Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 31 text:

The Branksome Slogan 29 of sunlight died, we paused for a moment at the top of a hill, the vast country side stretching out before us. Suddenly there came to each of us a feeling of pride. This was Canada, our country; it is ours and we belong to it! Lost in this thought, we leaned on our ski poles for a moment and there went up to heaven at least one prayer of thanks for the freedom and the beauty that is ours. After dinner that evening sleigh-rides were organized and, as the horses ' hoofs cut the crisp snow, the clear starlit sky looked down on a sleigh, full of singing girls, all gloriously happy. A merry barn dance rounded off the evening and we sank into our beds too tired even to talk, and with a few soft good nights, the whole cabin slept. Another glorious dawn came, and another happy day, filled with laughter and spills and sunshine. But this week-end like all good things came to an end, and at six o ' clock that evening the trucks were at the door and our brief winter holiday was over. Once again, we were in the smoky Toronto station, a tired dis- pirited group, but when a sudden, dreamy look came into our eyes, you would have realized that we were still up in snow-covered Muskoka, living it all over again. JOAN ARCHIBALD (Form V A). To a Pekinsese Dog Small strange dog with turned up nose. Sitting there in haughty pose. Thou wast stolen in days of old From Peking palace midst jewels and gold. A foreigner decreed thy fate. And through the palace with thy mate He crept, in deepest hours of night. Fearful, lest thou betray his flight. He brought thee to a strange new land, Different from that palace grand, And cared for thee with patience great. Thee and thy very haughty mate. Throughout that land thou now art spread. In many mansions thou dost tread. Eyeing all with look of scorn. Knowing well where thou wast born. Small strange dog with turned up nose. Sitting there in haughty pose. Thou wast stolen in days of old. From Peking palace midst jewels and gold. RAE CAMPBELL (Form V A) .

Page 30 text:

28 The Branksome Slogan A Skiins Week- End The north-bound train, filled with laughing girls and piles of ski equipment, pulled out of the smoky Toronto station bound for snow- covered Muskoka and a week-end of sunshine and winter sports. The train steamed on through the cold January night, but inside there was laughter and singing as the girls in their bright ski clothes sang Oh Johnny Oh at the tops of their voices. It was midnight when the train drew into Huntsville. There was wild excitement among the girls and frantic searches for lost skis, or suitcases. We were at once bundled into canvas-covered trucks and taken the long eighteen miles that separated us from Limberlost Lodge. At last we arrived at the lodge, where a blazing fire and hot tea and coffee awaited us. We were put into cabins with various attractive names, ' ' House of Commons , ' ' House of Lords and Hemlock Haven . We sank into bed exhausted, but much too excited to sleep. At long last after the chatter had died down, we dropped off to sleep as the first fingers of dawn crept over the northern hills. We awoke into an almost unbelievably-beautiful world. The bright morning sun shone upon the soft white of the snow. The trees with their snow-laden boughs made grotesque but beautiful shadows on the whiteness of the covered ground. In front of us stretched a white lake, the surface of which wais absolutely unbroken by human tracks. On the opposite bank, the wooded slopes promised exciting trails for the day ' s skiing. It was indeed a wonderland. After a hearty breakfast we rushed for our skis and started out at once. On one exciting hill there was an instructor and many of us spent our time there, trying hai ' d to do a snowplow or a stem turn , usually landing on our faces, but coming up laughing and ready for more every time. Skiing is one of the most exciting sports in existence; in what other sport do you get the same feeling of elation and power as you do career- ing down a hill on skis, the wind in your hair and the world before you ? At twelve we rushed back to the lodge for a swift lunch and then we were off again ! This time it was the trails to which we turned our interest. Up almost vertical slopes, and down twisting hills we made our way. It is rather like pioneering, this skiing through trails ; there IS always the same excitement of not knowing just what is going to come next. Through the woods we went, over frozen lakes and across fields and at last turned our steps toward home. The sun was getting low in the western sky. As! the last streaks

Page 32 text:

30 The Branksome Slogan The Red Cross In 1859 Henri Durrant, a Swiss author and philosopher, stood on the blood-stained battlefield of Solferino and saw some forty thousand men dying in agony, uncared for and unattended. With a groups of the local peasants and villagers, he did what he could to alleviate the suf- ferings of these soldiers, realizing all the while, the crying need for trained assistants, and he determined, then and there, that he would devote his life to finding ways of aiding the wounded in times of battle. Little did he realize the world-wide approval with which his eff ' orts were to be received or, that eventually, those war-time plans were to become the basis for a peace-time program. Durrant had been much impressed by Florence Nightingale ' s re- ports from the Crimea, and by her suggestion that volunteers should be organized to help army doctors in time of war. Adopting this suggestion as the key-note of his program, the Swiss philosopher ' s first step was to secure the interest of a group know n as the Geneva Committee of Public Utilities. This committee was so enthusiastic regarding Durrant ' s ideas that they encouraged him to visit different countries of Europe in order to impress the governments with the need for action. On Durrant ' s return to Switzerland the Geneva Committee of Public Utilities invited the governments of the civilized nations and also a number of philanthropic societies to send representatives to a conference at Geneva, with the result that, in 1863, the conference met and, unanimously, endorsed a group of proposals which Henri Durrant in- troduced. In 1864 an International congress v aa held in Geneva and the resolutions and recommendations of the Conference of 1863 were ac- cepted and set forth in the Treaty of Geneva . Great Britain was represented at this congress and was one ' of the original signatories of the Treaty, Durrant ' s suggestion that a red cross on a white ground be the distinguishing sign of the society was adopted as a compliment to Switzerland whose national flag is composed of a white cross on a red ground. The Treaty also provided that the neutrality of ambulances and military hospitals should be recognized as long as they contained sick and wounded, and that protection should be afforded to persons and houses sheltering the sick and wounded. It was decided that the new organization be directed by a com- mittee composed of Swiss, and called the International Red Cross Com- mittee of Geneva. This group is the custodian of the Treaty which bears the signature of the original sixteen nations who agreed to it in 1864, Since that date, forty-five additional nations have joined the organi- zation.