Toulon Township High School - Tolo Yearbook (Toulon, IL)

Page 22 text:

20 Spring, Nineteen Thirty-two While I confess I was frightened for a moment I soon got myself in hand and inquired after my uninvited guest’s errand. He advanced slowly toward me with a smile which appeared as if he were revelling upon seeing me. He took a chair and ordered me to sit down. This I did. He seemed to have a commanding power which was very difficult to resist. Then, Bob, this stranger told me the story of my ancestors which has a direct bearing on my fate. This is the story: My great-great-grandfather was a younger brother of this stranger’s great-great-grandfather. And, of course, back in those feudal days, the eldest son inherited the title and estate. My forefather had a great desire for power to rule hundreds of tenants and vassals as the lords of those days could do. So this desire over-ruled his better judgment and he killed his brother to gain the title and estate. This murder was never suspected. It was always thought that the true lord had accidentally been killed, but his son knew the truth. Being a mere boy he could do nothing and my forefather threatened to kill him if he made any attempts to tell. So this secret was passed down through the family, for five generations and each hated a little more than the previous one had. Also in this branch of the family there was a strain of cruelty which increased with each generation until it became so bad in the fifth generation that it bordered closely on insanity. This stranger was of this generation and so hated the worst and was the most cruel of all. It was he who had the courage to seek revenge. When I was born he had me stolen and hidden in America. He sent money every year and had me educated well because he thought that it would be more cruel to kill me after I was older and knew more. A short time before my grandfather’s death he had come to him and told him who he was and also informed him that I was alive. He told my grandfather that he was going to kill him but he wanted him to have t'me to suffer in the thoughts of it before he really did it. Also he told him that he was not the only one going to pay the price of revenge but that I would also bo killed after my inheritance. He used a red ribbon to murder grandfather with because that was the color of his house. And I suppose that’s what he will use on me. He said he would keep the castle guarded so attempt at escape would be useless, and he informed me that he would kill me whenever he happened to desire, but first he wanted me to enjoy myself in the anticipation of it. Well, now you know my fate so don’t let your passion for power run away with you as my great-great-grandfather did because the innocent sometimes suffer for the guilty. So ends my last fascinating adventure. Your truest friend, Jack. —V. Burkey. Mr. McCullough: “What is water?” George Fell: “Liquid that turns dark when you put your hands in it.”

Page 21 text:

Spring, Nineteen Thirty-two 19 ■ Hm Hmmaislinigi Letttter ----------------------------------------------------------------.+ This most amazing letter was given to me by a friend and classmate. Lord John Malory III, the author of this letter, sent it to him soon after he had gone to England and taken possession of an estate left to him by his grandfather. Before showing you this letter I wish to give you a little information concerning this young lord’s life. He had lived in Canada, to his knowledge, all his life. Until the news of the death of Lord John Malory, of England, soon after his graduation from Stanford College in the spring, he had known nothing of his true identity. He had thought his parents were dead and that the five thousand dollars that arrived yearly came from a lawyer who had charge of his father’s estate. As a child he had lived in a small orphan’s home, privately owned, and at the age of six had entered a boarding school, which he had attended until he entered Stanford College four years ago. He learned upon the death of Lord John Malory that he was Lord John Malory IV and heir to the Malory estate in England. Now for the letter: Blackpeak Manor, April 12, 1898. Dear Bob: Well, it proved to be an adventure all right; perhaps more of one than we had imagined and I think, Bob, more than was desired. But, of course, adventures are very nearly tragedies sometimes and the adventurer must face this fate often, just as I must do. You know, Bob, I have told you that you have a desire—I should say too great a desire for power. That is why I am relating this tale to you—so that some good can be accomplished by my fate and you can profit by it. Don’t become impatient, old chap, I’m going to tell it right now, but it will probably be in my slow, disgusting English way. To get to the story immediately, I found upon my arrival after cross-examining Perkins, the caretaker, that my grandfather did not die a natural death! He was strangled with a crimson ribbon. These facts my counselors tried to keep from me. Retiring to my room to dress for dinner that evening, I found tied in the lock of each of my grips a crimson ribbon! Well, I must say, all the adventurous spirit in me was suddenly brought to its greatest height. Sitting in front of the fire that night while pondering over recent events, I heard the click of the latch on the door that leads onto the balcony and turning I saw—what ? No, not a monster or a giant or a wild beast, but just a plain ordinary everyday man. No, I take that back, he was not an ordinary man. He was peculiar. He was large, middle-aged, and dark, with heavy handsome features, but the unusual thing about him was his eyes. I can describe them with only one word—cruel. Yet, they held a deeper expression even than that.

Page 23 text:

Spring, Nineteen Thirty-two 21 ■---+ RESPECT TO OUR ELDERS. We as young people, owe to our parents, teachers, and friends— respect. It is the best tribute we can pay to them—that of regard and esteem. Being inexperienced and not so learned, we younger people should not ridicule or even wholly ignore the counsel of older people even though sometimes their advice seems mid-Victorian or foolish to us, because they have had years of experience in which they have probably tasted both adversity and prosperity, while we have been shielded from the cruelty of the world by them. It is our teachers, parents and friends that encourage our learning. Who is the quickest to praise a boy or girl who tries to make his own living ? A fellow contemporary ? No—an older and wiser person; one who sees in him the virtues needed to make a future leader of our country. The older people are the ones who comfort and encourage us when things seem to go wrong. They see good in those of us where others see only vice. The older people see in us the hope of the world, because we are the future leaders. The world has advanced in culture and civilization with every new generation, so each one has to be slightly superior to its predecessor. Consequently, they watch us mature and advance with eagerness. Each older generation sees the new adopt modern ideas -with a readiness unbelievable to them. So in order to make a more superior people of us than they are they give us all they have, making us both equal, and we must add a little originality, of course, to make us superior. Since we are their hopes they sacrifice everything for us to make us fulfill these hopes. And when we are successful should we give the credit to ourselves? No—some of the credit goes to our parents, teachers and friends that encourage us. Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s greatest men, did not give the credit of his success to himself. Instead he said, “All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my mother.” Since such great gifts as these are from our elders, surely we cannot deprive them of our regard and esteem. It seems, instead, as if respect was rather a cheap price to pay in return for such valuables, but it is the highest we are capable of giving. —V. Burkey. JUNIOR MATINEE DANCE. The Juniors sponsored a matinee dance after school Friday, January 29. The affair proved to be quite successful owing to the fact that a large number of students attended. Ten cents admission w?as charged and the proceeds will be used for the Junior-Senior reception. The music was furnished by Paul Walker. Marjorie Newton and some girls were out on a hike wrhen all at once Marjorie stopped and picked up a chestnut burr. “Girls,” she cried, “come here! I’ve found a porcupine egg.”