Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 28 text:

26 SAMARA ? The rhinoceros is an animal as large as large can be. It ate another Elmwood girl, And now it ' s eating me. It ' s a very different feehng to be eaten by a beast; It feels as though he ' d taken Some extra Brewer ' s yeast! I ' m disappearing through his mouth as fast as I can go. I ' d write some more of poetry— I ' ve been eaten, you know! Carolyn Strauss, Form 5B. The Pirate Ship In a bleak and unknown channel. Rocking gently in the breeze. Greyed and worn, a clumsy vessel Lay forgotten on the seas. Through its rotted, creaking timbers The ranting breezes blast. Whispering, stirring up the blunders Of this brave vessel ' s past. It remembers, it recalls How it scorned to flight Each and every of the vessels Challenged by her might. For with gusts of windy power. Over seas she shot. Looting, plundering ships that cower. Sought but never caught. I adies crying, de ckhands flying. Silks and furs astrew, Pistols flashing, pirates thrashing. Till sighing they withdrew. Years have passed and days have flown. Draining its hope and light. Now she lies unseen, alone. Forgotten in her might. Anne Wennberg, Form 5B. A Sunset This is the city, Ottawa, Ontario. I go to school here. I ' m a student, A4y name is Lex Friday, A4y crony, is Margo Smith. It was 1.45 p.m., Tuesday, October 14th, when our boss walked in. She said: I want a composi- tion in by 1.50 p.m., Monday, October 20th. That was all! It was up to Smith and me to do something about it. It was 4.15 p.m. when we got into the boarding school. Smith and I had just started to change our clothes when the telephone rang. I answered. Friday speaking ... Ya? .... Where? .... What time? . . . . Address? .... Bang! I hung up the receiver, told Smith to follow and started down to see the head boss about getting out. It was 6.15 p.m. before we were through talking to the head boss. We were in our car by 6.17 p.m. and on our way. Down the dirt road we raced, arriving on the scene at 6.29 p.m. There were quite a few spectators. Big, small, square, round, oblong— anyway we nicked what looked like an intelligent one to answer a few questions. Were you here when the sun disappeared? .... What time did it happen? .... We want the facts, ma ' am .... You say it was red? . . . . How big was it? ... . Thank you, ma ' am. We had the facts. At 5.55 p.m., the evening before someone had taken the sunset . We were gathering up more facts, when we noticed it was 8.05 p.m. We were sup- posed to be back to see the head boss at 7.30 p.m. Back we had to go, leaving our first and last detective case unfinished, and with only half a story for our composition. Alex Thoman, Form 5B. Autumn in the Woods Soft golden rays of light sifted through the network of leaves and branches, dappling the mossy earth in quick beauty. All was

Page 27 text:

SAMARA 25 I remember, I remember 4C Class-room green and white, The windows where the morning sun Came streaming in so bright. It always made the room too hot, And brought too long a day, And oftentimes, in lessons dull, I longed to run away. I remember, I remember How tall the elm trees grew. The skating in the winter With my class mates all too few. And sometimes in the afternoon So that we didn ' t nap. We did fractions on the black-board Or had place games with the map. T 1 Dear 5B Classroom, All the children who have been with me this year appreciate what the girls in your room have done for them. They often talk about it and I listen to their conversation. The one who appreciates it the most, I know, is the teacher. Maybe you don ' t know about all my children, so I will try to tell you something about each one. The smallest one I have is Claudia.. She bounces very hard on my floor and always drops her crayons on it too. She amuses me a great deal by singing T.V. commercials. The next smallest is Lyfine. She is full of stories and calls all the teachers Mr. I find this very funny! Did you know I had two boys in my room? I am the only room in the school with this honour. Alastair is the first boy member and he is always the earliest to greet me in the morning. My other boy is Michael and a real boy he is. For one who started so late in the year, he has done very well. Markie is another one who came late. She rarely speaks above a whisper (except in gym) which is very restful. Carolyn is a very little girl from England who is always pleasant and nice to everyone. Cathy is the one who always has all her possessions on my floor. But I don ' t mind because she is so nice. Vesna came to me from Yugoslavia and she is learn- ing to speak English. She loves to draw all over my blackboard. Laura is the class ballet dancer who likes to practice on my floor. Nancy is the form captain and the ' class mother ' . She looks after the httle ones so well. Andrea is the neat and tidy one who has improved so much this year. Susan is my oldest child. She is eight years old now, and very proud of it. She talked all the time about how tired she was of being seven. It has been so nice having all these children with me and I hope I have as nice a group next year. Love to all Transition and Form I Classroom. P.S. A very late arrival is Gigi who came to me from Chile. She is the sister of our head girl.

Page 29 text:

SAMARA 27 silent, still, save yet the faint trickling of a little stream winding its way past the edge of the woods. From the banks of this stream, the whole world seemed to be a veil of muted crimson, brown, and gold, threaded here and there with the striking ebony-black of the branches and trunks. A soft warm breeze drifted around and about these branches, crad- ling the delicate wisps of leaves as they gently floated to the ground. Motionless, as if painted, a mother doe and her fawn stood peering from the edge of the woods. Hesitantly, the soft, liquid brown eyes roamed the clearing before the doe timidly stepped out into the open. The clear sunlight silhouetted her velvet brown form against the mossy earth, while the fawn was left among the trees, still blended with the browns and golds of his forest protection. Presently we followed and they approached the banks of the little stream. Vigilantly the doe watched as her young son drank from the cool running water; then in haste, she also quenched her thirst. So graceful were they, the dainty feet, and alert ears, they seemed like the surrounding branches, slender and conscious of every whisper in the wind. Beauty was in their every movement; beauty was in everything. Linda Chauvin, Form 6M. Independence Independence! What is the true meaning of the word? A dictionary defines it thus: Freedom, exemption from control, indepen- dent income. Although the dictionary does its best, no one can really appreciate the true significance of this word unless they have lived under the yoke of oppression. People of the Western World are prone to take their personal freedom and other liberties for granted. They have fought for this freedom, but I sincerely doubt if the majority of these people have any conception of what it would be like to live under a dictatorship, which had no consideration for the individual or his personal freedom. The people of Hungary understand the meaning of independence, and ironically the reason that they understand it so well, is be- cause it has been denied to them. During the events that led up to this tragic drama of a mass killing by the Russians, the Hungarians had a brief, sweet taste of freedom. It started on October 23rd, 1956, when the Hungarians, through an overpowering common desire, suddenly united all classes against the enemy, without planning or leadership. These people shattered the illusion that a whole generation could be taught to believe that wrong was right. These people revolted against the ty- ranny of a dictatorship. Did the Hungarians hope to win? They must have realized that they could not expect to win against such gigantic odds. They were outnumbered before they began! But, hope is a powerful weapon, and they kept on; sacrificing themselves for their beliefs. They acted on a common impulse, heedless of the consequences. These men, women and in some cases children, who made the revolution pos- sible, fought for what they believed in: in- dependence. The people of Hungary gained five precious days of freedom, before the Russians brutally extinguished the bright flame of liberty. Thousands were killed, and thou- • ands of others went through untold suffer- ing. As the fighting continued, the whole free world watched with bated breath, powerless to prevent the inevitable end of such a cou- rageous people. If a people such as the Hungarian Freedom Fighters could extract even a promise of freedom from a despotism such as Russia, through a mixture of courage, anger and des- peration, then we the free world should, since we have more to work with, at least be able to draw a compromise from Russia. This was the first time that she had been forced to dis- solve an all-communist government, and set up in its place a government that included elements of non-communism. The Soviets re- tracted their promise later, but the fact re- mained that they had made it. They had been outmanouvered by an unorganized, unified people for five days. That is why the events