The Pickwicker, Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1939 Page: 16
20 p. : ill. ; 16 x 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
BEYOND MY HORIZON
When I was four years old I had the most beautiful doll that
I have ever seen. She was almost as big as I was and she had
real hair that hung in curls toher shoulders. Her face was dainti-
ly shaped of wax and her eyes were dark brown. She had a
pillow not much smaller than mine and our sleepers were alike.
One morning my big sister pulled the doll through the bars
of my bed. Sister gave one hard yank and the doll fell shatter-
ing in a heap. The noise awakened me and I saw my doll on
the floor and Sister crying as if the broken doll was hers.
The very day of this child world tragedy a philosophical aunt
watched my sister and me as we gleefully played with a new
pet. She remarked to my mother, "They are enjoying the hap-
piest days of their lives." That night two small girls cried until
they fell asleep. A headless doll lay on a small pillow between
them.
When I was twelve years old I wrote an oration that was
selected along with five others to be memorized and given in
assembly. I memorized the piece and recited it for a month.
Before two thousand junior high school boys and girls I gave
my first original oration and was told by the judge that I would
never be a public speaker.
Outside the auditorium door I heard one of the parents say
to my mother, "They are enjoying the happiest days of their
lives." That night I called rimy ilrandmother and tried to tell her
that I had been judged the poorest speaker in the contest.
Five years later a high school senior received the highest ho-nor
that she could receive in public speaking. When she called her
grandmother seven hundred miles away, her grandmother said,
"You are enjoying the happiest days of your life."
I firmly believe that all those "Grown-ups" are wrong. I have
not lived the happiest days of my life. I have enjoyed the child-
hood pleasures of a nqw pet and I have cried over a broken
doll. As a youth I have been discouraged by dismal failures and
elated by temporary success, but I shall be very disappointed if
as an inexperienced, immature girl of seventeen I have already
taken the best from life.-16-
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Abilene Christian College. The Pickwicker, Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1939, periodical, Spring 1939; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth335146/m1/18/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.