June 1950 School Magazine

June, 1950

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

June, 1950

·Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

But finally, after what seems days of agony, that most welcome of all orders is given- stop wo:rk. With what alacrity the victims rip paper from those hated instruments and make for the door ! While most are filled with an ex- tremely boisterous exurberance, there are a few, who, bent and cowed by the inflictions of the past forty minutes, slink quietly out the door longing only for a quiet corner in which to crawl and lick their wounds. Back there in the now forgotten basement the gloom descends once more, the shadows form weird patterns on the shiny black covers of the now perfectly innocent-looking machines which only a few short minutes before were display- ing their gigantic powers as weapons of torture to the thirty- £Jve victims from Form IV.C. -M. M. WILLIAMS, Form IV.C.

MURDER IN THE BASEMENT, or TORTURE IN THE TYPING ROOM

The bell for lessons rings! It resounds as a death knell io the thirty-five victims who instantly grab books and make a general exodus from the class-room. But, unlike all previous martyrs to the stake, these victims, despite their apparent unwillingness, upon rounding a corner and coming in sight of the torture chamber, suddenly take to their heels and clatter in a most unvictimlike . fashion through the basement door. The reason? Some weapons of torture are more potent than others and consequently violent arguments invariably arise over the possession of these fiendish instruments. The torture chamber itself is shrouded in gloom. Sudden- ly, the windows crash open, the light flicks on, and covers are whipped (literally) from the machines. There then ensues a heated discussion over the severity of the previous day's work, along with a few fruitful suggestions for the remedy of this. A frienzied "sshing" announces the arrival of the torture instructress. An ominous, deathly hush falls on the "victims" who suddenly recollect a fragment of the manners of the so- distant outside world, and clatter respectfully to their feet. The order is given to sit, and the buzzing recommences only to be quelled almost immediately by the withering request io hand in the homework on last day's torture lesson. Excuses pour in and are rejected, followed by detentions and the curt order to prepare for the day's torture. A breath- less hush descends once more as the victims make last minute preparations for their doom. Then suddenly, and with one accord the clatter of the machines fills the air, echoing and re-echoing through the torture chamber. All is peace and tranquility; then, a spine-chilling groan, the first of the victims to succumb to the power of the torture, admits defeat. Then follows a frienzied but often friutless hunt for the forbidden, but oh! so useful remedy-a rubber. A temporary peace is restored only to be broken again and again as one after another of the victims are forced to feel the heart-rending qualities of that most potent of all tortures - a typing error in the "very last line". 38

- L. WILSON, III.C.

39