Stockton High School - Guard and Tackle Yearbook (Stockton, CA)

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OF CONSCIENCES By Julia Dupont Of all nuisances, bugbears, or plagues, a conscience, my conscience in particular, is the worst. It is constantly an- noying meg it is so tender. Why a conscience is called tender is a mystery to me. l think it is the most hard- hearted, uncompromising, dictatorial thing imaginable. lts only connection with tender is its touchiness and aptitude for getting its feelings worked up. My conscience never leaves me a moment's peace when it has once started nag- ging. It is full of foolish, old-fashioned ideas of behavior. I can't do this, or l can't do that simply because my consci- ence does not approve. It makes such a fuss over trivial little matters such as my going out in the rain without an umbrella when my mother is not home to make me take it. I love to go out in the rain without an umbrella, but I cannot because an argument like this invariably ensues: Meekly, from my conscience, You ought to take your umbrella. Coaxingly from me, lt is not raining very hard. More insistently from Conscience, That does not mat- ter. Your mother would want you to take it. Doggedly from me, She is not here, and, besides, she would not care. Conscience, with finality, You know she would want you to. You should not try to get around it like that. ln despair and anger, I am forced to give in and take it. What l want has absolutely nothing to do with the case. If l do get up backbone enough to do what l please against my conscience's wishes, it proceeds to treat me as a criminal and harp continually on my sins morning, noon, and night. l know a happy young person who claims to have no conscience. Oh what inexpressible bliss! To be able to shop-lift, or cheat, or rob banks if you wanted to fmy young friend, however, does not indulge in such sports, without your conscience's pointing an accusing finger at you! V Still, l suppose l should be thankful for the scrapes out of which fear of my tormenter has kept me. The still small voice within me has perhaps saved me from the cells of San Quentin. For its warnings and advice, l am duly grateful. Many times it has answered questions, not of right or wrong, but of the kindest or best thing to do, which my prejudiced mind has been unable to decide. l suppose consciences like the other parts of us were really put in for some use, and are not, as we sometimes feel, just aggravating dampeners of our spirits. ....111..i1...-1111111-111111.1.11-.1111...nu......-.1111...i1..11..1.1,,1,,

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+-qw-u1 nz. an-xii: 1: ::-::7:iu1u1u+:s:- 11.1.-4:1-gm ru.-gixmglg 171 gg 3 I ,I gig-'11 Jiqlg-'z 11173 1. something or other containing the heroine's most cherished treasure with the aid of that ingenious little tool. And there is the automobile, coughing with asthma or limping with rheumatism, that is cured by using a hairpin. l never could exactly figure how these colossal feats were accomplished, but they must have been, for l have read about it. If you are an amateur biologist, a splendid magnifying glass can be made from a bent hairpin and a drop of water. And, shall l mention it?-I have seen, yes, actually seen, a hairpin used as a substitute for that instrument outlawed by soci- ety, the toothpick! There are countless other offices which may be performed with that object, remarkable for its ver- satility, the hairpin, but I will not enumerate them. A Now, l like to have just so many hairpins. Each one has its accustomed place, and, once it is in, it is never changed. Nor can l use any one that comes first to hand, but must have a certain one for a certain place. This, of course, is unduly particular, but I do not like to see pins carelessly placed anywhere, or listlessly dropping out. If a girl puts a bone pin in one side of her pug, for goodness sake, let her put another one just like it in the opposite side. And what is worse than this, is to see at least seventeen steel pins sticking in all directions all over the head, giving the impression that the poor girl has more hairpins than hair. However, like all necessary articles, a hairpin has its drawbacks. Have you sat through a funeral service with your hat pressing firmly against a pin which seems to be implanted in your cranium? It is a thrilling sensation, to say the least, and would test the stoicism of a wooden image. l have had my recitations for a whole day ruined because l couldn't extract a pin which was tickling the top of my ear. Perhaps a similar incident so irritated Queen Elizabeth that she could not refrain from having Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded because, being a man, he never was an- noyed by the bothersome things. Thus it may be seen that the humble hairpin has pos- sibly played a greater part in the destiny of the world than has been accredited to it by the historians. It is an accepted fact that small, seemingly insignificant things have always played a large part in the lives of great men and the fate of nations. Franklin's horse-shoe nail is a notable example of this: and does the horse-shoe nail occupy a more elevated position on the social register than the hairpin? xi: 11 lc 1: J: ::1::7n: --1 --7-- -- zzizf- 1:71 : : :l1q1ul1al7:: in 2: '1 lil 1 lx-in lv-ur. .Ju1l:Tl 177: tl 1:7 7711-as

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