Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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30 SAMARA HIS YEAR as usual music has been an important feature m (T of the day ' s routine for many of us, and the music pupils y have made great strides in their work. Two of Miss Tipple ' s pupils have now become students of Mr. Puddi- combe. Last June Ailsa Gerard won Mr. Puddicombe ' s Gold Medal awarded to the most proficient performer in the school, and the improvement medal was presented to Genevieve Bronson. Three of the most outstanding music pupils had the honour of playing to Her Excellency when she came to see us on February 9th. This season we have been exceptionally fortunate in having attended so many interesting concerts. Before Christmas we heard Percy Grainger, and Josef Hoffman, and since then we have attended an organ recital, and performances by the Ottawa Little Symphony, the Ottawa String Quartette, Albert Spalding, Eleanor Cook, Richard Crooks, and Yvon Barette, a pupil of Mr. Puddicombe. The school Music Recital was held on March 31st. Des- pite the fact that it was two months earlier than usual, it was good and the usual standard well sustained. We were very pleased to welcome back an old Elmwood girl, Jean Brodie, from Montreal, who visited the school one afternoon and played to us items from a recital she had recently given in that city. Miss Tipple has directed our singing this year, and we are attempting a great undertaking, the production of the Mikado We hope its success will be as great as our enjoyment has been in preparing it. The performance takes place in May 23rd. During Lent we were invited to join the Ashbury choir in singing Stainer ' s ' ' Crucifixion . Twelve of the boarders took part, and on Sunday April 2nd, all the boarders went over to Ashbury to hear the full rendering, which was considered very good. Altogether it has been a most interesting and profitable year in the sphere of Elmwood music.

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SAMARA 29 Mary Craig as Asano also had a difficult task, as the man in defeat and at the mercy of Kira. She sustained her part throughout, and her defiance and attack on her enemy was well differentiated from the earlier mood. A neat performance was given by the rather supercilious Sagisaka, counsellor of Kira, played by Jean Workman. She contrived to show the insolence such an ambitious lord ' s chief of staff might be expected to have, and provided some of the lighter relief. Incidentally her make-up rather well suggested her early misfortune of contact with a mule. Hazel Ross gave a dignified rendering of her small part as the Envoy. Mary Lyman as Fourth Ronin delivered her news of Kira ' s approach with feeling and character. Her subsequent appearance as a woman of Kira ' s palace provided her with another opportunity of getting well into her part. Miriam Cruikshank as Chikara, Kurano ' s son, suggested the youth who is called upon for a man ' s part before his years, and the scene with his father at night was indeed quite moving. Harriet Mathias, as the poor girl, gave a convincing playing with Kurano in the deception of his wife, and that lady played by Anne Coghlin had a difficult part to put spirit into the wife cast off as faithless. The groupings and the mob scenes were excellently done, and the gesture and movement throughout well directed. The costumes and make-up both were very good. There were several minor parts that were all well taken, although the speech gener- ally was inclined to be unduly rushed, to the loss of variation of tone, and consequently to the life of the characters portrayed, otherwise the audibility was good. Miss MacBrien can be congratulated on some fine work done by her pupils in a very difficult play.— K.E.H.

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SAMARA 31 lecture Mott ON FEBRUARY 7th. we had a most enthralling lecture by Mr. J. M. Humphreys, on ' ' British Columbia, and the Canadian West . It was superbly illustrated by wonderful slides in natural colours, which were shown by means of an elaborate machine that blended one picture with the next in a most entrancing way. We all felt immensely proud to think that Canada can boast such magnificent scenery as Mr. Humpherys brought to our view. We are eagerly awaiting his next visit, when we hope to see his slides of the Maritime Provinces, which he has just completed for special exhibition in England. Miss Warren again visited us this year, and chose as the topic of her talk John Ruskin, who was a parsonal friend of hers when she was a small girl and he an old man. Thus her recol- lections of him were especially interesting, and sounded a more intimate note than most lectures on celebrities. Miss Warren has been on pilgrimage to all Ruskin ' s favorite haunts, both in England and on the Continent, and has painted many of the scenes dear to him. These were shown by means of slides, and also reproductions of Ruskin ' s own glorious and delicate drawings were flashed before us. Miss Warren made us keenly aware of the vivid personality of this stray angel, with wings beneath his flannel jacket, who, amid his endless activities, could spare time to send advice to a small girl as to the best way to draw flowers. On March 28th Rev. C. G. Hepburn gave us a short but thrilling talk on the origin, growth and ideals of ' Toe H, that world-wide organisation of mutual service and fellowship that has grown out of Tubby Clayton ' s spiritual rest-house at Poperinghe during the Great War. We understand that Mr. Hepburn will very kindly soon let us come into even closer touch with Toe H. by giving us the privilege of attending one of the meetings. On their first visit to Ottawa members of the Oxford Group Movement came to Elmwood, and talked to us. We were very glad of the opp ortunity for coming into closer touch with them than was possible in the public meetings. Miss Foster, of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission also came to see us, to tell us of the work of the society, especially in the hospital at Nasik, where we have an Elmwood cot. Miss Foster ' s stones of the patients were most interesting, it is a privilege to help forward such good work as the Zenana Mission in India is carrying out for women and girls. We thank Mrs. Buck for making it possible for us to hear talks on such wide and varied subjects which make us feel more than ever citizens of the world.