Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 29 text:

SAMARA 17 Cabet Motts THIS YEAR many of us joined the Rock- cliffe Gadet Nursing Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade which was organized by Mrs. Buck and meets at Elmwood. We have nearly fifty members. Rockcliffe girls who do not attend Elmwood are also invited to join. At present there are nine of them, and we very much hope that this number will increase next year, because the inclusion of outside members widens our interests and is of great benefit to us all. The first meeting took place on November 1st, when Mrs. Buck, as Lady Divisional Superintendent, gave us a talk on the great traditions and historic background of the Order. She emphasized the fine ideals of the Cadet code of chivalry, with which we open every meeting, and the mottoes of the Order which are Pro Fide , and Pro Utilitate Hominum . Soon after we were organized we were visited by Miss Elsie Burn, Lady Divisional Superintendent of the Rockclif fe Nursing Division, to which the Cadet Division is attached. She welcomed us into the Brigade and brought us greetings from our older sisters of the Nursing Division. We are striving hard to become efficient in First Aid and Home Nursing, a large number having already obtained both certificates and some, their senior. Through the courtesy of Colonel J. D. Eraser, Commanding Officer of the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, Ser- geant-Major Rodger and Sergeant-Ma j or Mitchell come and take us for foot drill. We hope that their inability to express themselves in what we believe to be the traditional man- ner of sergeant-majors, while drilling the young ladies of Elmwood, has not been too great a strain upon their patience. The Home Nursing Classes have been taken by Miss Marie Pavlasek, whose father is the Czecho- Slovakian minister to Canada, and she herself a graduate of the Montreal General Hospital. There is great competition to qualify as N.C.O. ' s; the following are on probation: SERGEANTS: -Paula Peters, Pauline Coul- son, Anna Cameron, Gretchen Mathers. CORPORALS: -Janet Caldwell, Joanna Rowlatt, Margot Peters, Martha Bate, Jean Blakey, Norah Cameron, Philippa McLaren, Heather Cumyn. We are very proud that two senior Elm- woodians, Betty Caldwell and Joan Paterson, have qualified as members of the Nursing Division and we think that they look very smart in their St. John uniform. During the latter part of May we are look- ing forward to inviting our parents and friends to a demonstration of First Aid, Home Nurs- ing and Foot Drill. Through our Cadet membership we learn to value the service we can render to others, particularly in time of emergency, and to understand the full meaning and importance of the Cadet ideal, To do my duty to God, my King and to all mankind. The organiza- tion has been such a success and has been en- joyed so much by all that no doubt it will be a prominent activity of Elmwood from now on. OFFICERS OF THE ROCKCLIFFE CADET NURSING DIVISION Cadet Divisional Surgeon— Dr. G. P. Howlett Lady Divisional Superintendent- Mrs. C. H. Buck Lady Cadet Officer— Miss Muriel Dixon Lady Cadet Officer— Mrs. E. N. Rhodes SPRING IS A FAIRY Spring is a fairy Soft and green, Simimer is its mother Who looks like a queen. Fall is its granduiother, Bright colours has she, Winter is its grandpa He ' s as cold as me! Sheila Madden, Form 3, Age 9

Page 28 text:

16 SAMARA i$lj %ik toitt) tfje Jf aioeUg I AM a cat called Julius. I am two year old i Iy mother ' s name was Caesar. I was born in the back part of a pet shop in London. For a few days I stayed in the back part of the shop. Soon I opened my eyes. But far too soon I had to leave my cosy bed, to be put in the shop window with two little Per- sian kittens, three jet black kittens and two beautiful white cats. My mother had to stay in the back part of the shop. My job, as I soon learned, was to mew whenever someone came into the shop, because the two white cats were too stuck up to do so for themselves. One day a man and woman came into the shop and spoke to the man who owned us. The lady gave our master some money. Then the lady came over to me and picked me up, and took me over to where the two men were standing. Soon they had packed me away in my basket and pulled down the lid. They then took me to their car (how I know is because I peeked through a crack in my basket). After a while we reached a house and the man who was driving stopped the car. A door opened, and I felt myself being whisked away into the house. My basket was put down and soon I heard two eager voices chattering. After a moment the lid of my basket was gently lifted up and out I sprang— right into one of the little girls ' arms. She screamed and let me fall to the floor because she was only five and had never had a cat of her own. From that time on I learnt to love the Fawell family. My happy days with the Fawells passed far too quickly. One day the children were dancing around when the telephone rang, and Mrs. Fawell went to answer it. When she came back she talked to Air. Fawell for a long time. The children, being very inquisitive, wanted to know what they were talking about, but their parents would not tell them. For about two weeks there was nothing but bustle in the house. I supposed that the girls had been told the secret, because one day the children came out of the dining room screaming and yelling. Then, one day the children and their parents got into the car with a lot of luggage. Before they went, they made a great fuss over me and their goldfish, but they went away in the end. After a few hours, Mr. and Mrs. Fawell came back without the children. I mewed at them, and they stroked me. I am still waiting for the time when my two young mistresses will come back to me. Alison Fawell, 4 C, Age 10 TEDDY have a little Teddy Bear He is my very own. I foimd him on a wood-land path; He hadn ' t any home. I took him in and nursed him, And fed him on some milk; I fed him on a piece of bread. He went to bed on silk. I took him to the sea-side, To play with me all day. But one day by misfortune. My Teddy ran away. MoiRA Nolan, Form 3, Age 9 IN THE APPLE TREE ONE DAY In the apple tree one day, I saw an elf at joyous play. He looked so odd, with big round eyes And had the look of real surprise, He bowed politely as he said, Excuse me stepping on your head. Your parting looked so like a lane! Fm sorry. Fll step off again. Sheila Madden, Form 3, Age 9

Page 30 text:

18 SAMARA Bap of iiappmesg THERE was dead silence after the bombers roared away into the night, leaving lurid flames lighting up the frail framework of a building. Then, as the building toppled, a crash of brick and mortar broke the silence. A little girl stood like a small statue in the midst of chaos. ' Ere, wot yer doin ' ' ere? called a busy air raid warden. Mopping his head and care- fully picking his way over the debris, he made his way towards her. As if by a sudden impulse the small statue shivered all over and fled into the deep shadow of an alley. ' Ere, repeated the air raid warden. Wot yer doin ' ? Well, blow me daown, she ' s a queer ' un and no mistake. Guess she didn ' t have nothin ' t ' do with this show. He stumbled away to continue his work. The grey morning light filtered through the over-hanging roof of an alley way. A small shape kneeling on a piece of sacking rose and walked away, down the alley, looking at all the disaster that surrjDunded her. As she walked down that dingy little street, her eyes were sad. Her parents had been all the world to her, but they had been des- perately poor and she had had no moment of real happiness in the whole of her nine years. Now her parents were happily out of this world but she wasn ' t, and she was going to make this day the happiest she had ever had— just this one day, free and happy. The dirty buildings swam as she thought, Be happy, be happy. Now she was getting into broader streets and a cleaner part of the city. Her tears dried slowly on her face as she walked along, for the day showed signs of being superb. Even now, the grey cobwebs of dawn were fleeing the sky. Later, she stood on the curb of a road. The day was a golden day with clear sunshine and a wind-swept blue sky. All the passers-by were gilded by the sunshine of good will. A steady stream of passengers poured into a bus that was headed for the country. On this perfect day there was surely no need to pay. The conductor, busy with other passengers, didn ' t see her slip on the bus. The seat by the win- dow was soft and cushiony; the bus was like a stage with each passenger a play in himself. There was one typical, little man wearing a quiet, brown suit, with a plain, inconspicuous face— yet he might be a millionaire, a criminal or a spy. The bus stopped with a jerk. She opened her eyes and saw a sight so beautiful that it made her gasp. Her slum eyes had never seen anything so lovely,— those cottages, gay with window-boxes, the rich chocolate-brown earth and the stone house with a magnificent copper beech, each leaf burning like a separate sun. She descended in a sort of trance. Off the road was a worn path leading into a dim and whispering wood. The rays of the sun pierced through the leaves and tiny motes danced in their beams. A little pool, sur- rounded by delicate green ferns and blue-bells in clumps like blue shadows, formed a haven of refuge. A peaty brown brook ran into the pool chattering by a long, grey rock. Here the little girl sat, listening to a bird singing to its mate on the twig above and twining a wreath of snowdrops. A sound of whistling broke the stillness as a soldier pushed his way through the under- brush. He didn ' t look happy for his eyes were bitter and full of irony against the world. Nobody understood him. His parents had died when he was very young and, since he had no relations, he had grown up in an orphan asylum. When the war began, he joined the armed forces and this was his first leave. But where could he spend it? He had no friends. The whistling stopped dead as he came to the