Eastern High School of Commerce - Eastern Echo Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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44 EASTERN ECHO And in the summer, ly-ing in a yielding hammock or drifting boat, whifle energetic friends are hiking or swimming, a book again rises to the olccasi-on. A new life unfolds-from between the covers of a book. And, before you leave, glance again at the opening quotation, study it, and then realize that more true or complete words were never spoken. -Thomas Tmmphour, 4G, 201. Cn Talk FEW days ago, I afttended a local theatre. The usher escorted rme to a seat be-hind two young girls about fifteen or sixteen years of age. Every few moments one of the young damsels 'thought of some remark, in her opinion, witty, and unable to keep it to herself shared it with her frien-d. This social fbultterHy obliged her with an equally 'brighlt reply. The repartee continued for at least five minutes and then they began to talk about everything under the sun, from the latest fashions to Rudy Vallee, the young man w-irtfh such a romantic voice. Between pauses in etheirpchatter, which were few and far between, I managed to catch disjointed words from the movie players, which only served to in-crease my anger. At last I saw a vacant seat in the next ro-w and you may 'be su-re I availed myself of the opportunity of escaping from the garrulous pair. Luck-ily this seat was among persons less sociably in-clined. This incident started me thinking of the part talk plays in life. A lawyer with the gift of the gab can by his clever use of words suroceed in having a fprisoner, who is really guilt-y of a certain offence, acquitted. During our present depression the communists have by their soap-box or-ations aroused mobs of unemployed and hungry men into attacking their former empiloyers and destruction of bolth life and property has been the outcome. Then .there are those who talk about nothing in particular and everyth-ing in general, as did .my young friends of the theatre. Th-is is aptly shown by Bassan-io's speecharbout Gramtiano in the Merchant off Venice: 'cGratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff, you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have the-m, they are not worth the search. -Shakespeare. These peo-ple are usually 'the ones who make the least suc-cess in life. Many a time has a person's reputation been ruined by the slan-der- -ing, gossipin-g talk of 'men and women who are jeailous of his or her reputation, wealth or beauty. A few sentences frorm men su-ch as Napoleon or Wellington have decided the fate of hundreds of thousands of persons. Ta-lk is also an indication of the temperaime-nt and 'habits of t-he speaker, as -the slow, -drawling speech of the easy-going co-wtbov in contrast with the quick, crisp tones of the tense and energetic busi- ness man. On the other hand, talk has been of great benefit to oiviflizati-on. An excellent speaker-can do a great deal of good as well as harm. On

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EASTERN ECHO - 45 Sundays the ministers put new hope into the hearts of many in their congregation and teach them to, Do unto others as you would they should do unto you. A few words of praise and cheer when we are downcast and depressed will go a long way in helping us to face life with a smile and make the best of our situation. Great orators as Demosthenes of Greece, or Cicero of Rome, have so influenced multi- tudes of people that tyranny and corruption have been overthrown, and industry and culture arisen in their place. Good poetry helps us In understand the wonders of nature and Fills our minds with beautiful and inspiring -thoughts. The direct, clear, simple and powerful words of Abraham Lincoln were the chief cause of the abolition of slavery in the United States and his Gettysburg -Xddress will always lixe in the memory of the American people. Even in our own public speaking work. by learning to ta-lk intelligently and constructively, we are de- veloping self--confidence and increasing our chance of success in the future. - In conclusion, talk has helped in the making of history, in relieving pain and sorrow and in developing character. E C. A. Bailey. 4GZ. Essays Inspiration T is said that inspiration comes but once. It is like a glowing Hanie. It shows up the dark paths of doubt. weariness. unhappiness an-l hopelessness with its white burning flame. It shows up every crevice, hole and twist in the dark path you are wandering on. The path is shown to you as clear as light before you, so as you can go on accomplishing what you have pondered over for so long. To illustrate this, here is a story of a girl, a school-girl. who was to hand in the next day's story. She is tired, vexed and all ready to give up as hope- less. Arden was her name. She looked out the window at her side. where -the lacy curtains were billowing in like clouds. .-Xrden looked out upon cobbled roads, quaint old houses, dared with age, and as she looked on up the street. which rose to a hill. a street-musician came strolling down the street. with his violin cupped lovingly under his chin. Arden could not hear the music yet. so she leaned over the window to catch the haunting strains of the wandering gypsy's violin. X sad. unforgetable and inspiring melody poured from the musician's box. The girl could not place the song for a time. but as the street-player shuffled oh' into the misty twil-ight. the tune struck some forgotten cord in Arden's mind, it was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The song's dreamy and sad melody made something burst into flame in the girl's brain and she returned to the desk and sat down and wrote one of the sweetest and most appealing short stories ever handed into her class. Inspiration has been sung by singers. written of by poets and writers and acted by players, but to this girl on that night, inspiration seemed to comc from out of the sky. just like a falling star. But in conclusion, l sav in this case it was the 'homeless violinist's music that showed the path to success up in brilliant relief in .Nrden's deadened brain. ' -E. Hnrurll. 3S2.