Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COIJUEGE SCHOOL RECORD 13 ment on the Western front. It is probable that other ma- terial memorials will be erected to keep the name of Canada in the hearts of a new generation. There will be many new hallowed spots in fields that will be forever Canada. These men have done more for Canada as a nation than any other city since we were a people. They are ours. It is a City of Youth. We may grow old but they are forever young. The average age of the soldier is 25. Some- times We ask ourselves whether a life may not be complete when its great work is done. Jesus died when he was little older than the average soldier. It may well be that those of us who have to carry on through years of disillusion- ment have not a harder fate than the mlen who died in the moment of victory. In the last thirty years, our concep- tion of the other world has changed. Our memories are peopled by a multitude of heroes struck down in the flower of their youth-very different from the pale and languid cohorts of the past, composed of the sick and the aged. It is a City of Hope and Faith. In Bunyan's immortal allegory, when the Pilgrims came to the land of Beulah they could see across the valley to the celestial city, the end of their journey. We have comle down from the mountain peaks of sacrifice and idealism, and We are now near the dark valley of doubt and disenchantment. Thomas Hardy's terrific drama of the Napoleonic Wars takes the view that there is no progress and no meaning in human life, but an endless cycle of folly and Woe. Let us not forget here that those who gave their lives for Canada and the freedom of the world gave all they had, and gave it freely. They had faith-and shall not we? The Colours of the City are Scarlet and Gold. The fall of the year suggests solemn and reflective memorial. Our Canadian autumn is unique. The coming of nature's annual death is glorified by the scarlet and gold of falling leaves. It is a happy coincidence that the old Armistice Day this year begins its new life as a general Memorial Dcay on Sunday. At last all the heroes of this young coun-

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12 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD most unforgettable days in the history of the School came to an end. .Ll..il. i--- A CANADIAN SHQRINE The Rt. Rev. R. J. Renison, M.A., D.D., Lord Bishop of Moosonee, delivered the sermon during the Service of Consecration of the Memorial Chapel on October 21. Choos- ing as his text, John 1:26 There standeth among you, one whom ye know not , he spoke as follows: It is too early to ask which is destined to become the greatest city of Canada. It may be that, when the awaken- ed Orient comes into its own, the Pacific Coast may become the centre of population. But in the realm of our mind, we have no doubt as to which is our greatest city. It is an invisible city. It is not found in'Canada. It has no name, but its spires can be seen more clearly than the Belfry of Mlons or Mount Ortona. The silent streets are scattered all over France and Belgium, with newer suburbs all the way from the Sicilian Straits through the heart of Italy to the gateway of the Alps. There are ham- lets in the land of the Zuider Zee and countless lonely habitations from Berlin to Ceylon and Burma. But to the mother heart of Canada it becomes a unit, and when once seen is never forgotten. Its river is the ocean, where many sleep till the sea gives up its dead. It is approached by the hard road of duty, which divides it from north to south, while the way of sacrifice runs east and west. In the centre stands the temple of Immortality, where restful shade trees grow. It is a Canadian city. It is on another continent but neither time nor space can ever alter its character. In all, they number 100,000. More than half the number have been waiting since 1918. Who shall say that the spirits of St. Julien have not met their sons and comrades at Dieppe? At Vimy, rising on an acre of Adriatic marble from the crown of the ridge, towers the greatest monu-

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14 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD try who have died for her in every war are gathered to- gether in the arms of a nation's love. It may come to pass tha? November 11 will become the All Saints' Day of Can- ada. Man is the only created being who lives in the past, present and future. He is not a beast of the field who wails the loss of his progeny from vague sense of primordial pain. Even before Christ he believed he was not made to die. So, we kindle our lamp of remembrance not only for this our own shrine. It is joined with the lights of other nations in the bright cluster of the faith in the spirit of man. Then there is the mystery of the Unknown Warrior. It is the mystery of who he may be that fascinates the mind. Your neighour or mine, Canadian, Australian, Scotsman or Londoner? He may be any one. Taken from a grave which had a name or from a name- less resting place in No Mlan's Land. It is this that holds us wondering. But really we would rather not know. A name would bind him to a few. Nameless, he belongs to us all. Identified, he would have one mother. Now he is every mother's son. Without ribbons or honours he has all honours. With- out title or rank he ranks above royalty. Without the prejudice of a name he assumes the style of every man. He is the flesh of our flesh and the kinsman to us all. He is the own brother to every honest nobody in the English-speaking world, and his honour is the Crown re- served for those who are faithful unto death. It is the significance of the unique ceremony that holds us by a spell. The unknown warrior is a type of many men and a symbol of many things. He gathers to himself all the memories of the unre- turning brave. He receives all the victories brought at so great a cost. He relieves the grief of countless mourners. He is a symbol for this and succeeding generations of youths' generous offering and the ruthless sacrifice of war.