Elmira District Secondary School - Oracle Yearbook (Elmira, Ontario Canada)

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THE ORACLE 15 ORATUBICAL CDNTEST Since this was the first E.H.S. public speaking contest, the quantity, but not the quality, of the speeches was lacking. Betty Yanchus, the chairman, called on Ruth Weismiller, the first speaker and only girl, who delivered an excellent speech. It concerned her trials and tribulations in choosing a subject. Next came Murray Hilliard, who revealed some interesting sidelights on Japan and Japanese aims and beliefs. Albert Lorch followed, and spoke on a very timely topic, namely, uOn Choosing a Career . uSuomi',, Ian Marr's subject, concerned the development of Finland and a description of Finnish culture and environment. Arthur Weichel in the concluding speech chose, uDem0cracy at Stakev, setting before us the aims, principles and concepts of democracy, and the way in which democratic na- tions too often forget their obligations to one another. The judges, Miss Axford, Miss Evans and Miss Boland, after careful de- liberation, 'decided on the winnersg namely, Ruth Weismiller for the girls and Arthur Weichel for the boys. Their decision was acclaimed by the whole student body, and a sing-song, with Mildred Mohr at the piano, ended the programme, encore next year! --IAN MARK, XIII THE PREPARATIDN 0F MY SPEECH Uunioir Prize, Oratorical Contestj I'll do it-no, I won,tl 4'Oh, come on, you're afraid. You couldn't do it anyway, and you know you couldn't. It seemed as though the gremlins were at it again, arguing and trying to per- suade me not to attempt such a difficult task. Such were my inner feelings when I first had any thought of bringing my- self up on this stage, and worse still were they, when I thought of talking to you to-day. Then I tried to imagine my- self as some great orator, such as the Roman Cicero, delivering an essay on some philosophy of life to an amazed and awed audience, as I pounded away with my clenched fists trying to con- vince them and undoubtedly myself. I could also picture my meagre self standing on some beautiful rostrum, like our huge ubrother Mussolini , with my protruding chin, blabbing away to the thousands below, how we were winning the war and advancing our enemies- backwards. - After having recovered slightly from such hideous thoughts, I sat down and tried to scratch a few words, with which I might stammer away to-day. More than one of my ill-starred beginnings floated merrily on its Way to the waste basket as I became more and more dis- gusted with myself and threatened to hoist the white Hag. However, persist- ence in my effort duly rewarded me with what seemed to be a fair start. Indeed, now that I was beginning to pride myself on being able to compose such phrases, my plan seemed to take wings as I hastened over the para- graphs in recurring spurts, my eager- ness being hindered only by my remark- able inability. Words came to my mind which I never knew were buried in my limited vocabulary, and I became Very well satisfied that I was progressing so well in my arduous undertaking. In- deed, for several days, I seemed to be literally wading amongst words, pick- ing one up here and another there, and no doubt misplacing them in my essay. Finally, it became harder to put things down on paper, and I determined to turn my thoughts toward a conclu- sion. Once more, I seemed lost, as my former frantic feeling loomed up dark in front of me, but, rallying behind my courage, I struggled on blindly against onrushing odds to an ending. I breathed a sigh of relief, with a radiant smile on my face, as I realized that I had com- pleted my speech. Suddenly! there dawned on me the

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14 THE ORACLE DEMOCRACY AT STAKE K Senior Prize, Oratorical Contestj u0n all great subjects much remains to be said. These words by Mill might readily be applied to the subject of my talk this afternoon, NDemocracy at Stake. What is democracy? Abe Lincoln de- fined it as government of, for, and by the people. Democracy's basic moral purpose is respect for the individual human being. Chinaman, Greek, Rus- sian or Slav-these all have the same opportunity for enterprise and the same chance to express their opinion, in an ideal democracy, as a Canadian or an American. If only we could realize the responsibility to preserve and improve this form of government which is part of us and which demands our attention! Democracy was the achievement of a long, hard struggle. It progressed gradually through revolutions, wars for independence, the press, a greater fran- chise, and industry. The struggle has not ended yet. The present war has brought most of Europe and much of Asia under ruthless dictatorships. These European totalitarian nations present a real threat to our way of life. They have clear definite ideas and aims. Oh, that the aims of democracy were more generally and better understood! The Nazis appeal to the emotions of their citizens by rising in protest and crying out against the injustice of the Ver- sailles Treaty. Those totalitarian states also make use of the resources and scientific research of western civiliza- tion. But there exists another threat, far greater, to which we must devote our thoughts. That is, that we fail to realize that we must have a fuller understand- ing and a better application of the principles of democracy. What are some of these principles? First, it is the duty and privilege of every Canadian- whether a merchant, teacher, lawyer, stenographer, or housewife-to share in making decisions concerning general policies that affect the welfare of all. In other words, all of us, when we are old enough-let us not take an indiffer- ent attitude towards politics, let us learn what political parties stand for, and on election day go to the polls and cast our votes. Second, we must be willing to abide by majority decisions. How often an enthusiast of a particu- lar party on its defeat, starts slandering the opposition and unjustly criticizing it. The co-operation of such a man would be much better for the welfare of his country, but, if he still disagrees with the partyis policy, he may vote against it at the next election. lVIr. Willkie, after his defeat by President Roosevelt, put political prejudice aside and set an unparalleled example of co- operation with that government. The right of the minority to continue to ex- press their conviction, however, is not hampered in the least. Lastly, each in- dividual has the right to live his own life. He may choose any means of livelihood that he desires, he may wor- ship according to his own conscience, he need not fear persecution by those in authority-how unlike the dictator- ships of Europe!-and he is offered free education in his youth so that he may lead the way in putting the principles of democracy into effect. We could not endure a national de- feat that would take all or any of these privileges away. Nor dare we suffer an internal defeat in which we do not take advantage of democratic' privileges and do not understand thoroughly demo- cratic principles. We must pledge a re- newed faith in them and a renewed de- votion to them. Then will our beloved democracy survive and it will do more than that. It will grow and fiourish and improve till the best form of govern- ment possible, that will last through the ages, shall be evolved. Let us strive for the necessary understanding and truly make use of the wonderful privileges of democracy. -ARTHUR WEICHEL, XIII

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16 THE ORACLE: fact that it would be necessary to memorize my words. Accordingly in a down-hearted manner, I began to com- mit my oration to memory. I had never before realized how hard it was to learn some meaningless words by heart. Uver the sentences I stumbled, repeating each word an endless number of times until they became quite boring. As I attempt- ed to ramble on, words became mixed and sentences seemed to go better back- wards than forwards. I tried to visual- ize how I would tremble and shake up here, what I would do if I should be- come mixed up or if I were to recite some sentence in its improper order. Again I became worried and excited, and once more in my rage, the basket became the receptacle for my wasted time and efforts as I hurled awaymy manuscript. And so, as I stand before you, having reached my final conclu- sion, I become thoroughly flustered and speech-less. -RUTH WEISMILLER, IXB - i ..i.,, SUOMl North of forty-ninen is a country of lake and forest, farm and field. Its people call it Suomi , land of the marshes-we call it Finland, a northern land like our own country, stretching to the Arctic. Many centuries ago a brave, proud tribe appeared in Europe to the east of the Volga. There they divided. Some followed the Danube west to the plains of Hungary. They are the Magyars of to-day. The others wandered to the north-west to what is now Finland and Esthonia. They drove out the Lapps and named their new country, Suomi , where to this day there are more mos- quitoes to the square inch than in any other place in the world. In the twelfth century Finland was Christianized by the Swedes and from then on faced west instead of east to Russia. At the Reformation, Finland again followed the example of Sweden and became Lutheran. As this little country was the no-man's land be- tween Sweden and Russia it was fought over continually until in the Napoleonic Wars, Alexander of Russia took it from Sweden. He gave very liberal terms to the Finns. Their country was made the Grand Duchy of Finland, given demo- cratic government, real home rule. It had its own schools, religion, and no compulsory military service. But Nich- olas II, the curse of Russia from 1894- to 1905, tried to bring Finland directly under Russian control by taking away its century-old Home Rule granted by Alexander. During the war of 1914.- 1918 Finland was very prosperousg its people wished no longer to be ruled by Russia, and after the Russian revolt of 1917 Finland was given independence. Then followed a Civil War between the classes and the masses . General Mannerheim, representing the former, was successful, and a republic was de- clared, its constitution modeled on that of the United States. This gallant people, three million strong, first cousins of the Esthonians and forty-second cousins of the lVIag- yars of Hungary, speak a very diflicult language. They are peasant agricul- turists, very conservative, reserved, hos- pitable--the illiterate number being only one per cent. Book learning is an end in itself and primary education is both free and compulsory. Forty per cent. of all children go to high school and university and half the state budget is spent on education. The Finns are also very skilful with their hands. Finland excels in the arts of music and architecture. Saarinen, the archi- tect, built the opera house and Parlia- ment Buildings of Helsinki, true poems in stone, which are very beautiful, be- ing made of Finnish granite with simple, dignified lines. Sibellius, the Finn, is one of the great composers of the world. Perhaps the F inn's love of music developed through the long Arctic night. These people were not spoiled by the movies and the radio. They sat and sang their lyrics and folk-songs. I Continued on page 26,3