Havergal College - Magazine Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 32 text:

Havergal College Magazine by the Royal Drawing Society, England. In the Junior School Enid Allen won the bronze medal for her illustrations of fairy tales, and Stella Boyd, in the Senior School, gained hers for original drawings of animals. Earl Grey asked Miss Jones to grant a holiday to the girls in memory of his visit, which sent them to their form rooms with smiling faces. Thus ended a day which will always remain in our memories as a red-letter day in the School annals. THE WORKMAN. (Genus Homo, Species Kaber) From that moment in far-off September when, rushing up from the station in eager haste to gaze on the splendour of our long- expected Wing, we saw nothing but a few sorry-looking bricks sticking up above the ground, saw no one but was steeped in gloom, from the kitchenless cook to the comfortless staff — from that moment we ceased to have will or volition of our own; from that moment we became mere purposeless puppets, moving only as directed by that most imperturbable of the human species — the workman. You who, unmindful of the dread power of these tyrants, still walk abroad with lightsome tread, pity us poor mortals who, crushed, disheartened, maddened by the long, weary wait and daily disappointment, now gaze upon the completed Wing, not with joyful pulsing of the heart ; not with cheerful pride — but as cynics, sneering at Life ' s delays and faded ideals. You well may ask how we, women and so all-powerful, could possibly be brought so low. Not at first, believe us, did we yield ; nor without some resistance. Xot one of us but made some protest when Duty w T as seen to be now nothing but carrying messages to the foreman, when the telephone was available for College affairs only before 5 a.m. and after 9 p.m. Even the least of us expressed some indignation on returning at night to find all her cherished belongings, clothes, books, pictures, hurled pell-mell into a corner and exactly seven square inches of unnecessary paint applied to the moulding. To sit in our room, protected from the chilling rain by an umbrella and an overcoat, seemed unpleasant at first, but when we had passed through the stages of dense ta smoke and deafening and ever-swarming, never-finishing painters, plasterers, carpenters, foremen, onlookers, to be alone with the rain and what little mind was left seemed bliss indeed. But of what use to pro- test? Of what use resistance? We were dealing with beings at whose word of wounded dignity, plaster cracked, boilers burst, the very heavens fell. And so on for months. Everywhere hushed voices and weary faces. Only the men were cheerful. Snatches of song and merry voices still drifted down to us with pungent odours of tobacco in their lengthy intervals of rest, while they invented new and hideous sounds to rasp our nerves. But in time the zest for this seemed 28

Page 31 text:

Havergal College Magazine LADY GREY ' S VISIT. On a bright, sunny day in October the flag of Canada waved over Havergal College. In vain you search the calendar to see why October 19th should be so celebrated. It is neither a school holiday nor a national festival. A unique event in the history of the College took place on that day, when the staff and pupils of the College were honoured by a visit from Their Excellencies Earl and Countess Grey during their tour as His Majesty ' s representa- tives through Western Canada. Great had been the preparations for the visit. Flags were hung on the College porch, and the form rooms were gay with the colours of the Empire and bright with flowers and plants, each form vieing to do greatest honour to their vice-regal visitors. Their Excellencies Earl and Countess Grey, accompanied by their daughter, Lady Sybil Grey, and suite, were received in the drawing-room by Miss Jones and the Directors. The vice-regal party surveyed the class-rooms and were much interested on hearing of the building extension in progress, but were unable to visit the new wing, as it was still in embryo state and the spacious Assembly Hall a mere skeleton. Their Excellencies were escorted to the gymnasium, used temporari y as an Assembly Hall, and as they entered the girls sang the National Anthem. Wilhelmina Aird then presented Her Excellency Countess Grey with a bouquet of chrysanthemums tied with the school colours, and Margaret Nesbitt presented a Havergal Badge to Lady Sybil Grey. Owing to the unavoidable absence of the President of the College, His Grace the Archbishop of Rupert ' s Land, Mr. E. L. Drewry, in a few well-chosen words welcomed the vice-regal visitors, and asked His Excellency Earl Grey to address the girls. Earl Grey, on rising, said he enjoyed visiting the schools of the province, as it was to the youth of the country that the future of Canada belonged. He reminded the girls that Canada was be- coming a great nation, and that its future development depended on the individual character of each citizen. He pointed out that one-third of the nation were of French descent, and that the only progressive countries were bi-lingual, therefore he urged the girls to work hard at the study of French. He spoke very help- fully to the girls, and while fully appreciating the vigour and adapta- bility of the Canadians in the West, he warned them at the same time that lack of reverence for tradition and the better things of life was a weakness which menaced the national character. The ideal character seemed to him to be that which combined the reverence and dependence of the Rom an Catholic with the energy, individuality and initiative of the Protestant. Such a character in each individual would make a nation in Canada worthy of her- self, the Empire and the Crown. Her Excellency Countess Grey presented the medals given 27

Page 33 text:

Havergal College Magazine gone. A playful mood succeeded. Humorous notices appeared, warning us out of our own hall. Enviously we watched them frolicking on the gymnastic apparatus we seemed destined never to use. Mutinously we beheld the re-doing and undoing what they had done the day before. Now wherever we crept, our way was blocked by a smiling workman and a ladder, or a cheerfully whist- ling workman with a few hundred feet of boards, or a strolling workman with pots of paint. So, hounded and hunted, we saw the months slip past. The advance of spring brought on the end with a rush. Gradually the swarm of men dwindled, then vanished. Peace settled down on our halls and heads again and, shaking off the horror and humiliation of the winter, we thankfully said good- bye to those super-men who, whether in the bustle and throng of school routine, or in the flurry and turmoil of breaking up, or in the peaceless calm of the holidays, had moved upon their way su- preme and indifferent, had hurried not, had flurried not, had bother- ed not the — genus homo, species faber. M. S. (I thank thee for this word. — Principal.) FRIENDSHIP. A friend is worth all hazards we can run. Perhaps it would not be altogether out of place to say a few- words in a College Magazine on the subject of friendship. Those whose privilege it is to look back on happy years of school life, look back also on friendships formed during that period, which last throughout one ' s life. But in looking back with pleasure and grati- tude on the past, one must not forget those friendships which were formed and broken — formed in all good faith, but broken because they would not bear the test that inevitably followed. And why is it, we ask ourselves, that friendships are so easily broken? Youth is the golden age for friendship. Girls have a perfect genius for making friends, but how does it happen that so many women have very few friends of their own sex? A boy was once asked to name any historically famous friend- ship that existed between two women. His ready reply was : There is none; they can ' t keep it up! Being reminded of the Duchess of Marlborough ' s friendship for Queen Anne, he replied that it was purely selfish, to advance her husband ' s interests, and that it came to an end when the Queen at last grasped the situation. Perhaps the lad was somewhat severe, but there is more than a grain of truth in his answer, and it would be well for us to re- 29