Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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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

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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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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE At Madame Tussaud's Exhibition of Waxworks, the people certainly looked very real. There are Hitler, lots of Kings and Queens, and Shakespeare, and Sir Malcolm Camp- bell and many interesting tableaux. There was one of Clive in India when the natives were just going to kill him. The day we saw the changing of the Guard, Queen Mary drove by in an ordinary limousine and everybody said quietly, Queen Mary We looked at Buckingham Palace from every side and watched the sentinels walk up and down before their boxes. Opposite are two big gates into the park, one dedicated to Canada and another to South Africa. We walked down the Mall to the Admiralty Arch and on to Trafalgar Square with a statue of Nelson in the centre and four huge lions. I fed the pigeons a little, but they were very dirty. They would land on my head, shoulders, arms, and everywhere. In the London Zoo the most interesting animals are the elephants. They would nod and shake their heads, and they understood when the man told them to flap their ears, and seemed very, very clever. Some of the penguins are very big, and they waddled about as though they had heavy snow-shoes on. One day we visited Oxford and we went to Merton College because that was where my father lived when he was there. I thought it would be very dull to live there, but the sport places must be cheerful. Then we went along a street to Magdalen College, where Thomas Iwolsey went. Xve walked along I.ong Wall Street to visit some friends. Later we motored out to Boar's Hill for tea and had a lovely walk. On Yvednesday, November 3, we left for Southampton, and sailed on the S.S. Aqui- tania for New York. The sea was quite rough and one day the wind was so strong that the boat was tilted sideways for two hours. The swimming pool was closed most of the time. The Aquitania was launched in 191-I and has always been on time. VVe arrived in New York harbour in the early morning, and I watched the tugs pull the ship into dock. We returned home on Wednesday, November 10, having been away six weeks lacking twelve hours A. P., Form I. Q.-Xge 101 sbeltnpn Zlauusz. Sefulvrz Home, you know, 'J zz .ffhool If'herr good hrhaciom' is Ihe ruff. The hoyf fo11a'm't 1hev1.feI:-es in fIa.f.f, Beraufr Ihe ma.f1er.f fake no '.fa.f.t'. In reaa'in', wririzf, '1-ithmefif, They do Ihvir hfiffg if 7101, the .vlirk f In Jportf, they nj' lo dean lhejfrld, They like Ihr honomxf on lheir ,fhifh1'. In .rfl1oIa1'fhip.f, lhqv win the rave, Bffdllfc' the Sfhoof, A Oh dm! fha plafe .' I Ihihk, kimz' Sir, I'II tariff no more, I'm toufhifzg on a poinf thal'.f .fore .' T. F., Form 4. llgl