North Bay Teachers College - Polaris Yearbook (North Bay, Ontario Canada)

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Harder and faster it broke through the shield. On a tower of flame it left the pull Of that clasping ball, and escaped the field. Precisely it entered the calculated trajectory, A cold, gleaming tube of steel Designed by the best of thousands of Human minds, lntricatelyf engineered to microscopic Tolerances. Nearly built, Solid testimony to the greatness of man! As it sailed the vacuum of space Its computers made adjustments, relays Clicked. Errors were corrected. So precise, so exact, it took on A viability of its own. Man understood the inexorable Laws of force and motion. Praise and glory to man. He reached out to the gods. Solid testimony to the greatness of man! The surging, throbbing power of the Mighty engines Mirrored the power of the species. The eyes of the race, Followed the flight through Cold Space, DARKNESS And reflected the pride of triumph Like brilliant suns. The hearts of the race Went with the rocket, riding The emotional wave through the Darkness. For those three men- who piloted The ship, punched buttons, Snapped pictures, performed Thoroughly All their Scientific tasks- carried Within them The character of the species. Solid testimony to the greatness of man! The retro rockets fired precise bursts And intrusion into moon orbit Was achieved with Flawless timing. The earth waited, breath held, as They circled the dark side And cheered to Genesis When they sailed in front of the Luminous globe. Solid testimony to the greatness of man! A deep notch in man's story was carved As they circled the moon on plan. They looked down on the many millions that starved Solid testimony to the greatness of man? Zane Avery Form One.

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Very shortly I discovered, somewhat to my horror, that the five hundred miles separating the two cities also had a meridian of character change included in it. The people here were hard to understand. Everyone seemed wrapped up in his own little impregnable world. He was concerned only with himself and no one else. Sure, they had something to say to everyone but it seldom dropped to a personal level. Usually it concerned politics or else that deplorable creature the Teenager. Try as you might, you never were able, it seemed, to gain their complete confidence and trust. Certainly, they put on a good front of confidence but you could always tell they were holding their real feelings back. For this reason on Iune 10, 1967 I had no qualms about leaving Ottawa. It would be foolish on the other hand to say I had not made some friends there but these people I will remember as persons not merely as being Ottawatonians. Once more I was back among the kind of people I liked. Friendly, cordial people who always made you proud of being a Canadian and knew how to make a person feel at ease. But, when you are enjoying yourself time slips away all too quickly and once again it was time to be on the move for another year. This time my destination was North Bay, Ontario, a small community lying about half way between Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa. North Bay is considered by many The Educational Centre of the North and rightly so as it houses the Teachers', Nipissing, Cambrian and Nurses' Colleges. On this trip I harboured no illusions. I headed for North Bay expecting the worst and decided that I would make no effort to attempt to win confidence as I was only making this locality my home for one year. After two days in the Bay I received a shock which really set me back on my heels. The incident occurred in one of the local stores. At the time I was merely doing a little window shopping when rather a tall, well dressed man approached me and offered his services. I explained my purpose for being in his store and was quite set back when he asked if I were new in town and going to one of the colleges. I gave him an affirmative answer and told him the college at which I was enrolled. Then to my surprise he began asking where I was from, ifI knew certain people, and from there proceeded to inform me of various places I should see in North Bay. We must have talked for nearly an hour during which many customers passed through the door and never once did he move to help handle the rush. The customers' reaction was also shocking as they patiently waited and the occasional one even ventured an opinion on the topic which we were discussing after having over- heard us. Upon leaving this store I proceeded to various other establishments as well as conducting a small survey on my own by merely picking people at random on the street and asking directions. The result was always the same in over 75070 of the cases. The people all appeared eager to help and never too busy to stop and talk. Here at last I found a place where people were just as friendly as those back home. The final incident I would like to relate to you on this topic occurred only a matter of weeks ago. The time was New Year's 1969 and I found myself in a small community just outside Timmins fwhich bears the name of South Porcupinej. Now, Timmins is a rather large community and seems to always be on the go. The people are friendly and reasonably hospitable but you can detect a lack of interest in talking either about their community or the area. On the other hand, South Porcupine must be a hand-picked, screened community. Though only a mere four miles due east of Timmins the people are completely different. They are never too busy to talk, always willing to give information on points of interest and directions on how to get there the quickest and easiest way. Unfort- unately 1 was not able to stay as long as I would have liked but I will return to that community many times in the future. Therefore you see why I wish that journalist had come to me before starting his search. From my travels over a very meager portion of this large land mass known as Canada, I know he will never find what he is looking for because it does not exist in the form he wants it. To put on paper the Canadian character is truly an impossible dream. Alan Plank, Form Nine. 97

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LEGENDS OF LAKE NIPISSING Captain Clarke had sailed the lake from the days of the Outer Ocean and the Sparrow, He knew every wave that rolled on the lake and was known by everyone from Nipissing Landing to the mouth of the French and farther. Clarke was the best man to pilot the boat on our exploration and he agreed to work for us. The first day, tiring of the conversation below, I went up to the cabin to chat with the captain. Fine night, Captain? Yes lad, but God knows what we will be doing by morning. This is a mighty queer lake. See that island over there? Yes, that's the Great Manitou, isn't it? Do you know how it got its name? It is the Indian name for the Great Spirit is it not? Yes. Long ago, before Champlain sailed these waters, a group of Indian families was crossing the lake in their canoes when a storm came up suddenly, as only storms on Lake Nipissing can. Waves rose four feet high. The little canoes battled their way toward this island. Night came and still they fought. As they approached the island the canoes hit some rocks and were smashed to pieces. Suddenly a flaming arm darted from the island and lifted one of the Indians from the water and dumped him on the shore. All the others perished. Four days later, the survivor, now a raving madman, driven insane by his wild superstitious imaginings, was found by a wandering band. From his disjointed ravings, the Indians pieced the story together and henceforth held the island in awe, believing it to be the home of the Great Spirit. One of them raised his arms to the heavens in supplication and cried hoarsely, Oh Great Manitou, Oh Great Manitou. From that time the island was called by that name and carefully avoided by the Indians. Rather weird, wasn't it? I said,, has anyone ever found out what really happened? No. Some say a bolt of lightning struck a tree which fell, flaming into the water, others say that the Indian was cast up on the land as lightning flashed, still others say that it was just a madman's dream. The Indians are superstitious all right and anything like that would affect them greatly. Lad, see that channel over there? ll'YeS.u Well, there's another queer tale told about it. It seems that about the same time another incident took place. Three Indians were slowly paddling down the channel fishing, when suddenly a great stream of water, a thousand feet high, they said, shot around the end of the island and darted towards the canoe. The Indians, stricken with fear, gave their spirits up to the gods. They thought it was a great raging fish, blowing water into the air because they had invaded its home in that channel. The waterspout, as it likely was, dodged past the canoe and down the channel. The Indians lost no time in leaving the channel behind! V Bob, come on down here and fill in this game of bridge, I heard someone call from below. Well, l'll have to go now, Captain,but thanks for telling me those stories. These islands will mean more to me from now on. t Elizabeth Surtees Form One. 99