Elmwood High School - Inscripta Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 78 text:

Our Neighbours Basement Our old neighbour, Mr. Peter Williams, had just died and Mrs. Williams was going to sell out. When she asked me to look for worthless junk (for the salvage) in her basement as her eyes “weren’t as good as they used to be”, I gladly obliged. After descending carefully down the dark stairs, I squint¬ ed and looked around me. I turn on a light. The first thing to present itself to my eye was an old- looking trunk. Opening it (being careful of a worn lock) I began to look through the contents. I found a pile of letters, all pre-1910, with post-marks like “Fort Malzakim, Bombay”, “Mossel Bay Fort, Cape Colony”, “Wragby Lines’’ and “Nairobi Club, Nai¬ robi, B.E.A.”. These were letters between the Wil¬ liams’ while Peter was a Captain in that globe-trot¬ ting regiment, the Sixth Norfolk Fusiliers. Glancing over some of the faded pages I could almost feel the eyes of a Boer sharpshooter, aiming carefully for me, or hear the eerie music of Indian snake charmers. The trunk was full of too many other papers to mention, and after looking at them I turn¬ ed around and saw a dark face hidden in another corner. Walking over to investigate, and moving a cardboard box, what should present itself before me but a full length portrait of His Gracious Majesty, the mighty King-Emperor, Edward VII, in all the gorgeous robes of imperial splendour. Crossing the room again, I found a phongraph, the kind that must have ground out many a jolly “Turkey Trot” in the old days. Of course, there was the usual fur¬ niture, washing machine and old clothes set aside for the salvage but never put out. When I had com¬ pleted my task, I pondered over what I had found —not death, not life, but latent life. How strange it was to think that all this had once had an ur¬ gency, a vital newness about it, and now it lay for¬ gotten in the dark of our neighbour’s basement. —Alan Alvare. The Gypsy Dancer The cheapness of peasant rags Dance About a gypsy fire as Golden earrings fling Their saucy rings into the Captive faces of the onlookers who She caught in the mystery Of the night and the charms Of the dancing delight And the leaping fire. —Leila Valancay. 76

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“A Decisive Moment in Histnry” Silence falls. Even the seagulls seem frozen for an eternal moment, etched in sharp relief against the brilliant blue. Then like an explosion in the soundlessness, a greatly amplified voice announces to the tensely waiting world, “Five!” Again the dense silence falls, except in the distance, an acute ear can hear the sound of tons of water pouring over concrete. A plume of vapour stains the flawless tropical sky. A billion ears strain, as the voice con¬ tinues, “Four!” Now, in the press area, hundreds of movie cameras began to grind, and binoculars are trained on the drama enacting itself a scant mile away. “Three!” In the blockhouse a key is turned completing a circuit. “Two!” The clock creeps to¬ ward the vertical. “One!” High above the block¬ house, three men stiffen slightly. One closes his hand above the abort switch. “Zero!” “T-plus-one.” Through his periscope, one of the observers no¬ tices a squirt of flame beneath the poised tons of metal. “Ignition!” he cries in chorus with his coun¬ terpart across the blockhouse. “Two.” “Liftoff!” the two voices announce simultaneously. The monster stirs, lifts slightly, then leaps upwards accelerating towards the sky. “Go baby!’’ bursts from the fifty straining technicians as the Saturn- Appolo moonship dwindles to a spot in the sky. Finally the terrible sound of the take-off reaches the spectators on Cocoa Beach six miles from the Cape. It th rows itself at them like a tidal wave, engulfs them, and flows onward, undiminished. This sound, the mightiest ever unleashed by man, signals the launching of three men towards the moon, sometime within the next decade. During the succeeding moments hundreds of tons of hydrocar¬ bon fuel and liquid oxygen will unite within the free world’s largest combustion chambers, releasing enough energy to dwarf the first atom bomb. The mere technical achievement involved in hurling these three men a quarter of a million miles through space, keeping them alive for two weeks in an alien environment, and returning them safely to earth, is not however what makes this moment de¬ cisive, or momentous. This moment will signify the end of the era of world wars, since both the financing of further space research and survival will necessitate future co-operation between nations. It is even possible that there will be both American and Soviet astro¬ nauts on this first team. Such an achievement might herald the arrival of an age of peace and co-opera¬ tion among men. In addition to this, man will be taking his second great step along the road to the stars. He will have accepted what Wenher Von Braun has described as “Man’s last great challenge”—the exploration of the universe. The practical monetary returns of this voyage will undoubtedly more than justify its un¬ dertaking but the real value will not lie in these alone. A far greater importance will be the gains in knowledge, and understanding of the universe, and in the possibilities of new research into the un¬ known. The major repercussions, although their ef¬ fects will not be felt for generations, will ultimately change our civilization profoundly. The way will be open to man’s first meeting with other sentient be¬ ings. A meeting which may well be the most mo¬ mentous event since man rose out of the slime of his newly formed world. To my mind, the moment when man sets his foot upon the path to the planets and beyond, will rank with the most important moments in our history. Here will be a point where man will choose be¬ tween exploration or extinction. The choice is being made now, at conferences on Disarmament and the peaceful uses of outer space. Let this be a moment of triumph, not of terror. —George Durnin, 12-1.

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The Hale of Newspapers in Modern Life The first newspapers, or “news-letters” came into being after Gutenberg’s introduction of mov¬ able type in the latter half of the fifteenth cen¬ tury. The first of these were but slips of paper with perhaps an amusing anecdote, the date of coming County Fair, or an exposition of the qual¬ ity of Hugh the Clothier’s latest goods. Gradually, however, the variety and informativeness of the news reported increased. By the time of Queen Anne, no gentleman could conceive of life with¬ out his “Courant”. It brought news of Court, Lloyd’s, the City, the provinces and abroad. It was this last aspect which made the Boston News Letter so vital a part of life when it began pub¬ lication in 1702. The outside world was brought just a little nearer. Since the eighteenth century, newspapers have expanded, changed and often improved. The one-hundred-odd dollars necessary for an airmail subscription to the daily Times of London put that worthy newspaper out of the reach of most of us, but our own local newspapers do an admirable job. Their news is varied to meet the needs of the readers. The articles of greatest general interest are of¬ ten on the front page. Important socio-economic and political news is usually found here. One must, however, almost invariably turn to search out page eighteen to finish an article begun on the front page. There is no such problem with the editorial page, which is one of the most interest¬ ing in the paper. Here may be found reporters’ assignments of events, and articles of historical interest. In our local newspapers, Kamienske and MacPherson provide us with amusing cartoons, while Eric Nicoll keeps us supplied with word- humour. The chief attraction for younger children is the comic section. - Even this has a variety of parts. Some, like “B.C.”, are relatively new. Others, like Dagwood, were existant in the 1930’s. The Katzen- jammer Kids, believe it or not, are fifty-six years old! The social page is designed for women. It reports marriages, births and visits, and gives helpful hints on how to lose those twenty unwanted pounds. Too, it contains the everlasting columns of Abigail Van Buren and Anne Landers. The second part of the paper contains sports news. Not only are local events reported, but the inter¬ ested may find results of such things as Old Coun¬ try Soccer. Less amusing but just as important, is the obituary page, a description of which is not necessary. Newspapers are an invaluable asset to today’s man, for it is necessary to keep abreast of develop¬ ments in our ever-shrinking world. They are a bet¬ ter weapon against injustice than guns, and are feared by the unjust. We must guard freedom of the press, for only a free press can be of any bene¬ fit to a free people. —Alan Alvare. 77