Page 79 - 1928 Hartridge

him were the merry chimes of his hells while his horse kept time with shaggy, deliberate hoofs. And the treasures in the wagon! Bottles,
blue and brown and green, bicycle wheels, odd roller skates, dented old del hies, kettles, hooks, boxes, and innumerable dusty garments which would have been ideal for “dressing up.” Besides all this the ragman
was deliciously, blissfully dirty. One could not conceive of his ev'er hav'ing to wash his face or hands.
Of course, at frequent intervals I should have liked to change places with Judy the nurse, so that I could call her “naughty Judy” and spank her and send her to bed at seven o’clock while 1 fared forth on mysterious
nocturnal journeys. At the tender age of seven I saw my first circus and after five minutes of it my future was again settled— I should be a bare- back ritler! Nothing could sway my purpose, and I should have found
Mr. Barnum immediately and signed myself up if Mother’s grip on my hand had been a wee bit less convincing.
h rom the sublime to the ridiculous my aspirations have soared and sunk, filling each moment with a purpose worthy of greater
things, a purpose wonderfully vague and unattainable. At present 1 am on the solid rock bottom of practical matters and wish only
t o p a s s my f i na l e x a mi n a t i o n s . B u t w h a t a f t e r t h a t ? A f t e r g r a d u ­ ation and the last fond farewell to dog-eared books and maps and copy books? A broad range of possibilities stretches into the future.
After all, these were but the ideas and hopes of extreme youth, while life
in all its delightfully terrifying uncertainty lies ahead. What stepping-
stones—new problems, new ideas, new opinions—will be found to bridge
the long gap between those two early idealizations—of God—■ and the ragman ?
K.\Tn.-\RINE POWRl.L, ’27.
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