Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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THE QUARREL The bell clanged, so that Jack entered the class- room late. However, he sensed, as he eyed the master ' s unresponding back, that as yet his presence had not been missed. By means of a circuitous route, Jack had almost gained that which made him indistinguishable from the mass — his seat at his desk. As he moved deftly dow n the last few feet of the aisle his eyes were not w atching for the inevitable; — a protruding foot. Jack stumbled and fell. A few minutes later he fell his hands sting under humiliating cane blows, while his soul felt stripped like a green twig at the pronounce- ment of his doom. He was to forfeit his Saturday outing, and spend the hours serving the most hated and feared man on campus. Not that the Latin master was a cruel man; he wasn ' t, only he tcould make out to the other boys, had you so much as opened a door for him, that you and he were on the very best of terms. Nevertheless, Jack wanted to ignore the possibil- it - that the fatal shoe had not been placed in the aisle accidental!} ' . This resolved, he used the chill that he felt towards his tormentor to extinguish the flame of anger he felt. It had all but died. Then, as the last words of sentence rang abov e his head, Jack ' s ear-backs heard the hint of an en- joying titter from the corner of the foot, and the once dying flame shot blue and hard up his spine. Five minutes, four minutes, ' til the bell would clash the freedom not for the dav. Four more min- utes of an excruitiatingly painful caricature of a wrest- ling match. Jack sat silent and still, moving not a muscle but those in his arm and hand that controlled his index finger. On the strength of this finger Jack felt that his whole future depended. He felt the knuckles twist as the other boy, sitting also motionless at the desk in front renewed the strength in his index finger by a dextrous snap of his wrist. Jack did not notice that his lip was beginning to bleed, or that it was his own teeth that were causing the pain he felt because of it. He felt only a hot, red demolition ball of hate crashing between his temples, and the full ache in his arm that combined with the sharp hurt in his finger. The boy in front had at least stopped tittering. Three minutes, two minutes, one minute; Jack ' s teeth met through his l ip. The finger of the boy in front gave a little; then something wrenched. Thirty seconds, then fifteen; the finger snapped. The two boys retrieved their arms, each placing his own gin- gerly on his lap. Jack took his teeth out of his lip. Five seconds; the bell rings. C ' mon, says Jack, dad ' s a doctor . Oh, thanks, says the boy from the desk in front. He paused. Hey, is your finger allright? Sure, Fm fine . Jack says — he smiled, and the blood poured off his chin. Fleur Wallis, 6M. MY NAME, A GRAIN OF SAND A ' ly name, a grain of sand, A new born snowflake, A drop of rain, a breath of fresh air . . . But wait, you say no, A man is an immortal thing Who hath power of reason and logic With emotion and feeling for his fellow? Does not the wind of time blow away Even the coarsest grains? Does not even the most beautiful snowflake melt? Does not time evaporate the dew of morning? And does not a breath of fresh air turn stagnant being exhaled? No one praises dust and decay nor likes the stench Of rotting flesh. Wind, blow me away, Time fill my place And let my bones lie unmarked Among those of Adam ' s friends. Sandra Carrigan, 6M.

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Dear Henrietta Horseface, The world fell about my ears last night when my boyfriend told me that we were through. The reas- ons he gave were a mixture of ice-cream (which I adore) and green serge. I have never written to a love-lorn column before but seeing your sympathetic face in the newspaper was like seeing a raspberry ice- cream cone in the desert. It happened while we were dancing the Frug and I was happily licking a winter- green ice-cream. It was one of those rare moments of supreme happiness. Suddenly he told me that he not only hates ice-cream but he has never been able to stand the colour green. Henrietta, I can ' t live without ice-cream. It ' s my one security in a shifting changing world, and furthermore, I ' m first! He has found Another from St. Joseph ' s who always wears blue and who has a passion for garlic pizzas! What shall I do? The Wearer of the Green. Dear Wearer, Having pondered your case, it came to me that the answer is to change your brand of ice-cream from wintergreen to pistachio. Dear Henrietta Horseface, I am a boy of fiffteen who luvs grene (prefirabely brite grene) butt my ma says to stay clere of girls who ware grene becuz girls who ware grene becum jelus very eesy. All the gurls I no ware blu and yelow. What can I due? A Grene Luver. Dear Grene Luver, See the above letter (Wearer of the Green). I have yet to see an avid ice-cream eater who is jealous. Her address is Sanctuary , Elmwood School. GEOMETRY Trapezaids and polygons, squares included too, I count among the postulates of which I wish I knew. To establish a fact either directly or not. Depends upon analysis of what I ' m being taught. Now this may seem quite simple to others in my class. But of myself especially, I ' m lucky if I pass, They say a triangle is made up of three sides. And that really depends on where the locus rides. Angles and their measurements present a problem too, Whether acute, obtuse, reflex or complimentary viewed, A gent, Pythagorous by name, invented once a theorem. To puzzle me I am sure, and add to my delerium. P.S.: After careful deductive reasoning of these basic geometric figures I have come to the conclu- sion that I must be a square. Karen Gillies, 5A.

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Chrisf-i Close your eyes and let your mind travel through the ages to a time when the whole world lay beneath the ungentle foot of Rome. Imagine the land of Israel as it was then; a hot, dusty land that to you or me would seem barren. The people of this land were a stubborn, religious race and though they bowed their bodies before the standard of Caesar Augustus, they kept rebellion alive within themselves. These people were Jews and unlike any other race at that people were Jws and unlike any othr race at that time, they worshipped one all-powerful God in whom they placed their faith and their never-dying hope of rescue from the Romans who oppressed them. For hundreds of years the prophets of Israel had foretold the coming of the Messiah, who would rescue them in a time of great peril. Isaiah himself said that there would come a time when, sai dthat there would come a time when, The Lord hath rriade bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall witness the salvation of our God. The prophets also foretold of a man who would precede the mesenger of God to prapare the way for him. Indeed, A voice crying in the wilderness iMake straight the way of the Lord. Make straight the wa y of the Lord. Surely when John the Baptist rose raggedly out of the desert and began to declare the coming of one whose ' sandals he was unfit to touch, ' to many the miracle began to seem nearer. For example, old Simeon, who lived his life awaiting the Saviour and died on beholding him at last. Yet to the oppressed ]tws the Messiah had come to mean a mighty, iron-clad King who would free Israel from the Romans forever. So while the world waited blindly for their warrior King a baby was born in Bethlehem to a humble carpenter and his virgin wife, unrecognized save by a few visited with devine wisdom and simplicity. The ancient prophecy had been fulfilled: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. The child called Jesus seemed then to pass into mystery and only glimpses can be caught of a boy seemingly engaged in some strange preparation as he looked gravely upon the world through dark eyes that seemed somehow aware of a higher and greater destiny. At last the curtain was withdrawn and Christ stepped quietly forward to be baptized by John who cried aloud to all who would listen, that here at last was the Son of God. The heavens them- selves opened to proclaim thei rambassador. So began a ministry that lasted only two and a half years but that nevertheless gave to the world a light which neither wickedness, indifference nor persecu- tion can ever utterly (]ucnch. T he people trusted Christ, for he healed their ills with his wonderful hands and smoothed their guilts and fears as he assured them of the infinite love of CJod. All Chri.st demanded of his followers was faith nity which opened the heart to love, mercy and tolerance. The esence of Christianity is perhaps contained in the Beatitudes wherein Jesus laid down the main pre- cepts of his teaching. He urged love, self-sacrifice and tolerance to one ' s fellow-men. Jesus often illustrated his teachings with simple parables that ordinary people could understand and because they understood what he taught them, the common people were attracted to Christ. He also taught of eternity and of the brotherhood of man to a subject race; to slaves who yearned for the free- dow that could only be found for them in the spirit and to noblemen who sought in their terrible disillus- ionment for ideals to guide them. To all these differ- ernt people his words spoke of eternal youth of the soul and of a love that would never fail them. Jesus appealed to everything that was good in man and yet left them their minds free to choose the path that they would walk. In this way, Christianity is, above all, a religion of individuality. He interpreted the old out-worn laws of Moses in a new and positive manner. He acknowledged the will of man to overcome evil with the help of God. Jesus taught always of the necessity to place one ' s utter faith in God and so to cast out fear and guilt that rots and sickens the soul. Christianity was a living religion for a race un- happiy subject to a greater power. These people needed all the strength they could get to endure the whips and scourges of time. Perhaps this is the main reason for the wild spread of Christianity throughout the Empire. Christ ended his life upon the Cross and three days later he appeared, resurrected from the grave. It was then that the belief in life after death became such a basic tenet of the Christian religion. In dying Christ took the burden of the sins of the world upon himself and it is significant that his last words upon the Cross were, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The courage and mercy of Christ will remain forever a source of strength to Christians. The Holy Communion which Christ himself initiated is the first sacrament of the Church and it serves to renew the important contact between God and his worshippers. In this ritual all believers partake of bread and wine which are symbolic of the body and blood of Christ, having first asked forgiveness for their sins. This ceremony brings untold comfort and strength to the individual. The death of Christ was followed by mass conver- sions of Jews as the disciples began to tell of the divine mystery of the Trinity. Slowly this strange religion of hope and love passed through the world. Brave men and women suffered persecution and death for the Cause. In spite of the torture and the humilia- tion of secrecy that the early Christians underwent their faith grew in proportion. When in 312 A.D., the Edict of Milan was published by the Emperor Constantine, allowing the legal worship of Christ, the stage was set for Christianity to spread over all the earth. —]imet Urev, 5 A.