St Timothys School - Steward Yearbook (Stevenson, MD)

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THE STEVVARD THE FIRST ACT Before a red prairie dawn, someone said, Another day, And the careful-wise magicians Checked their formulas and nodded, And the battling world-bargainers agreed- To soothe the people, So their ears, half-sleeping. Half-appeased, slept on. A country cock Awake-soniewhere- Was crowing. There was nothing before noon but the noise Of switched-on lives, And the cat's-claw clicking purr Of the stock market's power, Then the bells and the lunch pails And the diplomatic chatter. So their words, half-roaring, Half-assured, roared on. The mid-sky sun Silent-above- Was shining. The skill of one-piece factories turned on Home-time and the night, And the standard-tuned antennas Filtered moonbeams through their net, VVhile free but gambling lonely men Watched dancers pale the evening. So their eyes, half-playing, Half-puzzled, played on. A space-Hung star Unbouncl-far-off- Was sparkling. We are half-given people and given For taking's sake, And for easy-smiling skits Of the word-help love we promise. And the pretty white-Wrapped half-true gift Is heartless, black and hollow. So our lives, half-living, Half-lying, live on. The strawborn Child Alone-somewhere- ls Crying. LIBBIE F. GERRY, '59 Forty

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THE STEWARD EXISTENCE AND LIFE HERE IS A basic understanding among all men that they have been put upon this earth to live and, for some, this understand- ing means simply, 'fto exist . In the animal world, existence is a matter of food and shelter, except for the desire to propagate their own kind and the urge to obey their natural instincts, there seems to be no other effort save that of staying alive. In the world of men, existence can have this same connotation, and, unfortunately, it often does. But we are not concerned here with this limited view, but rather with its antithesis, Thomas Mann's and james Ioyce's respective characters, Hans Castorp and Stephen Dedalus are men who did not merely exist, but learned to live. During the early part of his life Hans Castorp followed a narrow pattern of passivity and reserve. He was tied to his world by habit, and he was aware of little beyond his love for smoking, his concern for the correct attire at all times, and his consciousness of good breeding. Habit held him from making sudden decisions and disturbing changes, and it was with no ambition that he planned to enter the shipbuilding business and continue along the same dull paths his feet knew so well. Stephen Dedalus, even as a young boy, had an advantage over Hans Castorp, for as early as his first school years the boy was extremely sensitive. He saw and felt with a deepness that made him noticeably different from his companions. No other boy knew that when the gas was lit in the chilly corridors at night the burning made a noise like a song, none of his schoolmates seemed inter- ested in what lay within the mysterious element, The Universe , or how Cod communicated to people who spoke other languages than English. Stephen was the only one who cared, he cared with an active, imaginative mind, and he felt with strong, undefinable feelings. These two men, Hans Castorp and Stephen Dedalus, might have gone on living in their singular ways for an indefinite length of time-the first, complacent and nearly motionless, the sec- ond, insecure and exploring-if revolutionary and unexpected influences had not entered their lives. During a three-week visit to see his cousin in a tuberculosis sanatorium, Hans Castorp discovered suddenly that he was also a victim of the disease, and that he would have to remain at the sana- torium. This discovery marks the change in Cas- torp's relation to the life he had known, for almost immediately he found himself thrown into a small society where the individual was of distinct im- portance. He was affected by the miseries of the other sufferers, and he became concerned with his own symptoms. When Hans Castorp begins to open his eyes and ears to the sights and sounds around him and when, to his great surprise, he one day finds himself attempting to philosophize and even admits a curiosity for science, we know that we have a new character emerging from the pages. But the greatest influence which alters Castorp's life is his personal relationship with Frau Cauchat, for it is only through the disturbing sensation of love that our once doomed indi- vidual throws back the walls of his shell and steps out into the fresh air. It took more than just a fresh viewpoint to influence Stephen Dedalus's life, for his mind was used to new ideas and surprising impressions. It was the experience of a period of extremes that forced him to find a more balanced and secure life. At the age of sixteen he found himself an adolescent with the desires of a growing man, and he entered a stage which tossed him roughly from unwilled carnal sin to severe asceticism to atone for his mistake. The conflict he fought between his desire and his conscience led him from the streets to a Father Confessor, and the long ensuing period of self-denial and self- control nearly settled him in the life of a Catholic priest. But as he turned away, he knew for the first time that he must learn his own wisdom, and that he must discover his own purpose on a middle ground, for he would be lost and aimless if he per- mitted his feeling to take control again, and he would be limited solely to the chill and order of the Church if he joined the priesthood. There is a similarity between the manner in which the two men discover their new ways of life: the result for both is achieved through a per- sonal experience. Castorp, lost in a snowstorm on the mountains, dreams of humanity and exclaims, Forty-two