December 15, 1949
Masquerade
By Marlin Setter
The great hotel ballroom re
sembled a Mardi Gras. It was the
scene of the last dance of the
graduating class of State Univer
sity. The masked dancers in their
bizarre costumes were a riot of
color and pageantry. An interna
tionally famous orchestra was
playing sweet, soft music.
On the darkened terrace lead
ing from the ballroom, a tall lone
figure stood smoking, looking out
over the parapet at the conglom
eration of lights that was New
York’s skyline after dark.
Jack Coburn was unhappy. Ap
parently he had everything that
a man graduating from college
should have. Over six feet, his
body in its height and breadth
and width denoted many seasons
of training tables in that elusive
pursuit of glory termed football.
He’d been a great football player
at State. His grades had been ex
cellent and he had a swell fu
ture in a law office in California.
But he was far from happy.
Now, he was dressed in a
strange costume. He looked a
throwback to the days of the
Spanish Inquisition. From his
plumed hat to his Cordovan boots
with the huge spurs, he was the
picture of a Spanish Grandee. His
rugged, yet sensitive face for
some reason was not marred by
the black mustache and goatee he
had taken some pains to have
just right. From his white silk
shirt showing under the velvet
jacket to the long sword at his
left side, he seemed a true gentle
man of old Spain.
He threw his fifth or sixth ciga
rette down and, after adjusting
his mask, turned and looked
through the French doors into the
dance. His eyes flicked back and
forth and finally settled on one
girl—a girl whom he had been
following with his eyes most of
the evening, a girl with whom he
had never danced, a girl who was
to him, the girl, Mary Williams,
who had been crowned that eve
ning as “Miss State College.” She
was the only girl he would ever
want to marry.
He saw her laughing up into
her partner’s eyes as she floated
in his arms to the dreamy waltz.
He saw that exquisite figure and
that face from Heaven—and Jack
Coburn’s memory drifted back
wards—!
His family had just moved to
New York, and it was their first
day at home after the tiring jour
ney from Los Angeles, California.
He was fourteen, and he, along
with his brother and mother and
father missed L. A. He remem
bered sitting in the living room,
thinking about the next door
neighbors in L. A. Their name
had been Mendoza. The Mendoza
boys had taught him many things.
Their father, a Mexican-Ameri-
can lawyer, hadn’t seemed like
most Mexican men he had seen
or read about. He had been a
patrician. Jack remembered Jose
and Chuck Mendoza teaching him
Spanish. They’d aU had a lot of
fun introducing him down on
Olvera Street, as their brother,
and after a few years, they all
COLLEGIATE LIFE
Page 3
could get away with it. His skin
was naturally dark, and he took
to the language like a duck to
water. He remembered that his
father had interrupted his reverie
by saying:
“Folks, it looks like the next-
door neighbors are paying us a
social visit.” He’d stood just be
hind his father as the door-bell
rang. He’d seen Mary’s father
and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liams, been introduced, and then
Mary Williams walked up to him
with her hand out, and her father
had said:
“Young man, I want you to get
acquainted with our daughter,
Mary. She’s been wanting to
meet you all day.”
He remembered starting to
shake her hand, and also remem
bered just standing there like a
big raw-boned ape and staring at
her. He had seen many pretty
girls, but this thirteen-year-old
literally took his breath away.
Even then, Mary had that sil
very-blonde hair, that face that
only an angel should claim. His
heart went out to her even though
his hand never did. He made a
quick excuse and ran upstairs.
He’d made many excuses since
that day. She always took his
breath away. Everytime they
were alone he’d become tongue-
tied. And every time that he’d
stammer something in his confu
sion to her when she talked to
him, he would berate himself
later.
Well, the years had passed. Yes,
the Williams family became
about the best friends the Coburn
family had. But he. Jack, never
did get over his acute self-con
sciousness whenever he was close
to Mary Williams. He certainly
had tried.
The State College had such a
large student body he had rarely
even a glimpse of her during
school hours—much to his sorrow.
“Tonight,” Jack thought, “I’ll
make up for many things. She
won’t know me because even my
teachers didn’t recognize me in
this outfit, and none of them
know that I speak Spanish. I just
wish with all my heart that
things had been different years
ago. I would give my interest in
Heaven to have ever been able
to talk to her as easily as I talk to
all the other girls who’ve wanted
me to date them, or go steady
with them. I guess I just never
had a chance.” With that thought
he stepped forward from the ter
race door and intercepted a tiny
girl who seemed to be walking
toward the buffet. She was Miss
Mary Williams. Her beauty was
not only evident in her ‘Madame
Pompadour’ costume, but she car
ried it with the grace of a true
queen.
Her roguish eyes seemed huge
in her small, oval-shaped face.
He looked at her and for the first
time in eight years noticed that
there was no hesitancy or ner
vousness, as he said in perfect
Castilian Spanish:
“May I have the pleasure of this
dance?” The tiny beauty smiled
dazzlingly:
“I don’t understand you. Sir.”
Without saying more he gathered
her in his arms and they glided
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off to the music of the waltz.
After a moment he leaned over
and began speaking softly in her
ear, still in Spanish:
“Mary, my dear, this is the first
and last time I will ever have
you in my arms, and I have long
ed for this so many years.” She
looked up at him, questioning,
but he continued:
“I know you cannot under
stand, my sweet, but I have loved
you so much and so hopelessly
since our high school days and
never had heart to ask you for a
date, my loveliest of the fair, my
jewel among women. You don’t
know me now, and I can’t tell you
all those things I have kept with
in me so long.
“Your lips are nectar, and
when you smile you shed a radi
ance beyond compare. My dear,
to kiss your lips would be an
ecstacy only the gods could
understand. No rose exists to
equal the beauty of your fair
cheeks and those veils, termed
lashes, that cover your eyes, hide
two pools of enchantment I
could spend a lifetime, gazing
into.”
Mary, cut in with: “Whatever
you are saying, it sounds nice.”
“I have worshipped you, my
Mary, since I moved next door to
you long ago. When you were
blocks away I have stood at my
window watching, and I have
said, ‘There is that dear form
hurrying toward you, coward
Jack. Why don’t you talk to her?’
—But no, never did I have the
courage.”
The soft music changed ab
ruptly, then, into “Goodnight,
Sweetheart”, and the tall Span
iard began talking faster;
“Goodnight, sweetheart, I will
probably never see you again. I
am going to live in Los Angeles
after graduation, but remember
that this heart is yours, carry it
always with you—so, goodnight
sweetheart, sweetheart, sweet
heart and goodbye.”
The music stopped and the
lights came on.
Mary reached up and removed
his mask and her own. She look
ed at him tenderly and with the
tears spilling down her cheeks
and sobbing as tho’ her heart
would break, murmured:
“Jack, Oh why didn’t you let
me know? I have loved you since
I first saw you move in next door,
from my window. I have prayed
for this moment so long. My eyes
followed just you when you play
ed football. Do you remember
when you were injured playing,
that time, and I went next door
and handed you some flowers—
when all the time I ached to put
my arms around you and kiss
away the pain? Oh, my darling,
my heart knew you at sight to
night and, my sweet, if you had
ever asked me out, you would
probably have learned that I ma
jored in Spanish just because I
once heard that you learned it as
a child and could speak it fluent
ly.”
Jack Coburn stood there for a
moment, looking at her unbe
lievingly. Then he leaned down
and kissed her, and hand in hand,
they walked out of the ballroom.
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Down in the Central gym,
where fifteen or twenty young
men gather every night to prac
tice this new-fangled game of
basketball, only one cry is dis
tinguishable above the many
moans and groans coming from
the throats of the ten men gath
ered on the floor, and that is
the one that is yelled repeatedly,
yet seemingly without any ap
parent effect, by Coach Gene
Shumate, “WORK THAT PLAY!”
From time to time, one of the
players gasps to a teammate,
“Work that play!” and glares
at him as if the sole reason for
the failure to work the play rests
squarely upon him. To which
the other player replies, “O.K.!”
and returns the glare.
No, it isn’t the battle-cry of
Charlotte College or anything
like that, but merely the new
system of play which Coach Shu
mate is introducing into the bas
ketball of the college. The sys
tem consists of several plays, all
of which are optional to the
pivot-man. The system isn’t par
ticularly complex; yet both the
coach and the team believe that
it will prove very effective once
the correct timing has been es
tablished. At any rate, the bas
ketball team places its hopes for
a successful season in this sys
tem. Let’s wish them luck.
Of course, there are other rea
sons why we of the Charlotte
College are hoping for a success
ful season, and chief among these
is the tall, lanky form of last
year’s ace center. Bill Proctor.
At the present, Proctor is side
lined with a stomach illness which
may keep him out of action until
after the Christmas holidays, but
the entire student body is wait
ing anxiously for his return to
the court. Besides Proctor, there
are two other aces back from
last year’s team, John Gamble
and Lawrence (two-point) Wil
son, Gamble is at present run
ning as a guard, John Gamble is
a member of last season’s famous
duo, “the Gamble brothers.” The
other member, Morris, is now at
Carolina. Other faces familiar to
the majority of the CC students
who are trying out for the team
are Paul “Put-Put” Putnam, Da
vid “Cotton” Cash, and Ray Ki-
siah. Cash is originally from
Berryhill Hi, Kisiah from Tech.
Other members of the squad from
Tech are Steve and Gus Econom-
us, another brother act from which
much is expected. Both are ex
perienced ball players and will
bolster the team’s chances con
siderably. Harding sends its only
experienced ball player in the
form of James Auten, a tall boy
who is equally adept at either
center or guard, Auten will prob
ably see a lot of action this
winter, Benny Douglas, from
Sharon, is another lad who could
see action this winter. Standing
close to six feet tall, Benny isn’t
exactly a “shorty” himself. An
other of the County schools, Oak-
hurst, has a contribution in the
person of Howard Huntley, a
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blond six-footer, who is improving
with every practice session. Both
he and Bill “Hooks” Hayes, the
boy with the peculiar hook shot,
have excellent chances with the
team. Central, instead of sending
one representative as some of the
other schools did, must have de
cided to send a delegation of
their best. Outstanding among
these are Jack Harkey, Walter
Ross, and Bill Braswell. Jack
Harkey and Walter Ross have
been showing up very well in
practice thus far, so well that it
is going to be hard to deny them
a position on the starting five,
even among such a group as
has turned out for the practices
so far. CC students will see a lot
of these boys before the sea
son’s end. Bill Braswell, the other
member of the squad from Cen
tral, has proven himself to be
quite an outstanding ball player,
but as yet has been unable to
practice regularly, Here’s hop
ing that he can get that difficulty
smoothed out, for he can really
be a help to the team.
There are a great many other
good players out for the team,
so many that it hardly seems
fair to concede any position on
the team to anyone as yet, even
in discussions around the halls.
The starting team has definitely
not been picked as yet and it is
still a merry chase as to see just
who will land the starting berths.
To the curious and to the second-
guessers then, we would like
merely to say, “Come to our
games and find out for your
selves!”
Activities
(Continued from Page 1)
ker is chairman; David Simpson
and Martin Setter are members,
David Cash is chairman of the
Athletic Committee of which
Aaron Brown has been appointed
a member. This Committee pro
motes publicity and attendance
at basketball games, Mr, Shumate
and Mr, McCachren are coaches,
Martin Setter has accepted the
position of editor of the college
newspaper, and John Jamison
is advertising manager. There
are still jobs to be filled on the
newspaper staff. Students in
terested in working on the news
paper staff should sign the notice
on the bulletin board.
Plans are now being made for
a college annual, Paul Howell is
editor-in-chief, and Earl Yandle
is business manager. There is a
great deal of work to be done
on the annual and, consequently,
there is a need for many stu
dents to aid in the publication
and business departments of the
staff. The complete staff has not
yet been appointed. If you desire
to work on the annual staff at
tend their next meeting, the time
of which will be posted on the
bulletin board.
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