Page 86 - 1931 Hartridge

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The Alice Rosamond I^arclee Jhdze, awarded to a member of the Senior Eng­ lish class, was won in 19v30 hy Theresa Brakeley. Jier essay follows:
E i N c ;
The Difficulty of Being Toung
young is a state that most older people seem to regard as blissful ha\])pi-
ness, and young peo\]de as a \])eriod of irksome aj^prenticeship to some destiny
higher than maps and figures. \])encils and inky fingers. To me the difificulty of being young seems to he not so much the various prohibitions put on youth, though at times I feel rebellious in sjute of. or jrerhaps because of. my realization of their
all too frecpient wisdom, as the inconvenient lack of control over the whims and feelings of the moment.
One day 1 am ecstatically carefree, caj^ering childishly until some one looks askance at my antics, when T immediately and shee\])ishly curb my steps to a sedate walk. There is little or no cause for such glee exce\[)t possibly the loveliness of spring or a short assignment for the morrow, and yet nothing can dim my e.xuher- ance. I feel an over\])owering urge to laugh, and yield to the desire to gi,g.gle at
inop\])ortune moments when a gaze of stern displeasure may check the first chortle.
Another day a frantic restlessness, a longing to he doing something, drives me out on a long dull afternoon to walk furiouslv for an hour in a blustering wind and
work off in motion the energy aroused hy the s\]ee\])iness of every one else. Then my aml)ition is unlimited, and in imagination I tackle the \])roblems of the world, taking up reform of all that does not please me with a zeal which would do credit
to the most ardent agitators of history.
There are times, notably after a night of \])oring over grammars and square roots, when the world is a bore, books a burden, and bad marks trivialities. Unin­
terested, I sit through long classes and hear the exchange of ideas around me through a haze of utter indifference. Such gems of wisdom as are uttered fall un­ heeded on my inattentive ears, and my reply to all (piestions is, “1 do not know,” which is, in all probability, quite true.
Usually, after this kind of lapse. I am caught by an absorbing interest in everything, in life, in \]::eo\]>le, and what they are doing and thinking. My devotion X to my work lasts feverishly for a few days until I have atoned for the inactivity X of the \])receding mood. It is rather fun being seventeen, but a little more steadi­
nessof\])urposewouldmakeitlesswork.
T h e r e s a
B r a k e l e y .
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