Oakwood Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (Toronto Ontario, Canada)

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rm: OAKWOOD oimenn Qlibe QBID Qliarpet Slipper A sole-ful ballad with a slap up-to-date theme. Tune: The Old Oaken Bucket llow dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood. When fond recollection presents them to view The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild wood, And ev'ry loved spot which my infancy knew. The swimmin' 'ole too, where my father oft caught me. The ramshackle woodshed-I know it so well- When into its shadows at twilight he brought me, And with his old slipper lambasted me well. His old carpet slipper, his leather-soled slipper, His flat-bottomed slipper that sure made me yell. That number nine slipper that caught me while bending Across father's knee with my face to the floor: I wriggled and squirmed as I heard it descending, The vivid remembrance e'en now makes me sore. And once when he found me, alas! playing hookey, He drew me aside with a smile I knew well, Then into the woodshed in silence he took me, And the slipper came down. I was there when it fell. The old carpet slipper, the hard-tanned old slipper, The heavy-weight slipper that sure made me yell. llow flat was its sole, and how sharp was the impact, When on my frail carcass it came with a flop! llow fain would I oft have withdrawn from its contact, And held my breath hard for that slipper to drop. lC'en now, as I think of those days long departed, The hot, scalding tears cause my eyelids to swell, .Xs mem'ry reverts to the times I have smarted Beneath that old slipper dad handled so well. That old carpet slipper, that tough-soled old slippei That hard, heavy slipper that sure made me yell. A.P. , - ' ' .ff . ,7f74Cf if f V, ll ft - 4 f 'N 12? V ff ,, VFW Pllljf' Tllfrly-Two

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THE OAKWOOD ORACLE ilBnstir ililreroritp I am fond of writing poetry Iliatribe or homily With metaphor and simile llivine -Xnd I have yet to see a Piece of onomatopaea Like to mine, I adore expressing verbally, Synechdoche hyperbole, Or building' up the ecstasy Of a climactic line. I'm superb at writing dimiter, Iambic or pentameter, Anapaestic trimiter, Trochaic or hexameter, I admit. And tho' nothing bores me worse Like the moderns I am terse And can stoop to write free verse llooks of it, Give me a baby's bonnet, I can write a sonnet on it, Quatrain, lyric, epic, or an ode, I can be impressionistic, Archaic, futuristic, If to be obscure and mystic is the mode, QW W1 'tiixllif I 1 I can be Shakesperian, Tennyson- ian, Spenserian, Miltonian, Or Byronicg I can be prophetic, Soporific or athletic, Patriotic or pathetic, Or laconic, It is very sweet, To calculate the feet In a line, But I know of nothing sweeter, Than working out the metre, And the rhyme I make no pretention, If you ever mention Scansion, I'm a-hop, There is no limit to my art, And when once I start, I am so very smart, I can rhyme until I dropg But I shall not degrade my ditty. By condescending to be witty, Ineffectual or pretty, So I stop. I sms X if li i, ,fx l f Encf VA l lrD.- HIC HAEC Hoc HUJU6' FI u.1us........ Page Tlifrfy-out

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THE OAKWOOD ORACLE Cfxaintnation Rap tWith Apologies to William Shapespearej By CATHERINE This day is called examination day He that outlives this day and goes safe home, Will pass out when this day is named, And rouse him at the name of education. He that outlives this day and sees the morrow Will yearly on the vigil feast his chums, And say, to-morrow is examina- tion day. Then will he ope his book and show his ma1'ks, And say. These lTl211'liS I had on examination day. Some subjects men forget: Yet these shall not be forgot. And he'll remember with what ad- vantages What failures he made that day! Then shall our subjects. Familiar in their mouths as house- hold words- Physic, French, and Geometry, Be in their fertile brains freshly remembered. These subjects shall the good man teach his son. And examination day shall ne'er 30 by I ro1n this day to the ending of the world , But Physics in it shall be remem- bered, We few, we studious few, we band of brothers, For he to-day that racks his brain with me Shall be my brother: be he e'er so dumb, This day shall enlighten his dense condition And gentlemen in college, now so sad, think themselves accursed they were not he1'e. And hold their brain-power weak whiles any speaks That wrote with us on examination Shall Chemistry and Latin, days. il n jfuture In after years when I look back On these, my years in school, Will those years prove what teacher said Or am I not a fool '? I came here, and the world was mineg My thoughts I can't recall, But this I do remember- That I thought I knew it all. The days 1'olled on and proved to me I was mistaken quite. I found myself so ignorant I was a fool all right. But now I'm modest as can be, I study hard all day But first impressions cling so hard I'm still a fool, they say. Oh well, some day I'm coming back- I'll prove they were mistaken, I'll make them see I'm not a fool When I bring home the bacon. ADELAIDE E. R. STERNBERG, 3A. Page T11 irty-Th rw