Havergal College - Magazine Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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HAVERGAL COLLEGE MAGAZINE 27 iv oger at tfje pall. (Being a hitherto unpublished essay by Joseph Addison belonging to the Coverley Papers, discovered in Manuscript by Christina LyallJ) Dulce est Desipere in Loco. — Horace. Having received an invitation from my old friend Sir Roger de Coverley to visit him, I arose at an early hour, that I might travel by the earliest coach to his country house. Upon my arrival I was met by the aged butler, who told me with due cere- mony that Sir Roger was visiting in the Parish, but that he had left many orders as to my refreshment and satisfaction. I then noticed for the first time the festive appearance of the house, which lacked its habitual dignity. While I was making these reflections and observations the old knight himself appeared and received me with the warmest of welcomes. He then proceeded to acquaint me with the welfare of all my friends, and further informed me that they were looking forward with much pleasure to seeing me that evening. I must here observe the artful manner in which Sir Roger, who knew my dislike for all publick occasions, brought me, under the simple pretext of a quiet visit, to his annual country ball. But as I love the old man, I take delight in com- plying with everything that is agreeable to him, and accordingly after much discussion prepared for the evening ' s entertainment. As it is a great event, Sir Roger throws his spacious Hall open to all the villagers, from the lowliest yeoman to the haughtiest squire, and all gladly avail themselves of his invitation, for he is beloved and esteemed by all about him. Indeed, so great was his hospitality on this occasion that even the very old men had been invited, and upon their arrival Sir Roger had seen that they were supplied with a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco and a mug of beer, and also that their chairs were placed so as to afford a goo d view of the dancers. The young people, though, were making merry in various parts of the Hall, and my attention was es- pecially drawn to the centre of the room, where the dancers were lined in array to begin the Minuet. I then observed Sir Roger, who, in gorgeous apparel, was leading the figure with a pretty young thing of about eighteen years, with three small patches under her left eye. It has been known that as many as ten patches have been worn at one sitting, but for my own part I prefer one. However, Sir Roger seemed much pleased with her pretty coquetries, and ordered her with mock severity to hold up her head and fall back according to the evolutions of the dance. Indeed so pleased was he with her blushing curtsies that he ordered the dance to be played through three times, and after- wards saluted her with a kiss, and presented her with a fan decorated with cupids and garlands. When the dancing was at its height, my friend Will Wimble added considerably to the evening ' s mirth. He chanced to be

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26 HAVERGAL COLLEGE MAGAZINE and I looked anxiously at each other as shadows began to creep up the mountain and all the valley gradually receded into black- ness. They ' ll never come now, said Bert. But Curlie said he ' d come on the fourth day, I replied. Eight o ' clock and now darkness was everywhere. What might not have happened to them out there! Even now they might be lying at the bottom of a crevasse or somewhere in those dark, ghostly woods. O, the maddening inactivity of that last hour! For the fiftieth time Bert went to the edge and gave a shout. Suddenly from below came an answering call. For one moment the sudden change from sickening fear to hope struck us dumb. Then, with a shout, both of us dashed down the hill in the direc- tion of the voices. But we could go no distance in that inky black- ness and were obliged to return. Then for nearly an hour no answer came to our shouts, for they were now too tired to waste breath in calling. Just as we had given them up for the second time we heard a shout quite near at hand, and in a few minutes into the light of the camp-fire they came, two gleams of white ' teeth high up on two browny masses. There they were again, dirty, burnt, tired, soaked, but grinning. Did you do it? we shouted. She can ' t be done, they answered. Then such a babel as ensued over that delayed meal! How we waited on them, and how gratefully they ate! Then as they dried themselves over the fire we all talked together. We asked a thousand questions and didn ' t wait for the answers. I see them now, the bright fire-light on their faces, telling us of that fourteen hours on the mountain, almost wholly of ice, with huge seracs and caves and unclimbable, precipitous walls. At last exhausted nature had her way and wc went off to our tents. The next day we continued our willing service and lounged for the last time. From that point we hurried homewards, mak- ing two drives a day where possible, back to Robson statiori. There we heard for the first time of the monstrous war-clouds rolling over Europe, and as we sped eastward to take up again the responsi- bilities of life, the bright scenes of the past six weeks faded gently back into the peaceful gallery of memory, whose pictures are ac- cessible for all time M.S. Chivalry. I haven ' t any car tickets, Miss Spr-ng-t-, but I ' ll walk you home.

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28 HAVERGAL COLLEGE MAGAZINE dancing with the haughtiest lady of the whole countryside, and his foot becoming entangled in the border of her skirt, he brought her stately person to the floor with a thump that attracted the attention of the whole room. As he was helping her to her feet, Will did not in any way lessen her embarrassment when he in- formed her that he had invented a new kind of garter which was more serviceable than the one she was wearing and also more beautiful. However, the only discordant note was struck when Tom Touchy, happening to notice some evergreens decorating the Hall, stoutly asserted that they had been taken from his woods and that Sir Roger would hear from him at the next quarter session. It lacked but half an hour of midnight when Sir Roger bade them all courteously good-night. Not being a little pleased with this early retirement, I determined to write a paper on the sub- ject, for I have received many complaints from my readers, and could heartily wish that more of our townsmen would follow the old knight ' s example. This would not only be more beneficial to themselves but more pleasing to those disturbed by their mid- night revelry. Bribe. One of the most exciting drives I have ever taken was during the Easter holidays. It was the last Sunday of the holidays and very warm. About 10 o ' clock in the morning we noticed a thick black cloud of smoke in the South, which seemed to be rapidly approaching the hay meadow. Now, as everything was so thor- oughly dried out and a strong gale blowing from the South, we realized the danger that threatened the buildings and feed for the stock. As it was Sunday all the men were away and there was only my brother at home. He asked me to go with him to drive the horses while he set a back fire, as it was the only hope of saving the buildings and hay. By the time we had driven a mile the fire was upon us. The smoke was so dense that at first it was hard to force the horses on, but we had to get through the first fire in order to save the meadow. After we had got safely through the smoke we reached the field, just in time to save the hay. My brother at once started a back-fire and left me in charge of the horses. They were both terrified at the fire and wanted to run away, so I left the stack and drove up to the top of a hill near by and waited. It was a terrible and yet a beautiful sight; the flames were leaping up beyond the tops of the tall poplar trees to a sky black with dense, rolling clouds of smoke, and the ground was only relieved here and there by a patch of grass too green to burn. What had been calm and peaceful before was now an uproar of falling timber and roaring wind, smoke and flame. The heat became intense, and to our dismay we saw that the