THE BATTALION
Page 2
College Station, Texas
Friday, May 6, 1966
CADET SLOUCH
New Peak Reached
In Political Apathy
Student apathy towards its own government is an
accomplished and widespread fact, and voter turnout has
not been near what it should be in any of the recent
elections, and the situation steadily worsens.
But now the problem has gone beyond getting out the
vote. Now no one wants to run for office.
There have always been a certain number of candi
dates running unopposed for some of the “minor” offices,
if you can call any position in the student government
minor. Now there are offices without any candidates as
the deadline for filing for college elections goes into its third
extension.
Are the elections being intentionally boycotted? Is
this some form of protest movement against student gov
ernment? Or is it just laziness?
When the students of a university show no more con
cern with their government than Aggies have shown, the
question is bound to be raised:
“Do we deserve a student government?”
The privilege to govern one’s own affairs is not ab
solute, and if not protected through constant use, those
that grant it may not be totally in the wrong in taking
it away.
What We Think:
Still Another Look
JUST WHAT WE DIDN’T NEED DEPARTMENT:
A constant flood of books, magazines, articles and
opinions cross our desks daily, and a lot of them are
good. They tell a lot. They have good insights. They
throw new light on old problems.
And they get pretty repetitious.
A case in point is the latest paperback sitting on the
desk: YOUNG ADULTS: THE THRESHOLD YEARS.
Now, we have nothing against the book, were it the only
one of its kind, but what is definitely not needed is an
other examination of the American Youth.
Or the American Teenager, or The American College
Student, or the American Woman, or our sex lives. Almost
every major magazine, in the last year, has run at least
one such article, each giving “a new look at . . . .”
It seems as though whenever a writer runs out of
material, he launches a new examination of this country’s
whatever-it-may be. But there is really no pressing need
for another New York writer, or psychologists, to send
a team “around the nation,” (usually to Chicago and
California), then write a book about how “The Nation”
feels, or acts, or sleeps.
We like us the way we are.
by Jim Earle Death As Final At Verdun
As At Troy, Thermopylae
“Do you realize that our mothers will be in this room Sun
day tellin’ us how clean and neat it is, how good th’ floors
look, how well made th’ beds are! It’ll take us a week to
get our rooms back in a livable condition!”
The Folk Tale Revisited
THE OLD MAN AT THE
RAILROAD CROSSING. By Wil
liam Maxwell. Knopf. $3.95.
At first you might think that
Maxwell’s collection of 29 fables
is an archaic means of communi
cation. Well, it is, and it isn’t.
These “once upon a time” stor
ies often have the whole frame
work of a folk tale. You know—
the king and the woodcutter, or
a bird that talks, or the prince
and princess of two imaginary
kingdoms; the supernatural
things that happen to a wander
er in the forest. The woman who
talks to her flowers; the old man
at the railroad crossing who
keeps saying “Rejoice,” the cou-
I’m sure that there is not a
person at Aggieland that is not
fully aware that the world in
which we live today is SICK.
Where Mickey Mouse, Shirley
Temple, and other youthful fan
cies use to delight the children of
the nation . . . now war, killing,
murder, and horror strikes happi
ness to their little hearts.
“Heh, Heh, Hello there, you
crazy mixed-up kiddies . . . I’m
happy to see that you have gath
ered enough courag’e to venture
once again into my humble dwell
ings . . . Clear away that pile of
withered, maggoty bones and sit
down . . . Did you bring your
shrunken - eye - ball - good - luck-
charm ? ? ? I want you to be well
prepared for the horrifying hair
raiser I’m about to show . . .
You’ll like this one, I’m sure . . .
so without further ado lets begin
the story called
Then they start you out with
some dilly like THE CRAVING
GRAVE, after a couple of com
mercials of course.
“Dusk had settled over the drab
grounds of Dethmoor, and the
misty rain fell with a diabolical
perseverance, covering all with a
wetness that was maddening . . .
Hartley Quimb hunched his shoul
ders against the chill and cursed
softly . . . He cursed the rain and
the cold . . . He cursed the uni
formed guards beside him and the
minister before him, the jibbering
crowd surrounding him and the
gnawing fear inside him . . . He
even cursed the body lying in the
uncovered coffin ...”
Ideas aren’t easy for these hack
writers of horror. Many times
they take well known plots and
add new disgusting, horrible end
ings ... to nauseate you as much
as possible. Other times they ac
tually sicken you with something
new. One final story to illustrate
the full extent of sick horror to
day involves a little old man:
“How nice of you to come and
visit me ... I do not often have
visitors here ... We are so iso
lated here you know . . . Uh, sit
down please . . . Do forgive me
for being impolite . . . I’m just
about to have my evening meal,
and I’m very hungry . . . Oh, you
look surprised . . . hmmm . . .
You do not see anything on the
table . . . Wait until I get the box
. . . here it is ... It is in this box
that my meal is waiting ... It is,
how do you Americans say it, a
packaged dinner . . . Now if you
will forgive me I will begin . . .
ahhh . . . But why do you gasp
... It, it’s just the head of a
young coed, a pretty young coed
. . . This saw??? It is a very
special saw ... I have to work
for my meals . . . Cutting through
the bones is not easy . . . Forgive
me I must begin . . . Oh, I know
what you are thinking ... You
think that I’m psychotic . . . I’m
not psychotic . . . I’m just hungry
... I like to eat brains . . .”
TUN NELL
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
. . . Just Another One of Lou’s Services To You-
Take Your Hat To Lou’s .
And Have It Steamed — FREE.
And Graduate Students Have Your
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Where Else, But LOUPOT’S? North Gate
THE BATTALION
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The Associated Press, Texas Press Association
Represented nationally by National AdvertisinSr Service,
Inc.. New York City, Chicago, Loa Angeles and San Francisco.
Managing Editor Tommy DeFrank
Associate Editor Larry Jerden
Sports Editor Gerald Garcia
News Editor — Dani Presswood
Amusements Editor Lani Presswood
Staff Writers Robert Solovey, John Fuller,
James Sizemore, Judy Franklin
Sports Writer — Larry Upshaw
Photographer Herky Killingsworth
pie seeking a special kind of hap
piness bird.
In short, here is the symbolism
of the folk tale, the lesson of the
parable.
Perhaps our trouble has been
that fables and parables are
dreadfully out of fashion. They
usually Point a Moral, rather ob
viously. And what could be a
more ghastly sin, these days ?
And yet, try these fables. Some
of them leave the moral a bit up
in the air, ironically speaking.
Some of them pose questions,
rather than answers, or give us a
choice—when were fables like
this? — of finding our own
morals, questions or illumina
tions.
Isn’t it odd that such a quaint,
naive form of expression can be
turned into a medium of subtle
expression? That’s the key to
the appeal of this collection of
tales. They’re as sophisticated as
you care to make them.
—Miles A. Smith
A PASSIONATE PRODIGALI
TY. By Guy Chapman. Holt,
Rinehart. $5.
Are there experiences which
warriors share in common, no
matter in what conflict they have
fought? Wasn’t death just as
final at Troy as it was at Ther
mopylae^—and at Verdun?
Such questions arise from the
idea that mortal combat in every
Students Awarded
Steel Scholarships
Two sophomores and a junior
have been awarded W. S. Mosher
Memorial scholarships by the
Mosher Steel Company of Hous
ton.
Sophomore civil engineering
majors Patrick G. Rehmet and
Donald R. Ray of Alice and jun
ior Thomas C. Stone of Donna
were named for the pacts by
Mosher. Announcement was made
by Robert M. Logan, director of
student aid.
The scholarships pay $300 per
school year. Ray and Rehmet
will get assistance for their jun
ior and senior years, Stone for
his final year.
Stone is first sergeant of
Squadron 10 and will be on
Corps Staff next fall. He is a
yell leader and a member of the
Ross Volunteer Firing Squad.
Rehmet and Ray are active in
student affairs and members of
the Corps of Cadets.
Current
Best Sellers
(Compiled by Publishers’ Weekly)
FICTION
THE DOUBLE IMAGE,
Maclnnes
THE EMBEZZLER, Au-
chincloss
THE SOURCE, Michener
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS,
Susann
THOSE WHO LOVE, Stone
NONFICTION
IN COLD BLOOD, Capote
THE LAST 100 DAY S,
Toland
THE PROUD TOWER,
T uchman
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY,
Berne
A THOUSAND DAYS,
Schlesinger
age has its universal, primitive
qualities, and only the circum
stances vary. This book is about
a war of unusual circumstances
—World War I — a strange blend
of the 19th Century (the last of
the cavalry) and the 20th (tanks
and airplanes), a conflict of con
gealed positions, fought in
trenches.
Chapman’s personal memoir of
1915-1918 is an engrossing chron
icle of a young officer’s experi
ences of both the universal emo
tions of all warriors and the
peculiar circumstances of the
trench warfare of his own time.
It is well worth reading.
First published in Great Britain
in 1933, it was resurrected there
last year and now reaches the
United States for the first time.
This memoir is far different
from the jarring books we have
been reading about World War II.
For one thing, Chapman demon
strates that it is quite possible
to write about combat, and all
its horrors, without the continual
use of four-letter words. That is
only a surface distinction, but it
is indicative.
What we have here is a literate
man’s graphic record of the
sights, sounds, actions, accidents,
ironies, frustrations, fears, doubts
and puzzles—and the camaraderie
too—of day-to-day warfare, calm
ly told by an observer who has a
keen eye and ear for all the great
and small incidents of a soldier’s
life.
Chapman has caught the
changes that warriors undergo in
the stress of battle, the changes
in their sense of values. And he
has written with beautiful skill.
—Miles A. Smith
NOW SHOWING
COLUMBIA PlCIURES vtxm
DEAN MARTIN
as MATT HELM
TimSlLENCI-RS
AMEADWAY-CLAUDE production
.COLUMBIACOLOR.
UT Grad Dean
To Lecture Monday
Dr. Paul Weiss, dean of the
University of Texas Graduate
School of Biomedical Sciences in
Houston, will lecture here Mon
day.
‘Engineering Principles in Liv
ing Organisms” is the topic of
Professor Weiss’ 8 p.m. Grad
uate Lecture in the Chemistry
Lecture Room.
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TUNNELL
RAILRZA C COMMISSIONER
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VENGEANCE”
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VOTE
STANLEY WOODS
GOVERNOR
Pd. Pol. Adv.
ecognizing American industry's continuing re
sponsibility to higher education, the Halliburton Education
Foundation, Inc., is announcing a five year grants program
designed to foster excellence in the teaching of the sciences.
I I Texas A. & M. University is one of the educational cen
ters selected for this purpose. Q In addition, the Founda
tion is continuing its established policy of matching contribu
tions made by the employees of the Foundation's contributors
to accredited colleges and universities in the U. 5. Any em
ployee giving up to a thousand dollars a year has his gift
matched by the Foundation. Q The Halliburton Education
Foundation is supported by the Halliburton Company and
its subsidiaries and divisions. These include Brown & Root,
Inc., Otis Engineering Corp., Life Insurance Company of the
Southwest, Jet Research Center, Inc., Highlands Insurance Co.,
Southwestern Pipe, Inc., Joe D. Hughes, Inc., Mid-Valley, Inc.,
and the Welex, Welex Electronics, Elcor and FreightMaster
divisions.
LAST NITE 7:15 P. M.
3 JACK LEMMON HITS
No. 1
“GOOD NEIGHBOR
SAM”
No. 2
“UNDER THE
YUM YUM TREE”
No. 3
‘SOME LIKE IT HOT
SATURDAY NITE SPECIAL
1st Show 7:15 p. m.
Lawrence Olivia
In
“BUNNY LAKE IS
MISSING”
2nd Show 9:15 p. m.
Buddy Epsen
In
“MAIL ORDER BRIDE
3rd Show 11:00 p. m.
John Wayne
In
“NORTH TO ALASKA
CIRCLE
LAST NITE 7:15 P. M.
James Stewart
In
“RARE BREED
At 9:10 p. m.
Tony Randall
In
“FLUFFY”
OUR SAT. NITE BIG 3
No. 1 At 7:15 p. m.
“PARANOIC”
No. 2 At 9:00 p. m.
Audrey Hepburn
In
“BREAKFAST AT
“TIFFINEY’S”
No. 3 At 11:00 p. m.
James Darien
In
“LIVELY SET”
PEANUTS
By Charles ML Sehuk
PEANUTS
(d0 AHEAP...7W IT.. )
OFCOUfcJE, IT NEEDS A
LITTLE PATTIN6 DOO)N..