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

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John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, 1875-1940 On the day Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor- General of Canada, visited our city in 1938. we students were present to be inspired by his chaste oratoryg and then there was added to that idolatry we had for him as an author, the respect, felt rather than worded, that people reserve for the supreme forms of greatness. There is around all great men, as he himself has told in writing of Montrose, an aura of excel- lence which is like the air of consecration men attach to vessels: with the difference that this light of a great man comes always from within, being no false splendour wrought in the minds of his worshippers. No man is appreciated until he is dead, and after his death his own generation overpraises him. It remains for posterity to find the true judgment. Yet Lord Tweedsmuir cannot suffer with time, for the honour we bear him is simply this: that he was a Christian gentleman consecrated to duty and achievement, that he distinguished himself in far-Hung spheres of activity, and that so much did he influence those who lived around him in the World. that his memory shall not perish among their descendants. He is known to millions as John Buchan, and it is as John Buchan that he will be remember- ed. He knew great men intimately, of the past as well as of his own times. Scott he loved, Cromwell he honoured, Augustus he praised, Montrose he revered, to the writing of their lives he brought that spark of genius that burned within himself, and those biographies will stand while the men that inspired them are remembered. Always he wrote of heroes, he never alto- gether relaxed a weary mind, but turned it instead to other work: to writing. And the heroes he dreamed to himself, Dick Hannay. Ned Leithen, Dickson McCunn, and most of all per- haps old Peter Pienaar, display themselves not in heroics but in heroism, for he knew in his soul the essence of the hero, that he do great deeds with naturalness. His fifty novels gladden the plain man as much as his dozen biographies attract the scholar, and the scholar himself turns to them for relaxation. No man probably in modern letters has so delighted such hosts of readers, or has done them as little harm. A great num- ber of his novels will in time perish, but not in our time, and a tithe of them will remain to be his memorial. The writing, by which he touched the people around him most, was but one of many activities. He was private secretary to Lord Milner in South Africa, during the trying days that followed the Boer War. In the British Navy, he was a member of the Headquarters Staff, and Director of Information. He served 5 His Excellency at Peterborough, May, as Lord High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland in 1933 and 1934. a position once occupied by our present King. During much of this time he was active partner in Nelson's Publishing House: he wrote, read, planned. edited, and invested continually. His was a strenuous life spent moving in high placesg yet he was himself the son of a lowly Scottish manse. In the year that he be- came Governor-General, he was created Baron Tweedsmuir of Eltield: yet it is more true to say that he wasuborn great than that he had greatness thrust upon him. The ultimate springs of nobility he probed in The Path of the King- We tell ourselves that Shakespeare was the son of a wool-peddler, Napoleon of a farm- er, and Luther of a peasant, and hold up our hands at the marvel. But who knows what kings and prophets they had in their ancestry! There is reserved for him an epitaph taken from a book that he loved, and applied by him to that one of his fiction heroes whom perhaps he honoured most highly, it tells of the passing of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth. fContinued on Nerf Pagej Page Fifteen if' 1938

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EDITORIALS Certain of Sword and Pen Stand to your zrork and be zrisc. Certain of .szrord and pen, llvflfl uri' IIt'ffll0T C'flflIlI't'II nm' gods, But men. in rz world of men. How many times, in Morning Assembly, have we read these beautiful lines above th e proscenium arch and paid little attention to them? But now in wartime these words of Rudyard Kipling take on a deeper significance for each of us. We may think there is little we can do to help our country because we are at school, but it is because we are at school that we are important. Stand to your work and be wise may well be interpreted carry on your school work and your other activities to the best of your ability. Carry on should be our motto, for is that not what every Canadian did in the last war. Everyone of us should do his best, his very best, that he may be well equipped to do his part, tirst in winning the present conflict, and later in helping restore the world to normal conditions. Of course there are practical things that the students of P.C.V.S. can do to help win this war. Red Cross work is especially important. Many a girl in P.C.I. has already turned the heel on numerous pairs of socks. Many others have knit sleeveless sweaters, and fingerless mitts for the Air Force. Even a beginner can do her part and start knitting wristlets. The work of the students is greatly appreciated at the Red Cross Rooms in the Public Library, but there are always more socks to be knit, more dressings to be made, more boxes to be packed. If more students would give their time the Red Cross would be assisted and we would be doing our bit even though still at school. Whether we know anyone who is on active service or not, we can always pack boxes to bring comfort and pleasure to our men. We can always save old magazines for our sailors in Halifax who are waiting for their ships to be convoyed or perhaps to act as convoys. A very little effort on our part may bring pleasure and relaxation to men anxious and weary. We should all buy British products. Let us get into the habit of making certain that our purchase is from some part of the British Em- pire. Let the shopkeepers know that British products are preferred. This is important. By buying British we may do our bit to keep British factories busy and British funds in circulation. Page Fourteen When war has broken out there is only one thing to do-win it. But of what use is winning it if every succeeding generation must exhaust itself in the same way? It will be up to our generation to find a lasting peace. To accom- plish this we must start thinking now of the future. We should' study closely the peace treaties of the past to see where they succeeded and why they failed. Then we must go on and make a peace that will truly end war for all time. With this thought in mind let each of us read Kipling's words again, feeling the deeper mean- ing and vow that we shall, in truth, Hstand to our work and be wise . B.aRB.A.1u SCOTT Acknowledgments This year enthusiasm for The Echoes reached a new peak, due partly to the winning of The Sigma Phi Trophy. This interest made the work of preparing The Echoes easier than usual. We should like to thank Dr. Kenner and the teaching staff for their kind interest and co- operation. We should also like to thank the student body as a whole, but especially those who con- tributed to the literary, art, and photography contests. We offer our sincere thanks to the judges of these contests: Mr. Hale, Miss Park, Miss McBride, Miss Thompson, Mr. Browne, and Mr. Henry. The Art Staff is specially deserving of men- tion. They worked very hard and in a very short time accomplished a great deal. The members of the Advisory Board have given much of their time and energy to The Echoes. Those mentioned above acted as judges in our contests, and the others have done no less in their own sphere. Mr. Toole, the Business Supervisor, has always been very encouraging and has helped us try out new ideas as we wanted to do. Thanks to Miss Lees, Mr. Shearer, and the advertising staff we are able to publish as large a magazine as in former years. To Miss Mc- Gregor who is in charge of printing, we offer a special vote of thanks for all she has done for The Echoes in making it the magazine it is today. BARBARA Scori-

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t'Then he said, 'I am going to my Father's, and though with great difiiculty I am got hither, yet now do I not repent of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a Witness for me, that I have fought his battles who now will be my re- warder' . . . So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side. Hum KENNER lntramural Sports Last fall the Garnet and Gray senior rugby team won their group and proceeded as far as the finals with Port Colborne. What kind of team will we have in 1940? Maybe you think that is too far away to worry about. But let me say unless there are a good many promising junior players coming along, prospects do not look very bright. Every year the school loses talent through players graduating, passing over the age limit, or this year, enlisting. Thus our ranks are greatly depleted. The same situation may be true for our senior boys' and senior girls' basketball teams. Also consider the abundance of hockey players in the school who, this year, were unable to play in any organized group because the City League did not function. Now don't these facts show that we need a general reorganization of sports in the school so as to incorporate more students who would play if they had the chance, and others who are just a bit timid about trying out for the school teams. Other schools throughout Gntario have drop- ped their interscholastic activities and are con- centrating on intramural sports. A very fine chance has been afforded by the introduction, in the last few years, of six-man rugby teams. Several teams could be selected and this type of game would allow more boys to participate as only five alternates are carried with each team. There are two possible methods of organizing competition within the school. The first is the customary one fused extensively by the Girls' Athletic Association of P.C.V.S.l of pitting one form against another-the winners, for ex- ample XI A over XI C, to meet the Fourth Form victors. Now some may laugh and say that that would be no match at all, but a bigger and more experienced team has been beaten before this by a youthful, fighting aggregation working in perfect harmony. A second plan might also be considered. Let the Boys' Athletic Association and the Girls' Athletic Association choose a certain number, say twenty students, from the senior forms as Page Sixteen captains. Then these twenty students, ten girls and ten boys, could meet separately and select the teams from the lower grades of the school. In this way the ability of the players on differ- ent teams might loe equalized. This scheme could apply to any of the many sports, rugby, basketball, hockey, badminton, volleyball, soft- ball, table tennis, and track and field, now being carried on in P.C.V.S. The two associa- tions mentioned previously could act as mediators in disputes, draw up schedules, help organize teams, and make sports an interesting and enjoyable pastime. The large enrolment of pupils presents a fine opportunity for introduc- ing intramural sports. In such an undertaking as this, time must be found for the games to be played under suit- able supervision. It might be possible to en- trust upper school students with the task of overseeing the students or it might be neces- sary to require the teachers' services to see that everything is carried out smoothly. This might easily be a deciding factor in the success or failure of the scheme. We have just laid the bare foundation in the hope that some club or group in the school will see it through to a successful finish and give the students a new deal in school sports. There is no doubt about this school's liking for sports, and this innovation might be popular with the whole student body. FRANKLIN SMOKE Modern Youth Chooses a High School Course Dear Modern Youth, Let's have a heart-to-heart talk! We of Form Five, who have profited by years of bitter ex- perience, will endeavour to solve your most serious and perplexing problem. For what problem is more serious and perplexing than that of choosing an extra-curricular activity? Our first word is this. Turn a deaf ear to the trivial discussions concerning the merits of Academic, Commercial, Household, and Indus- trial Arts. What's the difference whether you write Shorthand or Greek hieroglyphics? What you do from four to six is what counts. The framing of your character and your health de- pend upon that. Leave out extra-curricular work and your education lacks the most valu- able part. To guide you, Grade Niners, who are confronted with this baffling problem, we worthy sages suggest several possibilities. Do you imagine yourselves awing your audiences in the part of a crafty MacBeth, or a shrewish Catherine? Then your course is clear. Join the Dramatic Club and learn the necessary arts of looking sad, happy, angry,