Townsend Harris High School - Crimson Gold Yearbook (Flushing, NY)

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CRIMSON AND GOLD SORORAL lPRlEClEDlENClE fllyifzfzer of five Cl'fl7I.l'0iZ and Gold Short Story Cofzfeflj ALLAN I. RAD IN CHAPTER ONE. .5 HEN a son is born to parents QA? after a sister has preceded him t 'fe by several years, he is the vic- Neje tim of a terrible misfortune. fi- ,ig As may be naturally expected, 'jg A the son does not take any cog- nizance of worldly matters upon his natal day, but it takes comparatively little time for him to realize the irreparable injustice done to him. For the unfortu- nate thus afflicted there remains little but a complete resignation to his fate, and the fleeting sands of time, instead of healing the wound, only serve to increase the burden under which he labors. This injustice, then, may be termed sororal precedencew. The sister is in- variably a tyrant and a despot over all the younger members of the family, and where there is but one child, a son Qmay the gods of mercy take special notice of himj, the autocracy of her rule is greatly magnified because of the necessary con- centration upon a single object. From such female domination there is no means of escaping save to run away from home, and to the average youth this course would prove extremely impractical. There is no appeal, for never do parents fail to substantiate and sustain the words, deeds, and actions of the older branch of the family tree, and moreover, they em- phatically overrule the objections of the younger. Tragic indeed is such a situation. It is one of the most important phases of human life, yet authors have proved themselves oblivious to its existence. They have failed to observe the poor down-trodden youth,-or if they have, their readers have not been given the FRANK D. BRITZ benefit of their observations. While the author must, with all due modesty, dis- claim credit for making any discovery of magnitudinous import, he wishes to show the lack of literature about the youths in this world who have elder sis- ters, youths who can look forward to but one forlorn hope-the marriage of their sisters, for such an event marks a new era in their lives, the end of mis- ery and the commencement of self-domin- ation and freedom. But for those whose sisters embrace spinsterhood there are no words of condolence, no hopes to whose fulfillment they can look forward, noth- ing save occasional distraction and finally death. CHAPTER Two. Numbered thus among the most plagued of unfortunates was, Robert Greene. He had a sister, of course, who was, most unhappily, almost five years his senior. When he was younger, her special delight, it seemed to him, was to inflict corporal punishment and other physical discomfitures upon his person, not to mention the innumerable hours of mental tortures and anguish he suffered during the almost incessant exercise of her authority. Bob fonly his sister called him by his official appellationj had never appealed to his parents since he was seven, for he was thoroughly impressed by the futility of such action. Bob distinctly remembered the miser- able afternoon he had spent at Alice's birthday party when he was seven. From the outset of that memorable event he was unduly provoked by the fact that, to make the greatest possible allowances, his birthday parties were biennial, whereas those of his sister Alice occurred with Page F07'fj'-1lilI6

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CRIMSON AND GOLD much greater frequency She had failed but once to have an annual birthday party, However, on the occasion of her thirteenth, Alice's despotism was exceed- ingly obnoxious. She had at first sug- gested that he be locked in his room dur- ing the course of the partyg but when he threatened to stamp on the floor until the ceiling would fall, and thereby dis- rupt the party, Alice, fearful that such a practice would prove very disconcert- ing, allowed him to come. He was de- barred from competition in all games and glared enviously at the successful par- ticipants as they received their prizes. But when he presumed to ask Elsie Gor- don, who was sitting next to him, for a piece of her candy, the sororal wrath de- scended like a thunder-storm and Bob went supperless to bed. This was but one of the myriad of in- cidents in which his sister had completely humiliated and reduced him. And such was the atmosphere in which he grew up, for when he had reached his fifteenth year he was still completely subject to petticoat rule. CHAPTER THREE. It was half past nine on a Saturday morning as Bob stepped into the street. Of all times that Bob looked forward to with pleasure, by far the most eagerly awaited were the few hours of each Sat- urday when he was permitted to go out on the street. Not that he was kept in the house the rest of the week, but his sojourns were irregular. However, he could always depend on Saturday and very rarely was he disappointed. The street was the one place that afforded Bob some degree of personal lib- erty. Here there was no sister con- stantly standing over him, lest he occa- sion her displeasure. Here he was master of his own destinies, He could do what he liked, and speak what he liked, and read what he liked fvery frequently he smuggled books out of the housej. He could go to see a moving-picture without flflfjt' Ffffj' the consent of anybody. And when the cop was not around he could play ball, a game which his sister considered far too strenuous for what she termed a delicate constitution. Bob, of course, de- nied possession of such a thing, but that was oflicially established by parental de- cree at the solicitation of his sister. Pk Pls Pk Pk Pk Pls Pk Pls He was not long out before he met Will Holt, his buxom friend and compan- ion in misery. How did you get out so early? de- manded Bob. Oh, returned the other, with a sig- nificant nod of his head toward his resi- dence, your sister just came up so mine let me downf, I suppose our darling sisters are dis- cussing new methods of making them- selves nasty to us, said Bob as he heaved a sigh of complete resignation. 'Or perhaps to- Will had starred to say, but he suddenly stopped and Bob easily understood why when he saw his sister Alice and Will's sister, Catherine Qonly Will and Bob were not permitted to call her Kitty j walking toward them. After addressing several words to their most affectionate brothers, they walked on. The two friends sat down on the stoop in front of Will's house as their sisters turned the corner. I berjl said Will, that they're only walking around the corner trying to catch us playing ball, Suddenly their conversation assumed an entirely different, tone and the reason was the approach of Irv Sweet and Nor- man Sturman, who were secretly envied by Bob and Will. They would sooner have changed places with these two than with anyone else under the sun, for in their opinion two more fortunate fellows existed nowhere the wide world over. They had been born to their parents be- fore any sisters had, and hence, unlike our two friends, their existence was not subject to sororal mandates.