Essex District High School - Argus Yearbook (Essex, Ontario Canada)

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Then, leaving the phone booth, she let her white lace handkerchief, her initialled handkerchief, flutter carefully to the floor. This done, she, dreamily visualizing a handsome man, mink stoles, diamonds and Cadillacs, returned to her room. After about ten minutes had crawled by, she heard a hesitant knock at her door. There he stood, holding a white lace initialled handkerchie. in his hand. Before long they were chatting together as if they had known oach other all their lives. And what does your father do? inquired Marjorie in response to hi. ' last question. Oh, didn’t you know? He ’3 the janitor here. Marjorie swallowed hard but recovered her scattered wits quickly. How nice, she said, thinking pensively that she had discovered some¬ thing more valuable than mere gold. —Donna Barkosky FOREST FIRE Roaring flames, dense black smoke and showering sparks indicated only one thing, another forest had mot with its most deadly enemy-- fireJ A sky filled with more red and orange than that of the setting sun could be clearly distinguished for many a mile. The humanly unbear¬ able heat forced every living creature from its picturesque forost home. Animals of every size and description, from the smallest squirrel to the giant moose, rushed frantically dido by side toward the sanctuary of the river. Lashing tongues of fire leaped from tree to tree and devoured every¬ thing in their path. Delicate summer flowers, snow white lilies and velvety green moss lost all their heavenly beauty as the murderous flame: spread over them. An almost suffocating smoke replaced the tangy scent of pine which once had perfumed the forest. Sturdy old evergreens met their blazing enemy and were decisively defeated. A gentle but dangerous breeze from the south-west fanned the red- hot flames and caused them to soar into the smoke-filled sky. Bubbling riverlets, brimming with crystal-clear water, seemed to vanish mysteri¬ ously. Fiery, blistering heat changed the emerald vegetation into a deadly, shrunken, brown mass. Meanwhile, the attentive eyes of a forest ranger, who was posted at a desolute look-out station, spotted the rising column of black smoke. This sign of danger was much too familiar. The ranger knew that he had to act promptly, and so without a moment ' s hesitation, he graphically plotted the position and notified the efficient fire fighters. A once lonely forest path became a bustling hi iway less than an hour after the dreaded alarm had been sounded. Volunteers armed with shovels, axes and rakes, marched swiftly toward the disaster area, as they had done so often before. Those allies of the forest did not look forward to the days and nights of the troacherous toil which lay ahead.

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17 . This last speech was uttered quite laboriously by Butch, who, like Tany other four—year olds, could not pronounce his 1, r | s . Santa chuckled wisely, and relayed this information with somewhat better pronunciation to the public-address announcer. Contented, Butch climbed up into the huge, red lap, and with a new note of important authority in his shrill voice, told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He did not forget to add important directions to help the ' old gent ' find his way from the chimney to the Christmas tree. Suddenly, his face lit up as he 3aw his mother making her way to¬ ward him through the crowds of shoppers. Half laughing, half embarrassed, she thanked the ' merry old soul ' for caring for her youngster. With a reluctant Good-bye , Butch grasped his mother’s hand and skipped happily beside her. Now that he was safe once more, he was able to tell his mother of his exciting adventure. Much of his story was exaggerated, and parts of it were completely untrue. Can anyone blame Butch for such little lies? ks he told his mother, I reallv wasn ' t afraid, well--not much and anyhow--now I ' m not lost anymore. ' ' --Janet MacDonald 12C PROSPECTING FOR GOLD Why, Marjorie, exclaimed Mrs. Duncan, what do you mean? I mean exactly what I say, Mother. Now that I ' ve finally graduated I ' m not going to waste any more time.... Marjorie, interjected her mother, slightly scandalized, surely you don ' t consider your college education a waste of time? Please don ' t interrupt, Mother, countered the unruffled girl. The time for action has arrived. I am going prospecting for gold. The following day Marjorie firmly established herself in an apart¬ ment in the Big City. a.s she did not have to begin working in her Uncle ' s business concern until the next week, she was now able to settle do wn to serious prospecting. Peering curiously out of one of her tiny windows, she spied a tall, handsome gentleman ascending the steps of the apartment building. What luck. ' she murmured, wondering if he were the owner of the p; te Cadillac which was drawn up in splendid array on the opposite 3ide of the street. Putting on her most winsome smile she left her room and- hurried to the elevator. When she reached the main floor, she glanced hastily around her. i0 her delight she saw the form of the handsome young gentleman standing motionless bes de the door. Elated by her early success in finding such 7 n elegant specimen, she slowly, purposefully walked past the unsuspect¬ ing victim and entered a nearby telephone booth. There she placed a mythical call to Nowhere and talked animatedly for some time’to No One.

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Hour aft or la ur the coimnandlng sh uts f tho rancors linglcd with tho s:-und of r arin fire cull to hoard, Thcro was absolutoly no time frr r st . Vcary, black-faced nion worked frantically trying to extinguish the surging flames. Within a few short days a vneo picturesque landscape lay in smaldor- incr ruin. The forest, which had boon a century in the making, died after a week’s time. Was it the forgot fulness of s.-k, car o less camper or %j r -thor Nature herself wh snatched their homes from tho f rest inhabitants? Whatever the fatal cause,, lifolossn ss and destruction replaced what cnce had b on a wealth-producing timberland. ■Gayle Gudd s, 13 SENSATIONAL NEWS ' Hoar ycl Hear yet Tho Hudson Bay C mpany is expanding rapidly «?ivinc Canada s -m,.thing t be proud of: tho • wnorship f one of many trading units that have existed f r tw. hundred and eighty-oiaht years. Its historic ass ciati»ns have served t establish tho fact that t -day it is a groat, modern organization, as up-t -date as a 1959 car. The c mpany has progressed by leaps and b unds since tho early ‘-i-ays of the sparse p ' st, so that it n w includes six largo department stores in operation in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, anc. Victoria. Those stores doing tun million t twenty ailli n dollars worth f business annually display not only fine furs--oho ..ri inal objoct f tho c mpany»s f unding—but thousands of items from jewellery t ' kitchenware, and from furniture to food. Throe of tnese six stores foaturo large triple-decker parkados for tho motorist customers• The founder would hardly recognize his Id com; any since its, aoors have been ooened to modernity 1 . Furthermore, in the back country there are still one hundred anc. eighty-two active trading posts. In tee pas , tne managers, completely isolated from civilization, were expected to be everything from doctor to priest for the conuriunity. Now they live com¬ fortably in well-designed houses, and are supplied with all their- needs—magazine3, books, vitamin pills, even scientii ically p.epait- dists. To keep in touch with these people the company has six uig cargo ships and three bush planes, as well as boats, barges, trac or- trains, tr ick 3 and snowmobiles. The old ‘moccasin telegrapn mas replaced by the radio-telephone . The U. S. S. H. owns the largest fur trade, but Canada ' s collection of wild furs is the second largest and known the world over. Actually, one-third of the one hundred and eighty-two trading posts are fully stocked retail stores. The company financially assists minx rancers— from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast, from tne forty-ninth parallel to the Mexican Gulf—to become established to buy furs, to insure tnem and to sell them. Another important factor is that this company nas a flag of its own. It is the Red Ensign with the initials d. 3. C. in the lover r iJat-;-nd comer. It is the only private company which is allowee to ado t tie British flag for its own use. The coat of arms displays two elks sup¬ porting four beavers, surmounted by a fox with the slogan. Pro Pel- Cutem — i: A Skin for a Skin . Behold the Hudson ' s gone modern! Bay Company—a big slice of Canadian History --Ursula Leblanc