The Green caldron - University Library

December, 1957 31
time. Sometimes they would ask me to play the piano and afterwards would
tell me in flowery words how wonderful my playing was ; even old Mrs. Ree-
ger would smile at me and comment on the music, though we all knew that
because of her bad hearing she could not have appreciated a single sound.
They always talked about the same good old time, Vv^hen they were young,
their husbands still alive with their future before them, and when they had
seemed to have so much more of everything. One of them would let drop a
little lost tear, Maman would say, "But my dear !" and the others would get
thoughtful and maybe a little bit sad. Their murmurs would flow on like a
rivulet in the autumn not expecting a storm any more ; their tired old shaky
hands would continue to play with the napkins or the coffee spoons. They
would sit there quietly, with shy smiles, nodding heads, inward looking eyes—
ghosts for whom time no longer existed.
Exactly at five o'clock, they would get up, thank Maman in extravagant
words for the most superb two hours, accept all those cheek-kisses from us
girls, and shuffle away— just to come back every Wednesday—at three—to
Hainan's coffee hour.
DR.
Put the Man Together
Leah Meyer
Rhetoric Placement Test
ETHEL ALPENFELS, THE WELL-KNOWN ANTHROPOL-
ogist, spoke to a group of high school students recently on their role
in society. After discussing the goals and the problems of her ado-
lescent audience. Dr. Alpenfels related an anecdote which I consider to be
invaluable to any teenager or adult who doesn't realize his individual worth
and importance in our modern society.
On an especially humid and uncomfortable day, the doctor explained, a
young child was annoying his weary father. "What can I do?" the youngster
begged. "Give me something to play with. Daddy." The parent, wishing to
be rid of the child, reached for a map of the world and cut it into varied shapes.
"Here," the lad's father said, "take this puzzle and see if you can put
it back together."
Jumping at the unusual plaything, the child soon became engrossed in it,
while his father relaxed and eagerly anticipated a few hours of peace.
In a few moments, however, the boy returned with the map, which was
perfectly pieced together. His father was amazed. "How did you do this?"
he demanded.