MOUNTAINEER Published by the Students of Montane State University P ,NG' 1949 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 3 Home and Office HUNTINC AND FISHING Furnishings SUPPLIES At WATCHES DIAMONDS JEWELRY j. M. LUCY & SONS ( 'TTo b HUxp C Sorts Established in 1889 RAY-D-ANT-IZE There's a Ford In Your Future For Cleaning Done The Right Way PHONE 3838 8631 CITY H. O. BELL CO. CLEANERS “Your Ford Dealer Since 612 8. Higgins 1915” SHOP FOR THAT COAT, DRESS or FUR COAT MEALS SNACKS FINE PASTRIES Chimney Corner 540 Daly Ave. First With the Newest SEND YOUR BETTER Dry Cleaning WITH YOUR SERVICE Laundry With RADIO CARS MISSOULA PHONE LAUNDRY and 6644 DRY CLEANERS PHONG 3118 Yellow Cab SPONSORS Allied Fashions ........................ ..........425 North Higgins Associated Students* S tore............ ...Montana State University Drs. D. R. and L. R. Barnett ............129 E. Broadway Bedord Implement Co.................. ...............618 S. Higgins B r e s t’s Market......................... .............. 1801 S. Higgins Chimney Corner ....................... ......... 540 Daly Ave. City Cleaners .......................... .............. .612 S. Higgins Collins Texaco Service Station ...... ..........S. Higgins and 6th Fairway Drive-Inn................ .... ..Highway 93 and Middlesex F e n d e r’s Super Market............... .............. 2401 S. Higgins F r a z e r ’s Meat Market .............. S. 6th West and S. Higgins H a n sen ’s Ice Cream ................... ...............519 S. Higgins H. O. BeU Co. ........ -................ ............... 605 S. Higgins Ideal Bakery----- ---------------- ................ 529 S. Higgins Jensen's Furniture..................... ..................135 W. Main Ken-Mar Cleaners .................... .............. 2330 S. Higgins L u cy ’s Furniture...................... .........Higgins and E. Pine Montana-Dakota Utilities ..... ................121 S. Higgins Montana Power Co.................... ......Masonic Temple Block Missoula Hairdressing Parlor........ .................. 137 W. Main Missoula Laundry and Dry Cleaning. ................ I l l E. Spruce Missoula Mercantile C o.----------- ...........Higgins and Front Missoulian Publishing Co............. ............... 502 N. Higgins Musical Note .......................... .................614 S. Higgins Orvis Music H ouse.................... ... ............... 135 E. Main Shaw Shoe Service ................... .............. 527 So. Higgins The Stork N est....................... .. Hammond Arcade Thrasher Heating Service ........... ................612 S. Higgins Varsity Barber S h op................. .... S. Higgins R. C. Ward and Son .................. ............... .321 N. Higgins Y an dt’s M en’s W ear........ ......... ............... 403 N. Higgins Yellow Cab Co.......................... ......... 116 W. Front Street mountaineer SPRING 1949 Volume 7 STAFF Editor-in-Chief................................................... .-..Marjorie Boesen Fiction Editor ...................................................Joe Gionet Associates..........................................Jim McRandle, Bob O ’Neil, Dave Perkins,, Anita Phillips, Agnes Regan Poetry E ditor.............................................................BobO ’Ne il Associates............ Mary Fran Law, Dave Perkins, Agnes Regan Business Manager ...........................................Anita Phillips Assistants..................................Shirley Hoiland, Dave Lindell, Grace McCarton, Jean Ann Pocta Circulation Manager...................................................Irene Stritch Staff........................ Marcella Chezick, Pat Evans, Joan Gibson, Ann Lukens, Anne Moore, Donna Moran, Nanette Newport, Kathie O ’Neil, Jane Thomas. Faculty Advisor........................................................ John Moore CONTENTS A Home for the Conquering Heroes, by Patrick Connolly............ 1 Abigail, by Irene T u rli..................... g The Cottonwood, by Larry K adlec................................... j j Hace Prejudice: Mississippi and Montana, by Bill Rogers........... 12 Wait for Me, by A. E. Pederson........................................ 14 A s a Friend Betrays •. , by Mary Fran Law......................... lg How Much Rubet by Harry C. Nelson............................. 19 The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, by G. Newton Buker................. 27 Poems, by David Perkins................................................... *. 0q The Seventh Post, by Reid Collins__ ___ 32 EVERYTHING IN HEATING Oil-Fired Air-Conditioning Units Coal-Fired Furnaces — Coal Stokers SALES SERVICE THRASHER HEATING SERVICE 612 So. Higgins Avenue PHONE 4376 DR. L. R. BARNETT DR. D. R. BARNETT OPTOMETRISTS GLASSES FITTED — ALL OPTICAL REPAIRS 129 B. Broadway MISSOULA, MONTANA FRAZER'S QUALITY MEAT FOODS MARKET MEATS PRODUCE Better Cuts of Free Delivery Service Meat for Less FENDER'S PHONE 5018 SUPER MARKET 801 South Higgins Phone 7788 A Home for the Conquering Heroes By PATRICK CONNOLLY \A RS. BLUEBONNET lived on as the congregation. What was ***• a quiet, tree-lined street, a that young minister’s name who short distance from Fairwealth had defied her? Oh, a long time College. Since the death of her ago. He had wanted to introduce husband, she had lived comforta­ a new hymn into the service, but bly alone in the big house, spend­ when he, in his young baritone, ing long hours rocking in the began to sing, the congregation chair by the window, gazing in­ stood silently and nervously wait­ tently at the leaf-blown street. ing for Mrs. Bluebonnet’s trilling When someone passed, she soprano to lead them forward. would stiffen in the chair, stop Mrs. Bluebonnet, however, rocking, and then she would lean would not sing—her eyes said that forward until her nose touched only the old-loved hymns wiere the curtain. Her mind would proper. And as the brave new rumble with names, places, long- minister sang alone, the congrega­ past incidents, and she would mur­ tion shuffled awkwardly and mur to herself, “Now, where can knew that this young man would she be going ?” have a short stay in Fairwealth. If a stranger walked by, her Many ministers followed that nose would touch the window, and brave young man, until Reverend her mind would groan as it des- Cantrell, immediately upon ar­ \ perately attempted to attach this rival, became aware of Mrs. Blue­ stranger to a name, place, or scan­ b o n n e t’s entrenchments, acknowl­ dal. edged them, and settled down to a Every native of Fairwealth long stay in Fairwealth. knew Mrs. Bluebonnet, every child All through the long war, Mrs. was trained to say a pleasant Bluebonnet donated time and “hello” to that short, dumpy fig­ energy to the war effort. She ure, to that tight-lipped small face knitted prodigiously. Sock followed dominated by a wrinkled brow, sock, and her thoughts seldom horn-rimmed glasses, and dark strayed from the boys over there. brown hair that indecently ig­ She thought of them as clean-cut nored the wrinkles and the years. American boys, fighting bravely, Without knowing why, every­ dying silently for Christian ideals. one referred to her as a “dear old Her mind played with heroic bat­ lady” and a “pillar of the tles and brave deeds. She wished church.” Indeed, she did rule she had a son to send to foreign mightily over the minister as well shores. page 2 mountaineer The war ended, and Reverend had suggested it, they replied in a Cantrell announced from the pul­ body, “Sorry, Mrs. Bluebonnet, j pit that every citizen should con­ but we have to be going.” tribute to the rehabilitation of the It was most upsetting. For returning soldiers. Many of them some reason they did not wish to , would attend college, and since be rehabilitated. But, in her own Pairwealth College could accom­ way, she grew to know them bet­ modate only a few hundred, and ter. After the boys left for school G.I. ’s would swell the usual enroll­ in the mornings, she would climb ment to an unheard-of number, it the stairs, clutching a dust mop— was the congregation’s duty to a legitimate excuse — and enter open their homes to these boys. their rooms. After a quick glance I Mrs. Bluebonnet was, at first, out of the window, she would read I reluctant to sacrifice the privacy their opened mail. of her home. But she considered Most of the letters were from I it carefully and realized that it relations, mothers and sisters, and | was her Christian duty to open as she read, her attitude changed. 1 her doors to the war-weary. The The letters consisted mostly of two upstairs rooms had been shut commonplace things and events, off for years. They were impos­ and the boys, in her mind, lost sible to heat, but she could clean their mystery. They were no long­ them, and the boys would be er strange after effects of the war, grateful for a place to lay their but were quite ordinary human heads. She would turn her house beings. into a home for the conquering Armed with this new knowl- i heroes. edge, she became bolder in her Three young men moved in. And approach. She told them that they in the weeks that followed, she often made too much noise in their felt uneasy as she watched them rooms, and she hinted that she did running in and out of the house, not approve of late hours. When throwing her way a quick ‘ ‘ hello. * * they did come in late, she coughed All of their actions seemed loudly to let them know that they strange. Time appeared to have had disturbed her rest. no meaning to them, for often they One evening the three of them would leave the house at eleven came downstairs. The redheaded o ’clo