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

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17 One of my earrings is gone! she exclaimed as she began rummaging in her purse. A frantic hour of searching followed, but it produced nothing. The next day they went back to the theatre and inquired, but the clerk told them that no earring had been found. During the trip home, the incessant clicking of the train's wheels only served to imprint more Hrmly in Madeleine's mind the fact that she had lost a diamond earring, an article of great value. While the others reviewed the wonders of the past week, she could only think of her loss, and wonder how she was going to face her family, especially Aunt Connie. Back in Hamilton, she nearly went hoarse telling of the wonderful time she had had, and asking about local events. Several of her relations, including Aunt Connie, had dropped in to welcome her home, and Madeleine dreaded the moment that one of them would ask a question about her earrings. Fortunately, no one did. When everyone was leaving, Madeline sighed with relief, determining to tell her family about the loss the next day. As her aunt left the house, she said, I am so glad you had such a lovely time, dear, and I know you will become a great actress. When you make your debut, I shall give you a pair of real diamond earrings. SARA ALLAN, Grade X . ..,T,.... The Little Lion-Tamer Sally Baker was a lionftamer, or she tried to be. Her father was a very famous animal tamer, and occasionally he gave a show at the circus. When Sally was six she became fast friends with Leo, Mr. Baker's best performer. Leo took the same place in her life that a cat or dog takes in most other children's. Sally would spend hours at a time training Leo or playing pranks on him, but whatever she did, Leo never growled or clawed at her. Time after time Sally would sit, beaming, as Leo took all the bows for his wonderful performances. When Sally was ten years old her father gave her permission to enter the lion's cage during the act and perform with Leo. Sally was thrilled and practised her tricks constantly with Leo till they both knew them by heart. When the circus posters came out, Sally proudly showed Leo their pictures. As the day of their first performance neared, Sally began to feel nervous, but with a little reassurance from her father, all went well. Hearing the thundering applause, Sally felt more at ease. Gradually the act became just a regular routine to her. One terrible day, however, Leo stumbled and crashed to the floor while balancing on his stool. The next week, Mr. Baker brought home another lion who had not even attained his full mane. Sally cried bitterly all night at the thought of losing Leo, and vowed she would never enter the ring again. Nevertheless, in the morning, she followed her father into the cage, resolving to help Stevie, the new lion, as best she could. Slowly and painfully, Sally, Mr. Baker and Leo trained him. In spite of this, the young lion was jealous of the older one, and he constantly growled at Leo, provoking him to iight. Leo, being as wise as he was old, refused to be tempted by these challenges. Painfully the weeks dragged by, and the season was coming to a close. At last, it was felt that Stevie was ready for the ring which would lead to his fame and Leo's retirement. Sally felt sad when the Grand Finale came, this was to be Leo's last performance in the circus ring. Stevie, who had never before witnessed the rush and excitement that went on when the circus was preparing to close for winter, became dangerf ously uneasy. Consequently, when the lion's act came, he was very jumpy and had to be prodded several times with the whip. After a minute or two, Sally entered the cage and went over to give Leo a reassuring pat before snapped her fingers, they started. Then she calling Stevie over, and as she did so, Mr. Baker turned to face the audience for a second. Stevie crouched. The audience shrieked in terror, Mr. Baker whipped round, tiring his gun, but the bullets sailed over Stevie's head as he lunged towards Sally. Then Leo saw his chance, and with a mighty roar, he sprang from his stool, knocking Stevie off his feet. This was enough, and Stevie backed reluctantly away. Leo, seeing that Sally was safe in her father's arms, returned to his corner. Once again, Leo was the hero of the circus! SUZANNB EVANS, Grade VIII An Interruption The moon shone down from her heavenly tower Through the silver leaves of a wilting flower, All was silent, all was still In that forest upon the hill. Although in the daytime they were gay. Rabbits and squirrels now sleeping lay, All was silent, all was still In that forest upon the hill. The deer were sleeping in coverts when An owl went Whoo in the night, and then All was silent, all was still In that forest upon the hill. NORA BAKER, Grade VII

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16 Winter's Night Cold moon stares on white expanse And watches Renard's sly advance, Whirling wisps of snow appear As rabbits leap the drifts in fear, Snowy flakes to blanket all Like stars from heaven gently fall. Soon the trees begin to wail, CThey're telling of a winter's galejg Treetops in the wind are toss'dg The moon behind the clouds is lost. Now the snow falls thick and fast, Driven by the tempest's blast. When the night at last gives way Before the pleasant light of day, What an artist could have done With bright blue sky and redden'd sun, And the little chickadees Afflitting through the frosty trees! PATRICIA McMAi-ioN, Grade VIII All That Glitters . . . Madeleine waited until her father was com- fortably settled with his coffee before bringing up the matter that had been uppermost in her mind all through dinner. L'Dad, there is a conference in New York this Easter, she began, wand all the dramatic clubs are sending two representatives to it. Miss Sparling said I was a possibility for one of ours, and that I should ask you if I could go. May I? Please? Mr. Smith would not give an immediate answer. He had a methodical mind, and wanted to know who would be in charge, details of the plans, and other things which were, to Madeleine, quite trivial. However, she promised to find the answers to these questions since without them the idea was obviously not to be considered. The next day there was a meeting of the Dramatic Club, when Miss Sparling gave them more details about the proposed trip. To Made' leine's dismay, her archfrival, Jane Patterson, was very interested in it, and, furthermore, her parents had apparently consented without reservation to her going. If that isn't just like her, thought Madeleine bitterly. 'lShe always gets everything she wants. Well, this is one time when she is going to have to earn it! The teacher explained that to qualify for the trip, each person would have to achieve good marks while learning a part from a play to demon' strate his acting ability. The choice would also be made on the basis of the person's ability to work with others, she added. Madeleine resolved to be pleasant to Jane Patterson at all costs. By dint of ceaseless persuasion, she wrung her parents' consent from them, thus surmounting obstacle Number One. Obstacle Number Two presented a greater difficulty, however, for it concerned that old bugbear, money. The Little Theatre of Hamilton had agreed to pay the railway fares, but that still left the hotel bill. Mr. Smith promised to meet Madeleine halffway on that, and so she began to work towards her goal. Babyfsitting seemed the most logical way to earn the money, and so almost every evening saw her putting a neighbourhood child to bed. When her homework was done, she spent the evenings learning the part of Portia in the court scene from The Merchant of Venice. The day for the test came at last. All morning, lines from the play kept flitting through her mind, but, try as she would, she could not conjure up the whole part. Several times Madeleine came in for rebukes for inattention, and her answers to questions were far enough off the track to bring a gleam into jane Patterson's eyes. At two o'clock she went to the hall, with her knees knocking like castanets. Once she had begun the opening line, however, Madeleine lost herself in the part as she always did. As soon as she had finished, she returned to class and tried to prepare herself for the possible forthcoming disappointment. When the bell finally rang for assembly, every' one's excitement had reached fever pitch. The teacher came straight to the point, saying, We have had a very difficult time choosing from among our excellent candidates, but we have decided that the two who deserve this trip most are David Atkinson and Madeleine Smith. Amid the burst of clapping that followed, Madeleine sat in a happy daze while her friends congratulated her. The remaining two weeks before their def parture flew by. With the financial problem now overcome, Madeleine's thoughts turned to clothes. Mr. Smith hovered suspiciously in the background while several outfits were made, and he was at last persuaded to let her have a new party dress. An added surprise was the gift of a pair of diamond ear' rings from her aunt, to wear with the new dress. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were astonished at such ex' travagance, but Madeleine accepted the gift calmly. After all, she had been chosen to go to New York, and so nothing seemed impossible. Her parents watched her leave with mixed feelings, secrectly hoping that all this unaccustomf ed attention would not spoil their daughter. The week in New York passed in a whirlwind of dramatic classes, sightfseeing, shopping, and meeting people. On their last night they went to the opening performance of a new Broadway play. When they returned to the hotel and were pgeparing for bed, Madeleine suddenly gave a s riek.

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18 The First Supper As a newfborn baby enters the alien world, so did I enter Balmoral Hall's dining room one fall evening two long years ago. Timidly following the processior., I took my place behind a chair. During grace, my anxious stomach grumbled continuously until I was positive all eyes were focussed on me. As soon as the Amen was said, I pulled back my chair which screeched piercingly over the freshly waxed tiles. As I peered at the conglomeration of pickles, flowers, jugs, and strange faces, I felt a wild desire to take refuge under the table. But, summoning all my courage, I snatched my napkin and unfolded it neatly in my lap. Then it began! Plates this way, no, that way, all as organized as a production line in a factory. When the deliciousflooking food ceased whizzing by, I uttered my first word of the evening, P . . . pa . . . pardon? The tall girl with the horn' rimmed glasses patiently repeated her question, Would you care for a glass of milk? In my confusion, I said I would, when I would really have preferred water. I felt a polite tap on my shoulder and heard a whispered, Please pass the pickles. Everyone began to eat. I glanced at the inviting food placed before me, and as a feeling of homesickness swept over me, I suddenly lost my appetite. Placing my left hand carefully in my lap, I realized with horror that my napkin had dis' appeared! Casually leaning back, I glanced under the table, and there it lay, just a few inches from my feet. I placed the toe of my shoe on its corner and dragged it to the edge of the chair. With great dexterity I manoeuvered it up the chair leg into my hand. Clutching it with firm resolution, I tucked it into the top of my skirt. Once more concentrating on my dinner, I clasped my fork and began eating. The green peas seemed but a menace, as each time I successfully gathered a few on my fork, they fell back again with a noisy plop. Taking my knife, I realized that everyone was skilfully using both knife and fork together. And so, not wishing to be a black sheep, I desperately tried to eat with both tools. Finally, the slim, darkfhaired girl on my left attempted to begin a conversation with the usual, What is your name, and where are you from? Answering in my loudest voice, which at that time resembled my grandmothers voice when stricken with laryngitis, I said, Karen jones, from Cntariof' At this, she laughed gaily and told me that her mother had sent her to a private school for the sake of keeping up with the jonesesf' At that moment, however, I felt that the Joneses were having trouble keeping up with themselves. Unconsciously, I started to relax and even to enjoy myself. When I had finished, I placed my knife and fork together on my plate, and was relieved to notice that everyone else had done likewise. I watched the two girls effortlessly clearing the table and wondered how long it would take me to learn. As the strawberry shortcake was placed before me, my appetite quickly returned, and with great relish, I tasted the rich whipped cream. Soon everyone was talking freely, and we all seemed like old friends. By the time that the concluding grace was said, all tension had dis' appeared and I felt quite at home. KAREN JONES, Grade X The Ballad of Wolseley Street Come listen now, all gather round, Whilst I a story tell About a tree on Wolseley Street The city wish'd to fell. There came five men with axe and saw To smite its noble browg The women of the neighbourhood Began to raise a row. They ranged themselves around the tree That bright and sunny day, They would not let the men approach To take their tree away. ss Now, ladies ye must all be off, A stern policeman said. But the ladies did not moveg eftsoons, The policeman moved instead. The city called upon the Mayor To come and still the crowd. He came'-and drove away the meng The women cheered right loud. sn. Come down now, birdie, from that tree, The women loudly cried. The workman came right swiftly down, Though blushing like a bride. The workmen left, the crowd dispersed, The autumn wind blew chill, And thus today, in majesty, The victor stands there still. SARA ALLAN, Grade X