Lindsay Collegiate and Vocational Institute - Tatler Yearbook (Lindsay, Ontario Canada)

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THE L. CLI TA TLER 35 THE FOREST BARRIER Marian Keith This is a vivid description of the dauntless spirit displayed by the pion- eers who settled in Upper Canada in the early twenties. The story itself is cen- tred around a clan of persevering Scotsmen who travelled thousands of miles and, in the face of tremendous difficulties, hewed out homes from the dense forest. Alone, and separated from the nearest settlement by a For- est Barrier of large tracts of land owned by a government favourite, these people managed to get their living from the soil free of all landlordship. The story is enhanced by real humour and the atmosphere is invaded by the merry- makings of youth at bees, barn-raisings and dances. Political unrest reached distant set- tlements and the agitation sprcafl to the farms of the pioneers. They did not want tyranny and privilege to get their roots deep in the new soil and thus many were drawn into supporting the Mackenzie rebellion. Marian Keith has portrayed her char- acters so vividly that she makes her narrative of the courageous pioneer of Upper Canada one of intense interest. A. E. H. IUELANIIIC VERSE Professor XYatson Kin-kcomieil Lindsay Collegiate is proud to nugn- ber among its graduates Professor Wat- son Kirkconnell whose recently pub- lished book, The North American Book of Icelandic Verse, is being well re- ceived in literary circles everywhere. This volume is the first of a series of twenty-four books of European verse to be published within the next twelve years by the same author and the ma- terial for which will cover some fifty European languages. Professor Kirkconnell has been very much interested in languages and litera- ture since his childhood and has already studied and translated from all the European languages. Therefore he is well fitted for this work of perpetuating the finest literary element of the old world, thus to enrich the life of the new world. At the first of the book is an intro- ductory history ot the progress of Ice- landic poetry which gives many new ideas about the beauty of the language and the style of the early and modern poets of that country. The book is divided into four parts: the Epic Poetry, the Court Poets, the Poetry of the Middle Ages, and Modern Poetry. The Epic poetry may be compared to that of the Homeric period in Greece. It describes many of the old traditions and superstitious of the Vikings about the gods whom they worshipped. The second part consists of selections from the Couit Poets who were similar to our Poet Laureates and who did their best writing at the courts of Norway and England. The Poetry of the Middle Ages is that which was written between 1200 and 1600 and shows steady pro'- gress in the use of rhyme. The Mod- ern Poetry consists of the poems writ- ten between 1600 and the present day by some who are still living. In all, this interesting work furnishes all that one might desire in literary azrl poetic achievement and should be of interest to all the students of literature in the school and without. A. M. PHILIPPA Anne Douglas Sedgwick Philippa, a brilliant successor to The Little French Girl, published in 1924, is likely to prove a greater suc- cess than that, or even Dark Hester. Philippa is a strikingly attractive girl of the modern age, humorous, passion- ate, a little hard on the surface, yet tenderly loyal underneath and with an ardent love for her divorced father to whom we are introduced in the first chapter. Torn between the bonds that draw her to her father, and the loyal affection she bears to her dutiful mother we follow Philippa through a troubled girlhood in which she spends half-time at home with her mother and brother

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34 THE L. C.L TATLE1? Book Reviews Good books are the fadeless flowers of great minds blooming eternally in the hearts of those who read and truly understand. THE NYANDERER OF LIVER-POOL John Masefield, in his latest book, The Viianderer of Liverpool. has sung the saga of one of the last of those great ships which in an era of steam. were built to spread white sails to the winds of heaven. Because he belonged him- self to the years which saw the re- placement of the sail with engines and the accompanying smoke and dirt, he has brought to his task 11ot only an in- timate and detailed understanding nf sailor life of the time. but something of sadness for the great days which. b ing past. may never come again. The Wanderer was launched at Liver- pool in August. 1891. and set sail on her maiden voyage October 17 of that year. In the morning she cleared the port. the slanting sun gilding her tower- ing yellow masts and sparkling as the foam that flayed about her waterline, skysails and pennants flew out at her mast heads, The following morning slic- limped into port. her masts shattered, her rigging torn, her deck littered with the debris of her smashed tip hamper, her captain lying dead in his cabin, killed by a splintered spar. Rsfitted after her disastrous first voyage The VVanderer carried many car- goes. furrowing strange seas, under her arched white sails. The story of these voyages, told sometimes in prose, some- times in singing verse, makes the bulk of the book. Many pages are devoted to the description of the boat itself. The writer has ferreted out every detail which time has left on the ship, her con- struction, crews and sailing. He Hnally ends his story with the ramming and sinking of The Wanderer as she rode at anchor i11 the mouth of the Elbe. Yet because he is a poet and because the ship, a thing of beauty does not pass utterly but lives in the memory of man, he still sees her spirit sailing, em- blem. one may imagine, of the endur- ing quality of beauty. t'So singing, she wanders the waters with white wing on wing, Star-lighted, star-guided. the sea-gleam- ing beautiful thing. R. L. H. PORTRAIT OF A DOG. Mazo dc la Roche This is a delightful little sketch de- picting the unswerving devotion of il Scotch terrier for its mistress. The long, joyous days of its puppyhood were spent capering about with its pal. A little white XVest Highland puppy. Day after day life went on unfolding fresh joys for the puppies. Both indulged iri humorous escapades and in spite of re- provals were always ready for fresh ad- ventures. Then came the great tragedy in the Scotch terr-ier's life: he was go- ing blind and neither the efforts of ft clever veterinary or those of his mist- ress could save the d0g's sight. This little dog will win your affection as it did those with whom it came in con- tact through its display of courage in meeting life squarely and with unfai- tering spirit. Mazo de la Roche has achieved an- other great success in her Portrait of a Dog, and an admirer of dogs will appreciate the manner i11 which she has portrayed the life of this Scotch ter- rier, and will enjoy the charming sketches that brighten the pages. A. E. H.

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36 THE LGI TATLER and the other at her fathers place try- ing to win back his affections into the home, to her happy union with the American boy whose romance dispels the shadow of doubt in which she finds herself. The plot is well worked out in thi- rich and dignified narrative which has given Mrs. Basil de Selincourt her renu- tation as one of the most eminent among among the contemporary novel- ists, and which has inspired one re- viewer to remark. No living writer ex- cels Miss Sedgewick in the gift of ex- citing us by the clash of wills and tem- peratnents: none surpasses her in that warm sympathy for her characters. nor in masterly structure and exquisite beauty of style. E. J. B. THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL TEN Grace Zaring Stone This volume by Miss Stone is being accorded praise as the best book oi the season. This fascinating novel records the experiences of Megan Davis, the lovely daughter of an American college pro,- fessor. who comes to Shanghai to marry a medical missionary. In her effort to rescue children and workers at the mis- sion school and while trying to help an obstinate missionary, she herself is injured and cared for by her rescuer, the benevolent General Yen and his favorite concubine. Dramatic events ensue when the unscrupulous Yen is betrayed and escapes to Shanghai. The theme is the clash of two civiliza- tions, one the newest, the other a sur- vival of the remotest antiquity, in which a girl of the one meets a general of the other. tries to win him to hers and ha-s to be content at last with the hope that perhaps the two ways meet somewhere. Much is contained in this short story - one might read a library of learned books on China and get no such re- vealing impression as from its pages. E. .I. B. Poetry TO RUPERT BROOKE fFirst Prize in Poetry Ccntestj lVhy should death have chosen you, lYhen i11 this world so many worthless Men wade its grasp? So few t'ould offer to posterity that splendid tiift that you alone could give. It might he that fate hefriended You. You who loved youth And gloried in its gay display. That tlod knew you so well, that Pitying. he carried you away Before old age could dampen All the splendid tire of youth. And tllroilggli prosaic living Teach you the dullingg' truth That all things die' -and Youth grows tired along the way And dies contentedlyflong llefore the twilight of Lifes day. ALICE BICLAUGHLIN