Niverville High School - High Lights Yearbook (Niverville, Manitoba Canada)

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LITERARY ON SMOKING Quite often these days high school students are offered cigarettes by older persons as a friendly gesture. The easiest thing to do is to accept it and to smoke it. If the cigarette is accepted every time that it is offered, smoking will soon become a habit and the student will soon be buying his own cigarettes. In early days the peace pipe was passed around the council while the chief spoke. This gave them something to do ito keep their hands busy. Almost the same situation is true today. When a group of people meet they “light up” to keep their hands busy thus relieving the nervousness and making conversation easier. The exact effect of smoking on the human body is not quite certain but no one ever claims that smoking improves the health of a person. These three bad effects, however, are certain: i) it interferes with the growth of the heart, ii) it interferes with the respiratory system by irritating the membranes of the throat, iii) it inter¬ feres with the action of the digestive juices. Tobacco contains a very poisonous drug called nicotine. Three cigarettes have enough nicotine to kill a person if it were injected directly into the blood stream. Only four per cent is absorbed when smoking but twelve per cent is absorbed if a person inhales. Besides nicotine, tobacco also contains other irritating chemicals. These are especially poisonous and irritating to the throat and lungs. These tars are considered to be a definite cause of mouth and lung cancer. Endurance athletes are usually people with heart beats slower than the average. The slow powerful beat gives the heart a longer resting period in between beats. Smoking speeds up the heart beat and therefore the athlete that smokes loses his endurance abilities. Smoking slows down the movement of the stomach as well. It is these movements that cause the hunger pangs. The cost of smoking for a heavy smoker during his lifetime may be equivalent to a comfortable six or seven-room house. If the wife also smokes it would be equivalent to the cost of furnishing this house. A great many fires are caused annually by careless smokers. Millions of dollars worth of damage is done each year. Most of this is caused by forest fires which put a big dent in the national economy by destroying timber, killing wildlife, and causing unemployment. Many fires result in the loss of life when people fall asleep with lighted cigarettes. Smoking has become a widespread social custom because it seems harmless and attractive and because it is so habit forming. It is also a form of relaxation. On the other hand, it is a waste of money and is harmful to physical and mental health. It is up to each individual himself to make up his mind about the smoking habit. —Aaron Redekop, Gr. X MY FIRST JOB What a wonderful feeling rests upon a person who ventures out for the first time to stand on his own feet and to shoulder responsibility. I got this “feeling” when I first undertook the position as Nurses’ Aid at a hospital. First, there was that day when I applied for the job. Well I remember the long and careful attention I gave to my appearance that morning; also the forced smile and slight nervousness which were the result of my tension. This sensation of slight fear had turned into a sensation of joy when I left the personnel office that morning, for I had been accepted to the position. Then there was that first day of work. Though I was energetic, zealous, and vivacious in the morning of this day, I had by evening turned into a person with considerably less energy, and with a pair of miserably tired feet. The first few days were more or less days of instruction and getting acquainted with the hospital as a whole. We were shown by the supervisor to the diverse divisions, like the central supply room, diet kitchen, locker room, treatment and service rooms, etc., on and off our individual wards. I soon was acquainted with the general routine of our work and was told that I “seemed to control the situation Page 30

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LITERARY fairly well.” This inspired me to keep on learning, for I felt as though my knowledge in this work was practically nil. The work was more or less the same each day; bringing ice water and juices to the patients, changing flowers, setting trays, shining equipment, cleaning service and treatment rooms, washing and caring for patients, stacking linen, running errands, and numerous other things. The most delightful part of the job was chatting with the patients. Our patients included ministers, teachers, farmers, salesmen, engineers, porters, technicians, miners, carpenter, and others. These patients often showed their appreciation to us by giving little gifts. I had many interesting experiences while at this work, and I highly value the lessons I learned from it. It also presented me with an extensive view as to what the profession of nursing includes, but most of all I value just the experience of this my first job. —Esther Rempel, Gr. XI RAINMAKING Ever since man saw his first cloud and felt the wind and rain, he has wondered at the life-giving flow of water. He has adapted his life to the rain and the clouds, sung songs about them, danced to them and worshipped them. From the time people presented sacrifices to the rain gods, so-called scientists have attempted to make clouds and rain. They have come up with various schemes and devices such as chilling the wind with giant refrigerating coils, bombarding storm clouds with huge field guns, and churning the air with airplane propellers, to make rain. One of the most fantastic events in the United States Army was the bombarding of a storm cloud. The public was convinced that heavy bombardments and loud noises would cause rain. Edward Powers, who had started this idea, petitioned congress to finance the bombardment. Congress refused, but in 1891 public pressure became so great that Congress consented to the petition. The bombardment led by Gen. Robert Dyrenforith was no success. Quack “Weather Wizards” then scourged the country. They would promise to make rain at a specific time for a certain fee. Payments were due when the rains came down. If nature was good enough to cause a downpour, the wizard made off with some easily earned money. If not, he had nothing to lose. One expert rain-maker was promised one thousand dollars for every inch of rain by an agricultural society near Medicine Hat, Alberta. Five inches of rain came down. The rain-maker lost his prestige because the average rainfall was six inches. In 1936, a French inventor suggested a cone-shaped tube which would be placed near the ocean with the wide end towards the clouds. Giant weather-vanes, turned by the ocean breeze, would suck up the moisture-laden air into the cone, there it would cool, condense, and drop as moisture. Another inventor suggested doing this in a similar way by use of canvas, while another suggested building a mountain, but didn’t say where he’d get the earth from. About a decade ago scientists made rain by throwing dry ice at a cloud formed by the moisture in a man’s breath. After that “test tube cloudburst” everybody tried to make rain by throwing dry ice at the clouds. Later scientists found out that silver-iodide particles were just as effective. After billions of silver-iodide particles had been thrown into the air at Rosetown, Saskatchewan, it rained. Whether man caused tire rain or not is not known. Some scientists are positive they will succeed in making rain; others are not at all convinced of this idea. The governments are just as concerned about making rain as the agriculturists. The nation which will be able to control the weather will have a more powerful weapon than the hydrogen bomb. —Jacob Warkentin Page 32