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

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1f-:+-a-n-R-..-an--r.f.f5aw' :fair-+fffl5Q1f: ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' - ' ' ' ' : ?25-'l5P?f'Y5f1? 5f57iff5f5!'9f5ff'ifi?ffi Q5 +01 is LLM.-f, L? 1- 1 5.753475 Liifiisffiwih.-V2.1 :'.-x'-'1f'lTi?'!'.if'51'i?'S.2H lg 'if' i '7 'Z' 1 '. 1?Mfi?:?'- 57941 li ,Q -L :Al , ff-'VE 7 14 , ., 4 . , f ' e9'Ef::3, iE?:4i.1 1?s:g- 5f',,.'1.'-U gi 'cf gg Y-y-1 if - 3 as-I-1:1 '- 9? ' mi- , V .f .1 ip ?' Wziiifj -! pretty bad. Better lay off a while and oome with me. This loneliness is going to get the best of you. What say? McMann: fsighingj Ch, no, I don't want to leave this place. Cook: Don't want to leave this barren, goodfforfnothing place! Why, man, you're simply throwing away the best years of your life. It's this eternal silence that's gotten on your brain. Better sell out and cofme with me before it's too late . McMann: No. Cook: Oh, for Cod's sake, be reasonable, Mac. This hovel and a few hundred head is no excuse for your burying yourself here. I'11 lay over a few days to give you time to sell out. You can't go on like this forever. C'mon old man. I'm dying to get among humanity again. McMann: No. Cook: Oh hang it all! Why not? McMann: Oh, Steve, I can't go home, my father thinks I'm dead! I may have been a fool, but I wouldn't be so low as to bring dishonor to Dad or break his heart because his son, because I Qhe breaks off and pauses for breathj. When Uncle Sam declared war, I was afire with enthusiasm and was eager to reach the front. I went over with the very Hrst ship' load of American soldiers. We were rushed right into the firing lines. My very Hrst night I was put on as sentinel and out there under the stars by myself, with fighting going on over on the West Front, bombs ex' ploding in midfair and showering everything with deadly fire, with the roar of machinefguns in 'my ears, the breeze blowing to my nostrils the stifling odor of gunfpowder, of burning fragments, of charred bodies, there came over me a horrible feeling. I tried to shake it off, but it haunted me constantly. I had to kill! Ch Cod! I had to murder my fellowfmen! All my hatred, all my enthusiasm had vanished. They were like brothers to me. iMac jumps frenziedly to his feetj I had been sent over by America, our U. S., to take human life, to help mow down men like cattle! I, with my own hands, would do things that would separate families forever. I would cause mothers to weep and wives to cry out in frenzied agony for their husbands. I would have to crush out life that the Almighty God had intended for some purpose. Those men were like brothers to me. I could not kill my father, and I could not kill them! When we charged the foe that night, I deserted. iMac drops exhausted into a chairj I could not go home and partake of the blessings of my country when I

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P A ,W glgmiy DOBCOEIHEIYQ NAIQISDON f . TIME: Present CHARACTERS: McMann Cook Gardiner Allison SCENE: The scene is the interior of a rude log cabin on the plains of Argentine. Only the bare necessities are in evidence. The room shows that it has been a home with a cosy, open firefplace. Now everything speaks of neglect. A spirit of loneliness hovers over the place. The fire blazes feebly in the grate. Over it is huddled a solitary figure. As the curtain rises, McMann is seen bowed over, his head in his hands. There is utter silence for several moments, during which he remains motionless. A rap is heard at the door. He sighs and rouses himself, but before he can rise the door is opened and Cook comes in, dropping his bundle in a corner. Cook: fwarming his hands at the firej Lord, what a night! The wind from the hills is devilish cold. Thank Cod, I'm leaving this place. Came to tell you 'adios', old chap. McMann: Quitting the plains for good? Cook: Yes. Can't endure it. Nothing to see. Nobody to talk bo. This past year out here has been hard as hell for me. Don't see how you've stood it here so long. McMann: Five years tomorrow that I first staked here. Cook: Five years! Lord, I like your grit. Five years of herding on these plains. Not a soul within ninety miles till I landed here, and now that I'm leaving, you won't see a man till spring when you go down to fetch grub and more gritters, though goodness knows what you're figuring on doing with them all. McMann: fdisconsolatelyj So you're trekking tonight. Well- you never were much for these plains. So it's all for the best, I suppose. The place will seem kind of lonesome without you, old chap. Where are you headed for? Cook: I'm going back home! Back to the states, Mac! I'm through with these Codfforsaken places. I want to get back where there's honest' tofgoodness people, where there's men and women instead of QI-Ie stops to study Mac critically as he shuffles over to the woodfbox and brings an armful of wood and throws it on the firej I say, Mac, you're looking

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7 28 CAERULEA 25 IIIIIIIlllllIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllIlIllllIlllIllIIIlllIKllllIIlllIllllIIIlllllIIIIIIIIIIllIIIIIlIIIIIllIlllIllIIIlIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIllllIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIlllIIllIlIllllHIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIllllllIIIllIlllllllllllllllllllllllll had deserted her in her hour of need. So I changed my name and came here, not to forget, for that could never be, but merely to live out my life. If there is any mercy, any commiseration in heaven, it will not be long now. fThe fire has burned low. Both men are silent and gaze fixedly into the dying embers. Neither is aware of the sounds outside until there comes a rap at the door.j Cook jumps to his feet and opens it. Two middlefaged men, blue and numb from the cold, enterj Allison: Whew! Coldest night in years. Saw your light, so brought my comrade here, who's pretty much petered out by this cold, to see if we couldn't warm him up some. Mac: frousing himself from his lethargyj Of course we can. Glad to see you. It's not often that we see anybody out here. Allison: That's pretty decent -of you. We've driven for hours. Guess we took the wrong road there in the mountains somewhere. We were in such a hurry to get back to Buenos Aires tonight. fMac replenishes the fire and makes the coffee while Cook eagerly questions the visitorsj Cook: Mac, here, and I are starved for news of the world. I'Iaven't seen a soul for six months. Who was elected President? Last I heard La Follette was going over big. Allison: Yes? Well, Cal won by a huge majority, which shows that most Americans don't go in for radicalism. Cook: Radicalism? Why man, La Follette is not radical, he's prof gressive. But we can argue later. I'Iow's foreign relations? Allison: Pretty much settled down. Gardiner: Qwho has revived with the warmthj Lord knows, they ought to be after the last war killing off a fourth of our civilization. Allison: Yes, my friend here, Mr. Gardiner- fMac jumps to his feet, his face pale as death, Cook: What's the matter, Mac? Mac: Ch nothing, that confounded coyote out there startled me. fbut he scans his visitor's face intently, oblivious of Allison's wordsj Allison: Mr. Gardiner, who is our Consul to South America, is very bitter toward war. It took his only son. During this speech an expression of joyous recognition lights up Mac's thin face. He leans forward to grasp Gardiner's hand but is stopped by his words. Gardiner: Yes, it robbed me of the grandest boy that ever lived. At the irst call to arms he left, eager to sacifice his life for Old Glory. Oh the lonesome years since then! It's in his memory that I entered the