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

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II The evening is intolerably hot. From my window seat in the hotel opposite the Union Station, I am gazing down upon that great, square building, lit up and apparently vibrant with the mechanical and human energy being expended in it. The towering stone walls, marble columnades, and stone flights of steps give it an appearance of dignity which is soon belied by the soot on the walls and on the high arched windows. An endless procession of taxi cabs scurry up, discharge their loads, and scurry away. 4'Red Caps hurry up, show rows of shining teeth, take your valises, and disappear. The immense, Neon-lighted clock over the entrance beams benevolently on the passers-by, hurrying them up or slow- ing them down, according to his whims. To my right I can see a corner of the rail- road yard. The unloading platform appears in it, with a row of freight cars being emptied. The stevedores' naked backs glisten as they pass to and fro under the powerful lamps. I took down my old brown bag and dusted it oil' . . . III The steward showed me to my seat at a table for six in the dining room. A man in a black dinner jacket sat opposite me. His unmistakable appearance caused me to chuckle reminiscently, for it was over fifteen years since I had seen his type on a trans- Atlantic liner. He was a professional gam- bler. Perfect example of the 'Gpoker face. His eyes expressed nothing, while his pale complexion gave evidence of sleepless nights in smoke-filled rooms. His hands were long, well-kept, and slim, the hands of a man of talent in a profession where the old adage, The hand is quicker than the eye, must be proven again and again. His clothes were well-cut, but worn, and of a style outmoded by several years. He looked at me for a moment and, evi- dently dissatisfied by what he saw, turned and gazed at a man seated at a nearby table. This fellow was the direct opposite of my aloof companion. He ate with enjoyment and noisy evidence of it. He had a pink, frank face that could conceal nothing, and inno- cent blue eyes that took in all the sights of a first trip abroad. page f0l'ly-four

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RAMBLINGS By Victor Friedman I . I have come to a long planned decision. I have just left the office with my last pay envelope. The chief was not surprised, as I could tell by his parting remark: 64Roam around to your heart's content, then come back to your fires, Rotary luncheons, and iight passes. If there's a position open, Iill give it to you. Good-bye and good luck. So here I am, eager to begin my second Wanderjahr. A thousand separate melodies, a thousand separate rhythms-the paper is going to press. The clackety-clack, clackety-clack of the presses, the hiss of the hot lead being poured into the forms, the thumping of quarter-ton rolls of paper being rolled along the floor are all molded into a discordant, mighty roar. The cause of this upheaval is ten stories farther up, directed by the editor-in-chief. The telegraph room-a long line of green shaded operators, each with his instrument clicking before him. Hong Kong, Paris, The Hague, San Francisco-all are pouring their modern gossip into his trained ears. The city room-long lines of desks. Typewriters, im- pelled by men busily recording their day's assignments, chatter incessantly. Farther down the monotonous thump of the linotype machines drowns out the preoccupied whis- tling of the type setters. The paper is going to press . . . The train is pounding into the station. One slight shove from the mob around me and Pd be crushed beneath those shining wheels. We are packed inside the train like the pro- verbial sardines. The roar is deafening, and the shuddering jars causes the animated sar- dines to sway in unwilling unison. Hot breaths cause the short hairs on my neck to stand up in revulsion. A girl crushed between two huskies is reading 64When Knighthood Was In Flower. page forty-three ml' X' ' ENE ' VIVYTIIB fffllflfll i l' Qi. st

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The next move depended on my gambling friend, and I knew what it would be. After the dinner I followed them out to the prom- enade deck, where I soon saw them engaged in an animated conversation. They then passed me, bound, I knew, for the gambler's stateroom. The purser hap- pened to stop near me and I asked him if he knew the man in the dinner jacket. That fellow? he replied. He's Steven Allyn, the chess champion of the United States. He's making a world tour and playing the champions of each country. IV England in October . . . I sat down at the summit a moment to catch my breath and take in the autumnal scene about me. Brown leaves, shaken from slumbering trees, scurried around me, danced in joyous whirlpools, and ended their short existence piled up against lichen-covered fences. A dead branch cracked under the terrific strain with the noise of a pistol shot and bounced into the road, missing an auto- mobile by a very narrow margin. The car, an old Austin, was approaching in an ex- tremely undignified manner. Its rear end was foremost, and the motor, proud of its rear guard position, was roaring defiance at the invisible blasts that pushed it along. When the car was opposite me, it stopped, and a young man leaped lightly over the side. With remarkable strength he swung the car into its normal position. He re-entered the rattletrap and, panting from his exertions, gazed about him. Noticing me, my fellow knight of the road winked solemnly and re- leased the brake. The car slid silently down the hill under some mysterious motive power. A scarecrow flapped its limp arms and hurled dumb imprecations at the crows wheeling above. White, billowy clouds raced across the blue sky like clipper ships bound for home in a pleasant wind. A young boy in overalls chased his ragged straw hat across a fallow field, Hnally falling upon it in triumph. I got up and walked towards the rising sun. I v '6La Giocondaf' whom I hadn't seen for page forty-five Q5 X 'J P7 'HI X 9 NN! ,!lnl 4'1 fl ' ' 'YN X gg ' - xx -. 1 z . L. fx ' Wy ' ir 1 ,, f ' , - N 'I' N -ii' f-fu 'wir--11' 1 3 ,ll , , , r , .X ' ' ff. 'fn f V w X'-ff' 1, bm- L i , f I In lily! i lit r l ff 'V I . A -' - ' 1 V ' ', lk' , it 1.24 . 1 X 1 QT I l Nil' ' . I, 'J A n rl, , X Xl, ' 'f A' f I ' I 4 wif f ' 1 ,