Galey to ride down to the freight yards with the officers. l arrived at the yards myself, just a moment after Galey did. When l saw that he was going to try to report the affair, l decided to let him do his best, and not write it up myself. l watched him as he made his way through the crowd, always staying near one of the officers, and as he nosed about to find out what he could about the wreck. An engine, switching ' Twenty-One