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

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Wlllxl in lxlllikx 1 YQ: 'W E lp by fy-T KZ? w W' WW VA ltafdl' will ml fXlE.'i'T'i I .. -is if Mjllblll I E ii, f .wh iqx I V, H. A . yssfkl 7 X N . . gf J 1,-, f A W . ., ,Sw , g 4 I ff I . I Q :V 4- , .11 - , f zdllxx 'r ff ! fr'-1' rl In -' ' ' 2'-'J -f t-' gffinsgj .s V-- 1 J , . ,- -fy all 5 - :Q 5,-7 -,,,,,.ar Z H it A 5 gf' pa - . ff-lf' ': t Q 2 ' I 3 4 RCE .f - ff- . ' V - . - , fi ' t Q 115.3-,'-.-7' A . :Eff 5 ju ' T l-'Q' 4 I if wifi! . 1 ,lull .- ' 'R f-si - - N, - H V E lx'-J ' ffl 'X fi. n! . E E A 7? TW: - EL? dll,-1 nan ...qw f -is fs nf- A N ' - - ,.I.-.- QE -- .- -,- E- -,-- 9 'f it - A , T 1 f fi'--li'-?Il I l Y f I . - 'T' 9' ' ' A f f- ii . y 1 t f-N . . l s ....., l ln,-Elizu.-...i . . A 'T A - 'S - 4-:.-.: f .tif , - - '- -- .- . dll-i-linl 'I Ei .QT A TRUE CANADIAN f Senior Prize Story I Paul Krueter sat in front of his fire- place, deep in thought. He was worried. Only yesterday the children in the street had run after him and called him terrible names. He wished that they would leave him alone for he could not help it that he was born a German. He and his wife Maria had come to Canada ten years before, leaving a son behind who had not wished to leave the land of his birth. Paul and Maria had dis- liked for a long time the way Germany was being governed. Hitler was fast becoming stronger and so the middle- aged couple decided to flee from Ger- many while they had the chance. They Wanted to live in a land where freedom dwelt and where people were not always at strife with one another. Thus they had come to Canada-but since the out- break of war people were becoming un- friendly. They did not patronize the little grocery shop as they had before. He sensed them eyeing him suspiciously and talking in whispers about him. He had done no wrong and wished only to live in peace. Why didnit they leave him alone? He snapped out of this unpleasant mood and turned on the radio. Music always cheered him, but presently the programme was interrupted: It has been reported that a German airman has escaped from the prison camp north of here. Full particulars will be given later. Be on the look-out. The music was resumed and, as a prison break was not unusual, Paul settled back in his easy chair, got out his pipe and puffed lazily. All at once he heard a terrible shriek from the kitchen, and rushing out, saw his wife pointing out the window: ':Therel in the clump of bushes at the end of the garden, l saw a man start to run, stagger, and then fall. Oh, hurry- we must do something! His little plump wife was short of breath and trembling with fright. Paul quickly ran out of the back door and down the garden path. The man was lying, outstretched on his stomach. By this time Paul's wife had followed him and together they lifted the strange man into the house. He started to groan and muttered, . . . Water! . . . Waterlf' Paul quickly removed a big overcoat and saw that he had collapsed from loss of blood. He had a bullet wound in his right shoulder. Then Paul no- ticed that he was in prison garb. He had seen a train load of the prisoners being unloaded at the station, and so he knew at once-this was the escaped Nazi! His wife, who had run for a glass of water, returned and started to give the stranger a drink. Then suddenly she let the glass fall. 4'Paul, she whispered hoarsely, 'fit is Wilhelm, our sonf, ulmpossiblef' said Paul, why Wil- helm was a slight lad when we left Germany. This fellow is too big. Why, it took all the strength I could muster to carry him in. Besides, what would Wilhelm be doing in Canada, and an escaped Nazi, at that! uBut I say it is he, argued the frantic woman. 'GI can tell by the scar above

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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

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18 THE ORACLE his left eye. He received it the time he was hurt in a light with our neighbour's boy. I-Ie has filled out, but remember he was only nineteen when we left. Sud- denly, remembering that her son was an escaped German, she started to weep and said, f'What shall we do? We can't give up our own son. We will keep him here! But Paul shook his head sadly, '6We must give him up. We are in Canada now and we must be faithful to the country we have learned to love? Oh, my son! my son! why did you do such a thing? Why did you join those fiendish Nazis who murder little children?7' The manis eyelids flickered and after gazing around in bewilderment, a dawning light came into his eyes, a crafty smile came over his face. 4'It is you, my mother and father. How for- tunate for me that you found me instead of the others! Now I shall be safe. Arising slowly and clutching his shoul- der he exclaimed, Heil, Hitler! I must be on my way, with your help, of course. Oh, nof' said Paul, you are going anywhere. Even if you are my own son, I shall hand you over to the proper authorities. Swiftly Wilhelm drew out a black automatic, and, sneering, said, No, you won't, my good father. First get me some food and drink. Then you will see that I get out of here safely and into the United States. With a quick motion, Paul lunged forward and the shot which answered his movement went wild. A brief struggle ensued and Wilhelm fiendishly battled with his poor old father. The shot, however, had been heard in the street and an officer came rushing in. What's it all about? he bellowed. Then seeing the Nazi he said, So we've caught you at last. You thought you were pretty smart when you gave us the slip at the station. Now we have you. Wilhelm, still panting from the fight, angrily turned to Paul, You, my own father-to think you would turn over IIOII your own flesh and blood to the foreign- ers. You are a disgrace to the father- landf' . You are no son of mine, after what you have done. Perhaps in an intern- ment camp you will forget the ways of your so-called fatherlandf' The astonished officer then spoke hesi- tatingly, 4'Your son-an escaped Nazi- and you stopped his escape? We've had you all wrong with our stupid sus- picions. Mr. Krueter, you're a true Canadian. We shall not forget this. A few weeks later Paul and his little wife sat before their fireplace once more. Paul musingly said to his wife, 6'It's strange how life works. Only the other week I was bemoaning the fact that the people did not patronize our store. Now business is twice as good and people are twice as friendlyf' '6Yes,'7 answered his wife sadly, abut we had to give up our son. I suppose it's for the best, for he'll learn nothing wrong where he is, and he won't be a danger to his fellow creatures. KNO, and I am awaiting the day when he will come to his senses and all others like him. Only then will the world be a good place in which to live. -MARGARET LUTZ, XII . THE CAVALCADE 0F DEATH ffunior Prize Story j From ,Bergues flowed a steady stream of iron monsters, on whose sides were painted the new cross that was to rule the world-The Nazi Swastika. In the leading tank, der Kommandant Franz von Stein gloated- uFrance is no more, the English swine are on the run and soon we will drive them into the seag next comes the invasion of England. Der Kommandant had just received in- formation that his tank groups were in an excellent position to advance and crush the defenders, who were holding the position to cover the retreat of the men on Dunkirk beach. . It was early morning and the fog