Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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l l I I l il u I I l l i I F 1. gr il l l l l ki v 1 l l i 5- l il I 4 l l THE ASHBURIAN fl XYirh a macabre taste for interior decoration, weasels, at once the most efficient machines of destruction and jovial make-up artists, line their nests with bloody fur and bones and dried-up meats -- their hunt trophies. Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. the weasel is about the bloodthirst- iest animal in creation: the size of an enemv cannot deter him, and the skull ofa weasel has been found nicely embedded in the neck of an eagle. Up to two feet in length the weasel is, of course, the farmer's friend, the scourge of rodents. l lis white winter coat is fittinglv the traditional ornament of kings, nobles, and judges. More than 5Il,000 skins have gone into robes for a British coronation. Multiply that scrap of devilish fury 50 times and you have the likeness of a wolverine: incredibly strong, though slow, he can drag a carcam three times his size for a mile or more. Breaking into a cabin he lacks taste for decoration, and leaves it a shambles. Finding the hunter's food cache, he fills himself and overflows and sprays what he leaves with a foul-smelling musk, marking the residue as his own. About a million wild mink are trapped each year for the fashion and comfort of our women. Active in the day and at night, the restless mink is equally at home in the forest and in water. Small game birds and henhouses are his urge, and he will vary the plat dn jour with fish, frogs, and other aquatic life. His place of domicile is a muskrat hole in a stream bank, a cavity under tree roots, a hollow log or stump. H. R Plummer CREATOR On a day that was, he decided to create a peaceful world, a world where the inhabitants were meek, mild, and simple. He made it a world of tranquility, brightness, and sunshine. ln this creation it never rained. but there were little sparkling streams flowing down picturesque moun- tain sides. It was warm, but not hot, it was cool but not cold. The peo- ple were slightly intelligent: clever enough to appreciate the beauty and simplicity - and that was some cleverness. They enioyed soft music and paintings in soft colours. He gave the people love. so there was no need for violence or war. 'Yes', thought the Creator. 'this is beautifulf Then he saw every- thing-too beautiful, too perfect. ln a sudden fit of impatience and anger he destroyed the world. He ordered floods, famine and disease. and wiped out the last of the terrified world. This time, because he was in an annoyed, even fierce, mood, he created a world of hate and violence. He made the inhabitants belliger- ent giants, uglv, eonceited, and powerful. He divided them into two fac-

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211 THE ASHBURIAN THE XV IND The mocking wind was blowing, blowing O'er the bleak Chaldean sands O'er the wreck and ruin, mounds eternal-seeming The hopes and dreams of a thousand lands Around him they blew, laughing, screaming Little man, We know your kind TYorking, toiling, sweating, dreaming Yet withal - deaf and dumb and blind Kings and Emperors have we seen Each in his greatness thinking None so great as l Yet through the ages many such have been Only we remain - We and the sky O'er the sands a wind was blowing He rose, shaking off the ancient sands A shuddering unease was growing, growing As he left that ancient, lonely land. AN ODE TO BATTLE Now buckle on your weapon belts Soon red blood will stain the grassy veldts Be not all ours! Though we toil on for hours and hours And red ruin like the bright rose flowers The sun burns hot on the fast and furious fight Hell-wielded weapons spread their blight The steel shod lances dip to kill Only the corpses are quiet, calm and still Nlaces whirl and sabres slash The sun catches armour with a blinding flash This sanguine strife, feud and food of men If reason has, is beyond our ken So war on! Shall we let the weapons rust? ln dying, kill! Raise a name above the dust! S. M. Stirling XYEASELS IN MIND The weasel, mink, marten, fisher, otter, badger, wolverine are all members of the North American family, vllllsrclidac. And for the Alaskan lfskimos catching a weasel means very good luck indeed. According to body structure the weasel family falls into three or four categories: the typically slender mink and marten and short-tailed weasel, the squat bow-legged badger and wolverine, and the sinuous aquatic otter, All eat flesh and fish.

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22 THE ASHBURIAN tions who so utterly loathed and detested each other, that there was con- stant war. They were a primitive, fierce, cruel race, possessing uncanny strength and cunning. VVhenever two parties from each clan met, the earth would shake and groan under their blows. Eventually, the Creator grew bored with this, too. He had the two clans wipe out each other, then he crushed the world in his fist. He pon- dered over what to try next. Then the thought came to him. He de- cided to build a world of good and evil. He would balance them equally. The forces of good would oppose the forces of corruption. Both sides were superior beings with supreme intelligence. Their weapons were more than modern. He now found the world very interesting, for he hadn't decided who should be allowed to prevail, the pure ones or the evil ones. Of course their wars were beyond imagination: such was their weaponry. just when one side was about to overthrow the other, the will to survive saved the loser. Then the Creator was interrupted. Again came the shout: 'juniorl Come home to dinner at oncef R. H. D. Halupka AN EXCITING SHGRT STORY Last Monday I remember getting up and feeling that this was going to be a good week - so I thought. I got dressed, had breakfast and went off to school. It was just a normal day. As usual on Monday morning, we had a meeting with the Headmaster, Mr. Joyce. He told us all the important things that happened during the week. But he missed one that was very important to me. So, after the meeting, we all went to classes. XV e have physics Hrst period every Monday morning. It was just another physics' period, like any other. Then came English. I thought that as usual we would read a short story Qwe have been reading short stories latelyj. But today was different - today we had to fuvfite a short story. IVell, that was a surprise, because I like writing short stories. Or at least I thought I did. Uiell, our master was kind enough to give us that period to start writing 1t. I took out my pen, got a pad, and settled down to think of an exciting topic. The bell went and I still didn't have an exciting, or interesting topic. That night we had an English prep. so I thought I would write the story then - because I like writing exciting stories. So that night I took out my pen and pad, and this time I sat for half an hour and nothing came to my head. And I said to myself- But I like writing stories. The next day we had English. XYC were told again we could work on our short stories. Everyone seemed eager to get to work, expanding and deepening what he had written yesterday. NYhat did I do? I sat for