Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE and the upper floors came out over our heads. IVe went a little way into a boat like a covered raft where some women were washing or pounding clothes with wooden sticks to get the water out. Next morning my father woke me very early, and told me we were going on the fastest train in France to Paris. The country was lovely and very hilly as we went along the river Marne. I wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower more than any thing else in Paris. But first we went to visit the Exposition. At the entrance there were Hags of every country of the world. Inside we looked out from a terrace at lots and lots of water falls, which were very richly coloured, and at the Fiffel Tower not far away. On the Russian building there was a very big statue of a man and a woman, the man holding a sickle up in the air as though he were going to throw it at somebody with an overhand throw. The German building had a huge statue of an eagle. I do not remember the outside of the Canadian building, but inside there were pictures of gold and silver and copper mines and pictures of the Canadian Rockies and stream-lined trains. There were furs and a woman making thread on a spinning wheel and all around her things she had made. We saw some Siamese twins who must have a tragic life, and we tried out television. We rode up and down the mall in a tiny electric taxi. The Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure, except the Empire State Building. The elevator has two stories and goes up one of the legs of the tower and then up through the center. We could see out plainly all the way to the top, because the tower has no walls, just plain girders. From the top we could see the Seine full of boats, and the Exhibition grounds looked like an ants' racing course because the people were so small. The sun set before we came down but it was very light. We came down very fast, but by the time we reached the ground the lights were on and it was quite dark. That evening we went to the Opera Comique and saw The Barber of Seville which is very funny. The music is lively and the singing was nice. There is a priest in the play who is very, very funny, and the barber is especially funny. The Arc de Triomphe looks like a very big stool, highly decorated with carved figures and stands in a large round place. Underneath there was the tomb of the unknown soldier. All that shows is a large copper plate about thirteen feet long with a hole at one end where a flame comes out. It is fed by oil and it never goes out. The edge of the hole must be very hot, but it is made of copper so that it will not melt. The lettering is made of gold. There were heaps of flowers around the tomb, and many people looking at it, but no one there was sobbing. My mother and I walked down the Champs Elysees toward the Place dc la Concorde. There were many shops full of cars we had never seen before. Ive took a taxi to the shopping district, and the chauffeur was smoking a pipe and had his shirt sleeves rolled up and was singing or whistling or talking to a taxi man beside him when we were in a traffic jam. One evening we went to hear Lohengrin H. The music was very loud and very solemn all the way through. The halls and staircases of the Opera are huge and very grand. At the Louvre I remember two famous statues. The Winged Victory stands at the top ofa stairway. She has wings and her clothes seem to be flowing back and some think she was a figure at the prow of a ship. We could see the Venus de Milo from a long distance down the hall as she stood in the centre of a large room. She has no arms, and she seems to be resting. I do not think she is very beautiful. ll6l

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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

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FOR THE SCHOOL YE.-XR 1937-1938 Northern France has many small trees and neat houses and is not very hilly. XYe arrived at I.ille after dark and looked for a l.incoln car, number 454316. When we got to the border of Belgium the chauffeur talked very jokingly to the customs ollicer, a huge gate Opened in front of us and shut just barely back of our bumpers. From then on to Courtrai the roads are cobbled. There was a bell in the church opposite the house where we visited which clanged several times a day. Once I counted 162 times. lVe went to the market where they had huge lumps of cheese, flowers, vegetables, coloured clothes f but mostly cheese. The most interesting thing was an electric washing machine which was going by itself at the side of the road. There was a very old watch tower in the centre of the square. We took a picture of one of the dogs that was harnessed to a bicycle to help pull a load of milk. On the way to Ghent we saw il small castle not much bigger than a house surrounded by water so that it looked like a towering island. In Ghent we saw the Castle of the Counts with very old walls that went down into the water, and the guild houses which were on the banks of canals going in every direction from where we were. It was raining when we motored to Ostende. There were many thatched houses and windmills with huge wings which furnish power for work on the farms as well as pump- ing water. We saw a grey battleship lying at anchor near the chalk clitls of Dover, and my father showed me the hospital where he lived after he was wounded during the war. I was glad to get to England so that I could talk my own language for a while. The country on the way to London is very pretty, and there are lots of very big trees scattered about, not in rows. One of the most interesting things we saw in London was the Tower, which should be called Tower . After the Middle Tower and Byward Tower we passed the Traitors' Gate where in olden times the prisoners entered from the river. The White Tower is the main building. One thing in it is a model of the Battle of Waterloo with all the tiny ligures of soldiers and horses and cannon. 1Ye went up a narrow winding stair to St. hIohn's Chapel, which has a lot of huge stone pillars. There are rooms full ol' old armour, very interesting. XYellington's sword is very large and decorated with jewels, but it was a pity we could not see the blade, for it was in the scabbard. The horses' armour did not go around the body, but there were spikes around the eyes. The armour ol' I-Ienry VIII is very, very large. In the Bloody Tower there were Beefeaters all over the place. They are dressed in old fashioned red costumes with black hats and carry fancy stalls. We saw many dungeons, but I liked best seeing the Crown jewels which are in a small room in a huge round glass case. The King's crown has .1 huge diamond, and the ruby given to the Black Prince, and in the royal sceptre is the largest diamond in the world. VVe went to climb the Monument which is the highest building in London, because I like towers. It was built in remembrance of the Great Fire of London in 1666. The inside of St. Paul's Cathedral is very beautiful and has lovely coloured windows. But the whispering gallery is most interesting. It is high up at the base of the dome and has a bench going all the way around with no spaces between. A man whispered about the history of London, and you would put your ear to the wall any where, even exactly opposite, and it would sound as though he were talking right in your ear T Down in the Crypt we passed a long line of tombs, and saw a huge carriage built in eighteen days. Il7l 'x