South Side High School - Optimist Yearbook (Newark, NJ)

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Wl THE OPTIMIST fur ficw and blood ran. The pack sat in a cir- cle about the fighters and eagerly watched. Over and over the combatants rolled, now one on top, now the other, now apart, now a quick dart in, a tlash of fangs and rip of skin and a bound lack again. Grit let out all his pent up feelings in that fight. He towered over the other like a leviathan. It was all over in less time than it takes to tell it. Grit got a fatal hold upon the throat of his opponent and cut off the breath of life from his body. Then he was ready for the next but after that display they left him severely alone. This is why the lone wolf howled at the moon. He howled and howled until dawn and then lonesome a n 1 hungry h e started l»ack for civilization. Hut l eforc reaching the cabin he ran across a new scent. It was the scent of man but there was something different about it which made him curious to in- vestigate. Tom Norton, age thirty, came north to escape the evils of civilization. An inno- cent victim of circum- stances, he Ixrcamc an outcast of society, and made himself an out- cast of civilization. He came to God’s country liecause he loved it and he knew he would be free and away from the nar- row-minded influences of man. He built his cabin on the farthest boundary of civiliza- tion and began to trap and hunt to distract his mind rather than for pleasure or material gain. This morning he was absently inspecting his traps, thinking of the great wrong done him at home when he came face to face with an im- mense silvery wolf. His gun went to his shoul- der while Grit crouchtd ready to spring. For a moment they eyed each other and then Tom noticed the collar around the wolf's neck. It was a sign of civilization on a wild beast and the only thing that stopped Tom from shooting. Had it not been there my story would have been different. Here were two outcasts, two who had the same dislike for civilization. Why should they not be thrown together? Why should they not help each other by their companionship? How did the wolf know of the man’s likes and dis- likes?” you ask. That is not for me to say. That is a question which only the Watcher over such creatures can answer. I will but attempt to say that they were attracted to each other; that they did find companion- ship in each other and I can only tell you of how it ended. One evening some time later, in his cheery little cabin sat Tom in a large ami comfortable armchair and at his feet lay Grit perfectly con- tented because h i s second taste of man was so much more pleasing than the first. Tom had given him the first bit of real kindness that he had ever known and the heart of the great wolf went out to him. Tom got up and walked leisurely to the door. Grit fol- lowed him only with his eyes. Just to watch Tom was enough for him and Tom found in the wolf the one redeeming thing of the world. He opened the door and looked up at the ominous clouds hanging over the landscape. On the edge of the clearing could be seen the tall dark shapes of the trees standing out as black objects against a black setting. The food and other things were stored in a cache not far from the cabin. Tom walked over there to sec if everything was secure for the 12 Then there was a glorius battle . . . the pack sat and watched

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 THE OPTIMIST 1 5 ling of iliis huge upright being who carried him in his arms. This was his first experience with man and he did not like it. Arrived at a low log cabin in the center of a large clearing the man tied one end of a rope around the neck of the wolf and the other around a stake driven in the ground. The man tried to pet him but the wolf bristled and growled and showed his fangs for all the world as if he could chew up this mountain of flesh in front of him. The man chuckled and admiring his nerve decided to call him Grit. It took Grit a few days of starvation and longing to realize that he had 1 letter take what the man gave him. Somehow even tho this man did not harm him he did not like him. He sensed that his mother and father were no more and that this man with his lightning stick was mainly rcs| onsible for it. He grew larger and stronger with that same feeling in his mind and he grew to dislike the civilized smell of every thing around him. He had the pure wolf blood in him and at night when he heard the distant pack howling lie longed to rush off and join them, to l e free! to go and come as lie pleased! But always lie was kept in leash and as he got bigger and stronger the rope was made bigger and stronger until the man discarded it for a chain. Grit saw very little of his master. Sometimes he would not come home for days and in such cases Grit was locked inside the cabin with enough food to eat and water to drink. And always his master would come sneaking back in the dead of the morning with many pelts and furs. There was this sneakiness about the man that made Grit dislike him all the more and then again the man would never treat him over kind- ly. Grit knew that his fangs and his strength were all that saved him from a beating many times. Grit grew even taller and more lithe than his father or grandfather. His coat was a silvery grey contrasted by a black spot over each eye and another on the end of his magnificiently bushy tail. Then came a day of restless waiting and a night with a big full moon. Grit could con- tain himself no longer, he had to get away from this stuffy place out into the open freedom. The climax came when lie heard, far off. the first bay- ing of the jack, the call of the wild! With one long leap h e crashed through the cabin window carry- ing frame, glass and all with him. What cared he if he was cut around the head and shoulders, he w a s free! Free at last! With incredible speed he made straight for the place where he had heard the sound of the wolves come from. Then wit’ll startling suddenness lie came into a large clearing and there on the other side loomed the black outlines of the pack. They stood there glaring at the in- truder with eyes like saucers of fire. Grit Imundcd forward to greet them but an ominous growl warned him to stop. He was to them a thing of civilization, an outcast of the pack and they would not greet him as a friend. When Grit realized this h. was angry and a deep-throated growl was the signal for the leader to step forward and do combat. Then there was a glorious l attlc! Flangs flashed. . . . at night ... he heard the distant pack howling 11

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THE OPTIMIST | night and the coming storm. Grit waited a few minutes then decided to follow his master. He got up. stretched contentedly and saunt- ered out. As soon as he reached the open he scented something that was familiar to him. It was the man- smell again hut this time the old one. He stopped and waited. Suddenly he heard sounds of a sc u flic coming from the cache. He hounded forward and reached there just in time to sec Tom get knocked over with the butt end of a revolver. Imme- diately his blood N iled within h i m. His old animal in- stinct rose in him. He turned upon his foe— his foe because he He turned upon hi foe was his master’s foe— and recognized the man who had taken away his father and mother. But strangely that did not anger him as much as the fact that this l eing had dared to harm his best friend. He saw red. He made a great bound for the throat of the man and reached it. The man desperately drove his long hunting knife into the wolf's l ack but Grit held on. He was living up to his name: Grit. The end came soon. This man who had harmed his friend and who had come to steal his friend’s food and furs would strike no more. Tom saw the whole thing. He was power- (Cont on Page 78) Fond Recollections of a Graduating Senior By William Abramson We entered here some years ago As Frcshics very green. This place was very large and new We just had to l c keen. Some time for work we always found, And Physics we did tame. When we were lA's very proud. The Freshies we did scorn. The school we thought belonged to us Kach day from morn to morn. As 2B’s we did find our faults, And studied in a rage. As Caesar and his Gallic wars Were covered page by page. We took an active part in sports When we were made 2A’s; Each game we learned with zest and zeal. We had our special plays. As jovial jolly juniors gay We loved to fool and joke; Eraser fights we often had, A glass or so we broke. Our jokes and fun were still retained As 3A’s we became. Alas! Now see the seniors go. Their chests thrown out in full. As 4B’s we did think ourselves Privileged with a pull. The lookcd-for time arrived at last When senior A’s were made. Can we forget the times we’ve had And pranks that we have played? O, South Side High, it is the time When we forever part. We leave thee with a smiling cheer. And with an aching heart. The times we’ve had we’ll ne’er forget Thy knowledge we’ll employ. At any time or place at all Thee, we'll praise with joy. Farewell, farewell, farewell to th:c Dear old South Side High. Cherished shall thy mcm'ries be And thou praised to the sky.