Danforth Technical School - Tech Tatler Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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24 TECH TATLER better without the things l He had worn those glasses since he was ten years old, and he had not dreamed but that he needed them still. Welll I'll be dog-gonedl he exclaimed. Still none surprising was the change in his appearance. The boy was actually good looking. HWaddlel called Mr. Nichol- son, as he re-entered the dormitory. cc , . . Here s a special delivery letter for you.', Thank you, sir, said William taking .the letter extended to him. In his own room he opened the letter and read it. Dropping on the edge of the bed he read it again. His mouth slowly opened, panic wrote itself over his features. He gulped. HI can'tl he said, UI canitl I'd jump in the river first l He started out of his room and with eyes staring before him he walked along the corridor, and un- seeingly bumped into Morse,to that person's indignation. Instantly William's daze left him. Oh Morse! Please do me a favour! I told my cousin about the dance here and she's sending me a girl! A girl, I tell you l He paused, overwhelmed again at the prospect. Morse's shout of glee brought Martin and Vanderpool upon the scene. To his pleading that one of them take the girl they turned deaf ears. HWhat's her name ? demanded Martin. HSofia Kingston. Into peals of laughter went the boys. 'iSay, I'll bet she's some peach l ciDoes she wear her hair in pig tails F HI'll bet her teeth stick out F Soon the news was all over the school. Several more boys did the desperate William try but at length gave it up as hopeless. Even when appearance would seem a bit promising the name Sophie would spoil it all. He must hurry, he'd have to hurry if he were going to be down to meet the coach, but his unwilling spirit could not be urged on, and the coach had already moved off as William went down the front steps. Groups of boys and girls every- where l Wildly he looked over the throng. No girl that he could see who had braids and projecting teeth. He saw Morse talking to a girl and heard him say, HCome on, Sofia, let's go into the School. Sofia! That girl Sofia! William stared at her. She wore a close fitting black hat, from under whose shelter a curl of blonde hair escaped, her eyes were bright, and her teeth-I William awoke to action. HYou are Sofia Kingston F I'm VVilliam Waddle. Let me show you to the cloakroom F I'm very glad that you could come. HAnd you're Bill, she said walking up to him. HCome in where I can wash off all this dust. The Inseparables gaped after them speechlessly. In the hall he waited for her. HBill, eh F A much nicer sound than William. The others found him. 'iOh I say, Waddle, 1'1l do you that favour if you like, said Martin. Oh you needn't bother, Martin. Williams asked me to take her, didn't you, old chap F Bill looked them over. They thought they could take his girl, did they l Then he exploded and in no uncertain terms he told the Inseparables a few things. Continued on Page 28

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23 ' , Y g bep ibaht lieu' 351525 gg 'JBQ Zlatk Gastaugb V 0 0571 T happened in a boarding school 3 one of these place s where e v e r y H i g h S c h o ol b o y wishes he could go 5 one of these places where they have dormitories, professors, feeds, chums-every- thing imaginable. 9 1 muy:-' . J-S' 2-F 'QQ 3ipf,gQ5gn?3, :WZ2:zuqg:ai.'!L' ??1'5i5'i'Zf5fs5i3? i-1-fn:- g'5qp 4 512212: 23,Z'3.Q S . - Iva, '- quiz.,-. N., -' :Y 'G bb- 939' -.fling Q v Qffhsti, ' - , - ei I 'Ac sI-Q I ' 3 H ' - 9 3. For William Waddle, however it spelled one thing only-unhap- piness. Brought up in India, until he was fifteen,by an uncle who had early set about breaking the boy's spirit, he was suddenly thrust into school life in America when his Uncle had suddenly decided to marry. Some cousins of h i s mothers, elderly ladies, had offered him little kindnesses, had sent him a hamper or two, but they could not penetrate the wall which seemed to enclose the boy. His appearance was not unfavourable either. He stood about five feet four inches, of medium build, brown hair and rather fine brown eyes disfigured considerably by ugly horn-rimmed glasses. William Waddle l Even his name was against him, and that miserable, cowed look made him the natural target for many practical jokes. Three boys in particular, Martin, Morse and Vanderpool seemed banded together for the special purpose of plaguing him. Not bad fellows, on the whole, but thoughtless, and ready for a bit of fun at anyone's expense. William became their hobby, a legitimate prey. Often William thought of running away from school and of leaving its torments behind him, but where could he go F Little did he know what fate was hiding for him around the corner l The Academy Social Society was busy. Committees of a dozen varie- tieshadbeenformed,andeverywhere there was talk not of games, rowing, feeds or anything so ordinary, but girls l The three Inseparables were everywhere, writing, phoning, planning-so busy in fact that they let William go for a whole day without playing one trick on him. But alas l That same Fate that was twinkling kindly upon William grinned maliciously at them and their plans. One after another the blows fell: Martin's girl was going to Princetown for a week, Morse's admired one was down with the mumps, Vander- pool's girl turned him down Hat. Their lamentations were heard all over the school, but it was too late now to make new arrangements. Alone, as usual, William wan- dered down to the river and sat down. He stooped over to cut a twig with his pen-knife when a branch from an overhanging wil- low caught his glasses and hurled them into the stream. Too sur- prised to notice where they went he looked about him. He could see

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TECH TATLER 25 oznzoozc 02002020ozsozoozoozoozaozuzoozoozo ozuzuzoozoozoozo 300 0:0 Q 0:5 , 0 Qtecbnical ann art I. QIIIUQ .. any as. si. mein ,Eg 3 5. 0.0 ozoorbozoozqozoozo ofa 0:4020 0:0020 szoozuzoozo ozoozuzo 'Q stuff uzooroozo HE invitation for this contri- bution asked for something in the way of counsel or advice for the students of the Art classes. This seemed to me to be a bold thing to set out to do with little or no provocation, so after a struggle with it I asked for further instructions and was told I could vary it as I pleased. I regard the Technical School as a wonderful modern privilege for the vocational student or worker. As a condensing medium of ex- perience it works miracles, even in its minor details of occasional teaching it seems to give results. I had no such advantages in my young days, but I think I had some practical compensations which it may be interesting to compare. Born on a farm just being cleared, I had the good fortune to have a father of great resources, in fact, he was regarded as a jack-0f-all- trades. I, being the third son, was generally assigned as his helper, and I can remember learning to build stone work between intervals of mixing and supplying the mortar. The building of the new house came when I was sixteen years of age, and I worked with the carpenters and plasterers, andI did all the painting and glazing. I can recall the laying out of the house site: how about noon the shadows of stakes along the road fence running north and south fell in line with the fence, and a similar line of stakes were set to throw similar shadows at the house site some distance away, thus giving a parallel line. Then there was the squaring and levelling for placing the house. I can recall also how in laying stone the levelling, and pinning of courses was done and the choice of stones made to keep a well balanced face to the wall. There was a great deal of hard work to be done in such a life. As to my artistic career,I remember that at the age of eleven I wanted to be an artist, and in spare time, often by candlelight, I was drawing and painting. Much of this was copying wood engravings line for line and much inspiration was received through English magazines received through a friendly book- seller. Then came the time when I Wanted to go to the Art School which had been established in Toronto. Although not dis- couraged in this, I was induced to take an apprenticeship with a local architect, as this seemed to be a more practical occupation than that of an artist. My experience was a pleasant enough one as I threw myself at once into it to study the orders, and learn perspective. It was Art, and lots of drawing. A short time after arrangements were made by which I could go to Toronto and attend the Art School in the evenings, and work in the daytime. From 1883 to 1885 Iwas able to study in the Academy in Philadelphia. In 1889 I was back in Paris for ayear of study. For want of space this record must close. The rest is perhaps the record of the artist career-not without self-denial for advantage gained, and much hard work. The voyages for foreign travel and study had the usual hardships an Art student accepts cheerfully, and all as part of the Great Adventuref '