The Pittsburgh Academy - Eagle Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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41- a. Wi' if .fry iq ',...wi . vf v, t w . sr. ...i-rm, ,iif V THE E GLE GYPSY IMPRESSIONS Qu, 'gg OIVIANCE, color. ekultant. carefree life: reckless moods. beauty, love and tinkling E 'aug PI- laughter. Ivfost of us ordinary mortals have formed such impressions of these V, 'fy' colorful Romani from fiction and tradition. You and I have perhaps gathered to' ...Q -.fy g A Q ,Q . , If ffglu gethei scattered threads of knowledge of this fascinating race and have woven them into the warp and woof of pageantry, We have had a glimpse, mayhap, of a gypsy camp surrounded by tall. stately trees, whose leaves, stirred by the evening breeze, compose a weird. haunting melody beneath a clear. pale sky. The stars seem to twinkle with some secret irrepressible merriment at the happy drama being enacted beneath. The brightly painted wagons are drawn into a circle and. with their tiny windows, back door and steps, form a continuous chain of small. colorful homes, In the center of this circle a huge loghre is built. It sends its red and orange-hued reflections darting here and there, be' yond the wagons and deeper and deeper amongst the trees. The shadows flee before the ad' vance of these ribbon-rays of color. Vvfild. timid creatures of the woods scamper to cover, momentarily frightened by the cheery. sharp crackle of the logs. Perhaps even the sweet scent of pine pervades the air. Handsome people are they. with their flashing eyes, brilliant with the mere joy of living. dark swarthy faces from which peer the flash of virgin'white teeth. The flickering lights from the fire play upon their faces as they dance to the wild. weird tunes from strange instruments. Almost the entire gamut of human emotions plays over the face of the gypsy. The hour is late. One by one they drift towards their various abodes. The chill night air descends upon this nomadic company. The logs still crackle, The fingers of flame grow shorter. The vision fades as we watch. Such a picture we might readily paint from impressions of the Romani , In the next des- cription, I will try to bring to you the stark reality of gypsy life as I have observed it. A phantom, lacy. veil of dust seems like a pall spread by some unseen. ghostly hand, by way of mitigating. in some manner. the hard. unflinching glare of stark reality that has become an inseparable part of gypsy life fwhether from tradition. habit or mere sluggishness of the will necessary to vary. even in the slightest degree. the custom of generations. it is impossible to sayl. But reality must ever prepare to meet the counter attack of the deftly spun cloth of dreams. surrounded by its shining. golden aura of idealism. A thin, scraggly spiral of road dust rises: but even piercing its uncertain structure. the casual onlooker may perceive a long, seemingly endless line of rickety. creaking. illfused wagons from which the brilliant shades of coloring have long since been eradicated-perhaps by some wind' browned gypsy lad who. having almost nothing to do. and the whole of God's circuit of hours in which to accomplish it, pelts the weatherfbeaten, nearly unresisting side of the most conf venient wagon with lumps of ooze. indolently picked up by slender, grimy hands: which lumps. upon drying, adhere to the indifferent sides against which they were thrown, with the seemingly intent purpose of clinging there forever. Again, perhaps, the accumulative dust of months of travel on roads as generally untraveled as possible, aids in hiding the original magnificence of the hues that had first adorned these traveling homes of the Romani . Each of these vehicles is drawn by an aesthetic appearing beast that had once owned the name of horse , having been kept in peace and plenty on the farm of some prosperous man of the soil. until inadvertentlv transferred to the service of this nomadic company, These wandering. ever-restless people, seen at close range. impress one as being dark, viva' cious and handsome during their youth: becoming fat, indolent and ugly of feature very early in life. They are soiled, unkempt. even ragged in appearance. although it is by their apparel. which is of cheap. coarsely woven cloth, that one is enabled to perceive their love of, or better, their passion for. gaudy. flashing. flaming. wildly harmonizing colors, which, in themselves. are expressive of every phase, every angle of their varied existcnces. They subsist, for the most part, on the fruit of other peoples labors, or by preying upon the gullibility of those innocent souls with whom they come in contact, by proffering their aid in determining what mysterious and irresistible influences are destined to enter, for good or ill. into the heretofore unknown future of these gullible subjects , They have been known to drive up in front of a village store, offer for sale their pilfered wares. in competition with the well established emporium. and, in the process of making a sale, go into the store itself to borrow a quart measure. Ofttimes. too. they add to their ranks by making captive a number of white children, some of whom are raised in the belief that they are of the Romani , and must remain loyal to the gypsy creed, while still others are resold to their people for large ransoins. The gypsy marriage, too, proclaims them to be an untamed, halffcivilized race. The ceremony, itself, performed over the tongs . is famed in fiction and its various stages are marked by a certain barbaric splendor and pageantry-pageantry merely when weird music, abandoned. color' ful dancing, and scintillating hrehght and starlight grasp hands in a fearless endeavor to hide from any prying eyes, the fact that shiftless vagabonds the gypsies shall ever remain despite the colorful pictures painted by mad fiction. -E. B. DRAKE. THE PITTSBURGH ACADEMY Sixty eight N aa...-s L .J L

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rl!! THE EAGLE DAYBREAK last january, while traveling through the sticks of West.Virginia. by the 9'-?sm'T? grace ol God, I was permitted to gaze upon one of the most glorious performances T ol nature. E 5 I have seen many, but never a more beautifully bewildering sunrise. It has left an indelible impression on my mind, jogging along in a train at 6:30 that morning I was suddenly roused out of my hall' dozing by the realization that nature was producing a spectacle of magnificent grandeur. From the bottom of the deep narrow valley we were in. could be seen only jet blackness, above and on either side. Craning my neck upwards to the crests of the mountains, the blackness suddenly cracked open and a deep purplish hue filled the void, Then it changel to a purplish blue indicating the approach of dawn. Rapidly in the next few moments the hues lightened, first with more blue, then a dab of gray, a little red, some orange and some yellow, gradually softening and blending into a nne white, and day had arrived. The mountains took on a gloomy aspect for shame, at being thus exposed. Bleak. barren, un' covered, naked ol trees and foliage, they seemed to cry aloud for cover and shelter, and kindly clouds settled over them and lent an atmosphere of peace and contentment. Beneath the grinding wheels, and seeming to shout at man for thus intruding into nature's sanctuary, tumbled a turbulent mountain stream. In its descent to meet a larger stream, it cavorted carelessly down its self-made gully, sweeping everything before it and leaping over rocks and minature precipices. These small Niagras, imbued with the spirit of mischief, un' successfully seemed to try to break past the bounds of their ice'hemmed edges. The ice: white and clear in all majestic and fantastic shapes, in varifsized cakes and contours, rushed along with the stream and tumbled recklessly over the falls, seeming not to care whether it survived or not. Tiny recesses of calm water along the banks took on a cobwebby glaze and gradually thick' ened pallor. and nature had performed another marvel. Ice! cold, cold, ice, And to myself, mentally, ice! Frigid cold. benumbingg it seemed to drive the warmth from my body, heart and soul. Something seemed to coagulate and thicken within me. In this depressed, frozen, state of mind, I was suddenly jarred back to my senses and my terrestrial existence by hearing the trainman's shout of all aboard . Hastily, gathering up my bag and coat, I dashed frantically down the aisle and leaped to the station platform, just as the train got under way, there to face the grinning populace who, coming to greet the morning train, had found entertainment in my predicament. -H. A. WEINBERGER SOYEZ CONTENT Pourquoi vous plaignezfvous parce que vous avez moins bonheur qu'un autre? La nature n'a pas l'intention que tout le monde soit satisfait, Combien de progres feraft-il ce monde, si tout le monde serait content? Estfcefque la satisfaction creerait le competition? Estfce-que la vie serait interessante sans lui? je penge que non. Le raison que nous n'avons pas recu les portions egales de la fortune dans ce monde est parce que la nature desire nous donner d l'ambition. Quel plaisir pouvait etre meilleur que la realisation des ses ambitions, Observez autour de vous les peines des autres. probable' ment de vos amis et alors vous comprendrez combien vous avez de la fortune. Ainsi vous moquez vos petites peines et soyez content. -F. L. MCWRIGHT. THE PITTSBURGH ACADEMY Sixty seven

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v 6 '4V' vig. Q13 f .1f -iff: 'rj ffl ,fi THE EAGLE IDOLS GF YGUTH HE idols of childhood are many and varied. The first idol is perhaps the child's mother or father or indulgent aunt or uncle. At one time there is no one quite so 595 beautiful as his mother or so brave and strong as his father. Then, perhaps it is the little girl who sits near him in school. Instead of his father as his idol it may be the traffic policeman or the driver of the fire engine. The uniform is the most fascif nating garb he can imagine. Then he changes his mind about becoming a fireman or policeman and he wishes to be a soldier or a sailor, How he dreams of the great battles he will Hght. or of the many enemy ships he will send to Davy jones' locker! Then he begins to read stories of adventures4Thc Spy, Tales of King Arthur. etc. And then perhaps this desire changes and he is going to be a second Edison. His parents must guard the clock and the electric apparatus in their home for fear he will dissect them to see the wheels go around. Then perhaps it changes to athletics and the hero of baseball or football becomes his idol. He worships at the shrine of a NValter johnson or a Red Grange. Then, he is anxious to go to high school where he will have a chance to participate in sports-and then to college where he is sure to become renowned. Often the first idol of a girl is the older sister of one of her play-mates. She is going to be as beautiful as she. Then, when she begins to read, invariably she wishes to be a nurse or a foreign misisonary. She dreams of the wonderful cures she will help to effect-or how delightful it will be to go to heathen Africa and save the benightcd Hottentotgand then ref turn and give addresses in the churches. Then she is going to be a writer or a famous singer and perliaps she will surrepticiously send a short story or a poem to the editor of the local paper. This failing, she leaves for college and a beloved teacher becomes her idol. Then hnally, she is going to teach. Thus it goes on and on from one period to another, often with the result that they never occupy the positions which formerly they dreamed would be their goal, but instead they be' come common people of whom Lincoln said. God must have loved the common people for he made so many of them , -MARY DUNCAN Musings of a Graduate Whether the prophecies of the class prophets come true or not. we are all going to make an attempt to be something and be of some good to this old world. Those of us who are graduates from the Academic Department are still in the fluxfa mighty good flux with which to weld on the rod of higher education. P. A.4shorten the A, push the two letters together a little bit and you have Pa -a man that stands behind you says i'Not so bad, son perhaps you will do better the next timeg keep it up. don't weakeng lots more fellows in the same boat. Who will champion the cause of the Star Automobile when Mr. Troop leaves? Who will take Villanova's place in History recitations? What good is a Geometry class without jossman? Reuben, with his intimate knowledge of the birds, beasts, and trees-Who will hll his shoes in Biology. Who will Hoffman practice his Spanish on when he leaves the Academy? And the Evening Gay Gang , what will happen to the world when that lot of wolves get their shcepskins? Who will keep the boys standing in the hall after the bell rings when Miss Smith leaves? I wonder-Is Miss Krepps really able to read a French menu without a textbook? Will the elevator stop running when we leave? Will they put the flag at half mast? Who will the new Daniels be that go into the Lyons den to study Shakespeare? Who of this class will be absentfminded enough to come back in the fall when the school term begins? Will Mr. Grady and Mr. McCarthy go to Boston this summer to get their baked beans or make Ed Bailey's do? Will Carlburg be a Fundamentalist or Modernist Preacher when he leaves college? Still. times may be changed by then. Will Bill johns be the hrst one to have a tooth pulled by Villanova? How many of us will have a shop to which the world will make a beaten path? -ERNEST HORST THE PITTSBURGH ACADEMY Sixty nine