Thoughts by Carl J. Singleton Immortal thoughts of ages past, Straight from the hearts of their masters were cast, Into a world of minds that seek, After the truths of life and its mysteries deep. They have turned each stone and lonely clod, And each cell of the mind, in its search for a God. They have reached into space to the distant stars, And found only cold, imprisoning bars. The Cathedral by Carol Jean Vendell Cold stone with the breath of genius Coaxing it to life; With human sweat remembered by Its mellowing lines And autumn colors telling many Stories in the glass. Its lofty heights stand in memorium To mortal pride To endless longing for the touch Of God. Dreams Reflected by Dick Layman You see the stars, crisp-edged and clear, that sail In lonely orbits through the outer night, And all the while give back reflected light Lent by some sun beside which planets pale? Mark how they follow ever, without fail, Their untracked paths with wanderings so slight That they cannot be measured by our sight, Each lighting an eternal cosmic trail. So in this latter age the thoughts of men, So seeming new, original, and bold, Are but reflections of old dreams retold The light of greater thinkers seen again; Dead hopes which like the stars, remote and cold, Swing in the self-same orbits as of old. Last Laugh by Marjorie Hill She scoffed at sweethearts' tender sighs And glances in each others' eyes. Romance gave her no happiness Moonlight no thrill; she must confess She laughed at love. She thought the power of a kiss Exaggerated, and the bliss That comes with secrets softly told A fallacy; love had no hold, Until she fell. Page Twenty-two Wanted a Cook by Phyllis Purdy It is five o'clock, and not a cook in the house! Dear God, what am I going to do? Jim will be home at six for dinner with that important client he especially wants to impress, the kids will be clamoring for food and in one hour. Damn Nellie, why did she quit! What a cross and peevish family I have, when they are hungry. When in doubt, play a queen, what am I thinking? Pinochle, what has that got to do with the fact that it is now five after five. Fifty-five minutes and I am going to be mobbed. What to do in an emergency? What did that psychologist advise in that lecture series we attended last year? When in doubt play a queen? Oh Lord. Call the weather bureau, they should know about the schooling system in China. Fifty minutes to go now, Ann old girl think, think, you know your brain will atrophy if you don't give it some exercise, now get it into gear, and let's have seme action. Well maybe just for tonight you could cook dinner yourself, but no! meat burns and lettuce wilts under your domestic touch, remember your former attempts at domesticity my dear, two husbands driven to distraction, and one to destruction. Well then give, give forth with an idea that will save a household crisis, jut one workable idea is worth ten brilliant, but unrelated birds in the bush. That's it, call the employment agency: wanted one experienced cook, middle aged, thin, energetic, female, experience not necessary, age immaterial, sex if any, with a large, powerful, small stature, and with enough strength to walk from the stove to the sink, without doubting the integrity of the president and his cabinet. Phone 7902, dear God, 7209. "Operator, operator, hello, hello, yes, I'm calling the employment agency regarding a first class cook, grade a, b, c, or d, or any combination thereof, the line is busy? Well for pete sakes what kind of establishment does the telephone company operate anyway?" Forty-five minutes until six, oh dear, is it worth it, when in doubt play the queen. "Operator get me the employment agency, yes, this is an official call. Hello, employment agency? This is Ann, I'm looking for a job as cook, I have excellent references and a bounty of experience. Do I belong to the Union? Well I most certainly do, I voted for Roosevelt and so did my whole family, and my cousin was in the army, please hurry though, I have only forty minutes till my doom time." "No, I don't need the job right away, within the next few hours, thank you and good bye." I wonder if I should have played that ten, I wonder if I should lead Nancy out of trumps, maybe that is why she got mad, well I shouldn't have (Concluded next page) You Bring the Rope by Phyllis Purdy There are all sorts of people everywhere you go China, Los Angeles, New Caledonia, and Rabbit Gulch and on the whole they are pretty nice. Most of them are good company, good neighbors, and good citizens, but why were braggadocios ever born? Everyone is acquainted with the counterpart of Betty Beller, who has a 1948 Buick and will not let anyone forget it. Just as though we have not seen it every day since the first triumphant drive home, flaunted in and about the yard (never in the garage), she gives us all the details while we are packing bundles for Greece at the Red Cross center. She tells us all about it at a chance meeting on some busy street corner in town, at church (she considers her sermon much better than that of the preacher), and at the grocery store, holding up the procession all the while. And Bonnie Belle Beller is the child wonder of the decade, or is it century? This I can verify I was Mrs. Beller's partner at bridge Monday when she muffed my finesse as she was enlarging our appreciation of Bonnie Belle. Bonnie, with her father's big blue eyes and her mother's brain (someone must have it), is undoubtedly a remarkable child, but her bright sayings never seem to alleviate the pain of a trumped ace or a misplaced king. Now Cherry, who was also in the bridge battle, has the chassis (ooh la la!) of a nymph's dream, in spite of cheese souffle, chicken pie, and french-fried shrimp. You know the type. Her figure is her principal topic of con- versation. No matter how much she brags, we are still convinced that it is some good-natured gland that keeps her slim, and not a desperate struggle to resist chocolate eclairs and apple pie a-la-mode. She dines ravishingly on such delicacies and then eyes the stouter members of the group if they so much as reach for a piece of celery. Then there is Mark a cosmopolitan, so gay, so suave. He and Adonis were buddy-buddies, which is not hard to believe, since he creaks in every joint. He brags about his conquests, from the cute little number he had on the string in high school back in 19?? down to the peroxide blond he is currently pursuing. If you have enough fortitude to sit through the entire narrative twice, you will notice that each affair is greatly embellished with re-telling. He has another characteristic besides his amazing power over women to brag about he can hold his liquor like a gentleman, he mutters with thickened tongue, numbed brain, and feet that insist on tripping over rugs and coffee tables. A well-bred half-wit would find the nearest hole and hurry in, but not Hattie the Hare Brain. She does not know the difference between a lamp post, and she giggles boastfully about this. She once knitted a sweater for the Red Cross downside up, and now she spends hours dramatizing her so-cute inability to follow any sort of directions, verbal or written. She had plane reservations to fly to San Francisco when her sister was getting (Concluded next page) Page Twenty-three