Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 195' -1958 The :fathers Rlattb. In the long and dreary winter, In the cold and cruel winter, When the masters get lumbago. And the braves put on their mittens, Comes the Father's tribe to fight us, XYith its sticks and skates and sweaters, To battle with the tribe of Selwyns With their coats of black and yellow. Comes the mighty chief named Culver With his tomahawk and buckskins, With some others big as mountains Holding scalps of many Selwyns, Struthers, Cleveland, Huestis, Tetrault, Deadly with their bows and arrows. Led by Blaiklock, the W'abasso, From the lodge came many Selwyns, Out on to the frozen waters, There to meet the deadly Fathers, There to do or die in battle. Arrows Hew in all directions, And the battle grew more furious, Till Mackenzie, the great umpire, Brought a pipe from his coat pocket, Said to Culver and to Blaiklock, Let us smoke the peace-pipe, brothers. Blaiklock smoked the pipe and fainted, Culver smoked it and was dizzy, So both tribes without their leaders, Fell to laughing and rejoicing. To our lodge then came the Fathers With their squaws and their papooses, Brilliant in their beads and war paint, Straight to Gitche W'anstall's wigwam, Drank the hot drink made of hemlock, Ate the bison killed by Oscar, Banished all their fears of homework, Pledged to tight again next winter. l13l P. G., Form 5

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SI-ILWYN HOUSE SCHOOL NIAGAZINIR Mussolini therefore causes nasty incidents to take place, like the torpedoing of British and other neutral shipping. 'lihere is little doubt as to whose submarines are responsible, but if Britain were to charge the Italians outright, it would be asking for trouble. Britain is, it seems, willing to take any number of slaps in the face in order that the peace of the world may be maintained, and that she may have time to fully rearm. There has been one well known Englishman, who recently declared that Italy did not want warg that she wanted in fact nothing more than to implant her cultural superiority on the INlediterranean countries. I wonder what this gentleman considers culture l Surely he does not regard the Abyssinian war as a cultural expedition. So far we have discussed the Mediterranean situation. Wie turn now to the near Past. Most people who read the newspapers know something of the trouble that is at present going on in the British mandate of Palestine, and 1 don't think that there is much that 1 could say that would be of any news. However, if when looking at a map of the Near East, you happen to glance at the other end of Arabia from which Palestine is located, you will doubtless see the names of Yemen and Hadrhamaut printed there. If your map happens to have been printed before 1935, under the word I-Iadrhamaut you will see a thin red strip, showing that this particular piece of Arabia is British. Now if your map was printed after 1935, and before March of 1937, you will notice that a thin red line has been drawn on the map enclosing what is really 100,000 sq. miles of territory. This means that this portion of land has become sub-iect to British influence, and again, if your map is really modern, you will note that this piece of territory about which I am writing, is now shown on the map by a solid red marking, in other words since the beginning of 1935, Britain has acquired 100,000 sq. miles of Arabian territory, in defiance of all treaties with the Arab rulers of that territory. You may say, How was it done ? It was done by Peaceful Penetration , a familiar phrase, one that is connected with the present Sino- japanese war. I do l1Ot mean that Britain went to war with the natives, as did the Italians in Ethiopia. The method adopted was quite simple. First a Resident was sent to several of the more important towns. When his authority was disputed, as was natural, troops were sent to back it up. If any of the tribes showed any signs of an uprising, they were given notice that they were to evacuate their village, as it was to be bombed. Small wonder that the British now have two colonies in Arabia. The first reason for this so-called Peace- ful Penetration was the rumoured discovery of oil in the Hadrhamaut, and the second, was the Government's belief, that if they did not annex it, some other country might try. So the next time you wish to raise your voice against the outrages of any country, think first if there is not some precedent for it in British history. In conclusion, we have seen that the continued predominance of Britain in the Me- diterranean would, to use a slang expression, put a spoke in the wheel of any designs which Mussolini might have on the colonies of either France or England, and we can also understand that Italian predominance in the Mediterranean would in all probability lead to a war. lt therefore seems to every country's advantage lwith the possible exception of ltalyj that the Mediterranean should remain dominated by Britain, and not by Italy. lt is unfortunate that the peace of the world does not mean enough to Mussolini, in spite of his frequent speeches, in which he always reiterates his desire for peace, that he should not be willing to allow matters to stand that way. D. C., Form 6. lPfm.vf' nolf : Since the above was written in February last, the political situation has changed considerably. l'id.1 I 121

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SFLWYY HOUSE SCHOOL INIAGAZIYI-i Q Ulirip to QEurope On September 29, 1937, we left Montreal for New York to spend six weeks in F.urope. ln New York we went up to the top of the Iiimpire State Building. It was very exciting going up at fifteen miles per hour. At the Yup the visibility was ten miles, but sometimes it is forty miles. However, we got a splendid view. There was P big telescope, and in- struments for telling how strong the wind was blowing and from where it came. At twelve o'clock our boat, the S.S. Gripsholm , left for Gothenberg, Sweden. The Normandie was in dock near by. It is very streamlined, especially in the bow where the decks are covered for some distance back. Most of our passengers were Swedish, and they danced Swedish dances in the evenings. There were lots of games, but I liked best deck tennis and swimming. W'e sailed between Scotland and the Orkney Islands, and on the ninth day we arrived in Gothenburg, which is a very good port and has many streets that are canals. W'e went to visit some friends in Oslo, Norway, and climbed high above the city to a part called Holmen Kollen which has a fine view of the Oslo tiord and of the international ski jump. W'e took a night trip across the mountains to Stockholm, Sweden. The Grand Hotel is on a canal and opposite the Royal Palace. From my table in the window where I studied, l could watch the boats go back and forth. All traF'ic goes to the left in Stockholm, and between the street and the canal bank there is no fence to protect the cars from the water. W'e saw soldiers and a very good band going to the change of the guard at the Palace. W'e visited Skansen, the open air museum, and saw very old houses, a bake shop, a printing house, and an apothecary's shop. In the houses they had beds built into the side walls. The stoves were made of tiles that looked like bathroom walls, and the walls were whitewashed and decorated with paintings of flowers. The windows were made of lots of little panes and were not very big. The door keys were very large, some of them a foot long, and were kept in a cabinet in the entrance hall. There were deer and other animals in the park cared for by I.apps from Lapland. The roofs were very overhanging and sometimes had sod on them with grass growing in it. We climbed a tower with 374 steps from which we could see much of the city and out toward the Baltic. At the inn the waitresses wore dresses in the costumes of the different districts of Sweden, and the or- chestra also. They played old folk tunes. We had warHes with sugar on them for tea. I bought a hunting knife made of Swedish steel and put it on my belt and carried it all the rest of out trip, except in the evening. W'e had lunch in Bellman's Tavern, very old and way down under the ground, where artists used to go, and we visited the Thiel Art Gallery where we saw many paintings by I.illjefors of rabbits and foxes, and in the garden, statues and very huge trees. The city hall is very beautiful. As we went in we saw on the roof golden statues shining in the sun. When we got inside there was a guide who could speak German. The first hall is called the Blue Hall and from it very wide stairs go up to the main Hoot. There was one council chamber with a table made from all the kinds of wood that grow in Sweden. There were some very big coloured glass chandeliers, some of them six feet high and very beautiful. One long hall was painted by a prince of the Royal family and was quite nice. ll4l