Verhovayak Lapja, 1943. január-június (26. évfolyam, 1-25. szám)

1943-01-28 / 4. szám

VOL. XXVI.

JANUARY 28, 1943

NO. 4

" Remembering*’

Dear “Marge”, I thought I’d write to you,

For you’re the girl that I once knew,

You lived across the street from me,

Two better pals could never be.

And then you moved away one day;

To another state so far away;

Now it’s West Virginia that you love,

For that’s the state you’re always writing of.

Do you recall the “mudpies” that we made Where beneath the porch in the sand we played;

You would “play doctor” when my “dollie” was sick, And on each other we’d play mischievous tricks.

Remember you cried when I pulled your hair,

You told your mother, but I didn’t care;

I’d run home and hide away,

But we made up before the close of day.

I know we’ll meet again some day,

But it won’t be in the same old way;

Two grown ladies with etiquette fine,

Who left their childish pranks behind.

I’m sure you’ve all guessed who I’m writing about;

I know that in your minds there is no doubt;

I’ll close and leave you guess who it is;

Best of luck to all; this is sealed with a kiss.

—By MARGARET TOTH,

Member of Branch 389, Perryopolis, Penna.

HERE'S HOW

Ave Maria

By JIMMIE CSONTOS

Ave Maria, I offer you my prayer;

Your scapular medal I promise to wear;

I offer these words as token of my love;

• And may you reign happily in heaven above;

Thy name-has always been a treasure to me(

And I know my soul will be happy with thee;

Ave Maria, your star shine's in the sky,

Ave Maria, your name will never die.

»

(Editorial note: AVE MARIA was written over three years ago (at the close of 1939) by Jimmie Csontos, member of the Juvenile Order of Branch 503, Chicago, Illinois, when Jimmie was only 12 years of age.)

SO BEAUTIFUL

By KATHRYN RAW

If you are interested in finding a place in the warproduction program, here is a handy checklist of rules that may help you:

1. ) Register immediately with the nearest office of the U. S. Employment Service. Most government and war-industry positions are now being filled through its offices.

2. ) Analyze your list of talents and skills carefully. Consult with an Employment Service interviewer to find out whether you can be used in any of the warindustry jobs.

3. ) Check over your past work skills, studies and hobbies. Might any of them become usable if brushed up through refresher or retraining courses?

4. ) Watch for announcements on the financial and news pages of your local papers about plants in your area that are receiving war contracts. Make applications at these plants if you think that you are at all qualified. And remember that hundreds of these plants, acutely aware of the impending labor drought, are busy training both old and new men for these unaccustomed jobs.

5.) Enroll for a war-industry training course. These are now being given by vocational schools, labor unions, apprenticeship commissions, and the National Youth Administration, in addition to the war-industry plants mentioned. Indeed, many plants that are now closed for conversion or expansion are, nevertheless, training future workers in the interim. In Atlanta, for instance, a group of displaced filling-station workers recently began training for jobs in a new bomber plant that won’t be completed for several months.

The message from Europe and the Far East, then, is quite clear. One out of each two wage earners in your family, in the Smith family and in the Jones family across the street will be in war work soon. For this is a war of production.

Bitter, labor-filled days lie ahead — days in which each of us must think of his job, not in terms of what it contributes to him personally, but what it contributes to the defeat of dictatorship. That means sacrifice. But it also means — Victory.

(From New York Times)

Backbone of Defense

Transportation by rail is vital to the war effort. You don’t have to take a railroad man’s word for it. The United States War Department has just made that statment in the 1941 revision of its technical manual on the use of rail transportation in the zone of the interior — that is, the continental U. S.

“The arterial railway system,” states this manual, “is the backbone of our ... national defense, and all other forms of transport are for us but extensions and auxiliary services ... Rail transportation provides a service which insures that a body of troops and their impedimenta will be transported to destination with the least amount of inconvenience and fatigue ... The railroads can supply equipment so balanced and in such quantities as to fit exactly the needs of a particular situation.” In other words, only the railroads can supply units so complete that troops cen carry whatever is required in armament and equipment so that they can go into action as soon as they leave the train, if necessary.

When it comes to transporting the industrial materials needed to feed an insatiable modern war machine, the railroads are again the very backbone of war. All other continental agencies of transport, valuable and necessary as they are, simply supplement rail service. It is to the locomotive and the cars it hauls that we must turn when there is a gigantic job to be done.

This is why the railroads must always be in a position to expand when necessary, They must be able to buy the materials they need to maintain their present facilities and keep them in repair, and to add the additional cars and engines which additional demands may bring upon them. In these terrible days, no industry is more essential to the preservation of freedom and the winning of the war than the railroads.

The soft music of the wind in the cool pale dawn drifted to me and roused me out of dreams. And I struggled vainly with the dawn god-reluctant to come out of the land of dreaming into reality.

The waking state is but nihilism — the realization of nothingness.

I sought to forget the problems of the waking state and went outdoors into the fields where the perfumes of flowers mingled and filled the morning air with their scented subtilities.

The golden sun rose in a clear turquoise sky — but the world was dark to me. Life was empty — yet full of poverty and agonies and disappointments and failures.

I realized the futility and meaninglessness of my earth existence. What loomed ahead for me in the world of illusions? Where was Life leading me? My human existence was strife, heartbreak, hunger and thirst — the hunger and thirst of my soul more painful than the physical craving for food and drink — because it could not be slaked.

I walked the trails of the earth and my spirit rebelled against the barriers that kept my soul separated from — what? What — or, whom am I seeking? Time and Space imprisoned my soaring spirit and kept me from that mysterious Something I sought endlessly.

I felt so awful alone as I made my way to the brook in the woods. I rested beside the cool crystal water and listened to its laughter.

The wind rustled through the leafy trees and sang songs!

I gazed down the dusty sunkissed road — and wondered about long-forgotten people who had traversed its path in centuries past, where their souls

thoughts, emotions and memories that now tortured me? Surely, torn with the same disturbing they must be somewhere now

— breathing and living in some strange lapd of Eternity! Will I become one of them in some future state of immortality?

Why do I seek which is denied to me?

What was that? I heard a

strange sound of music — and my soul knew an ecstasy of ascending emotions. The new day was illuminated by the sun-fire in the sky! — and stars gleamed in the azure dome! The iridescent rainbow appeared and sent its colors earthward! The heaven was a vision of paradise!

Then I saw It! — in all Its beauty and joy! The loveliness of It was a million miles away

— yet so near — around and within me! This was the mystic Something I had been seeking! And with realization came the knowledge of many things. I saw Light in a world of shadows! Life is a mirror which is a reflection of It! All living things are the same — except in outward form! — different only because they are placed differently in the universe.

The lovely rainbow and stars vanished. The beautiful colored sky became a soft blue and the sun’s rays touched the earth. Lightly the wind blew — and whispered peace.

I had seen the wondrous Light and its subtle vibrations forever possessed me!

No words could describe the mystical Thing I had witnessed. I felt a thousand emotions surge through my being — and stood speechless — unable to utter my adoration.

I had glimpsed God in Nature

— and heard the music of the spheres — and all I could say was: “You are — a* beautiful!'*