Malvern Collegiate Institute - Muse Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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THE MUSE Lest We Forget NYM. l,'oNNoR E stood in a muddy treneh and stared silently at a fluttering slip of paper in his hand. The sun was 'slowly setting. and over and around him was the roar and thunder of battle. Jim was dead. A pieee of shrapnel had found his brain the day before. Jim-dead. it was unbelievable! He eould not be dead! His dying words still rang in his ears, Stir-k it out. old fellowln .... He was baek at Malvern The erowded stands were hushed as he waited for the ball to drop. Jim erouehed a little to his left. ready for their own pass. The ball was in his hands, and dodging. swerving, he was away! l'p the field he swept, Jim by his side. A blue jerseyed ligure erossed his path-a thud-and he felt himself falling. A quiek turn and the ball was in his friend's hands and in a moment. was safely behind the opponents goal.-Now Jim was dead. He would never see him again. His best friend. killed in this muddy hell. Ile wished that he eould ery. to loosen that steel-like band around his throat and to eseape from that erushing foree whieh seemed to he slowly driving him erazy with eaeh shell-burst. VVhy had he not been killed. and not -lim? For years they had been ehums. seeing life together. and now -lim was gone forever. Why had they deserted the friendly walls of Malvern for the field of battle. Patri- otism. he supposed. How fervently he wished that they eould be safe at home without a eloud of uneertainty over their heads. and without the everlasting din of battle in their ears! He eursed himself for a fool, for persuading Jim to enlist. His jaw set.-it did not matter now, he thought bitterly. nothing matte1'ed now that Jim was dead. He would tight as long as he eould and he would kill them mereilessly. as they had killed Jim. His teeth ground and his fists elenehed in helpless fury. A mes- senger rushed up. and with a breathless. Urtjlers, Sir! thrust a sheaf of papers into his hand. Ile read them slowly. A grim smile ereased his lips.-An attaek at dawn! That would be his opportunity? He smiled again, and his eyes gleamt,-d as he thought of his revenge. He glaneed at his wateh and the slim little hands showed tive minutes to five. XVith a deafening rumble and erash the barrage began. A long line of earth spumed up in front of him. He erouehed low as it erept toward him and erashed past. Hther figures erouelied as he. but many of them stayed euriously sprawled in the mud, after he had arisen. He waited. his feet wide apart. and his gun in his hand. His bayonet glit- tered dully in the murky dawn. The barrage was far behind the lines now. and the rattle of maehine guns and rifles stood out above its roar.- Surely it was time? No. only a minute has passedl Four minutes before the push would start. He had never lmown how long a minute really was! He wondered if he would live out the attaek and tried to imagine the quiek stabbing pain of a bullet. Death. he thought, would be heaven. eompared to this roaring inferno. He smiled as he remembered the peaee- fulness of a Latin period and uneonseiously eompared it to his present

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THE .lll'SE rarinos, and onc ot' tht-in voinos ont in tho midst of tho old yalluy, slicing its way down to tht- lcwl of Lakv Ontario. The stift' c-lay lllllS oxposod is k'ilI'X'l'll by frost and 1'ain into sharp ridgos and strango pinnat-los sug- gosting a towcrwl and lnittlvssoil catliodral. wliivh some artist many years ago 4-ln'istt-nt-tl thc Dntt-li l'lnn'i-li. The most. striking bits of wild natural 2lI'i'llllltl'llll'0 on thc shorc of Untario arc to bo found lwrc. sliapod from tln- t-lay pam-kvd tightly into tlio valloy of an intcrglacial riyvr. Tlwrc art' la-antifnl spots all along' tho Svarlvoro cliffs. but tho vurtival walls and strangly 1-arvud spircs and towvrs and knifu mlgcs ot' tho lllllvll t'lnn't-li l'L'Q'iOll makt- tht- vliinax of its pit-turosquc svcnury. A milt- fi1I'll1l'l' vast tla- 1-lifts. though mia-li loss striking, rt-at-li tlicir liiuln-st point. 330 foot alioyc tlio watcl' of tho lakc, giving' a lmroatl yivw ovvr tln- lakr and tln' liviglits to tln' cast and wcst. xvllvll l,akc Untario lu-gait. tho Ill01'2lllllL' liills of Svarlioro probably St1'rtm-limi two inilvs and a halt' fartlivr ont into its watcrs making a striking' proniontory: lint owl' sinm-c tliat tiino tln- waycs liayc lwcn attavking and tlcstroying' tln- 1-lilts. l1llLll'l't'lllfillg' tho 1-lay so that grcat slim-os lost' lilllil' support and tinnlilt- down to thc lu-at-li. Tlit-ro thc rlay is waslicd away antl tht- stont-s art- rollml liy tln- waves to form gravy-l. In thc sand whivll 1-onn-s tlown from almoyt' tln-rr art- livayy ID2ll'lif'l0S, osput-ially rod garnot :nal lmlavk Ill2lg'll1'llll'. anml tln-so arc assortt-tl by thc waycs into small winmlrows that stanml out against tho usual lmrownisli gray sand of tliu sliorv. Two Sll1'Yl'j'S math- fifty yt-ars apart show that tho vliti's art' 11-4-otlilig tliroagli tho mlm-st1'i1t-tivo XV4l1'li of tho waws at the ilV0l'2lQ,'t' ratc of 1.62 for-t a yt-ar, -Xt that rata- it must haw takt-n about S,ll0ll yt-ars to out lmat-k tln- Sf-arlmoro 1-lifts to tho prcsont position of tlnf llntrli i,llllll'l'll2 anal this Hin-s ns a 1'Hllg'll 1i1v:1s11i'v ot' tliv litv ot' liakt- Untario which prolmalaly lwgan its work aliont tllat ninnlwr of yt-ars ago. 41 .. . ---- 4.4.--- - l'l1'jl'.w nl llfr llulwh l'l1 urrlr 7 20 --

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THE .ll USE surroinnlings-sln'edded, hlaekened stumps, seorehed and burned by shells and tire, were all around. liaping, sodden shell-holes, and twisted barhed wire fronted him. llere and there a khaki form lay, often twisted oddly. .lust hehind him were the shattered seetions of a gun earriage, and beyond these. a horse lay in a reddish puddle. Isle shuddered and glaneed at his wateh. Two minutes to tive. llad it stopped? It must he later than that! lle held it to his ear. and as it' from a great distanee he heard its reassuring' tiek. The sudden dull thud ot a gas shell galvanized him into aetion. ln a moment he was'a grotesque taeeless figure. Confound these masks, one eould hardly hreathe in theml The elip eut his nose already, and his ears liunimed. Unly one minute nowl XYhy didn't they stop that shelling? llis ears rang, and his head throhhed with eaeh sueeessive erash-his pulses raeed, and in a moment he was on the parapet waving his men on. l'ome on men, here we golnfa long line of figures eame from the treneh at his hidding. Ile was running. a gray figure reared up in his path, and he shot, hlindly. The figure disappeared-funny, how it lived one minute and was dead the nextl Ahead ot him, the round muzzle ot' a maehine gun llamed in his faee. A tlash ot' pain shot through his right shoulder and he dove for a shell-hole. NVhere are those grenades J? .Xhl llere they arel lle hit the pin from one, and hurled it. A deafen- ing detonation, and the maehine gun was no more. Ile struggled in vain to rise. Panie seized him, and he elawed t'rantieally at the mud with his hare hands. lle eouldn't moyel lle was paralysedl Terror tore at his heart and he struggled. What was that hurning him? He looked and saw little yellow streams eorrugating the hlaek mud. lt was that mus- tard stutt. he guessed. lle had heard that the enemy were using it. He tried again to rise. Why eouldn't he get up? The stuff was torturing him! lle was home, sailing' on the lake. The warm, hlue water gurgled and foamed past the sides ot' the hoat. The sun shone t'ull upon him, and it stung a little, The wind was fresh, and the little hoat heeled at a perilous angle. Ile laughed as it plunged from wave to wave. flinging silyerv spray from the sharp how. The sheets were taut in his hand, and the tiller felt alive. Suddenly the hlue sky turned to gray, the sun slid hehind a eloud. and the waves were huge. llis hoat was suddenly swamp- ed. and he was drowningl NVhat was that on his tiaee? lt was ehoking him 2-lle sei-eamed and tore it from his mouth-tore oft' his gas mask.- lle eauglit a last reeling' glimpse of a tortured, llashing sky, as his soul slid silently into eternity. Ol