Lisgar Collegiate Institute - Vox Lycei Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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52 VOX LYCEI At the time of writing, only one stage of the D. C. R. A. match has been fired, and thus, little can be said about it. If anything is to be regretted this year. it is the fact that too few pupils of the school are participating in this great sport. Hence. herein, cadets are re- minded that the range is o tl fi l are welcome. Before closing, we desire also, to thank those officers of the 38th Battalion, who made it possible for our cadets to shoot xx ith tl t ' l ' h pen te rst tiree afternoons of each week, and all ...e - - ' ta unit curing t e summer holidays. G. E. R.. Vth. Szgnallzng This year the high standard of signalling in the Lisgar Collegiate was fully maintained. The cadets got off to a good start with the two courses held in the fall. One of these courses was in Cadet Semaphore. the other in Cadet Morse signalling. They were open to the cadets of the Teclmical School and also to those of Lisgar and Glebe Collegiates. Lisgar was well represented at these courses. Then, this spring, a more advanced course was introduced, which had never before been open to Ottawa cadets. A cadet, to be able to take this course. had to hold certificates in the other two above mentioned. It is worthy of note that the candidates for this course were entirely, with the exception of one, recruited from the ranks of Lisgar Cadets. Those who took the course are to be highly commended on their good work, for they rank now among the best qualified cadet signallers in Ottawa. H. G. Marriott, Yth. The Colours of UCL A request has come to me to give some account of the origin of the song. The Colours of the O.C.I. Naturally it divides itself into two parts, the words and the music: but if you have the time and the Vox the space, just smother your yawns, and, as Aeneas said to Dido, 'lncipiam'-I shall begin'. First, the music. january. 1919. found me at Edinburgh University in company with about seventy other 'beastly Colonials' as our English friends sometimes called us when they thought we couldnt hear them. XYe were still in khaki, and on full pay augmented by a liberal allowance to buy haggis in lieu of the ancient cod- hsh and Australian veal, known to the vulgar as rabbit, with which the govern- ment had fed us at camp. After a couple of months' lectures, we were unex- pectedly told that we would have a month's holidays for Easter. I don't know whether the Army authorities knew about this or not: but we certainly didn't enlighten them, and we accepted the days of rest with gratitude. After loafing for about three of the weeks in Edinburgh, two of us found ourselves slightly wearied of our diet of oatmeal porridge, and decided to try the potatoes in Ireland. Each of us had-mirabile dictu-about fifteen pounds of good old British currencyfso we planned a trip, in typical Yankee tourist fashion,-six days to 'do' the country. As you shall see, we 'did'. Roy, my companion, tl call him Roy chiefly because that was his real namej was a breezy XYestern lad from the Railway Corps. After vainly trying to coax a few other of the boys to come with us, we set off alone, took the night boat from Glasgow, and landed in Belfast long before breakfast the next morn-

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vox Lgcgisr 51 various cadets of the Brigade, the Lisgar recipients being, Commanding Officer Nl. S. C. Perry, Adjutant H. Hunter. Ofhcer Commanding Company, G. S. Qglivie. The Brigade then reformed line and marched past in column of route before the saluting base. The Battalions then disengaged, and each company dispersed but not one cadet left until he had received his full quota of ice cream and ginger ale, refreshments which have been a pleasant feature of the last two inspections. G. S. Oglivie, Vth. The Cadet Dance The Cadet Dance, assuredly the most colourful of all school dances, took place, on the night of the inspection, in the Glebe gymnasium under the capable management of the Glebe Corps. The dance was open to all those cadets who had been on parade that after- noon and who had lady friends to accompany them, as a stag line was not allowed. Besides Cadets, there were many visitors from the various units of the Ottawa Garrison, whose full dress stood out in marked contrast with the khaki of the Cadets. Dancing commenced about nine o'clock, and after seven or eight numbers the Grand March took place, led by Dr. and Mrs. A. H. McDougall. The Grand March was followed by refreshments, after which dancing was resumed and continued till midnight. It was, undoubtedly, the most successful and pleasant dance of the year. G. S. Ogilvie-Vth. Shooting ' On contemplating the details of this year's shooting one hesitates whether to cheer or to lament. At first glance the latter would seem to be the fitter, for were we not, soon after the summer holidays, forced to enter in the King George Match a team which lacked no less than six of the eight members who com- posed it the previous year? For what could we possibly hope from a team of novices with only two old hands to steady them? But, stay your tears for a moment, a surprise was waiting. No! Wfe did not find that the team had learned to shoot by mail, but it seems that three or four had been practising during the summer, and besides, to our ranks came a sharpshooter from Nepean High School. Let us see what happened. E Headed by Forbes Hirsch with eighty-nine and ninety, a truly remarkable and almost incredible score, considering the conditions of the match. our mus- keteers swept on to secure a magnificent total, one which gave them third place in the Dominion-wide match. They were only twenty-seven points behind the winners of first place, our contemporaries from the Glebe School. For having contributed their share in the good work done, we thank the volunteer markers from both schools who by their efficient services did much to make the scores what they were. Credit is also due to Mr. Carter who coached the teams. In the case of indoor competitions we may mention first the Laura Secord, which is noteworthy chiefly because our Bruce fMacCallumj dropped only one point out of a possible century and also because our teams secured third place in it. This means a pound of chocolates for each member of the team. As an item of interest, the Glebites bagged first place in this match too, and to them we extend our heartiest congratulations.

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VOX LYCEI 53 ing. XYe must have stayed in Belfast all of two hours, and then decided to 'do' Dublin in the afternoon. We 'did'. lVe spent the afternoon and such part of the night as we foolishly did not give over to sleep in that delightful spot. and then went to Cork early next morning. The town we did' in the record time of three-quarters of an hour, kissed the Blarnev stone two hours later, and went on to Killarney that evening in order to 'do' the lakes the next dav. Wie got in about dusk. Finding the dining-room at the hotel closed, we hied up town to find the wherewithal to replenish the inner man. Going past one humble spot-they all looked humble enough-we espied a red-headed girl apparently in charge. Roy's great weakness, among others too numerous to mention, was tor is it 'were', Mr. Mann?l lasses with Titian locks. So we forth- with entered. Pause now. a la Henty. for some contemporary history. XYe were in the heart of the Sinn Fein country. The Easter rebellion was but three vears back, and the country was seething with the discontent that afterwards! broke out into open hostilities. There had been no conscription in the country. It was filled with young men who, we had noticed with sad regret, paid scant respect to two august Canadian oflicers of the sublime rank of Lieutenant: in fact thev were inclined to scoff at us. Some of the later bickering with the police had already begun, and there was at that very time martial law in Limrick. which was, T suppose. about fifty or seventy-five miles away. But back to our muttonsl Enticed by the appearance of the auburn- tressed damsel, we entered the tea-FOOIU, or whatever it was. But immediately we had wished we hadn't: for it seemed to us that the entire male population of Killarney was in the background, and they seemed to have forgotten to put out the mat with 'illelcome' on it. I don't suppose there were more than ten of them altogether, but even that seemed about eleven too many. However, Roy had a Military Cross, and I am not built for speed, so we kept our dignity.-and our seats. It didn't increase our feelings of ease to any noticeable extent to hear numerous mutterings behind our backs, particularly after we had made gestures of friendship, which were turned down cold. And then. all but two went out. That didnlt help either. NVe wished they had stayed where we could keep our eye on them. However, we finished our refreshments. and finally engaged the younger of the two remaining Irishmen in conversation. By this time we had taken off our overcoats: and the 'Canada' badges on our tunics-there were none on our top-coats-lent an entirely different aspect to the affair. Before. we were merely British Officers, loathed and hated: now we were brothers in arms, sufferers under the cruel heel of Britain. It transpired that Mick, the younger Irishman, was the 'swateheart' of the fair ludv whose amber locks had brought us in. The other chap, who possessed a walrus moustache and whose name I forget, had some similar interest in the proprietress, a rather angular lady of uncertain age. Then there was a dark- haired little flapper of possibly sixteen, and apparently unattached, whom we for obvious reasons christened 'The Map of Trelandf Tempus fugitted. There was some sort of curfew law in the town and the shop windows had to be closed: but by this time we had established an entente cordiale all round, and we were invited to a rather dingy back room, where more eatables and drinkables were produced. Somehow or other we got to singing, softly, lest the police get inquisitive: and after we had got rid of a few Canadian airs, Mick took up the burden. He had a fine untrained tenor voice, and he crooned away at some of the old mournful Irish tolk songs. Then he .went on to a few songs of the rebellion and of these later times. the first of which is