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

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20W g g ggggg rg HONG KONG As I woke up that morning, everything seemed the same as it had been for the last few days. I scrambled down from the top bunk-there were twelve bunks plus two babies' cribs, a washbasin and a table and our luggage in a cabin, the dimen- sions of which were about twelve by twelve. I might add, that the bunks were in three layers. I got up and pulled on my clothes. The breakfast bell clanged and we went in and took our meal. After that, I went up on deck. As I walked about, enjoying the fresh air, and loving the roll of the ship, I overheard someone say that we would reach Hong Kong today. I became terribly excited and ran to tell everyone I knew, The hours passed and then, on the horizon could be seen a bluish cloud that seemed to hang above the ocean. It came nearer and nearer. Soon the shapes could be seen. There was a hilly island and then the mainland. I-long Kong was the island and it was about a mile from the mainland. Tug boats came out to meet us, and our ship shrilled a greeting. By this time everyone was on deck, waiting, watch- ing. The boat was pulled in to the pier. Ware- houses towering above it seemed almost to be falling into the water, old and weather-beaten as they were. Then began the fuss and bother of the shore passes. That over, we went to bed. I woke up the next morning with the feeling that there was something unusual in the air. The cabin was sway- ing. We were standing still. It all came back to me-we were standing still, docked at the harbour of I-long Kong, and, today we would go ashore. After a hasty breakfast, we walked or rather ran, down the gang-plank onto Chinese soil. The idea was that we would go to the mainland by ferry, and see the sights there. We could explore I-long Kong the next day, as we were staying there three days. According to our friends, we would be obliged to get camphor wood chests. Our special friend knew of someone who made them. As we walked the streets, I looked very carefully at the feet of all the Chinese girls, and to my great disappointment, none of them were bound. We passed shop windows where beautiful objects were displayed. In one window I saw an extremely pretty fan, which I had to buy. I was prepared for an argument, but to my surprise I was allowed to buy it. Chinese money is in dollars, although their dollars are of much lower value. At last we got to the chest makers After exam- ining the chests, we decided on three. Mummy, Bill and I were to have one each. Bills and mine were to be early Christmas presents. I chose one heavily carved with Chinese figures. On the side of the box, the carving showed a Chinaman pull- ing a rickshaw, while the top of the box displayed a festival scene. On the borders were deeply carved roses. Mine cost twenty dollars-a robbery there, but to us a bargain, as at home the value would probably be five times as much. Camphor wood has a beautiful scent. The next day we decided to explore Hong Kong, as yesterday we had explored Kowloon. We donned topies and sun glasses since it had been quite hot the day before. Hong Kong is quite a small island, the middle part being a hill. To get to the top you go up on elevator trains. Going up, the scenery is beautiful, but when you get to the top, it is breathtaking, for you can see for miles. We took pictures of course, for who is found in a foreign country without his camera? There we enjoyed the view while we waited for the next train down. That night, we left Hong Kong to continue our journey, and I wondered, as one does when one leaves a country, if I should ever see Hong Kong again. JOAN SHEPPARD, Grade X North. HOMEWORK Why do they give us homework? Why must we slave all night From four o'clock to ten o'clock- To make wrong answers right? Why must we ruin eyesight Burning the midnight oil? When we could do so many things Without this care and toil. Life's not a bed of roses, There's good to take with the bad. And if we don't do homework now- One day we'll wish we had. GAIL MACDONALD, Grade X North.

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- L-- L? OVERHEARD IN A BALMORAL LOCKER It was seven-thirty in the morning. This was a most dreaded time for the occupants of Locker No. Blank. For at this hour the handle of the locker door began to juggle up and down to awaken them. The shorts turned over sleepily and the gym socks tried very hard to get out of the running shoes. The old shorts muttered to the socks to get back where they belonged and promptly went to sleep. At two minutes to nine the owner of Locker No. Blank came dashing in. The old shorts groaned as a heavy metal lunch pail was thrown on top of them. The hook felt a little unsteady as a heavy coat, a blazer, a play costume, and a green balaclava were flung on to it in a matter of sec- onds. Rubbers landed on the running shoes and rudely awakened them. Angry words followed but these the student didn't hear. She was on her way, taking the stairs three at a time. Peace was restored when the blue dancing tunic finally cooled down the ruflied laces of the running shoes. The coat began to tell of its ex- ploits at a party the night before. The green balaclava questioned the truth of some of the coat's statements and a prize fight began. After about half an hour of this, during which all those who possibly could, had climbed to the top shelf of the locker to be out of danger's way, a bell rang. Much noise followed outside the locker. The door suddenly opened. The lunch pail squeaked as it was quickly grabbed, and opened, its contents were speedily demolished. Then it was thrust back and the gym equipment was yanked out, and put on. In went the tunic, and the door once more was slammed shut. Between this time and noon hour, the tunic told all that had happened in the class-room during the morn- ing. That's all you can talk about, yelled the lunch box. Now you've hurt my feelings. I can tell when I'm not appreciated, sobbed the tunic, and the door opened and the student, just as if she had heard all, came and rescued the tunic. Locker No. Blank was just like Grand Central Station. Everyone always seemed to be coming and going. Now in came the gym equipment and out went the lunch box. The gym equipment was nearly in tears, for the student had let herself take one breath and the fastener on the shorts had burst. The lunch box came back empty and hungry. And what happened that afternoon? Well, a small, insignificant bottle of ink at the back of the shelf was jealous of the attention the coat was getting so it removed its cap . . . ah, but the details are too sad to relate. ELAINE PROTHEROE, Grade VIII. DICTIONARY-ITIS I am one of many fortunate people who enjoy consulting the dictionary. I love to start from the A's and progress from there. Although I may get to the word I want quite soon, it is very un- likely, for I am a person who starts out on the right track but gets distracted by other words. Last Wednesday, I was delighted to find that I needed the help of a dictionary. I was looking for the word sincere . I knew the meaning of the word but I wanted to find out from what lan- guage it was derived. Glancing through the A's I saw the word abracadabra . I took a second glance and found that it was a mystical word-a word worn on an amulet to ward off disease. Having found that I was getting nowhere, I decided to hurry on and I skipped to G which was a considerable leap, before I was attracted by the word gargoyle . I gave that up as soon as the explanation contained too many big words. Be- cause time was getting short, I thought that maybe if I made a game of some sort, it would keep my mind on the right path. I turned to the S's and invented a game of seeing how many words I could recognize. This went on until I was sud- denly stirred by finding the word I was looking for in the first place. After finding that it was derived from both French and Latin, I closed the book. SUZANNE FLOOD, Grade VIII. Gail: Miss Hawkes, what is the difference between well and good ? Miss Hawkes: I have noticed that the only time you are good is when you're not well. TERESA THAIN, Grade X North.

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PRINCIPAL FOR A DAY One morning the principal said, The school will open at nine-thirty. Instead of mathematics this morning, you will go up to the gymnasium to play basketball. In French period, you will have Art work. All girls who have their homework done will lose one house-point, and those who didn't do their homework, will get out of school half an hour earlier. The people who have read their History, may read it over again, and those who did not read theirs, may do as they wish. In Composition period, you will practise the play, and do remember girls not to work too hard, after all, there are many days ahead of you. You will then go down to the milk and bis- cuit room where you may have ice-cream and soft drinks as a special treat because you have been working so hard. In Scripture period you will be able to design a crest for Balmoral Hall. Then came the noon hour. The girls worked hard in the afternoon, afternoon school beginning at two-thirty. Those who had not done their homework for the afternoon sessions were allowed to go home. Thus ended a perfect day. I had been prin- cipal of Balmoral Hall for a day. LYNN MASSON, Grade VIII. OUR SCHOOL DAY We stroll into the classroom, when nine o'clock has come With Good morning, Mrs. Fallis, our day has now begun. We first take out our Math. books without a sign of glee. And when we hear the lesson, we shout, Oh, goodness me. Next we see Miss Boreham with her happy smiling looks, But when we've said Good morning, she says, Get out your books. And then we start to murmur-just deep down in our throats- Oh please, whatever else we have-don't give us any notes. - ANN CARROLL, Grade IX. 21 A RIDE OVER BEAR-TOOTH MOUNTAIN ........ATNIGHT Sounds exciting, doesn't it! Actually it's breathtaking, especially at night. We had never travelled in that part of the country before, and the road map showed no signs of mountains. It was just dusk when we reached the foothills. The road was in a spiral shape up the mountain, and by the time we had reached the second twist, it was dark. We were driving about ten miles an hour, but the few cars we did meet, were going at about sixty miles per hour. How they did it is beyond me. By the time we were half way up, I had had quite enough of looking down-down into a deep gully of nothing but bare rock with a river that seemed now, no bigger than a piece of string draped across the valley below . . . far below, and so I sat on the floor of the car until we reached the top. The higher up we got, the colder it became, so we all piled on a few more coats and blankets. Finally we reached the top, and after being coaxed for quite some time, I ventured to look out of the window and what a surprise I received. It was not all rocky, but level, like a prairie and on both sides of the road there were huge piles of snow. We stopped the car and got out for a while. When we returned to the car and were about to start again, we saw car lights ahead of us, so we decided to wait until this car had passed us. As the car drew closer, we noticed that it had a trailer, of all things, behind the car. What some people won't do! I thought the drive was bad enough in a car, let alone hauling a trailer behind it. After these daring people had passed, we con- tinued our journey down the mountain side. What a thrill! We then ran out of gas. However, we were going down instead of up. I managed to keep my seat going down. We arrived at Cook City at eleven that night, and after searching around, we found a place to stay. The next morning the owner of the camp told us that we had been up eleven thousand feet and that we had missed the most beautiful scenery in that part of the country. I, however, had no in- tentions of ever going over Bear-Tooth Mountain again, no matter how beautiful it was. DIANA DUNCAN, Grade VIII.