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

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Balmoral Ziaall, 31 une, 1952. My dear Girls:- As you read this letter I want you to feel that it is a very personal letter from me to you. If it is to serve the purpose I have in mind it must of necessity be intimate in nature even though it will appear quite openly in your magazine. I write to you about your motto-Meliora Petens-and in this letter my special wish for you is that your motto may daily mean more and more to you even after you leave school. Whatever your age and grade read on and see what you can grasp of my wish for you. Meliora Petens-Seeking Better Things. This is your motto. Have you realized the fulness of its meaning as it beckons you upwards and onwards? Are you Seeking Better Things?', By the end of this school year, I want you to feel that you have grasped something of its great meaning. To do this some of you will need guidance and some of you will need encouragement. If you are truly Seeking Better Things then you are developing the power to choose aright and this power to choose rightly depends on your sense of values. What do you value most highly? Is it a life of dreamful ease where you expect someone else to provide entertainment for your leisure time or do you look about for some useful form of activity feeling with Ulysses I-low dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnishid, not to shine in use ? So many of life's tangible amusements are quite harmless but quite unsatisfying. Value them as a diversion but not as the main object in your life. Surely if you value happiness you will not be satisfied with pleasure. Therefore look about you for some form of activity where you can use your talents, great or small, to bring forth fruit. If you are truly Seeking Better Things you will develop your power to value beautiful things which will provide you with lasting joy, and this power of appreciation of beautiful things will increase year by year if you nourish it. Seek beauty therefore in the sound of rustling leaves, in mist on a mountain top, in the wings of a butterfly, in art, in music and in books. Some of you may crave admiration and feel that you are most happy if admired, but admiration if it is aroused by your successes or achievements may induce self-satisfac- tion. Perhaps popularity, a form of admiration may tempt you. But this too often demands a lowering of your standards and sometimes even a denial of the truth that is in you. If you find yourself seeking admiration or popularity think of your motto and seek something better-seek the love of a friend, for friendship, remember, gives as much as it receives. But you must learn to be a friend before you can make a friend, often sacrificing your wishes in order that hers may be fulfilled. And when your thoughts dwell on what you can do for others rather than on what others are thinking of you, you are truly Seeking Better Things and if friendship and service mean more to you than admiration and popularity, then will your life be rich indeed. And so, my dear girls, if you will set your heart on activity rather than on ease, your life will be full of interesting things to do, interesting people to meet and interesting ideas to expand. If you will remember that trivial amusements are meant only for diversion, you will realize how necessary it is to increase your power to appreciate the lovely things that bring lasting happiness. If you will let service for others mean more to you than admiration and popularity, then will you discover the richness of friendship. And on this point I close, hoping that life holds for each of you the priceless gift of true friends, and knowing that by Seeking Better Things you will develop such nobility of nature and such enthusiasm for things great and good as will place you close beside those whose companionship will complete and enrich your lives. Affectionately you rs.

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BALMORAL HALL

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lir- l Cathy Young and Sandra Vincent ,Head gaze vauamcrnnv Dear Girls, I have just been thinking about all that has happened since this time last year. Will you recall with me when we were struggling to follow a new pattern founded on the best tra- ditions of Rupert's Land and Riverbend? Those were difficult times, but we have been rewarded by seeing our school gradually grow. This year we are trying to make it not just an institution of learning, but a place where we have that feeling of kinship-of belonging. Our crests which we have just recently sewn on our tunics make us feel much more an integral part of Balmoral Hall, as do our School pins. When we first begin School I don't think we fully realize the significance of our uniform and our crest,-although we are proud to wear them. I can remember strutting along the street in Grade One, my coat slung over my right arm, hoping that everybody would see my uniform. Yet I used to forget often in those first years, what I owed to my School. Gradually, however, we become willing to accept respon- sibility. We experience leadership by being class presidents and captains of junior teams, later we may become Heads of Houses or Prefects but even if we are not on the Student Council in our final year we should still set an example for the other members of the School. However, if we are prefects we have extra responsibility. When I found myself Head Girl of Balmoral Hall I realized that this year would be brimming with opportunities. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed it--everything from reading Bible passages at Prayers to asking fathers to put generous donations in the money bowl. I have also realized that school is an invaluable experience. Perhaps if you don't agree with me now, you will when you are finishing in Grade Eleven or Twelve. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself just what you do learn at school-besides how to read and write? School equips us with so many intangible things that help to make us good citizens when we are no longer under its protective roof. We learn to be good sports in our games-winners or losers, to accept punishments, and to consider each otherls feelings. And so when I and all the other girls in Grade Eleven leave, We shall take with us what we have learned throughout these years at School. Most fresh in our minds, however, will be what we have gained this year. To Miss Murrell-Wright I would like to express our sincere thanks for all her help and for the many many things she has taught us. The Members of the Staff we shall always remember for their eagerness to help us and their interest in us. As I say goodbye to all of you at Balmoral Hall, my hope is that your future years at School will be filled with good fun and all sorts of success. I wish the best of luck to next yearis School Council, and to the third Head Girl of Balmoral Hall, I give my good wishes and hope that your year will be a rewarding one. With love to you all, Cathy