St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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MONKEYS LOOSE ! I am a zoo monkey. Two weeks ago I had a strange adventure. It happened like this. One misty afternoon I was peacefully enjoying a nap, when suddenly my friend, Clyde, said Hey, Harry, IVe found the key to the cage. Let’s open it and run away!” I agreed, and so quiedy Clyde opened our cage. We silently crept out of thezooand into the city. We found a building, with an opening at the top. Clyde climbed up to open the door and I followed. What a sight met our eyes! There were some men, sliding on ice, hitting a black ball with sticks, and therewere some men caught in a net at each end of the ice. Hey Clyde,” I said. We’d better get out of here. Somebody might see us. ” But Clyde didn ' t want to, so I decided to stay. We were beginning to enjoy ourselves when someoneyelled, Look at the monkeys!”. Two policemen ran across the ice and began climbing towards us. Clyde and I ran, dodging the policemen. By thistimethe noise had reached all over town. Clyde, what a funny place! I didn’t know people were so dumb. ” Finally we gave them the slip. We wandered around the streets until we saw a bakery and decided to raid it. Clyde went through the door first and I followed. We ran over to the cakes. I slipped on some icing and slid into the cakes. A stack of pies fell on us. Clyde and I raced for the door and ran down the street, little knowing that we were headingforthepolicemen. When the police encircled us and picked us up we didn’t struggle. We wanted to get back to our cage away from everyone. Now I have told you about my adventures, I can have a peaceful nap. Kevin Annett Grade 5. A SNOWSTORM. The night is dark, the air is cold. The wind comes up with force untold; The clouds come over, the storm begins, The air is filled with stinging pins. The storm is wild, its fury unleashed, It seems like it will never cease; The snow is whirling all about. It stings your face, lashing out. Each day the storm grows less and less And soon begins to come to rest; The clouds scud over until we find, The storm is over with the coming of Springtime. James Hutchison. Grade 6. THE BAD PART OF TOWN. In any city large enough to be put on a map there is sure to be a place called the other side of the tracks”. In our town there is such a place. Even in broad daylight this community is gloomy and depressing. The cracked sidewalks, the rusted picket fences, the squeaking gates which nobody oils because nobody cares, the dwellings, once fashionable homes for prominent men and women, now toppling over with sag¬ ging door and window frames, badly in need of paint and adorned with chimney pots which belch forth thick black soot from the ancient coal furnaces, and here or there a tree never more than twenty feet tall and, more likely than not, dead, do little tomakethe appearance of the district any better. But maybe the thing that separates this part of town from any other is its people. The children, foolish and ignorant, play in the middle of the road with littlerespectfor any oncoming traffic. The women in cheap discarded blue jeans scream for the children to get off the road, if they can spare the time. The men loungearound in dirty undershirts, more often than not with bottle in hand, not knowing where next month’s rent is coming from — and not really car¬ ing. There is an unpleasant odour of smoke and soot mixed together with something that smells like decaying matter. It is not a pleasant walk when someone strolls through this part of town during the day. It is not a pleasantwalk during the night either. The comparatively gloomy atmosphere is gone and in its place is a flood of neon. In front of every pub and tav¬ ern there’s some drunken Indian and some unfortunate constable. There is also a large crowd watching the of¬ ficer trying to subdue theyoung man. They stand there, jeering and shouting at the desperate policeman. There are usually large groups of people gathering just out¬ side the various movie-houses which boast pictures at least five years old. Some small groups of teenagers meet at the coffee houses to discuss their plans for the evening. Most of the time their plans will land them back into the juvenile courts. But it is a real shame that these people should be forced to live under these conditions. Nobody cares about nobody but themselves. They are content to live in the grime and filth, barely able to ecist on the small weekly allowance they receive. Mark Milne. 7EW. 80

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KIDNAPPED One day in early March when John Mcquire, the son of the wealthy socialite Paul Mcquire, and I were taking our morning constitutional, a very frightening thing happened. Several men, who wore beside their regular attire nylon stockings over their heads, jumped out from among some bushes, grabbed John and put a piece of cloth over his mouth. Quickly, realizing that the men were kidnappers, I ran to get the police. Suddenly one of the gang tackled me. My head struck the pavement and I lost consciousness. When I recovered I found myself, along with John, in a small cave. Look, an empty bottle!” John point¬ ed out. What good does that do?” I inquired. If we can break it, we can use the fragments to cut our ropes,” John explained. Good idea! Our gloves will protect our hands,” I agreed. Following John’s advice, I kicked the bottle over to him. It shattered instantly on the rock. John picked up a piece and started cutting. I edged over, careful not to sit on arty glass. I picked up a piece of glass and started hacking away at my bonds. Since John started cutting first, he finished first. He quickly undid his leg ropes and my bonds. But one thing barred our escape, a door locked from the outside. John, who was quite a reader asked, ' Where can I get a sheet of paper? ” Under the bed,” I replied. Why do you want some paper?” I inquired. I read in abookthatifyoupush a newspaper under a door, push the key out of the lock with anything handy and pull the newspaper, you can get thekey,” explained John. Since the men left the key in the lock, it was an easy matter to push the key out onto the paper with a ball¬ point pen refill, pull in the paper and open the door. We walked out of the door and through a stone pas¬ sage. A stone door loomed up ahead of us. We quick¬ ly pushed this open. We then found ourselves a few hundred yards from a gas station and the main highway. Down the highway came a black car which John recog¬ nized as the gang’s. Whenwesaw the gang coming, we quickly ran behind a hedge for protection. We slowly edged along the hedge to the gas station. When we reached the gas station, we asked for the use of a phone. The owner motioned towards a pay phone in the corner. John took adime from his pocket and phoned the police. The sargeant told us that our parents were worried about us, and that they would be relieved to know of our safety. He also said that he would send some men over to try and capture the gang. We ran back along the hedge to the cave entrance. It was open, so we reasoned that the gang were inside. Paul, spying a lock and latch, quickly slammed the door and locked it. Soon the welcome sounds of police sirens were heard in the distance. A policeman stepped out of the front car and told us to go behind some rocks. Fortunately, the gang gave up without a fight. The policeman told us that there was a five-hundred dollar reward for the gang’s capture and that we would get it. Stuart Guest. Grade 6. THE LION SEEKS HIS MEAL. The king of beasts strode out of his den and looked carefully around for any sign of life. With his head up high, he strode on through the tall grass as the sun shone brilliantly. He hadn’t had athingto eat for three days. Today he was determined to kill an animal worth eating. The lion’s heavy mane gave him a look of maj¬ esty as his powerful forelegs pawed the ground. Suddenly, the watchful lion spotted an animal chewing grass not too far away. Its black and white stripes dis¬ tinctly showed it as being a zebra. Slowly the lion stalked towards his prey. He did not want to lose a prize like this, so he would have to be careful. The distance between the hunter and his prey became smaller and smaller as the hungry beast walked with slow, stiff strides through the tall grass. There were now twenty feet between the two animals. The zebra suddenly spied the lion and started running. The chase was on! With easy strides the lionbegantogainon the fright¬ ened zebra. They dashed on through the open plain. The lion could hardlywaitforthelastvictorious pounce. The zebra was going at a remarkable speed and it took a long time before he began to slowdown. In his des¬ peration, the lion continued chasing the zebra. Finally the lion made a great dash and leapt forward. Roaring furiously, he landed on top of the frantic zebra. The lion bit into the zebra’s neck and brought him down. Panting, the victorious beast stood over his victim. Much later, the Eon, having finished his meal, set out for the journey back to his den, refreshed and renewed. The sun was slowly setting and the lionknew he would not make it before nightfall. He did not worry in the least. No one could harm the king of beasts, for he alone was the hunter of the wild. Stephan Krueger 7EW. 79

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rv -■ J ' fLujijmiul Hockey This year the Playground B team did not do as well as last year. We went the year without a win while we averaged about one goal per game. However, the team spirit always remained high and undaunted. The sharp shooters for the team were: Ivan McMorris, Colin Fer¬ guson, Chris Wallace, Hugh Tucker, Trevor Harrison and Neil Templeton. On behalf of the boys I would like to thank Mr. Beare and Mr. Bevis for their fine coaching, the parents for coming out to our games and the kitchen for their fine hot chocolate. BACK ROW: Mr. Beare, Harrison, Wheelan, Brians, McGill, Forsythe, Lawrence, Dickson B., McMorris, Tucker, Longstaffe, Mr. Bevis. FRONT ROW: Daunt, Weare, Paterson, Dickson P., Templeton, Wallace, Ferguson. 7l Uf jl0lLtU C Hockui Playing in the regular city league the Playground ' C’ team made up for a certain lack of finesse by ex¬ hibiting praiseworthy determination and eagerness. Most members of the team were competent skaters but none of them had developed the power needed for good shooting at goal. This lack of a powerful shot gave our opponents an edge for which they must have been grateful. The league itself was divided into two groups of competeness. Winakwa team, Westridge and possibly Ft. Garry in the top half and Wildwood, Roblin Park, and St. John’s-Ravenscourt is the bottom half. These last three teams ended the season with honours even having won and lost as many games as each other after some dour struggles. Many thanks go to Mr. Kiddell and Mr. Comie for their fine job of coaching. Best of luck to Playground C’ next year. BACK ROW: Waddell H., Bennett, Dickson B., Riley, Annett B., McMorris, Cruickshank. FRONT ROW: Daunt, Weare, Beaton, Kernahan, Quinton, Grossman. BACK ROW: Waugh, Waddell, d’Agincourt, Bond, Ramsay B., Kiddell, Mr. Kiddell. FRONT ROW: Ferguson, Quinton, Ramsay D., Hutchison, Haworth. MISSING: Parker, Beech. Sam Horn Hockey Hamber this year was without opposition, so it seemed for, they did not lose a single game. They were superior on all lines particularly first and second. They were however given some good games by the other three houses. The game against New was particularly notable in that New fought back to a 3-3 draw before Hamber scored the winner in the last second. Good all around hockey was played by the houses and even the third lines tried and fought well, and with the forthcoming talent which was evident, next season should be very entertaining, Final Standings: Points 1st Hamber.18 2nd Young .7 3rd Richardson.6 4th New.5 81