Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 30 text:

28 The Snowdrops Swee little snowdrops, AVith yciir drooping heads. Spring ' which comes awakens you From your wintry beds. Soon it ' s good-bye, Snowdrop, For your time is done, Spring has gone so (piiclvly, And now the summer ' s come. PAULINE STANBURY (12 yearsi.

Page 29 text:

THE BRANKSOME SLOGAN 27 THINGS WE DO NOT LIKE

Page 31 text:

THE BKANKSOME SLOGAN 29 Beethoven ' s House (One of the l)uil(liii ' s i)assed and visited on a Caravan Tour). In Bonn, a beautiful old university town on the Rhine, tliere are many things to ijiterest the sight-S(HM ' ; but the particular object which holds out attention at present is a certain tall house, to tiiul which we turn our footsteps towards the oldest quarter of the city. Our way takes us at first along ' ide, well-paved stret4s. with gay shoi)S and tine modern houses on cither side. We presently leave the mam thoroughfare: gi ' adually the streets become cobbled, and grow narrower and narrower, beginning to turn and twist in a bewildering fasliion. The houses also have changed to pictur( s(|ue buildings, so ancieiit that the whole scene takes us back to a century ago, in fact we might well be transported suddenly to an entirely different city. At last our road takes an extra sharp twist, and leads into a slightly wider street, which is the one we are seeking. On one side are tall, very old houses, while on the other are odd little shoi)s with tiny lat- ticed windows and all sorts of peculiar things displayed outside. After walking some distance we stoj) before a four-storied house, whose mass- ive oak double doors open innnediately on thc street. We knock at the door, which is opened by an old woman, who, on hearing that we wish to see the house, asks us to come in. We enter a spacious, low- ceilinged hall, at the other end of which is a doorway leading, as we discover later, through the drawing-room into the kitchen, and thence to the garden. On our left is a broad, stained oak staircase, up winch our, guide takes us first. Facing the heatl of the stairs is a pai ' tly open door, through which we enter, to find ourselves in a large room, lighted by double latticed wiiulows. There is a. low, dark ceiling above our heads, and a worn, uneven oak door beneath our feet. Tliere are many glass cases in the room, with I eethoven ' s music and mainiscripts in them; other cases contain a nund)er of his musical instruments, and in a corner of the I ' oom by the window, there is a very queer, old-fashioned little ])iano, on which he used to play. On a small table in the centre of the room is yet another case, containing his quill pens, ink pots, and other writ- ing materials, l esides all these interesting things are two more, wliich we do not catch sight of till we have been looking round for a few minutes. In opi osite cornei ' S,,on tall pet ' estals, placed so that tluw face each other, are two plaster casts of this famous musician. One, his death mask, is done in black, and the face, all its lines of care and trouble smoothed away, suggests oidy peace and happiness. The other, taken some time before his death, and moulded m white ])laster. is expressive of earnestness and thought, not ununxed with anxiety and sadness. Both are startlingly imi)ressive. This room occupies the whole door, so, walking along a shoi ' t pass- age, we climb another dight of stairs, and reach the second landing. Here tjiere are two rooms. As we enter the first, our guide exi)lains that it was Beethoven ' s nursery. It is a large, sunny chamber, with, a