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

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f f Z f I J I X xxxxxs- f f S Q' , ' 4 6 Z Z Zffyfffyffyff, ,, ,, , . THE LOCKED DOOR Once upon a time Rex and William were going to take a tour of an old castle. They were anxious to see the castle because of the knights in shining armour, lances, swords, battleaxes and shields. When they went on Wednesday -they found out that they had to go around with a guide. 'Ilhey followed a party up and down long wide hallways. They were so interested in the orna- ments hanging from the walls that they didn't notice the party was far ahead. Soon Rex turned and asked where the party was. I don't know, replied William. The two boys ran up and down the wide halls calling for the party, but it did no good. It seemed difficult because the voices echoed from every side. Then they saw a door and thought the party had gone through it but it wa-s locked. Rex said, Maybe there is a secret button to get in? So the -boys set to work. They pressed the picture nearby but nothing happened. Then Rex tripped and fell on the toe of a statue and the heavy door opened. They walked in and saw many lovely paintings and rows and rows of books so they thought it was a place for storing pre- cious thing. Then BANG and as the door closed a painting fell. They saw a small door behind the painting. When they opened it, they saw a tunnel and so they climbed through. Finally they saw a speck of light and knew they were coming to the end of the tunnel. Finally when they got out of the tunnel they saw the party and called to them and the guide helped them down. Later they found out that the room they had discovered was a place to store precious books and pantings of an old King and Queen. Men had been searching for this place for hundreds of years and Rex and William had found it. DARCY MCKEAG - Grade VI 'hrenty jour N- dlll r T- N I V Spring Spring is come, The winter's o'er, The falling snow Shall be no more The small birds chirp, The children play, And everything, Is bright and gay. Now trees are in bud And flowers in bloom, Old Sol is shining And gone is the gloom. PAT DABRUS - Grade VI JUNIOR CAROL SER VICE This year, under the direction of Miss Martin, the junior School presented their own Carol Service. It was a refreshing and orig- inal prodiuction. Each class participated in its own portion of the Service, with Choral readings and Carols which everyone sang. Mary, Joseph, the angels and the slhefpfherds were portrayed very naturally. We hope the junior School will have its own Carol Service another year for it not only gave them great plea-sure to display their own talents but provided an opportun- ity for the parents to appreciate their efforts.

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THE JUNIOR IIBRARY Book displays have helped to maintain an interest in reading in the Junior School. Throughout the year, in addition to displays of books on music, composers and hobbies, we have correlated class Georgraphy studies with displays of books on France, Egypt and Scandinavia. At the time of the parents' meeting in March a special d-isplay was created to il- lustrate Mrs. Berry's report on Early Pat- terns in Reading which was given in the Junior Library. At this time the Junior Lib- rary Committee took a new look at Stepping Stones , our guide book in this area, and displayed from our shelves the best in chil- dren's classics. Successful has been the use of small class- room libraries in the junior grades. The easy- to-read books were re-organized according to reading level and subject matter and groups of books were -taken to the classroom for rea-dy distribution, an easy return and con- stand circulation. Approximately 100 new books were pro- cessed during the year and after display, found their way to the right shelf. A library committee from the senior school assisted each day with returning books to the shelves and setting up the displays. SALLY SPOHN - For the Student Committee MESSAGE FROM AFRICA On September 24, Mr. Kiisosankole from Uganda was a guest speaker at Morning Prayers. Mr. Kisonankole told the following story which could be applied to anyone of any age. A naturalist visited a man who raised chickens in the jungle of Africa. Among the chickens was an eagle which had been tamed, and which the ow-ner was sure would never fly away. The naturalist disagreed. When the eagle was placed on a fence, it fell back amongst the chickens, as it did when it was later set free from a tree. However, the naturalist was sure that if the eagle were set free in its natural habitat, it would fly away. He therefore took it to a mountain top and again released it. This time the eagle soared high above the earth. In this story we see the message that a Christian should always be worthy of his special endowments, not matter where he may be. DITTE LANSKY THE DAY IN THE COUNTRY The evening of Saturday, September 8th, brought to a close a third wonderful Day in the Country, held this year, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. G. T. Richardson, at Kelburn Stock Farms. What a day! Thanks to the timeless planning and efforts of the mothers, and the enthusiasm of the girls and the countless visi- tors who came to support us, it was again a tremendous success. Even the weather-man co-operated and after rain had fallen steadily all week until Friday night, Saturday burst forth in bright sunshine. From the bus and from cars, the girls hur- ried to find their varied jobs and were ready as the first visitors arrived. Throughout the day children of all ages competed in games of skill, enjoyed hay rides, fed animals, and in between guarded the riverbank, cleaned up the grounds, helped with pony rides or worked in the many booths. The guests were equally busy. A steady stream visited the home-baking tent in search of home-baked cakes and pies, or were seen laden with farm-freslh squash, eggs, cauli- flowers or pickling needs as they moved away from the vegetable stand. Popular again were the novel items of the handicraft booth, with excting gifts for Christmas, interesting decor- ations and all kinds of clothes for Barbie-dolls. The busy booths were surpassed only by the business at the hot dog and hamburger stands where barbecued foods were ravenously en- joyed, as well as candy, popcorn and cold drinks. Perhaps the highlight of the day's activi- ties for us was the horse racing, for which we had sold numerous tickets. To Braemar's de- light the house with the Blue banner proved to be the champion. The end of the day saw first the visitors disappear and then the cars moving away from the parking lot with tired children hap- pily bedecked with ribbons, indicating their victories, weary but happy mothers with their home-baking, vegetables and handicrafts and the senior students eagerly anticipating the results of another successful Day in the Country. DEANNA SILVESTER Tll'f'7lf1l !h1'c'r

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CLEANING THE ATTIC It was Saturday, a beautiful day and I had to clean out the attic. I hated it! First of all I opened a big chest full of old books. I read a few of them and then stacked them in neat piles in the chest. The second chest I opened was full of old snaps. Some of them were of my mother when she was young. The third and last chest was full of dresses that were too small for Mother. Suddenly, I had a good idea! I got dressed in a plain dress and a blond wig. Then I went downstairs where Mother was working. I went outsid-e and rang the bell. Mother came to answer the door. Oh, hello. I'm your new neighbour, I said in a high-pitched voi-ce. I heard there was a new neighbour, said Mother, Would you like to stay for coffee? That would be very nice, I said. I really disliked coffee. I sat down and Mother brought the coffee . . . I drank a little bit, then spluttered and coughed. What's the matter? Mother asked. Just then the wig felt uncomfortable. By accident it slipped off. Barbara! You've been playing a joke on me, said Mother in surprise. You really did fall for it, I laughed. Well, you better go back and clean the attic, said Mother. Too bad, I said as I wen-t upstairs. I didn't get out of the job of cleaning the attic. BARBARA MORRIS - Grade V THE HAUNTED Mlll An old musty building and not one single person has been near it sin-ce that weird thing has been around, they all said. That afternoon, as Alice walked home, she thought to herself, Oh, they're just old timers. What do they know about it. Why, I'll just go and see it as soon as I get home. What Alice was in for, she didn't know. As she changed from her clean, white blouse and her green tartan skirt to her jeans, she thought, I thifnk they're silly to believe that there is some thing in the mill. Alice told her mother where she was go- ing andthoughtfully walked down the street. Soon she came to where the woods began, and walked through the woods to the mill. Alice walked for what seemed miles, then out of the ground rose a tall and weed-covered build- ing. As she walked closer, the old building seemed, not a frightening place, but a friend. Suddenly, something behind her knocked her down! She was about to stifle a scream when she saw, not the weird thing as she had su-pposed, but a sweet little fawn. She followed it till it entered the mill, then she paused. What would lie ahead. Alice wasn't sure, as she entered the lonely, desolate place. Almost before she stepped in, a weird whistling noise made Alice jump. She turned around quickly to see nothing but a small hole in the wall where the wind had been blowing through, but that wasn't all! Slowly a weird, white figure passed by the hole. A streak of fright passed down her back like a cold hand. Come on now, Alice, she said firmly, you don't believe in ghosts, do you? She made up her mind quickly, and cau- tiously she walked to what seemed like a door and looked around where the strange figure had been. Oh! she screamed with laughter and re- lief, It isn't a ghost at all. It's just an old rag. Why, I must have seen it as it fell from this nail, she pointed at a rusty old nail. What fools they are to believe in such rub- bish. But I'l1 let them have their little game and I won't tell. JANE LAWSON - Grade V FIIN WITH FRENCH On February 16, the parents of the junior students attended a demonstration of a new teaching method of French conversation, con- ducted by Madame Ragot - Bonjour Line . After watching slides and listen-ing to correlated tapes, the students repeated in French the explanation of each picture. This method captures the interest of the young students, and furthers their ability to con- verse in French. Both the parents and the pupils enjoyed the demonstration, and appre- ciated the afternoon of Fun with French. BON!0llR UNE Bonjour Line i-s our new method of learn- ing French conversation. Grades IV, V and VI use this new method. There are twelve les- sons in all. It's easy and enjoyable to learn because the stories are exciting and because of the slides. We have tapes for each lesson and we repeat the words after it. Wednes- days we have a French visitor, Madame Ragot whom we all like very much. We also have a better accent now because of the tape and because we can't speak English at the lesson. We hope that the grades below us will like it as much as we have. JANE LAWSON and BARBARA MORRIS -- Grade V Tll'f'I1f,ll jim'