The Plastic Age by Percy Marks (best mobile ebook reader .txt) 📖
- Author: Percy Marks
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First Half Was A See-Saw Up And Down The Field. Near The End Of The Half
Raleigh Was Within Twenty Yards Of The Sanford Line. Shouts Of "Score!
Score! Score!" Went Up From The Raleigh Rooters, Rhythmic, Insistent.
"Hold 'Em! Hold 'Em! Fight! Fight! Fight!" The Sanford Cheering Section
Pleaded, Almost Sobbing The Words. A Forward Pass Skilfully Completed
Netted Raleigh Sixteen Yards. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The Timekeepeot
Cool After Burning Days.
The Rains
The Rain Advances Like A King
In awful Majesty;
Hear, Dearest, How His Thunders Ring
Like Royal Drums, And See
His Lightning-Banners Wave; A Cloud
For Elephant He Rides,
And Finds His Welcome From The Crowd
Of Lovers And Of Brides.
The Clouds, A Mighty Army, March
With Drumlike Thundering
And Stretch Upon The Rainbow'S Arch
The Lightning'S Flashing String;
The Cruel Arrows Of The Rain
Smite Them Who Love, Apart
From Whom They Love, With Stinging Pain,
Chapter 7 Pg 46And Pierce Them To The Heart.
The Forest Seems To Show Its Glee
In Flowering Nipa Plants;
In Waving Twigs Of Many A Tree
Wind-Swept, It Seems To Dance;
Its Ketak-Blossom'S Opening Sheath
Is Like A Smile Put On
To Greet The Rain'S Reviving Breath,
Now Pain And Heat Are Gone.
To You, Dear, May The Cloudy Time
Bring All That You Desire,
Bring Every Pleasure, Perfect, Prime,
To Set A Bride On Fire;
May Rain Whereby Life Wakes And Shines
Where There Is Power Of Life,
The Unchanging Friend Of Clinging Vines,
Shower Blessings On My Wife.
Autumn
The Autumn Comes, A Maiden Fair
In Slenderness And Grace,
With Nodding Rice-Stems In Her Hair
And Lilies In Her Face.
In Flowers Of Grasses She Is Clad;
And As She Moves Along,
Birds Greet Her With Their Cooing Glad
Like Bracelets' Tinkling Song.
A Diadem Adorns The Night
Of Multitudinous Stars;
Her Silken Robe Is White Moonlight,
Set Free From Cloudy Bars;
And On Her Face (The Radiant Moon)
Bewitching Smiles Are Shown:
She Seems A Slender Maid, Who Soon
Will Be A Woman Grown.
Over The Rice-Fields, Laden Plants
Are Shivering To The Breeze;
While In His Brisk Caresses Dance
The Blossom-Burdened Trees;
He Ruffles Every Lily-Pond
Where Blossoms Kiss And Part,
And Stirs With Lover'S Fancies Fond
The Young Man'S Eager Heart.
Winter
The Bloom Of Tenderer Flowers Is Past
Chapter 7 Pg 47And Lilies Droop Forlorn,
For Winter-Time Is Come At Last,
Rich With Its Ripened Corn;
Yet For The Wealth Of Blossoms Lost
Some Hardier Flowers Appear
That Bid Defiance To The Frost
Of Sterner Days, My Dear.
The Vines, Remembering Summer, Shiver
In Frosty Winds, And Gain
A Fuller Life From Mere Endeavour
To Live Through All That Pain;
Yet In The Struggle And Acquist
They Turn As Pale And Wan
As Lonely Women Who Have Missed
Known Love, Now Lost And Gone.
Then May These Winter Days Show Forth
To You Each Known Delight,
Bring All That Women Count As Worth
Pure Happiness And Bright;
While Villages, With Bustling Cry,
Bring Home The Ripened Corn,
And Herons Wheel Through Wintry Sky,
Forget Sad Thoughts Forlorn.
Early Spring
Now, Dearest, Lend A Heedful Ear
And Listen While I Sing
Delights To Every Maiden Dear,
The Charms Of Early Spring:
When Earth Is Dotted With The Heaps
Of Corn, When Heron-Scream
Is Rare But Sweet, When Passion Leaps
And Paints A Livelier Dream.
When All Must Cheerfully Applaud
A Blazing Open Fire;
Or If They Needs Must Go Abroad,
The Sun Is Their Desire;
When Everybody Hopes To Find
The Frosty Chill Allayed
By Garments Warm, A Window-Blind
Shut, And A Sweet Young Maid.
Then May The Days Of Early Spring
For You Be Rich And Full
With Love'S Proud, Soft Philandering
And Many A Candy-Pull,
With Sweetest Rice And Sugar-Cane:
And May You Float Above
The Absent Grieving And The Pain
Of Separated Love.
Chapter 7 Pg 48
Spring
A Stalwart Soldier Comes, The Spring,
Who Bears The Bow Of Love;
And On That Bow, The Lustrous String
Is Made Of Bees, That Move
With Malice As They Speed The Shaft
Of Blossoming Mango-Flower
At Us, Dear, Who Have Never Laughed
At Love, Nor Scorned His Power.
Their Blossom-Burden Weights The Trees;
The Winds In Fra-Flower
At Us, Dear, Who Have Never Laughed
At Love, Nor Scorned ors--One Of Them, Alling, The Other, Jones Of The Economics
Department. Hugh Was Almost Literally Broken-Hearted; The Defeat Lay On
Him Like An Awful Sorrow That Never Could Be Lifted. Every Inch Of Him
Ached, But His Despair Was Greater Than His Physical Pain. The Sharp,
Clear Voice Of Jones Broke Into His Half-Deadened Consciousness.
"I Can'T Understand All This Emotional Excitement," Said Jones Crisply.
"A Football Game Is A Football Game, Not A National Calamity. I Enjoy
The Game Myself, But Why Weep Over It? I Don'T Think I Ever Saw Anything
More Absurd Than Those Boys Singing With Tears Running Into Their
Mouths."
Shocked, The Boys Looked At Each Other. They Started To Make Angry
Remarks But Paused As Alling Spoke.
"Of Course, What You Say, Jones, Is Quite Right," He Remarked Calmly,
"Quite Right. But, Do You Know, I Pity You."
"Alling'S A Good Guy," Hugh Told Carl Later; "He'S Human."
Chapter 8 Pg 49
After The Sanford-Raleigh Game, The College Seemed To Be Slowly Dying.
The Boys Held Countless Post-Mortems Over The Game, Explaining To Each
Other Just How It Had Been Lost Or How It Could Have Been Won. They
Watched The Newspapers Eagerly As The Sport Writers Announced Their
Choice For The So-Called All American Team. If Slade Was On The Team,
The Writer Was Conceded To "Know His Dope"; If Slade Wasn'T, The Writer
Was A "Dumbbell." But All This Pseudo-Excitement Was Merely Picking At
The Covers; There Was No Real Heart In It. Gradually The Football Talk
Died Down; Freshmen Ceased To Write Themes About Sanford'S Great
Fighting Spirit; Sex And Religion Once More Became Predominant At The
Chapter 8 Pg 50"Bull Sessions."
Studies, Too, Began To Find A Place In The Sun. Hour Examinations Were
Coming, And Most Of The Boys Knew That They Were Miserably Prepared.
Lights Were Burning In Fraternity Houses And Dormitories Until Late At
Night, And Mighty Little Of Their Glow Was Shed On Poker Parties And
Crap Games. The College Had Begun To Study.
When Hugh Finally Calmed Down And Took Stock, He Was Horrified And
Frightened To Discover How Far He Was Behind In all His Work. He Had
Done His Lessons Sketchily From Day To Day, But He Really Knew Nothing
About Them, And He Knew That He Didn'T. Since Morse'S Departure, He Had
Loafed, Trusting To Luck And The Knowledge He Had Gained In High School.
So Far He Had Escaped A Summons From The Dean, But He Daily Expected
One, And The Mere Thought Of Hour Examinations Made Him Shiver. He
Studied Hard For A Week, Succeeding Only In Getting Gloriously Confused
And More Frightened. The Examinations Proved To Be Easier Than He Had
Expected; He Didn'T Fail In any Of Them, But He Did Not Get A Grade
Above A C.
The Examination Flurry Passed, And The College Was Left Cold. Nothing
Seemed To Happen. The Boys Went To The Movies Every Night, Had A Peanut
Fight, Talked To The Shadowy Actors; They Played Cards, Pool, And
Billiards, Or Shot Craps; Saturday Nights Many Of Them Went To A Dance
At Hastings, A Small Town Five Miles Away; They Held Bull Sessions And
Discussed Everything Under The Sun And Some Things Beyond It; They
Attended A Performance Of Shaw'S "Candida" Given By The Dramatic Society
And Voted It A "Wet" Show; And, Incidentally, Some Of Them Studied. But,
All In all, Life Was Rather Tepid, And Most Of The Boys Were Merely
Marking Time And Waiting For Christmas Vacation.
For Hugh The Vacation Came And Went With A Rush. It Was Glorious To Get
Home Again, Glorious To See His Father And Mother, And, At First,
Glorious To See Helen Simpson. But Helen Had Begun To Pall; Her Kisses
Hardly Compensated For Her Conversation. She Gave Him A Little Feeling
Of Guilt, Too, Which He Tried To Argue Away. "Kissing Isn'T Really
Wrong. Everybody Pets; At Least, Carl Says They Do. Helen Likes It
But..." Always That "But" Intruded Itself. "But It Doesn'T Seem Quite
Right When--I Don'T Really Love Her." When He Kissed Her For The Last
Time Before Returning To College, He Had A Distinct Feeling Of Relief:
Well, That Would Be Off His Mind For A While, Anyway.
It Was A Sober, Quiet Crowd Of Students--For The First Time They Were
Students--That Returned
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