London Normal School - Spectrum Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

Page 10 text:

NORMAL SCHOOL LONDON ONTARIO YEAR BOOK EXECUTIVE Back Row — G. Clark, O. Elley, M. McKenzie, L. Mcintosh. D. Dixon, P. Love. D. Francis. A. Ferris. Fronf Row — G. Elder, R. Wing (Editor). Dr. Hofferd (Diiector), M. Hyland. I. Thompson. Page Eight

Page 9 text:

[NORMAL SCHOOL LONDON ONTARIO A. B. NEVILLE Instructor in Household Science The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy. ' ' LOUISE GAHAN Librarian Pray thee, take care that tak ' st my book in hand, To read it well; that is to understand. N. HEFFERNAN Secretary and Registrar To keep your secret is wisdom: but to expect others to keep it is folly. Page Seven

Page 11 text:

One day long ago. a savage stood in the depth of some Asiatic foiest etching with a thorn needle on some thick-fleshed leaf, rude images of the beasts he hunted or the arrows he shot. Such was the first step towar: ' s the making of a book. Countless have been the onward steps since then; but it is interesting to note that the old fact of the tree being parent of the book still survives, which ever points us back to the green and perfumed woodland where sprang thoce innumberable compounds of author ' s brain: printer ' s ink and linen rag. now answering to the term book. For example, take the L;tin liber and the Fnglish book and leaf. Liber means originally the inner bark of a tree, book is merely a disguised form of the word beech, while the word leaf tells its own tale. In some nations the earliest records were knotted cords. Such strings of different colours with variously sized and arranged knots contained the national history of the Peruvians. The Chinese and some negro tribes also made use of similar cords. The old book of leaves and the knotted string records were soon ex- changed for a book of tough bark and this for tablets of thin wood. Skins of animals, and slabs of rock, and later still metal, came to be used for records which man was very anxious to preserve. Out of this class of writing material came the parchment and the vellum which is even today the perfect lasting medium. Now. figuratively speaking, how does a book resemble a tree? A good book can only be compared with a tree, also at its best, or in other words when it is in bloom. At this time in a tree ' s period of growth, leaves and flowers are all perfect in shape and colour. So is the book, the chapters and even the words of which arc of the choicest. Is it not very easy then to compare the growth of the book with that of the tree? All branches, or chapters and all foliage, or words are nourished by one large reservoir of stored-up strength — the root which is the mind of the author. But we may not stop here. Even if a tree has the best possible root system, it is powerless to produce leaves and bloom unless some external forces such as sun, rain, soil, etc., are at work. Do you not think that the author of a book is influenced by external forces when he is in the act of writing? These forces, if we may call them such, are none other than his associations with people about him. Ideas and opinions are given and considered, view- points are varied and numerous, and out of all this comes a unique expression of thought — the book. Without these forces which we may now rightly call associations, the author is powerless to produce the masterpiece. Our Year Book illustrates better than any other just how true the above statements are. The writings are outgrowths of thought and opinions gathered in associations either in work or play while the book itself will serve in years to come as a reminder of one of the happiest years of our lives. The Staff of the Year Book wishes to thank the masters for their critical consideration of all material. Without the judgment of their experience we are sure it would have been a much greater task to edit the magazine. Great commendation is also due the other members of the Year Book Staff who worked hard and unceasingly to make this edition the best yet. A. Ryerson Wing Page Nine