Churchill High School - Victory Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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THE REBELLION LOSES BILL Children, I don ' t know a story, protested an aged man as his youngest grandchildren and a few great¬ grandchildren flocked around his chair. Way back when? . . . Whatever made you think of that? Well, I ' ll do the best I can. . . . Right from the beginning, our own daughter, Laura, (yes, that ' s your Aunt Laurie, Timothy), our daughter Laura was friendly with a boy named Charles Carter. When he joined the rebels in 1837, she was sure he knew what was right. He talked to her for hours about the poor way Britain governed us, and she tried to tell us some of the same nonsense. The idea that a man appointed by His Majesty the King of England couldn ' t do what was right for us! Laura was heartbroken over what happened in December. ' Of all the men around there fighting, it had to be Charles. Oh, why was it Charles? ' she kept saying. Even by Christmas she hadn’t properly re¬ covered from the shock of his death in the little rebellion. During the years until 1849, when that foolish bill came up, she never was the same. Every so often she ' d come up with a remark about how cruel the Family Compact was. Everything inside her exploded on April 25 in 1849. That was the day the Rebellion Losses Bill was signed by the lieutenant-governor. Lord Elgin. I remember that day so well. . . . I’m sure all the people in Montreal were gathered around the Assembly Building that morning. I could just barely see the governor ' s carriage over the heads of the people, as it threaded its way through the mob. I suddenly thought that here was the man who ' d bring about what Laura was still trying to convince us of. That bill, Jacques, the Rebellion Losses Bill, said the rebels should be pardoned and anyone who had suffered losses as a resut of the rebellion twelve years before should be repaid. I elbowed my way through the crowd, with Laura following after, and reached the place where the carriage would go. The man in the carriage—Lord Elgin, Thomas Douglas, the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, the man who would change the lives of all of us — sat boldly beside his brother, staring out over the crowd. His eyes lit on people with clubs, rocks, and rotten eggs, and his mouth became more grimly set. Suddenly his carriage was pelted with flying objects. I seized a small tree branch and made ready to use it in the same way, but Laura wouldn ' t let me, and a fellow beside me tore it from my hands. When she caught a glimpse of the carriage, clearing a path through the masses of humanity, Laura screamed, ' How do you ever hope to pay back MY losses? Can you send Charles back to me? ' Then she seemed to realize what she ' d done, and buried her pretty face in her hands, sobbing fitfully. As Lord Elgin passed, the thought must have crossed her mind that perhaps he was the cause of her grief, for he muttered something in a sad and worried tone to his brother beside him, who shrugged and stared vacantly into space. The carriage moved slowly towards the Assembly buildings, and I followed as close behind as I could. Somehow in the crowd Laura was separated from me, and by the time I reached the destination of the carriage and the entire crowd, she was lost to my gaze, somewhere amongst twenty-five thousand people. I pushed my way through the surging multi¬ tude, and found a window. To my disappointment, it showed only an empty corridor. I heard a sudden shout from the crowd, and I was jostled so much that my pipe dropped from my mouth. Somehow it had remained lighted even though I had completely forgotten about it, and the glowing contents of its bowl started a small fire in the dried grass. I was so startled I didn ' t think of doing any¬ thing about it, but it didn ' t spread anyway, or rather at first it didn ' t. It seemed about to go out when the breeze whipped it into a blaze that began to lick the corner of the wooden building, and then devoured the corner and attacked the entire wall. By the time the alarm was given out, the damage was beyond repair. The only thing I ' m sorry about is that the bill signed by Lord Elgin was saved. Even in all the confusion they had the confounded presence of mind to protect it from the fire. It was late at night when I reached home. Laura still wasn ' t back then, but when I finally awoke in the morning, she was there. She didn ' t say anything, and I left her to her thoughts. Her mother didn ' t say anything either, until the afternoon, after Laura had wandered out to the country about a mile and a half away. She seemed very worried about what was happening to Laura. ' Don ' t you see, William, if she doesn ' t feel her ideas are respected, she ' ll be unhappy and unsure of herself maybe all her life. She can never get married if she keeps up like this. Please, William, let me talk to her, and you show her you can understand her too, even if you don ' t believe in all she says. ' Well, I agreed, and it truly was the best thing I ever did in my life. Carol and Raymond, your mother is a fine woman, and she ' s as happy as anyone. All this looked black when it happened, but looking back I can safely say that on the whole it could hardly have turned out better. Nobody cares what I think any more, and now we have a great country. You can be proud of your country, children — very proud. If everyone was like me, you ' d have nothing to be proud of. The man closed his eyes as his thoughts lingered over the memories his mind kept playing back over and over, like a broken record nobody listens to. The children were silent for a while, but soon the spell wore off, and the strange old man was left alone with his dreams. FRASER COLLISON Grade 8, Room 15 PAGE 79

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BILL RAYNER GRADE 10 - ROOM 6 TELEVISION COMMERCIALS To millions of people in a hundred nations scattered all over the world, television commercials are absolutely revolting. Commercials have two successful functions: to brainwash the few people who may believe the announcer, and to have revenge on the disgusted cus¬ tomers who have written to the Better Business Bureau. As every viewer knows, there are several types of com¬ mercials, each disagreeable in its own way. At the head of the list come the soap commercials, of which there are three types. The beauty or deodorant soap has two settings: in the bathtub, where a woman is surrounded by buobles (which have likely been pro¬ duced by a rival company ' s soap); and on a steep snow- covered hill where a pair of amateurs are frantically attempting to ski. Powdered detergents have eye witness ' tests to see which of two stacks of laundry is the cleaner. Amazingly, none of the eye witnesses chooses ' Brand X . Is it, by any chance, a coincidence that all the eye witnesses have their glasses in their hands? The third and most disgusting soap commercial is that of the liquid dishwashing product. Each sponsor maintains that his product is the most powerful, least expensive, and gentlest of all liquids. One sponsor actually states that if a woman uses his product, she will soon look exactly like her beautiful daughter, or, as said in the commercial, just like two peas in a pod. The reason¬ able reply to this statement is, Sure, green and wrinkled! Another ridiculous type of commercial is the cigarette commercial. Every sponsor asks, to close the commercial, so why don ' t you hop down to your nearest store and pick up a carton of-, the mildest cigarette? These commercials are failures. As soon as the viewer has returned from his nearest store, the Canadian Cancer Society makes its debut on television. Cereal commercials are purely fiction. Each commercial shows the whole family out of bed early with bright smiles, singing Good morning ... As everyone knows, the only time this could possibly happen is when ihe schoolhouse has burned down, or in the case of the father, when the boss is out of town. However, we must pay due respect to these scraps of film which interrupt us at the climax of every story. These interludes do supply adequate time to wash the hands, grab a cigarette, or prepare a bowl of cereal. THREE BOOKS I WOULD LIKE TO OWN AND WHY DIANNE THATCHER GRADE 12 - ROOM 9 To live life to the lees , people must indulge in happiness, understanding and love. Being an avid reader, I have reached the conclusion that there are three books, and only these, that singularily can fulfill one of these three necessities. Could I only possess these three, I be- iieve that .throughout my life I could want nothing more in reading material, for these different pieces on life, and created within me a better understanding of human nature. These three books I shall refer to as “The Book of Happiness,” “The Book of Understanding,” and “The Book of Love.” Laughter is the best medicine for unhappiness. When I am tired and weary, disheartened and sad, it is the time to take from its hiding place on the bookshelf and blow from its time worn cover the accumulated dust, the magical Book of Happiness. Once lost in its ancient pages a whole new world awaits me, and the cares and worries will be dissolved, and washed away by the clear, crystal streams of time. No one has ever learned of the origin of this book; yet, throughout the ages it has been handed down from generation to generation to the people of this present age. I believe that no mortal being will ever understand the true meaning of happiness unless he reads from the Book of Happiness. This book is my first choice. The Book of Understanding is commonplace. Everyone in his lifetime is given the opportunity of reading from this book; yet, he may dazedly stumble through its pages, blind to the true meanings of the words, and deaf to the harmony and rhythm of the lines. Then again in definite contrast there, are those who will pore over and study this book until the full and beautiful power of understanding is firmly grasped. These people will have then attained a portion of their true value. I, too, hope to reach this excellence and that is why I make my second choice the Book of Understanding. My third and final choice, yet possibly the most valuable in this carefully selected trio would be the Book of Love. Life is based upon love — love of God, love of fellowmen and love between two people. This conception that life is based upon love is derived from the Bible. Without love, though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, I will sound no better than the sounding brass and my words will bear no more strength than the tinkling of a cymbol; thought I have the power of understanding, I am nothing should I lack the ability to love,- should I be generous and good to others, I will not profit if I am this without love. Thus I choose this book. My library is now complete and I have but one desire remaining — that I should be able to lend my books to those who would gam fulfillment and peace of mind from them. PAGE 78

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