Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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20 TH l{ I ' RAN K SOM E SLCXiAN IN MEMORIAM— MARGARET TAYLOR SCOTT. The announcement of the death of Miss Marg-aret T. Scott, the beloved Founder, the first Principal, and later the Honorary Principal of Branksome Hall, which occurred after four months ' illness, on June 30th, 1921, at Vancouver. B.C., l rought a deep sense of personal loss to a large circle of old pupils and devoted friends. But to none did the news of the passing of Miss Scott l:)ring more regret than to the members, past and present, of the staff and Alumnae of Branksome Plall, who, through a long period of close association, were privileged to know her great worth as a loved teacher and friend. As an educationist. Miss Scott held a high place among Canadian teachers. During the course of her long and successful professional career, she was connected in her younger days for a short time with the Provincial Institute for the Blind, Brantford, and later became the Principal of Ottawa Ladies ' College. From Ottawa she moved to Toronto in the early eighties to assume the principalship of the Girls ' Model School, a position which she occupied for seventeen years. After a period of European travel. Miss Scott, in 190v3, in association with the late Miss Merrick, founded Branksome Hall, upon the site of the Sir Frank Smith estate, Bloor Street, East. From the first, the school had a marked success. The high regard in which Miss Scott was held as a leader and teacher, of winning personality and high purpose, attracted pupils at once from far and near, many of them daughters of former pupils, all of whom Miss Scott affectionately regarded as her children and grand- children. In the early days of the school, Miss Scott was ably supported by Miss Merrick, whose buoyant spirit and kindly sense of humor

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THE BRANKSOME SLOGAN 19 This is not true of the Okanagan alone. In all the most fruitful districts in British Columbia you will find the quiet but rapid invasion of the Oriental going on, and the silent withdrawal of the wdiites. In California, in 1919, there was great consternation when it was discovered that every thirteenth person was a Japanese, and yet in British Columbia, one person in every eight is an Oriental ; but birth records show that the proportions betw een white and yellow are changing with alarming rapidity. Last June, in the municipality of Richmond, Vancouver, out of twelve births registered in one day, only one was that of a white child, — all the rest were yellow. It is a part of the Oriental religion to have large families. A Canadian family of five children is exceptional. This is an average Japanese family. The entire population of British Columbia is five hundred thous- and. In the year 1920, nine hundred and seventeen Oriental chil- dren were born there, and twelve hundred and seventy-five Oriental immigrants admitted. That is, over two thousand were added to the already large yellow population in one year. These Orientals can never be assimilated. The purity of our race, and the purity of their own, forbids intermarriage. Hence we are admitting in increasing numbers an alien race, which must ever remain alien, in thought, morals, religion, patriotism, and standards of living. They will soon dominate us by sheer weight of numbers, they will dictate to us, shoulder us aside, and we will i)ass from this fair land as surely as did the Indians before us. And yet Canadians continue to calmly ignore or quietly dismiss this question as of secondary importance. It is vital to the country. Every year is adding to the num1)er of these immigrants, and they are fast becoming a political, as well as an economic prol)lem. British Columbia is the gateway to the Orient. Let once that province become swamped with the yellow people, yearly pouring in, and the gates of the Dominion are opened to Oriental invasion. On the far side of the Pacific lies Japan, with the third largest navy in the world, with an army that is increasing daily, Japan, greedy for expansion for her teeming population; and on the other. British Columbia. Canada ' s w estern bulwark, with one-eighth of her population already composed of a people who still regard JaDan as their mother-land. Is not this food for earnest thought on the part of every serious- minded Canadian? MARJORIE SHERLOCK, Form V,

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THE BRANKSOME SLOGAN 21 did so much to sustain all those who bore the strain and responsibility of the first years. In the death of Miss Merrick, Miss Scott suffered an irreparable loss. In 1910, Miss Scott felt that she must give up the more active duties of the Principalship, and became Honorary Principal. She did not, however, in any way relax her interest in the welfare of the school, but kept, even during a long period of failing health, by correspondence and otherwise, in intimate touch with a large number of the Alumnae. Like Dr. Arnold of Rugby, it was Miss Scott ' s most earnest wish to introduce a Christian j rinciple into education. To this end she sought to stimulate among the pupils the study of the Scriptures, and an active interest in mission work at home and abroad. Her zeal for the work of Ramabai. the Leper Mission, and Ludhiana Hospital, can never be forgotten. That she succeeded through her strong personal influence in making her own high ideals actual in the lives of her pupils, even long after school days were over, has been attested by many old pupils, who now acknowledge gratefully how much they owe to the strict but kindly training received from Miss Scott in younger days. Her Christian faith, expressed in her unselfish outlook upon life, her high sense of honor and duty, her love of all good and beautiful things, combined with a cultivated mind, a rare grace of manner, and a fine presence, made Miss Scott an outstanding figure among- notable Canadian women, and make her memory an imi)elling example and inspiration for all time to come. VIOLET ROBINSON. Man ' s life is but a working da} Whose tasks are set aright ; A time to work, a time to pray, And then a quiet night — And then, praise God, a quiet night, Where palms are green, and robes are white, A long-drawn breath, a balm for sorrow — And all things lovely on the morrow. CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. Margaret Scott Rogers Age 16 months.