December 1967 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazlne

December, 1967

?.irbur" Gi"I., Cou-rnur School Ma,gazine

December, tg67

,,SO tONEI,Y ,T WAS THAT GOD HIMSELF SCARCE SEEMED THERE TO BE'' It seemed to Swanson that his heart was beating as loud as the relentless roar of the engines of the bomber, that shattered the dark stillness of the night on its dangerous journey into enemy territory. So much depended on the success of his mission - to make contact with a group of partisans in an isolated part of the enemy-occupied country. He just had to succeed ! A11 too soon, Swanson was plummeting towards the earth with the icy, rushing wind cutting into his face and hands like a sharp knife's edge, but as the silken balloon fitled with air above him, he forgot the cold and anxiously scrutintzed the terrain of the countryside rushing rapidly towards him" His face paled as he, unwitlingly, realised that he must be many miles off his course, because the range of snow- capped mountains beyond which he was to meet the partisans in a green patch of cultivation, were only visible as a white line on the faraway horizon. _ Having landed safely on what appeared, in the dark, to be a grassy paddock, and disposed of his tell-tale parachute, Swanson turned his strong face resolutely to the west, to the dangers of pathless, dark fir forests, to the problems of crossing the high snow-covered peaks in the distance before he was safe with friends, and his mind and body rejoiced inwardly at the prospect of excitement and adventure. His march across the open grasslands to the fringes of the forest country was uneventful for he slept during the day and travelled only at night, avoiding the scattered villages 'that dotted the countryside as though they were venomous snakes. Before him the forest loomed as a great forbidding wall of shadows that would have to be forced for every inch of the *uy. Com- pared with the silence of the forest, the silence of the sleeping -prairies through which he had just traversed seemed almost friendlv and welcome, but Swanson's footsteps did not falter though his heart beat faster at the thought of the hidden menaces before him, lurking behind every sinister shadow. ' Because of the difficulty of distinguishing anyttring amongst the trees at_ night, he considered it safer and wiser to travel by diy, but ai he plunged further and further into the dark depths of ihe iorest, the day scarcely sqgmed s_eparable from night, so dense was the growth of trees, and so tall did they stretch their -branches in their ende-avours to seek the life-qvlng warmth of the sunshine. Although there was no undergrowth to hinder his progress, and the leafy gr6und was moist and softly sp{insy to the touch of tired, sore feetl Swanson fell down numerous gullies and knocked his head against low over-hanging branches in the eerie gloom of the dark, shadowy forest. But it was the uncanny silence that finally began to, eat away at Swanson's nerves. There were not even the niatinE calls of bird.i "t beasts only the mournful whistle of the wind in-the lofty bianches above him and the deadened rustle of phantom footsteps that in- cFssantly dogged his gwn. At night, when he lay down io sleep, a thousand myst-erioqt shapes seemed to emerge from the depths of itre shadows and baleful eyes -of for,est beasts seemed to glitter like pin- points all around. him. Although hi,s pfrvsicaf Uoav ;; temporfrifv

at rest his mental body was in torment. when cities had started he ["d =p.i;,U the city to the safetv of the-Eo""tryiia*, -u.ri strong and hated to admi;-;"i"ul_ than it was then. fire i1t;"gitT of possibie the utter desolation of th;-F;"# i"a hf Swanson's heaving breast. H;-ielt to have desertea ihe o$i tiri"g ily"n:olytt'|.:ff ';{,.|'#i'"'JHff ?"n jf " ine white snow-capped ft;ki rr irr. ;;;;;ir, rising proudly upviards io tower .u-or'" he had so fearfutly progressed. s*u"io" ^ilu*r managed to cross the ueautir"iiv- cruel He was fortunate in ii"qi"! ;;ie".ilr*;aHtgorten tenuously between the chajms urrJ p;;gtpi ^fr6und sides of the mountains and trrut n""irv i;Alo; safety_of the-valley beyond. swanson survived. a prrvii""i ;d"mental-anguish perienced in the shadows legs to move and d;;ilg -{itt*r+ sun vented its anger upoT . his unprotected illusions to dance u"ro"" rrii eves,'u, a mild attack of its appointed course. for the next bqrst-;f pnyri.ui-uhdirlr" to appreciate the harsh bea"qfiF th"'*orirliirn him, thev were endless, theii r*ierrtr .',,;ffih;bG,- warmth and love and peace. O GAI ;it;;""'ur" you? here! Every_thing ii- ;o - lonei-y! But all suffering and endured. agony must come to time, and as the w"arf traveller *;;h.q;li"- d; tion' within easy walliing oisii"." -t ieiv,,with at every step, that God, *trrough he during his lerrible journey, h;d through" io ultimate salvation. wrL'n nr fiGt io ^ioo,o" from thought that he vearned for -trr"'i6nelv the careless victim ,ut o did -oof"k o* --- ---' Before the safetv 6f it * valley beyond the mountains command his slopes devor,cl -of any fbrm or rire -witrr *hi"["il alone so "o*, rre leading him

the bombing of the big their home in rr" knew she was head- dd ,6 fri, heart grew heavy at the -he might iG h-;;.-"rire-wonl'f""u"r, bs more unbearable -toneliness

in the future and rr"urt, weighed heavily upon ro lo"ljy;;; forsaken b_ilrg 6-i"dis"'bil;;-;""ntry, for when - God seemed j*"Hffi i;xrH,,:^l* -rurs., his rasr barrier, for6st through which quite knew how he ;""";ains,_ that eagerly claimed the *uv, of snow or avalanches. none.

relief or pnvii.;i ;d ir""tur inguish he could find

track that wound th;-;ieeply sloping pass, opening out to the was reached, greater than that ex- hours, the merciless

of- thelorest. Hi;-we.ary- body could scarcely

"rr"ia, .o*#unding

strange

sunstroke took 1{t }rt$i-iirr"" rt-^ tlit.a to gather up strength h; ffii; not -even bring himsetf

surrounding him. To tilil wind-swept .o*municate, devoid of you can,t be

stifu, ,o forr;ke;;-;; utterly desolate!

f ,m so

an end some-

and viewed his destina_ growing certainty seemed to have been so far awav iguify b;;" -with him all the time

, - J. FELL

.,A

GENEROUS PERSONI'' He is ta17 and lean with black,.*1uy hair un4 irnport ant- pgopl.- il rh; *oria eveiy *..1, iliru""t, ^irr.omplainingly attiactive ho.., with-.u.ry cornfoft. He never money -h; rilil; on hi; .hifd;;, .i,r.arion, to prepare thern for the futurJ. He is generous with his time; he helps in Church and Boy Scout activities and other -tr*v 'societies. He is ul*uy, ready to help anvone in need, unJ i; pro,rJ-io call him my Father. - LINDELL GARRETT, FORM IIIA, LILLEY HOUSE so that 4..p brown eyes. -ui. his family. To hirn, the rnost Five davs of they can live in an begrudges the -

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