Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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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

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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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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1957--1958 The banquet hall is called the golden hall and is all lined with tiny pieces of glass in mosaic patterns representing the history of Sweden, and pictures from nearly every country in the world. From Stockholm we went by way of Tralleborg to Sassnitz, Germany, across the Baltic Sea on a train ferry. Each separate car of the train was jacked up so that it could not possibly roll. The funnels were only about ten feet high, and the boat seemed very long for its width. From the train windows on the way to Berlin, Germany looked very orderly, especially the trees. In the Schnellzug to Breslau we talked to a man from Hamburg about many things. Although our train was going 90 miles per hour and the telephone poles went by in a Hash, he told us about the Hamburg flyer which goes 100 miles per hour. lt is not so long and has only first class cars. He said Germany needs colonies to raise more food, especially apples, which now come from Canada. In Breslau, we visited the Rathaus and the University which has no campus and has buildings very close together. One day on the way to our friends, house we met a man who asked for money for the Winterhilfswerke . He gave us little books all different, but all about Hitler. We saw a parade of boys who are called the Hitler jugend. In the Foersters' garden there is a beautiful big tree, but they are not allowed to cut off one big branch which is in their view because the Government says it is not necessary. VVe went by motor car to a village called Obernigk and passed some very large barracks for soldiers and some camourlaged motor cars. They were painted green and dull yellow. .-Xt the beginning of Obernigk there was a sign - Hier griisst man mit I-Ieil Hitler . On the way to Berlin we passed through many forests, and in each forest the trees were the same size in excellent rows, the first ones being twelve inches high, and all the way up to nearly twice as high as an ordinary house. lYe stayed at the Hotel Bristol on Enter den Linden which is a very wide clean street with two rows of very little trees. Yve saw Hitler's house and the Kaiser's house which has a very big front, and they both have bal- conies for speaking. We went through a big park and out to the Olympic Stadium which holds 100,000 people. Four towers which seem to come out of the ground are meant to hold flags. One night we went to the opera Arabella by Richard Strauss. There were men in very fine costumes at the door with huge gold chains around their necks. Each link was about six inches long. The music was rather slow and the costumes were gorgeous. We visited the zoo where we watched some very lively sea lions who have a lovely bath. But it was most interesting to see the snakes being fed in the reptile house. On the way home we visited the tomb of the unknown soldier, which looked like a dark garage with only a soldier walking up and down in front of it. On the way to Karlsruhe very early in the morning, we saw about thirty men on a country road marching with shovels on their shoulders and no band, but in perfect order, just like real soldiers. Karlsruhe is a very old-fashioned city with a very big castle in the centre, a pretty little zoo, and some very amusing signs at the corners of several streets. VVe crossed the Rhine river and came to Strassbourg which is on one of its branches very near by. The cathedral has only one real tower but it is very high and we climbed up to the top. It was quite exciting because you could always see down to the ground, and the view from the top was nice. In the old part of the town there are very narrow streets l15l