Twenty-Four Scribulus "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES" Ten years ago the Sunday morning edition of a western daily carried the story of a magna cum laude graduate of George Washington university who suffered a paralytic stroke which made useless his hands and tongue. More richly endowed than most with a craving for knowledge, his whole life had been devoted to the accumulation of a tremendous store of learning. On the fruits of the world's finest intellects he feasted, treasuring all against a future of abundant self-expression. And then, just when he had climbed to the uplands of his dreams, had made ready to deliver himself to the world, a nervous breakdown destroyed his means of communication. On the front porch in summer and before the fireplace in winter he heard lesser minds debate problems that he might have dispelled with a single sentence. His struggles to speak were violent as those of one whose breath has been stopped. Sometimes his whole body became contorted in his struggle for expression: the cords and veins on his flushed neck and face stood out like pencils imbedded in the skin; and when he could bear his muteness no longer he would run out from the house into the night. Denied expression, he turned again to books, and mastered hundreds during his long period of invalidism. To the colossal heap of his already acquired learning he added new knowledge until his mind seemed to give way under its too heavy burden and he died, babbling like an infant in his last days. He had built too carefully for a future that did not come. There is something profoundly pitiful in the thought of a brilliant mind made impotent, of inordinate intellectual equipment made futile by impairment of the agencies of communication. But incapacity is hardly more tragic than disinclination. Though the college student is seldom equipped with such information as would, if liberated, make for revolution in the World of thought, that gift which most distinguishes man from the beasts must be exercised if one is to honor his heritage and realize in full the virtues of his legacy. The world knows little of him who, though his mind be the essence of wisdom incarnate, lives through his little hour in silence and carries his learning to the tomb. Civil laws guard man's sacred prerogative to speak his mind; moral laws make it mandatory that all contribute by some means of communication their "widow's mite" to the treasure house of human thought. There must be expression if life is to have purpose and meaning. The mere fact of birth means nothing more than that when the spirit departs another clod will be added to history's accumulation of pathetic dust that once was man. He who takes all and gives nothing will go back to his fathers unnoticed and unsung. If you cannot build yourself a monument with words, then fashion a pebble to mark your grave. The consequence of hoarding thought is obscurity and oblivion. Speak while you may, for "Dead men tell no tales." D. E. T. Jean "Infant" Richards: Short, dark, mysterious "Ah, Sweet Mystery" Rather inclined to be sociable. From small town, but has big city ideas more or less. Dorothy Hall: Another fresh Frosh, blonde. Has that Minnie Mouse smile. Lay off, boys, her Baxter the wall. Alice Malan: Good ol' Alice. Fascinating freshman. Much betrodden. Pledged otherwise oke. (The editors would like to meet you. . Amen) Your Holiday Dress Is Here Now See them at NEW YORK SHOPPE EGYPTIAN THEATRE BUILDING Smart Clothes for Smart Dressers Men's Complete Outfitters LEVEN'S THE STORE OF GREATER VALUES FARR BETTER COAL Phone 256 ASAEL FARR COAL COMPANY 156 24th STREET, OGDEN Gateway Printing Co. 2420 GRANT AVE. Phone 2460 For Striking Effects in Printing Ogden, Utah