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THE HILLTOP, MARS HILL COLLEGE, MARS HILL, NORTH CAROLINA.
i
The Hilltop
Plain Living and Pligh Thinking
Published by the Students of Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, North
Carolina.
Entered as second-class matter February 20, 1926, at the Post-
office at Mars Hill, No th Carolina, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Issued semi-monthly during the college year.
SuDs-r.pcion Rate Year $1.00
MEMBER wF ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
DISIRIEUTOR OF COLLEGIATE DIGEST
STAFF
Editor-in-Chief Nina Guard
Managing Editor Bob Gellerstedt
Associate Editors Ted Hethcock . Cecil Porter
Sports Editor Frank Gregory
1 oetry Editor Beatrice DeWitte
Faculty Advisers Mary Logan . Ramon DeShazo
Typists Jane Wright . Jane Gunter
CONTRIBUTORS
Howie Bingham . Harold Shoemaker . Jerry Hobbs . Marie Davis
Mary Sue Middleton . Louise Jamerson . Beulah
liill . Ethel Ray . Susan Harbison
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager Nathan LeGrand
Advertising Manager Bob Gellerstedt
Cir-ulat.on Manager Bob Chapman
Volume XVIII. February 5, 1944. Number 8.
Deliverance
Late on the afternoon of October 21, 1942, a plane some
where in the Southwest Pacific radioed that it had only an
hour's supply of gasoline left in its tanks. That plane went
down, and the eight men who were aboard were forced to
abandon it, starting out with only four oranges between them
and starvation and only three rubber life rafts between them
and the Pacific. Seven of these men were rescued three weeks
later. One of those seven. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, will
be on our campus one week from today.
Of those seven men who were rescued from those rafts in
the Pacific, three have written moving accounts of their ex
periences. These men came near to death, but they came
nearer to God.
One of these men, who was indeed little more than a boy,
look a Bible from his pocket and read to his companions when
the hunger pangs came. Words that have stood for two thou
sand years he read to these starving men:
"Therefore take no thought, (be not anxious), saying. What
shall we eat? or, Whert shall we drink? or, Wherewithai shall
we be clothed? . . . For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things."
These men knew that thoughts of food when none was near
would serve only to increase their pain. All their thoughts and
all their faith must be directed toward God. Because these
men had faith, food was sent to them. The same words of
faith that had worked for men, for centuries worked for them,
too; for the words are always the same, whether from an
elaborate manuscript or from a G. I. Bible
Soon we of the Mars Hill college will be privileged to see
and to hear Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, one of the seven
who "came through."
We, safe in our own complacent little group, will hear this
man who has been near death. Captain Rickenbacker says,
of himself and his companions, "Frankly and humbly we
prayed for deliverance." Surely some of his experiences should
somehow communicate themselves to us, and make us realize
that it is not only those on rubber life rafts who need faith and
hope. We at home are living too This is our war. The troubles
of the world are ours. Frankly and humbly, we too, must pray
for deliverance. —N. G.
Lots Of Money
At 11:55 a. m. January 18, our famous Liberty Bell broke
forth in Independence Hall with a sound that will be eventually
heard around the world—a sound that will be as welcome
to the victims of Hitlerism and of Japanese aggression as it
was to our American forefathers who heard it one mid-sum
mer morning in a colonial city. If every man and woman
does "his or her full duty," this sound will reach these op
pressed people much sooner.
You ask, "How may I do my full duty?" Well, it's like this:
It takes money to win a war—yes, lots of money. We've
got to talk to our enemies in a language that they understand.
They understand the rumble of tanks, the zoom of planes, the
crack of rifles, the roar of cannons, and the bursting of bombs.
They chose this way to do it so we'll show 'em we can do it
as well as they can. We'll show them that right always wins.
But it takes money to get tanks, planes, rifles, cannons, and
bombs. So let's all give up something we want so that the
man at the front will have something he needs.
The government is asking us, as individual citizens, to raise
five and one-half billion dollars. That's a stack of $1,000 bills,
five and a half times as high as the Empire State building.
We can raise it too—if you put every penny you can sparq—
more than you can spare—into war bonds and stamps.
In 1776, the Fourth of July gave us liberty. With your work,
with your prayers, and with your money in war bonds, in
1944, the Fourth War Loan may give us victory. —B. G.
POETRY
Life’s Purpose
I wonder many times.
When in my mind I try to see
Just what purpose life might hold
For an humble soul like me.
The path is awfully hard sometimes.
The hills are steep and bare.
But through it all a purpose
Must wait for me somewhere.
Sometimes, the future's dark.
And then, again it's light
Until I stop and wonder
If my progress is all right.
"A purpose, O, a purpose!"
Comes that cry from deep within.
May my life not count for something
In this world of war and sin?
And then amid the strain
Of wonder and of gloom.
The voice within me whispers,
"With Christ there's always room."
—Raymond Martin.
Chanson cTExamen
I utter sighs, and roll my eyes
In painful agony;
The dreadful fact that I am un-
Preperred is plain to me.
My cerebellum is unlearned.
So how in all creation
Con I expect, with what I know.
To pass an examination?
In vain I probe my throbbing brain.
In vain I sit and cram.
Then agitate my head o'er that
Unpassable exam.
Forlorn, I sit and dry my tears.
And solemnly affirm
That future days shall mend my ways.
I'll study hard next term!
—Pinky McLeod.
Saint Valentine’s Day
1944
A valentine, a bit of lace,
A memory of your smiling face,
It's all I have this February day.
A faded ribbon, a crumpled flower,
A memory of a happy hour.
It's all I have this February day.
It represents the love for me
You're fighting for out on the sea.
It's all I have.
But I'll have more, some February day.
—Nina Guard.
Submission
There was fear, for they came like the wind
Over the fields—and I raised my head.
Like stricken things, half-dumb, half-blind.
Men lifted altars unto dread.
Faith could not hide the Beast's huge crown,
Glaring while a land was sighing.
Nor hands against my ears could drown
The sound of little children crying.
I fought against an earth gone wild-
Against its heart stone cold.
I saw the vision of a child
For thirty pieces sold.
Tonight the star-lit sky looks down
Upon a river calm and clear.
I gaze enraptured at the peace
Of which I've dreamed for many a year.
—Barbara Young.
Ex Libris Montagu
Attention/ magazine-lovers!
Have you been to the libroi’
lately? Aren't you pleased wi ,
the new order of things? ,
That display of handiw>i(;
just inside the door surely ic
eye-catching. And that idea^g
having the magazine racks Co:
for convenient use isn't su^
a bad one, either. Now 1
those little particles of tii7°
that are too short to use ‘
i0
anything really constructigj
can be spent in browsi'
around the magazine racks ’
; I
stead of in disturbing the pea
1
by conversations and goint
01
on that are altogether irre;iQ
van* to the purpose for whtoi
Montague library was c(
structed. Now that it is ■.
longer necessary to spend
full five minutes untying i
tape in order to spend two rflG
utes looking at a magazi^°
more of us should take i
ut
ie.
vantage of this excellent
portunity to keep up
what's new in the world del
at the same time to entert^or
urselves.
Of course, there is no plOro
in such a system for carelcue
ness. Open magazine ro^
(Icn
could never be allowed amc
psi
og
irresponsible groups. The l^arc
tague staff, however, assuibn
that we students are matlr,
enough not to misplace ctev
of the reading materials.snt
anybody obsent-mindedly^atl
for any other reason—wc
off with a' lot of magozil
the result will probably
reversion to the old systeid®d
untying tape—only it will^cifc
tied tighter and dyed a dee'in,
shade of red.
:oo
We'll be depending ulubi
you to help the library
by using the magazine r3_ g
faithfully and well. ; q
, « ►— run
Alumni News
hlk
oul
One of the many former
dents of Mars Hill who is rdr ,
ly making a name for hin*
irici
pdc
is 2nd Lieutenant H. L. EdL
member of the graducr '
class of '36. He is the
Mr. and Mrs. Robert L.
of Oxford, N. C. He attei*^ '
Oak Hill high school in
and after attending Mars
College, completed his stUA
at North Carolina State
lege. He -married the foLL,
Clara Dorsey, who is resi^ .
with her parents for the
tion. Lt. Oakes joined .
R.C.A.F. at Windsor, CaO'J
in 1941. He went to End'
in 1942 and secured his tO t;
fer into the U. S. Army,,
Force in December, 1943.
now "somewhere in EngUjjg
taking an advanced cour^^U
the latest combat tactics,
this course is completed-'
will pilot a P-47 "Thunderbg^^
one of the finest planes ifijj j
air forces. ^ gj