St Marys High School - La Maria Yearbook (Huber, OR)

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LA h1ARlA of American constitutional freedom against the Soviet Czars in their mad endeavor to crucify Christian civilization upon the crimson cross of Communism. For us, there can be but one answer. Klorality is not to be bartered for bestiality nor liberty exchanged for thralldom. Amer- icanism is still a holier creed than Xloscowism. 'lihe 'lien Command- ments do not need to be rewritten lay Communists as much as they Page Thirty-Five need to be reread by them. For Moses is a better prophet than Stalin. And, for time and eternity, the dead and risen Christ, the lover of the poor, the Prince of Peace, is infinitely more powerful than the shrunken mummy of Lenin. garbed in the trappings of war, lying coldly in his marble mausol- eum before the red brick wall of the Kremlin. lfrittfll by Remfrerlzl l'irr1m'i.s HI11l'elj'. The Beauties of the Co umlhvia Gorgeous - magnificent - ma- jestic-tremendous-the Columbia River Highway winds among thc lofty pines and along the Colum- bia River Gorge and kisses the clouds on its winding way through the summit of the lofty Cascades. :Xt moments, level with the swift, swishing, tumbling water beside it, at other times high in the alti- tudes of Oregon's mighty moun- tain range, it affords scenery not equaled the world around. ln the most beautiful state of the Union, it is the most colorful and fascinat- ing scenic route ever built. Un equaled in its variety of shifting panorama, and replete with scenic wonders, it grips the human heart with the. thrill of its stupendity- the dynamic power of the freshness and bigness of God's mighty na- ture. To stand on the edge of the monstrous precipiee that overhangs the roaring river below, and cast one's eye over a vision that en- closes miles and miles of forest stretches, of river windings, and fertile farm lands, all this con- stitutes a sight unrivaled the world over, A thousand feet below, the playful waves leap and jump, until they dash against the impregnable rocks, or wear themselves out on the sandy shore. But they seem like mere, minute ripples, and the moving men, dotting the beach ap- pear like puny flies to the beholder. lllultnomah Falls, itself but one of the many sights on the Colum- bia River Highway, often brings cries of admiration and gasps of incredulity to the lips of the tour- ist. Hundreds of thousands of enraptured eyes have watched that mighty fall of water, and hundreds of thousands of voices have ex- claimed in awe at its gorgeous beauty. The powerful Multnomah sweeps on till it has no bed be- neath it, and gravity converts it into a tumbling, rumbling, grumb- ling, mighty cataract. The immense volume of liquid water pours over the projection and sweeps down the steep incline to become, every drop of it, a mass of mist befo1'e n

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Page Thirty-Four LA MARIA America, hither Goest Thou? XVe are not ready to confess that for centuries mankind has been wrong in aiming at a complete realiziation of individual liberties and rights. YVe are not ready to turn back to paternalism, bureau- cratic discipline, star chambers and executitive orders. VVe know whose children we are, whose inheritance we possess. Frantic and timorous men may throw up their hands and surrender their liberty to a strong man in order to avoid what they think is the onrush of the Red Ter- ror, but we need not so much strong government, but wise gov- ernment. Government vested with the virtues of insight. dignity, mod- eration, tolerance and acute sense of social justice to all our people. For while a strong government may drive men to an artificial loy- alty to its slogans and catch- phrases, and build itself into a brief interlude of power upon the clever strategies of a political clique, it is only wise government that by de- serving men's faith and trust, can draw them into authentic and abiding loyalty to its purposes. The true purpose of governs inent, as a wise old Pythagorean declared 2500 years ago, is to se- eure that freedom, which without unity is a delusion, and that unity. which without freedom is a snare. The true statesman. mindful that he has a covenant with the dead and with the unborn. unwilling to sell the future into slavery or set the stage for chaos, even though he thereby reap temporary advantages, will seek to lead rather than to follow the popular moods of his time: he will realize if he be faith- ful to himself, that the future of America must be entrusted only to those who, knowing her history, her traditions, her ideals, her de- votion to her Constitution, cannot choose but love her. It is in this spirit that we meet the menace of the future. The fight is not now upon the blood-stained steppes of Siberia. It is at our own door-Sovietism crimson and un- adorned-the law of the bayonet, the law spoken by the fiery mouth of the musket, the law that gives power and tyranny to a few and misery and slavery to millions. Communism looks across the seas and observes that here the western world stands open. VVhy strain at the cross-crowned gates of Poland, Christian and warrior for a thous- and years, when lllexico already subdued by a military despotism is ready at hand, and just beyond the goal of all Soviet ambition- America and American riches. The dark forces of the ancient gods, throwing out their vanguards from the battleground of the Ural lllountains, have carried the war to us. The forces of pagan dark- ness, of reversalism, of Communist animalism are arrayed against free- dom, against America, against Christian civilization of the west- ern world. lt is a fight to save America from the degradation of Russia, a degradation that reduces man to the level of a soulless anim- al, a Communized highfpower beast. It is the old warfare be- tween the Powers of Light and the Powers of darkness, the struggle

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Page Thirty-Six LA MARIA strikes the solid rock again. lts journey over the falls done. it rolls down the hill into the all- consutning Columbia. Devils Punch Bowl is a scene never to be forgotten. Standing in that small cup of rock. almost five hundred feet above the low- lying valley, while the winds moan and whistle through the tips of the tallest pines, the most unemotional souls are stirred and the heart is thrilled by the magnitude of the sight. The picturesque farms be- low, the swirl of mighty waters. the living forms far beneath that are barely discernible in the gray- ness of distance, all these imprint on the mind of the tourist a vision that he carries forever. The entire highway is one of scenery from ocean to Hood River, too magnificent and too stupendous to create in words. Columbia River Highway stands as one of the scenic wonders of the world re- nowned for its splendor, and famed for its natural. unaffected beauty. THE POXVER AND THE GLORY Strange, we so toil to fashion for our unseen ends The splendors that the tarnish of this world doth mar- Such palaces that crumble to a ruined age. Such garbled memories upon Fame's fragile page- XVhen all the lasting glory of our life depends Upon a Little Child, a stable, and a star! -R012 l'l7Yllll'iS B,IId'fl,l'.