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

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K ' r i -sq MQQ S2-Ma ifw -15 SCHOOL LIFE 41' A-, . bmll - Ffsu..

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I6 coat from his shoulders, and put a brightly col- ored strip of material around his neck. Now he slowed down, having reached a corner. He knot- ted it into a huge knot, and gazed lovingly down at it. There was a beautiful native girl, artistically hand-painted against a striking background of strong palm trees and exotic pink flamingoes. He smiled, and with a laugh disappeared into the darkness. Nora Anne Richards, Grade XI. Terror Before Triumph I strove to steady my shaking hand as jim directed me in the applying of grease paint to his disappearing features. Widen my nose-here, and he handed me a black tube. Oh brother, what a mess! I mumbled as I attempted to smear the grease on. I shuddered to think that in a few minutes, I would lovingly be stroking that hideous mess when I portrayed my role of Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in love with an Ass. Does he look like an ass? I thought des- perately, as I checked the brown stockings stretched over wire frames. They were rather precariously fastened to the top of his head with adhesive tape. I had a panicky feeling he didn't, which made the butterfiies in my stomach flutter more vigorously than before. I was feeling very uneasy and deserted in the stillness of the vacant dressing room, lost in the depths of the Nelson Civic Auditorium. If only Miss Stevenson, our coach, could have been there to supervise these last hectic minutes! And what was the time! Neither of us had a watch. All we knew was that there were miles of corridors and stairs to find our way along to the stage and there-that black audience with the one little light and a bell beside it, the adjudicator's desk! My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the cement passageway. Then Miss Stevenson's voice called out, jim, jim, where are you?'! Two seconds later she burst in on us and an- nounced, They've been waiting fire mizmfer for ou. Y Help! I shrieked and frantically started to gather up parts of my costume, not forgetting my paper posies. Miss Stevenson, gasped as she saw the conglomeration of muck on jim's face and then she fiew at him with a bunch of Kleenex. Take that off, she ordered. You'll look better without ir. My mother's dining room curtains which were draped on me in such a way as to resemble a fairy costume presented quite a problem on the stairs as I tripped on them at every step. But finally I made my way along the last hall before the stage door. I remember hearing the running footsteps of both jim and Miss Stevenson behind me, Miss Steven- son giving orders for making jim's costume resemble a little more closely the character of his part, and poor jim trying to carry them out as he ran! At last I reached the bright lights of the stage and gathering up a green, furry blanket which was to be our mossy bank rushed onto the stage. I hurriedly arranged the blanket on a piano bench in the centre of the stage, praying all the while that the curtains would not open. Then I dropped a few of my paper posies on it and, hear- ing the swish of the parting curtains behind me, dashed for the wings. The next moment I was Titania, the fairy queen, leading my lover the Ass, into my mossy bower. After it was all over, a hopeless feeling came over me as I tried to compare our performance with that of the other entrants in the Shakespeare under 21 Class. So many things that we had re- hearsed, we had forgotten! I tried to congratulate gaily the other contestants as they came off the stage, but I felt so small and unimportant! Then the adjudicator was on the stage and read- ing the criticism of the first group, ours. A well- timed entrance was one of the few things I re- member her saying. Next she read the adjudicat- ion of the other groups. At the end of this a hush fell over the audience as everyone strained to hear the marks. First, with 85 marks is - Group One from Trail. And the next thing I knew I was on the stage receiving the silver cup and certificate and not knowing how it all happened! 7 Mary-Kaye Simpkinson Grade X. As I Went By On the long, dark road, In the cold winter's night, The diamond-dropped stars gave an icy light, As I went by. .The silent trees in their shrouds of white Looked down as they heard my steps in the snow, While the smiling old moon seemed to say Hello, As I went by. While travelling along that road alone I wondered how any could fail to see This beautiful winter-land-my home, And the stars and the trees agreed with me, As I went by. joan Laird, Grade XII.

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I8 Room Inspection 'Twas the night of inspection And all in the Bunk Room Were busy and bustling To clean up their junk room. Their dressers are tidy, Their cupboards are spotless In hope that their mistress Would not think them thoughtless. The twins were all ready, Doreen had just finished While Nancy as usual Found time quite diminished. Then up the long stairs Climbs their brave Headmistress, She's headed this way For a shock and much distress. When what to her wondering Eyes should appear As she opens the door And around it does peer? She finds her dear boarders- Oh she's so much surprised- Why, they're all in their beds- Not at all as surmised. Why Diana, why Dawna, Why Nancy and Doreen, The room is so tidy, The cupboard so clean. They've all been good children, She bids them Sleep tight, Now girls, no more talking, Lights out, and Good-night! Doreen Nichol, Grade X. Places I Should Like to Visit Not long ago I was asked what I would do if I were suddenly left a fortune by a rich and doting aunt. I immediately replied, without even having to think, Why, I should go to England, of course! I didn't have to think about my reply because all that had been done before, in fact, I have been thinking constantly about it for nearly as long as I can remember. Perhaps my great longing and affection for the British Isles began when I went to live there at the age of one and one half. One and one half is an impressionable age, and although few people besides my parents will seriously believe me, I remember a surprising amount about that period in my life. I can remember the boat, the grey sea all around us, and the terrifying noise made by the bugler in white uniform calling us to lunch. QI think that was his motive.j I remember lying on my back in a cot and gazing at the ceiling, supposedly being sea-sick, although I am told by my mother that I weathered the storm consider- ably better than my father. I also remember run- ning about on the decks and I have a faint recol- lection of some rather rowdy singers to whom, I am told, I made several uncomplimentary remarks. All this I long to do again. In London I remember our flat, the paved court- yard outside, and walks in Regents Park. We lived across the road from one end of it in a place called Rossmore Court, and every morning Mummy and I went to play on the swings and in the sand- pile, to feed the birds by the pond, or to go for a boat ride, fit seems to me the rowboats were yellow and red stripedj. Occasionally my father took me canoeing in order to show off his Canadian woodsman's skill in paddling, to the onlooking English, but they never seemed to learn. One of my clearest memories is that of the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. I remember the pond beside it too, chiefly because I had a friend named Robin who fell in and emerged with pollywogs and weeds all over his trousers. I remember all sorts of other things as well- Hampstead Heath, the green grocer - but I am digressing. This attachment of mine to England and things English has been kept up all through my long life by various forces: English friends, horses and riding Qproperly, not in Western tackj, English films, Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, trifie, Shakespeare, the Royal Family, influence of ances- tors, etcetera, etcetera, until now I can hardly bear to be here, and not there. I have decided that the simplest and quickest way of making the crossing would be by tramp steamer or cattle boat, and I hear that wages are pretty fair. Having arrived, I would first make a con- centrated tour of Scotland and Ireland, making sure of missing no village or hamlet. Having satis- fied myself on that score, I would return to Lon- don, explore it thoroughly, and then set up head- quarters there from which I would branch out in all directions, one at a time, and investigate the sur- rounding countryside. On the way I would choose for myself a smallish farm in a district where there was hunting, and retire there at the conclusion of my travels with a couple of thoroughbred, or per- haps Anglo-Arab hunters. Perhaps I should not say conclusion, because my travels would con- tinue till I was familiar with every stone, wood, inn, birthplace and street in England, in the Brit- :sn Isles, and even after that. And then I would begin on Paris. Oh, for a rich fand dotingj aunt! Ann Jennings, Grade XII.