Balmoral Hall School - Optima Anni Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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li A GOOD REST With a tired and heavy hand, I lift my pen to write this essay entitled A Good Rest . How wonderful is the word rest ! What calm and peaceful thoughts it brings to mind. But I must not dwell too long on the word rest itself, or I shall not be able to catch my six hours sleep before school tomorrow morning. We are living in a restless age. Thousands of watches on thousands of wrists tick by the busy hours of a busy day. Students in schools and col- leges literally slave over a hard, wooden desk from nine o'clock 'till four o'clock with only a brief recess at noon for lunch. Likewise, patient teach- ers do their best to help them gain knowledge, the ever-present vision of june examinations al- ways before their eyes. Then after the school day is over, a refreshing game is all that is needed to ensure complete exhaustion for the students. Four hours of homework then complete an evening. This unfortunately is just a bare outline of a school day and does not include all the little extras . How wonderful it will be to get into University and work no longer. In all walks of life, people are working them- selves into a state of exhaustion. Office-workers are learning to type faster and faster. Everything is moving at a greater speed, cars, trains, airplanes and atomic bombs are constantly being perfected. People don't walk up escalators any more, they run! A department store on a Saturday afternoon is a perfect example of a tired, rushing mass of humanity. Women browse around the hat counter for several hours in search of apparel for a hun- dred oncoming teas which they don't want to at- tend. Finally, worn and bedraggled they push their way to the door, resolving to make do with the dozen or so hats that they already possess. How foolish it all is! As we follow the crowd out of the store at closing time, we realize that to reach our homes, we need the help of a bus. There we stand and bus after bus goes by. Oh, there's an Academy Road bus coming now. My goodness, it's not going to stop-it's already full. A Stafford bus, an Osborne bus, a Corydon bus, a Stafford bus, a Stafford bus . . . another Stafford bus. I-Iow strange! Finally after approximately three quarters of an hour, an Academy bus does come along. But it is full of tired people and goes by. Oh, well, it is only a short walk home! Tired husbands go home to their wives. The husband envies the wife. How lucky she is to be able to stay in a nice comfortable home all day and do nothing, except perhaps have her mother- in-law in to tea. Little does he realize the num- ber of dishes she has washed, the house cleaning she has done, the big washing she has done, and the two meetings and three teas she has been to that afternoon. If only we could just stop everything for one day, and rest. If only all the business offices, stores, schools and factories could all stop. Could we but see ourselves as a restless, overworked people, per- haps we could slow down our tempo of living. But that day of complete rest will never come on earth. Hospitals, doctors and nurses must carry on. These workers of mercy must always be on duty. And so the busy world goes on, day after day. With a tired and heavy hand, I close my essay, for the clock is ticking faster and faster and I simply must get six hours of sleep before morning. MARY HoPE MCINNIS, Grade XI. F AREWELL I sit and think in our classroom Of a day that will soon be here, When some of us will graduate And others leave school for the year. We'l1 miss our friends and our teachers, Whom we see now from day to day, But we will remember them dearly As we journey along life's way. DoR1s TUCKER, Grade XI. Gail: Late again, Cathy! Cathy: I got up late and only left ten minutes to dress. Gail: I can dress comfortably in that time. Cathy: Yes, I know, but I wash.

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T I I3 MY FIRST YEAR AT BALMORAL HALL On the first day of school everybody was very excited because Balmoral Hall was opening for its first year. At prayers we all looked very funny as we didn't have any uniform. Then there was the task of choosing a Head Girl for the school. There were a number of girls nominated, and 'lohanne Vifintemute was the girl chosen. Next we chose a school Sports Captain- janet Bleeks. These girls were given cords to wear to show their office. Soon we had grey tunics with white shirts but no ties as yet. After that we chose prefects, who were also given green cords. We received our green ties and then our grey blouses. After that we made a few rules, and formed houses which we called 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then a campaign was initiated to name the houses. After a long period of thought and activity, the houses were named Braemar, Ballater, Glen Gairn and Craig Gowan. Now a school crest is being chosen. Our school motto is Meliora Petens. All these activities represent what has been done in a very short time at Balmoral Hall. The future will provide many new tasks for us. NANCY BLEEKS, fill l fliiii Wi .5 lm e l lil III. ADA RICE, Gramlc XI.

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gg, g g 15 Balmoral Hall BALMORAL CASTLE Balmoral Castle, parish of Crathie and Brae- mar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is the private resi- dence of the British Sovereign. It stands nine hundred and twenty-six feet above sea-level on a natural platform that slopes gently down from the base of Craig Gowan to the margin of the salmon- teaming River Dee, which is crossed by a wonder- ful suspension bridge. This castle and the estate were bequeathed to Queen Victoria in 1852 from her husband Albert, Prince Consort, who had ac- quired it through Sir Robert Gordon. It was the Prince Consort who, finding the old castle not sufficiently commodious for the Royal Family erected a new one-at a cost of one hun- dred thousand pounds. The castle was in Scottish Baronial style of architecture in white Crathie granite. The castle consists of two separate blocks of buildings, united by wings. Inside the walls are papered with tartan and the floors are covered with rugs of the Balmoral tartan which the Prince Consort himself designed. At a distance the castle has a strong and imposing appearance, look- ing almost as if it had been hewn out of one huge rock. From the many high turrets, one of which is one hundred feet high, can be seen a command- ing view of the surrounding districts. To the west can be seen Braemar, to the north Glen Gairn, while one mile to the south on the hill Craig Gowan, stand the memorial monuments of Queen Victoria, Albert Prince Consort, Princess Alice and other members of the Royal Family of Great Britain. Nine miles to the west is the railway station of Ballater. Notable people of the Vic- torian Era and a good many of the Edwardian and the Georgian Eras have stepped down on its plat- form as it is the station for Balmoral Castle. DAPHNE HANSON, Grade X South.