Lowe High School - Towers Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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THE t o v e r s 19 4 8 — 19 4 9 PAGE SEVENTY-FIVE dense forest from which the light had almost gone. Glancing, as usual, behind him, lie noticed a pair of green, slanting eyes gleaming in the darkness, almost hypnotic and only a few rods behind him. . Tim suddenly jumped behind a stump. It was impossible for him to aim the rifle in the darkness. He fired twice, hoping to frighten the lion away, but instead, a loud bellow res¬ ponded. Tim knew that the animal must he wounded. He knew better than to investigate in the darkness, so he hurried off. Tint ' s lungs were burning. He darted from boulder to boulder and then the cat spotted hint again, and whined painfully. Run 1 Run! His legs were shaky and wouldn ' t respond any Ion- £ C r. There was a turn off into the gorge, and he dashed for it. At that moment he slipped around the edge of the rock shelf. He knew that he had lost his trail and had come to a dead end of the gorge. Tim was dismayed. Ahead of him was a big flat saucer: it was a dead end. No place to hide, not even a stone to throw. His gun was nearly empty and in the failing light he would most probably waste his shots. There would be then nothing between him and death under the lion ' s claws! The cat c ame in sight, limping closer and closer, finally halted, and crouched, but at a few yards from Tim ' s corner. There he growled and snarled for a long time. His face was a mask of pain, while in his eyes, fires danced, for his long search had come to a conclusion. Tim brought his gun to the shoulder and the gun gave a sharp click, click. The gun misfired. Suddenly, a dead silence fell, and the lion moved closer. Tim saw a blot of Mood left on the right hind hip. When he had first met the lion his bullet had just grazed the hip. It had nbt done any serious damage. It was only a minor injury which roused the animal ' s anger! Tim tried to close his eyes but they wouldn ' t move. There was a flash of dark brown front the rocks above — a scream of animal fury broke the deadly stillness. The huge cat went down under the big bear ' s charge. The lion cried out only once, squirming against the terrible embrace of those sinewy paws. Then the bear’s teeth cut off the rest of the sound. The bear’s paws raked the prostrate figure until it was still. Then the bear turned and looked at Tim. For a full minute their eyes held, then the hear turned, king of his own domain, and walked off. The animal limped with each step, favour¬ ing a mangled paw that had once been crushed. Tim ' s eyes held a strange look. His mind went l ack to the day last spring. Yes, the big hear had paid his debt — in full. THE TREE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST WEIGHTS IN THE BALANCE OF NATURE A tree is swayed by the wind thus keeping loose the earth around its roots. The hain trickling down the trunk finds a ready entrance into the ground, thereby replenishing our springs and wells. The foliage breaks the fall of the raindrops, preventing erosion. HONOURABLE MENTION— TO FATHER’S BIRTHPLACE AND BACK By SARAH BOOZE, T3A Father was born in Kalitt Hussin —Syria, to you. His village is situated in a rocky region and the people walk along stoney roads. They a e farmers. They raise rice, corn, wheat, beans, fig trees and grapevines. There are many sheep that pick a living from the stoney soil. The mule is widely used and in spite of his stub¬ born nature proves very helpful. Mother was horn in the same place. The children ' s amusements in the country arc not as highly organized as they are in the city. How¬ ever. the life of the farm and the freedom of country life entertains and amuses the children. The boys, of course, have to go to school front 9:00 a.m. till 4:01) p.m., from September to July. They study Arabic, arithmetic, geography, and boys who wish a high school course have to go to Tripoli or Beyrouth. What about the girls? Oh. the girls go to school up to the age of nine years old or ten. Fcmininists to the rescue! As Viney Czerwieniec says. That ' s not fair . They keep the women dumb! A little correction. If the parents allow their daughters to go to high school and wish to take a special course they go to the city to finish high school. Father came to the U.S.A. and then went hack to Syria to get my mother. They were married in Boston and then moved to Canada. In July of 1948, my parents returned to visit the old home and 1 had the pleasure of going along. We travelled by boat to Bey¬ routh. from Beyrouth we went by bus to Tripoli. The streets at present are narrower now but the government is making wider and better streets. Tripoli i a lively city and the streets are always full of people. Each street is as¬ signed certain types of stores. The stores arc on both sides of the streets and everywhere and anywhere you walk you could hear Syrian music which was coming from the stores. Front Tripoli we went into the country to visit my grandparents. We stayed about three months and one of my occupations was to watch the grapevines and pomegranite trees, as the fruit of the trees were often stolen. I also spent a good deal of time just visiting and perfecting Syrian, which 1 could speak a little before I left. Was I lonesome for Canada? Not very much. Life was pleasant and I enjoyed the warm climate. Besides, everything was new and interesting. The return was especially interesting. We travelled by airplane with four-engine motors called “Sky Freedom”. We left Damascus on Thursday, December 16, 1948. I left Damascus for Moulton and then on to London. England. We enjoyed two days viewing the city. From London. England, we travelled on a two-motor plane to Iceland, where the wind was travelling forty miles per hour and then Greenland and Gander, Newfoundland. From there we went to Montreal and stayed for one day. By plane we flew to Ottawa. Toronto, London, and then finally to Windsor.

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PAGE SEVENTY-FOUR THE TOWERS 1 9 4 R 19 4 9 Dear Diary: 1 haven ' t written ior almost a week, not since the night that Dave did not come home. Mont was more restless and nervous than ever. She walked the floor, looked out the window al¬ most all ni ' ht. Next morning she pretended that she was not worried. Just as we were finishing breakfast there was a loud knock at the door. Mom jumped up and ran to the door. It was a policeman. He asked her many questions we could not hear. Then we heard Mom give a cry. She left with him. telling us to go to school. We got home that night faster than ever before, as we ran all the way. Dave was dead! It was not till later that we found out that he was shot during a hold-up the night before. He was buried a couple of days later. 1 cried all that night. It wasn’t really lor him I was crying, but for Mom. Mow she will have to start life all over again. I know she ' ll try her hardest to get another little house for us. and I want to help her all 1 can. 1 realize now that the first night 1 met him 1 was just as much in the wrong as he was. I disliked him before I even knew him. and most of all I never even tried to know him. 1 turned away from Mom and Carol, too. Maybe they saw some good, loveable things in 1: in that I tried my hardest not to find out. That is all gone now. it will seem only like a dream to Carol and me later, but I know Mom will never get over it. 1 feel this a turning point in our life, and luck is coming our way. There i- one thing I have to admit even to my¬ self — this has made me grow up and come to my senses. Goodnight. Diary. THIRD PRIZE— A FRIEND By MARIO YOIN. T4B-A John, the fur trader, jumped from his chair when he saw the lank figure go by his office. He ran to the door and yelled, Tim! Hey, Tim!” A tall half-breed trapper stopped for a moment, then walked back to John ' s office. Howdy. John. he said. “What ' s all the commotion?” . , Tint. I received a letter from Ontario ' s Trappers Association telling us that most of the valuable fur-bearing animals in this district are being killed ofi by bloodthirsty mountain lions. What ' s another mountain lion got to do with me?” questioned Tim. They help us keep wild life properly bal¬ anced and all that, but it is a pity to see a few- innocent dead deer in this valley and a valuable dead fox or mink in the next. Something ' s got to be done about it. The Government is paying as high as $2 X .00 for every pelt you turn in , argued John. Not much I can do with the equipment I ' ve got , replied Tim. There certainly is! John exloded. You can buy yourself a better gun. one that lias more power, and throw that pea-shooter away. ' Tim smiled grimly. Well, I reckon it s an opportunity. I ' ll go and hunt with what I ' ve got and if it ' s a good business. I’ll buy a new gun next spring when I come back. With that. Tim thanked the fur-trader for the good advice, and started out. But. Thu! But. Tim 1 You ' re not pre¬ pared. ' . argued John. Oh, I ' ll get along”, said Tim, already on his way. Going hack to his trap line west of town, Tim thought over John ' s words. It did not make him too happy to know that a greater hunter than he lurked somewhere in the sha¬ dows. . Following a slow winding creek, he noticed the trail of a mountain lion, the prints not over a day old. Ilis movements from here on were cautious and he proceeded with great care. By the time he reached the gorge, the sun had be¬ gun travelling toward the horizon. It was this, the setting rays of the sun. that reflected a sleek, dark b-own shadow in the pool below. It was a lion crouched on an overhanging branch waiting for his prey to pass underneath. 1 witch¬ ing his tail nervously he moved slowly to a new position, and made ready to leap. Tim ' s heart began to pound and with a flash, the ping of a rifle broke the silence fol¬ lowed bv a heavy thud and a screaming screech was heard for miles, as the monster leaped in mid-air. and fell helpless to the ground. The male, who was in the nearby .shrub¬ bery. sighted the tragedy of his mate, and was off in leaps and hounds before Tim had a chance to sec it. A skilled hand and a few well-placed stroke:, of his skinning knife, a sudden jerk, and the animal was skinned within a matter of a few minutes, and Tim was under-way again as if nothing had happened. He crossed a shallow valley and headed toward an opening in the face of a cliff. Look¬ ing hack now and then, knowing that male lion would follow the scent of his mate ' s pelt. Tim saw the lion’s head bobbing up and down be¬ hind bushes, but lie was too far away to shoot It was strange territory to Tim. but he remembered the gorge slightly. It was in the early spring of last year that he had heard the wailing scream of a wounded hear in this gorge. He grinned at the thought. Curious to know what was below, lie slowly crept into the gorge and found a giant male, the largest hear he had ever seen, with its paw caught under a rock slide. Apparently it had been there for some time, for its ribs si lowed through the tawnv hide, and his eyes were dull with prolonged pain. Since Tim was an honest hunter, and knew that the hear was out of season, he de¬ cided that the best thing that lie could do was to rescue the animal. From a scrub pine, he had cut a stout branch. Then staying away from those terrible daws, had pried the great boulder away. Tim remembered the hear- eves watching him as he worked. Hostile? No — almost knowing. Once he had slipped, and for a second was within reach of the free paw. but the animal never moved. And when the rock finally gave way. the hear had withdrawn its injured foot, stared at him for a short space of time, then hobbled away 1 With dusk coming on. Tim hurried on to reach camp before darkness. He entered a

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PAGE SEVENTY-SIX THE TOWERS -1 I 9 4 8 — 19 4 9 RICHARD HENRY DANA By JUNE SPICER. C3A Probably you have read or seen the pic¬ ture of Two Years Before The Mast but do you know what lead the author. Richard Henry Dana, to write this wonderful book? Dana, when a student of Cambridge University, de¬ cided to take a long sea voyage in order to cure a weakness of the eyes which threatened to spoil his career. Accordingly, he shipped on the brig Pilgrim, bound front Boston round Cape Horn to the western coast of North America, a long and tedious voyage. Dana knew nothing of the sea. and felt very keenly all the discomforts of a sailor ' s life. By degrees the steerage names of things on board became familiar to him. and front then on he was a new being. He soon realized what a busy life this was. The discipline of the ship required every man to be constantly at work when he was on deck, except at night and on Sundays. When the ship was not actually sailing it was being overhauled by the men. licr running gear had to be kept, at all times, ready for any emergencies. Through the late summer and autumn the ship ran on with few adventures upon her southerly course towards Cape Horn. They were now in the region of Cape Horn and saw the Magellan Clouds and the Southern Cross, livery thing was prepared ior the dreaded Cape vvea titer and it dtd not delay its onslaught upon them. A fine specimen of it appeared in a great cloud of dark slate-colour which drove upon them from the south-west: in an instant the sea was lashed into a fury and it became almost as dark as at night. The sailors did their best to take in sail, but a cold sleet and driving hail almost froze them to the rigging, while the sails were stiff and wet, and the ropes and rigging covered with sleet and snow. Day after day passed with little change in the weather. The men ' s clothes were all wet through and they had no means of drying them, and could only change from wet to wetter. They could not read or work below, for the hatches were closed and everything black and dirty. Their only relief was to come below when the watch was out. wring out their wet clothes, hang them up and turn in and sleep until the watch was called again. At night and morning they were allowed a tin pot full of hot tea. swee¬ tened with molasses, which, had as it was. was the only warm food they had. and which with their sea biscuit and cold salt beef comforted them somewhat. The brig expected to trade upon the coast of Upper California, hut instead of going first to Monterey, the seat of government and only cus¬ tom house, where the cargo had to be entered, the captain had orders to put in at Santa Bar¬ bara and wait for the agent, who lived there and transacted all business ior the firm. After they had picked him up they set off for Monterey. After some delay they entered the Bay of Mon¬ terey and found good anchorage where they could lie safe from the Southeasters . which were the chief difficulty on this coast. Trading then began. The ship ' s crew was busy front daylight until dark in the boats, car¬ rying goods and passengers. As soon as the trade slackened at Mon¬ terey. the brig left for Santa Barbara, and there the crew had their first glimpse of what taking up their own cargo would mean. They had come for hides, and had supposed when they left Bos¬ ton that it was on a voyage of eighteen months or two years at the most. It was found that the hides were scarce and yearly becoming scarcer, and it would take a year at least to collect their own cargo; in addition, they learned for the first time that they had also to collect a cargo for a large ship belonging to the same firm which was soon to come up coast. The gloomy prospect of two cr three years at the end of the earth, on a coast almost solitary, and in a country where there was no law. hung over the ship and the men became miserable and in¬ different. Dana was now becoming very anxious as to his own future. If he had to stay with the the Pilgrim for four years, his chances of an¬ other career would he gone forever, for lie would be a sailor in tastes and knowledge, and his companion at college would have gone on and left him far behind. He became eager, as in¬ deed were all the crew, though for different reasons, to get home. But if the worst came to the worst and he was forced to stay at sea. the best lie could do was to qualify himself for an officer, and for that purpose he must learn prac¬ tical seamanship on hoard ship, and must leave his hide-curing and join in the cruising up the coast. When the Alert arrived he obtained per¬ mission from the captain to change with one of the crew and accordingly entered upon a new life at sea once more. The new ship was better in many ways than the Pilgrim, in order and cleanliness, in discipline and good feeling. Dana had mended and generally overhauled his wardrobe during his time ashore and in spare time now had no¬ thing to do but read when he could find a rare hook among the chests of the crew. But this was too good to last and rough weather came on. So the winter through there was little dif¬ ference in the seasons, and the months were given up to collecting the talc of hides that the company expected and taking them down to the hide-house to be prepared for the voyage. With March came the first assurance that the voyage was really drawing to a close. The captain gave orders for the ship to go down to San Diego, to discharge everything from the ship, clean her up. take in hides, wood, water, etc., and set sail for Boston. There followed six weeks of the hardest work they had yet seen, from the gray of the morning till starlight, with only just time to swallow their meals. The crew was a cheery one now. and filled with the hope of home, and songs rose and fell in tune with the work. With over forty-thousand hides, thirty- thousand horns, and barrels of otter and beaver skins, the Alert pulled up anchor and set sail. The ship was only half manned, and loaded so deep that every heavy sea washed her fore and aft. the forecastle leaked, and the journey round the Horn had to he made in the depth of winter, yet the men made the best of it: though drenching rain kept them in a state of discom¬ fort. and scurvy made its ravages upon the crew. All fresh food soon gave out and things were beginning to look bad when they hailed a brig outward hound from New York which gave