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

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THE MUSE NSTARTLING DISCOVERY BY CO-ED attracts the eye but is too long in the first line, and too short in the second, A beginner must plot many times to get even such a solution as CO-ED'S DISCOVERY STARTLES CAMPUS The hours crept into three and four as my now benumbed brain worked steadily upon the elusive lines. I read over every article so often to get information for sparkling captions that their phrases were with me for weeks afterwards. My body was stiff and my eyes heavy as I watched the Womens Editor and Dick set up the paper in type. Dawn was beginning to break outside the window, but I was scarcely conscious of it. On a wide table was laid a metal form the size of the newspaper's four pages. Guided by the dummy copy the Women's Editor showed Dick where she wanted each article. He with his practised eye and a quick hand would go to the long rows of type, pick out the desired article and its headlines and set it in place in the form. Bit by bit the paper took shape under our eyes, the old dummy copy assuming definite form. Occasionally an article would be too long to fit in and we would frantically re-read the original copy for possible lines to cut. Finally. the paper was complete. and one copy was made for a final test as to its accuracy. I smiled wanly as my superior ofiicer declared, And now we can go home. Not till then did I raise my head to discover that night had gone and morning come. With a jerk I realized that for the last ten hours the night-editing world had been all-absorbing, all-sufiicient. Nothing had mattered but the production of that one issue. For that space of time it ranked in importance with the greatest dailies of the land, its editors had been kings to command me. its production as vital as if the whole world was awaiting our morning news. I night-edited many times after that, but no issue was as memor- able to me as that first oneg no feeling of achievement and of well- earned rest as keen as the feeling within me that morning when, the press building doors closing behind us, we stepped out into the fresh cool air to make our way up past the grey, silent university towards a strong cup of coffee and a long sleep. E211

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-THE MUSE The written material, or copy, was brought in, intermittently, throughout the evening. There were accounts of meetings represent- ing many branches of university life. interviews with students or pro- fessors on local topics. write-ups of many games, announcements, feature-articles. All these had been assigned inthe editorial offices that day by the Mens and Womens News Editors. Each reporter, having written O.Ii. by his tor herl assignment, was responsible for having his copy in the night-office as early as possible. For a long. long time I sat there. reading and rewriting material. It was then given to the linotype man who set the copy in type. His reddened eyes and exprcssionless face aroused my sympathy as I watched him sit before his machine. his lingers moving like auto- matons, hour after hour. The type was set in narrow rows, and, hav- ing been covered by a thin strip of paper, was subjected by us to a heavy roller which had been well painted with printer's ink-and presto. there were printed words on paper. I learned that this Was a galley sheet. We took all such sheets back to the inner otiice for further proof-reading. By this time the smell of printer's ink seemed as natural as breathing, the noise and hurry of the otiice a part of life. But the night was just beginning! Now the Womens Editor spread a copy of an old issue before her and called me over to watch her make up a dummy copy. Prints of the advertisements were pinned on the old issue, and into the space that remained all the material on the galley sheets had to be arranged. Never before had I studied a newspaper for the form of its make-up. Now I judged each article for its length and its relation to front page importance. Thus: was the third meeting of the Seven Occult Socratics of more interest to student readers than the interview with Professor Dry-as-Dust on the influence of residence alarm clocks? Was the account of the student who had been pushed into the swimming pool at a dance as important as the advance-note of a play written by a local freshman '3 Should the rugby hero's picture go here, or there? Keeping in mind the relative importance of the material the Women's Editor worked swiftly and carefully, rejecting this, placing that. I marvelled at the quickness of her decisions as her blue pencil went up and down the pages. allocating space until the skeleton was complete. Ever since that Iirst lesson in formation I have looked on the pages of any newspaper with a reverent eye. Unconsciously now I appraise a front page for its balanced arrangement, or lack of it. It was well into the morning hours before we were under way with our next big task. that of writing head-lines. First, though, should their form be packed or sloping? QI had never thought of it beforell I learned that those with three lines had a different name from those with two. that each had a certain number of drop lines in varying sizes of type. I learned that others were specially set by hand by Dick. the typesetter. The making of them was much more exacting than solving cross-word puzzles ever was. Each line could contain only a certain number of lettersg frequently I would be stung by the splendour of a sudden thought for a good line only to discover that it had far too many letters. For instance, l20l

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,gc mc - s.iH.E:lfUc5E..-. heels..-U DANGER AHEAD Hascl Hummonrl T some time in the more thoughtful interlude of a live-year so- journ. a large percentage of high school students turn their vagrant thoughts to the immediate hereafter, and begin to thumb the calendar of the University of Toronto. So misleading is that hieroglyphic publication to the uninitiated, and so sparse is the advice obtainable on any of the more important considerations of Uni- versity life-such as whoopee, freshman behaviour, and the essential evasions-that I submit a few observations based on a personal exper- ience full of error. The first inevitable question is-which college ?-and the answer varies with the individual. If you have a dominant ego and prefer to do what you like when you like and how, go to University College. I did: it was one of my few inspired decisions. There are so many people at U.C. that during the first term a friendless freshman has a haunting suspicion that he could die quietly in an alcove and that a week later the janitor would sweep up the corpse. That is the nice part about it, if you like that sort of thing: you can do more things without being noticed than in any other part of the University. You can make friends or remain a recluse, pant after activities or stag- nate with indolence, be evangelical or communistic, just as you wish. If you have an urge to become a humiliated freshman, the opportunity is yours: if you don't like red ties and respect your own dignity, remain quiet and no one will know the diiference. Even attendance at lectures is largely optionalg if you prefer the mid-night oil to the cold light of a nine o'c1ock lecture. few there are who will object. All is different at Victoria. There an informal, friendly atmos- phere will breeze out towards you and you will be quickly led into College Life in the Victorian style. If a stranger to the city wanted to become acquainted with Toronto in half an hour, he could see it all at Victoria College, its most typical production. Prudence. piety and patriotism manifest themselves in a ceaseless flow of wholesome activ- ity. Best of all, O ye timid ones, you can go from high school to Victoria and hardly notice the difference! As for Trinity, the distinctions are different. You need to be born to Trinity. and if there is any doubt about your title, it is danger- ous to take chances. The Trinity man or woman Wears a tattered gown with nonchalance all about the campus, acquires an Oxford accent, and studies Religious Knowledge. Trinity is a law unto itself and remains. for the most part, sublimely aloof from the rest of the University, and if you are born to it, it is the right and only place for vou. - The choice of St. Michael's depends almost entirely on religious creed, although those of the Catholic faith can choose between it and University College. College spirit is rampant, and the loyal under- grad of St. Mike's finds life just a continuous whirl of excitement. livery hour he can spare from his studies, and even more, is spent in cheering on the basketball team, boosting the French society, address- ing the chairman and otherwise making life real and earnest. ifil