Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School - Echoes Yearbook (Peterborough, Ontario Canada)

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THE EcHoEs 47 Schools' of BOfI.Z'l.d THERE are three types of schools: one for Indian children, one for Cholo or middle class children, and the other for the upper class. There are also a few mission schools where all castes are admitted, and two or three private schools. In the Indian schools the children have a slate and perhaps a reader. They generally sit on the ground or on planks which are placed on stumps or boxes. The school room is generally a mud hut about lO feet by 12 feet, with one small door and no windows. In this room there are anywhere from twenty to thirty children crowded in. In the lower and warmer climates they have their schools out of doors under the trees. They are taught to read and write and also some arithmetic. They are very clever in modelling objects from clay. These schools are all in the country. The Cholo schools are in the city. The schoolrooms are a little larger and they have one or two windows. The floors are wood and so are the benches. The children have more books to study from and they learn more subjects. The upper-class schools are the same as the Cholo, the only difference being that they are separate from the others. Recently they have been joining them together tthat is the Cholo and upper classl because the government is not able to pay so many teachers. As it is, the teachers are usually six months behind in their pay anyway. The schools are not heated and during the two coldest weeks in june the children are given a holiday. The Indian children are dressed in the distinctive dress of their tribe. From the time the children are three until they are ten they are sent into the fields to watch pigs, sheep, and cows. Then they are sent to school until time for harvestfor seeding and then they have tofwork in the fields. The Cholo children are sent to school when they ale five. They belong to what is known as the working class. These children also wear a distinctive type of dress but very similar to that of the Indian. The upper class dress in the the European style. Their children are educated to be government ollicials, doctors, or lawyers. They are taught that working as a cook or cobbler or tailor is degrading and only the Cholo or Indian is supposed to do this kind of work. Does this make Peterborough appeal more to you? MARY C. Hfxnuow, IIIB Acad.

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46 THE EcHoEs forest growing by the side of the high- way. It was four thousand years old, the circumference at the ground one hundred and one feet, the diameter thirty-three feet, and the height two hundred and fifty feet. The interior of this tree was burned out to make a store where we bought postcards and souvenirs. Throughout this woodland it is always twilight and there rests an atmosphere of ancient calm. There are resorts in it, and by government inter- vention the forest is saved for all time for the enjoyment of the public. Along this highway we saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We caught a glimpse of the Eel River through the Grant Redwoods. Silver Lake is seen over the Snowy Ranges, lying far below the road amid pines and cliffs. We saw Mount Rainier, one of the most beautiful snow-covered mountains in United States. At the foot of the mountain nestled a small farming village. We stopped at a place called Agate Beach and gathered agate stones, some of which are very valuable. As we got near Vancouver we saw oyster beds in the bays, and resorts where oyster dinners were served. f This paved highway, built through the mountains in places where a path- way seems almost an impossibility, is a wonderful engineering triumph. JEAN CL.-xRKsoN, VB Acad. OM Erin FIRST PRIZE, THERE is a land where the shamrock grows H and a hardy blue-eyed race has filled this land for centuries. Heather-covered hills, a rugged Antrim coast, red-roofed towns with a peat smoke haze Hoating above, and the salty tang of sea air-all these seem peculiar to Ireland alone. Those who know them, love them. The green-clad hills have lured many a would-be traveller there to remain in domicile. The Irish people themselves seem to be the possessors of an individual and appealing charm and grace. Their care- less good nature and utter unpracti- cality is a source of annoyance to the more practical among us, but beloved by the majority. Poverty-stricken folk living on cold wind-swept moors appear contented with their lot. Irish wit and humour, to me, is the best in the world. What other people display that genius of quick repartee, that ever-present sense of humour which carries them through misfortunes? Quick humour goes hand in hand with a temper, which, like our winter temperature, rises seldom and drops quickly. The feeling existing between fac- tions in the north and south is an ever- present source of bitterness. Now and UPPER SCHOOL then a flare occurs and some Northern- ers or Southerners, as the case may be, cross the border to remove the object of their annoyance. As an instance of this, when the new Craigavon bridge in Londonderry was to be opened offi- cially by the Lord Mayor of London, flags and streamers waved gaily all over the city. At night a party of Southerners removed these flags to the great indignation of the populace, who turned out eu. masse and patrolled the streets till dawn to prevent further outrages. Class distinction is clearly marked in a way difficult to imagine in such a democratic dominion as Canada. The lower classes, even if their wealth be greater than that of the upper classes, revere them nevertheless. Ireland is a country where a happy- go-lucky temperament predominates everywhere. Conventionalism with re- gard to one's attire is thrown to the winds. Trains seldom run on schedule. Time means nothing and regular habits depend upon the individual. With all its colourful customs and peculiarities, Ireland, beloved home land of millions of people, is deservedly named the Emerald Isle. ALICIA LANGLEY, 5-A Acad.

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43 THE EcHoEs Around the Carp? Peninsufa SECOND PRIZE, JUNIOR MIDDLE SCHOOL THE Perron Boulevard or Gaspe Highway of which I write is con- sidered by many experienced travellers to be the most beautiful in the world. The great scenic drive does not begin until one reaches the quaint little French-Canadian town of Riviere du Loup, one hundred and twenty miles below the most picturesque city in North America, Quebec. This town is steeped in the historic traditions of the French-Canadian people. Its nar- row streets wind up steep hills from the water front. Its quaint seigneurial- styled houses, and its tall church spires all bespeak to the traveller the charm of a people deeply imbued with the loxe of antiquity, and romance of bygone days. From this delightful town one drix es east toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Gradually the hills on the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence grow fainter until all that can be discerned is a dark irregular horizon. Soon the skyline melts away into a vast expanse of blue ocean. Vlfe notice with interested curi- osity the fishing equipment arranged along the sea-shore ready for use, and also the crude fishing skiffs. The quaint villages impress one with the peculiar fact that here are a happy home- loving people who have not adopted any mode of life different from that of their Norman forefathers who settled there three centuries before. In places there is a beautiful green coniferous forest to our right, to our left is the vast and mighty Gulf. All too soon we reach Metis where we stop for the night. It is a beautiful summer resort by the sea. In the morning we leave on our east- ward journey. Now we are on the Gaspe Coast proper. What beauty! XVhat grandeur! To our right are great towering mountains covered with ever- greens which give them the appearance of enormous moss-blanketed hills. To our right the breakers of the mighty ocean roll against the embankment, upon which the road is built, with such violence that our car is drenched by the salt spray. Soon we begin to climb. Up through the virgin timber and over and around the mountain winds this snake-like road, a modern marvel of engineering. VVe are two thousand three hundred feet above sea-level. The throbbing of the engine becomes hard on our ears. Away to :Continued on page ll-tm